New talking red-head of Top Gear, irrepressible progenitor of Carfests North and South, and all-round Ferrari addict, Chris Evans' name is increasingly hard to avoid if you're into cars. I'm getting the feeling he might actually be making most of his squillions these days from car dealing, judging by the evidence of the next Bonhams sale at Goodwood Revival this weekend.
Because Evans is moving on 13 of his enormous collection of cars. There are some frankly bizarre lots up for grabs - Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang replica and Daimler Dart SP250 police car, anyone? - but equally some very interesting ones too.
The Abarth that never was
Fiat 126
might not seem an obvious choice to share a garage with Ferraris, but Evans apparently bought it "due to its bright orange colour, which matches his hair." Seriously!
Is it wrong to admit that I really like it? Leaving aside the semantic issue that it's a 'replica' of a car that never originally existed - there never was a '126 Abarth' - it does look kind of cool.
That's not too surprising considering it was built by Mike Jordan (of Jordan Racing) using a one-owner 126 with 6,668 miles on the clock, with mechanicals fettled by Abarth specialists, Middle Barton Garage. £10,000 to £15,000 may seem a lot for a 126, but it's way less than Chris Evans' other cars...
Owned by the late Dodi Al Fayed
1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C
, estimated at £2.6m to £2.9m. One of only 460 built, it's a rare UK-supplied RHD example with a long-nose alloy body and a six-carb engine, once owned by the late Dodi Al Fayed. It does look amazing, even though I'm not totally sold on the pale green respray that Evans gave it in 2014 (echoing that of the Innes Ireland Ferrari 250 GTO).
As for the 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, this is a recreation, not the real thing. How much would you pay for a replica? It might be as much as £600,000, say the auctioneers. Having just driven a genuine 250 SWB that's up for grabs at £12m, the idea of paying half a mill for a replica doesn't seem that extravagant. Especially as it started life as a genuine 1963 Ferrari 250 GTE, and has alluring new aluminium bodywork by Dutch company Roelofs.
Other Evans Ferraris up for auction include a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT/L Lusso (estimate £1.4m to £1.8m), a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS Spyder (£1.3m to £1.6m) and a 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS (£100K to £130K).
Only one of 100 made with under 10k miles
It's not all Chris Evans at the Revival sale. I'm taken with the
2005 Merc CLK DTM AMG
. Not only is it one of only 100 made, it's also one owner from new and has done just 8,490 miles. £130K to £160K doesn't seem outrageous for such a rarity, especially a 582hp one with so many bespoke AMG parts.
Coolest car of the auction? A 1968 Mazda Cosmo in bright orange. Considering that prices for these have been rocketing recently, the lower estimate of £65K seems very good value. Another one that raised an eyebrow (just the one, naturally) is the very LamborghiniIslero that Roger Moore drove in 'The Man Who Haunted Himself' (estimate: £300K to £350K).
And I couldn't resist inserting a link to a Humber (hmm, is that a PH first?). Terminally uncool, or a bit special? You decide.
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