BMC's first bid
Back in November, two auction catalogues caught our attention.
First up was Historics at Brooklands' on Saturday the 25th November. As usual, the November sale was held at Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge. The auction was held in the museum, surrounded by historic Mercedes-Benz, and looked out over the test-track where fans go to experience the latest in AMG performance cars. E Class estates drifting around a wet skid pan looked like fun and was, at times, distracting from the main event! Luckily there were plenty of cars in the catalogue to interest us over 4 hours of sales.
Our first success came almost immediately as the second car in the catalogue. The lovely Fiat 500 Giardiniera had caught our eye and, with the early start, the room had undervalued what was such a charming and unusual vehicle. A few flicks of the paddle and the BMC had its first Italian member! In Positano Yellow with suicide doors, it was hard not to smile at our first win, and the pigeon-toed 500 estate took my mind immediately to the Amalfi coast. Time to stock up on limoncello in time for delivery...
The day went by with many cars selling under estimate and a notable number not selling at all. A special edition Mini B.A.C. M-30 (one of three) with just 1500 miles on the clock sold under estimate, despite having Bernie Ecclestone's name in the previous keepers.
Highlight of the day was acquiring the 1936 Bentley 4 1/4 which you will now see in our collection. More on this at a later date.
Overall, Historics was a fantastic day out. The quality of the cars was great on the whole, and there was a real variety to the catalogue; from our Fiat 500 to a Le Mans spec Bentley. Many people seemed to attend the November sale simply for the enjoyment of being around (and inside!) the cars, which is surely a testament to Historics at Brooklands. Bravo!
Next up was Bonhams' December sale held at London Olympia. This midweek sale was an altogether different experience. On arrival, I was disappointed by the 'no touching' policy, in contrast to Historics' more laid back approach. Having said this, the nonchalance of some punters at the Historics event was remarkable (I spotted one man perching on the bonnet of a Ferrari as he watched the auction!).
Many of the cars we were interested in were owned by one deceased collector who seemed to share our taste in British motors; an experience similar to finding an entire rack of nicely-fitting blazers in a charity shop! Unfortunately this meant that history and paperwork across the cars was patchy. Ultimately this put us off bidding on what was otherwise a very desirable and rare 1996 Bentley Azure. Still, if the new custodian can hold their nerve with minimal documented service history, they've acquired the car at a fraction of its market value and an even smaller fraction of its cost when new (£215k).
Following a similar trend, our first success came in the first 5 minutes as we won bidding on our first Triumph: a british racing green GT6 Mark III. We've always thought these E-type alternatives have represented great value and this one was fresh from a partial restoration with a celebrity appearance in the BBC series Life on Mars.
Several lots later and we're at it again, this time with a lovely Jaguar XJR-S. We've had a V12 XJS Convertible in the collection since 2015 and enjoyed it very much. What struck us about the XJR-S is its rarity. Just 837 were made in Jaguars partnership with Tom Walkinshaw Racing and, being the first generation with the 5.3L engine, ours is just one of 326.
Two great days and four new additions to the Bulldog Motor Collection.