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Internet bidder pays more than double top-estimate £82,150 for 107 year old Daimler 20hp during Brightwells latest 85% sold £1.3m sale

With a full national lockdown still in place during the 28 March-1 April bidding window, but with consigned classic cars and bikes and their documents on-site at their Leominster HQ, Brightwells sold 125 of 144 entries, an 87% sale rate, for a premium-inclusive £1.4m during an entirely virtual affair with no physical viewing on this occasion and on-line only bidding.
The highest priced seller from the 117 cars offered was a 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SL with Pagoda-top hardtop, side-facing rear seat option and previously renewed sills and rebuilt engine, for which bidding time ran out after 51 bids had been cast at an over top-estimate £81,500, costing an absentee winner £91,280 with premium.
But the £85,120 paid for 1914 Daimler 20 hp TW20 ‘Bodmin Landaulette’, forecast to fetch £36,000-42,000, was the more unexpected result however. Fit for a Dowager in the day, and very much at home at Downton Abbey, the stately Edwardian had reportedly been cast in the House of Elliot series on Beeb TV.
Another noteworthy change of ownership was the 1950 Jowett Jupiter, one of only four such Specials to have been crafted with aluminium coachwork by Rawson, which attracted 33 bids until sold for £35,800. First owned by Sir Hugh Bell, father of World Sportscar Champ Derek Bell, the Jupiter Special is apparently Mille Miglia Retrospective eligible.
And from the same postwar austerity era, a recently body-off restored 1950 Alvis TB 14 Sports-Tourer has also become a statistical rarity. The 16th of 100 made, but one of less than 30 survivors, made a forecast £33,600.
A much earlier Austin Seven Ulster Sports-Tourer with original 1930 chassis, but non-original supercharged engine, had once been in the Hull Collection, and therefore acquired by JLR, before selling again here for a top estimate £40,320.
Whereas by far the oldest automobile in the sale, a 1901 Locomobile Style 2 ‘Steam Runabout’ had been last restored 1996/7 and included a bespoke trailer for the £27,440 paid, forecast money.
Fresh from a “nut-and-bolt restoration” that had included tasteful upgrades, a £30,000-35,000 estimated 1964 Jaguar Mk2 3.4, a manual with overdrive, pulled 35 bids before achieving £42,448 with premium, a new house record for a Mk2 Jag.
A £14,000 body-restored 1965 Daimler 250-V8 auto meanwhile, guided at £10,000-12,000, made £19,500, and another absentee bidder paid £29,340 for a 1976 Alfa Romeo GT Junior 1600 estimated at £17,000-19,000. A 1948 Armstrong-Siddeley Hurricane Drophead was acquired for £13,780.
There were buyers, too, for all eight MGs, five of them MGBs, led by a pair of period 1953 TD 1250s sold for £17,978 and £16,016, while a near identical, but much more modern 1985-dated Naylor TF 1700 with only 12,000 mileage raised £15,100.
No Brightwells sale would be truly complete however without some Land Rover valuations, and this selling and buying opportunity was no exception, with two Series Ones changing keepers under the virtual hammer, a slightly scruffy, but characterful 1951 80 making £14,560 and a 1953 86 £12,992.
A Coup-ready 1999 Land Rover Defender Wolf with only a peaceful 800 miles under wheel was captured for £30,240. Whereas a 1942 US Ford Jeep restored by ‘Car SOS’ in 2013 for TV changed collectors here for £13,780.
Despite having done 121,000 miles, a £12,000-15,000 guided 1996 BMW 840Ci Coupe realised £17,470 and an 82,000 mile 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII FQ330 £17,450.
The Modern Classic superstar among the relatively newcomers however was a 1998 Toyota Supra MkIV Twin-Turbo Auto, forecast to cost the next owner £20,000-25,000, which, after a sale-topping 63 bids had been logged, finally timed-out at a really bullish £38,200 gross. Although a 2004 Aston Martin Vanquish left hooker with under 10,000 kilometres on the odometer did eventually make £62,000 with charges and heads for a new home in Denmark.
After the car lots had been ‘timed out’ and the auction book for this sale had been closed until the next time, 85% of the 117 entries had sold to 100 absentee bidders for £1,304,043 with premium, an average of £13,040 per classic bought, all on-line.
Additionally, there were buyers for all but three of the 17 motorcycles on offer, the top price being paid for an ex-military 1941 Indian 500 Scout, which had been stationed at RAF Sealand in Wales while the base was under US Air Force Command during WW2, and which was transported away from Brightwells Leominster GHQ for £14,780.

PLEASE NOTE: HISTORICS DELAY THEIR ASCOT SALE TO SUNDAY 18 APRIL
As a mark of respect to the sad death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, whose funeral takes place at nearby Windsor Saturday 17 April, Historics Auctioneers have rescheduled their 2021 season-opener at Royal Ascot Racecourse, where the sale will now be held Sunday 18 April from 9.30am.
This change of date does not affect viewing arrangements at the Racecourse though , where cars for sale, and their history files, may be physically inspected by catalogue holders Wednesday 14 to Friday 16 April, 9am-5pm each day. The Ascot venue will however be closed on Saturday. RH-E

For the very latest insider take on the ever-changing and increasingly internet-dependent auction scene, best advice has to be to click onto ‘More News’ below (or select ‘News’ on the Home Page menu-bar options) and scroll-down to scan all our recent posts.
 





 

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