Auction Stats - percentages sold and sale totals

MAY AUCTION STATS

In terms of the number of transparently conducted auctions reviewed on this website, May was the busiest month of the semi-lockdown year to date. Although punters attending sales ‘virtually’ continued to outnumber those who were permitted to be physically present in salerooms.

Where sales were conducted ‘live’ by an auctioneer on a rostrum however, the majority of changes of ownership determined by the gavel were to absentee bidders on telephones rather than in the seats. For with restrictions of one kind and another stifling so many traditional pursuits, on-line bidding blind continued to be statistically more popular than bidding in the room during May.

As economic reality prevails however and the brakes are released by the politicians, even at local level, ‘live bids’ by punters who are physically present, and who have checked out metal and documents, will most likely become the most popular method of buying cars at auction again, with on-site telephones and computers elsewhere competing for bids from those who cannot be present.

By far the largest sale of the month was held behind closed doors in King’s Lynn, where Anglia Car Auctions had consigned 236 classics and projects. Their Saturday and Sunday Drive-Through sales - really well webcast on ouTube and seen by many more thousands of viewers than ever attended what were always the best supported classics sales in the UK pre-pandemic - ranged from a £167,400 1962 Aston Martin Lagonda Rapide 4-Door to a half-timbered 1962 Morris Minor Traveller formerly occupied by a Countess acquired for £7,560.

Having twice had to move their April sale, due first to the pandemic and subsequently the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh at nearby Windsor, the rescheduled Historics sale at Royal Ascot Racecourse was another impressive and almost back to normal £4.5m occasion with 166 classics for all budgets crossing the block.

Three days of viewing was popular with over 800 interested parties and some 1200 then checked out cars during sale day, when well distanced numbers were venue-controlled within the Grandstand atrium saleroom. Meanwhile another 827 enthusiasts from 24 countries not only registered to bid on-line, but bought 50% of the cars.

Bonhams Motor Cars had a most successful month, too, staging three sales in four days in Florida, London and Bicester Heritage, achieving an 83% sale rate and selling 196 cars for £20m.

In the 1993 founded auction house’s New Bond Street flagship saleroom, all 11 Aston Martins sold out, led by a £425,500 1968 DB6 Volante. While in Hangar 113 at Bicester Heritage, a well crunched 1960 Jaguar XK150S 3.8 DHC for extensive repair and restoration was taken on in Oxfordshire for £90,000!

The same day, one county to the north in Warwickshire, Silverstone Auctions clocked up some model-record auction prices at Stoneleigh Park, where a 1995 Lancia Delta HF Evo 2 Final Edition raised £218,250 and £171,000 was paid for a 1999 Subaru 22B-ST 2-Door, one of 16 UK imports.

The following day in another well stocked Richard Edmonds tent pitched on a farm in Wiltshire, the highest priced UK auction car of the month was an Alfa Romeo 6C. The 1929 1750 Supercharged Sport Spider by Zagato had been consigned from the estate of the late Michael Hirst, proprietor of Frenchay Garage. The 3rd Series 1750 SS chassis 0312931 with 1933-dated replacement engine 121215071 was well sold and well bought for £588,000 including premium,

Finally, a really well presented H&H sale - with real punter present clutching ye olde much missed hard copy catalogues – was staged in the Imperial War Museum hangar at Duxford, where another £2.6m was spent on 94 changes of ownership, including £61,875 on the Ferrari 360 Modena supplied new to F1 driver and Sky commentator Martin Brundle in 2000.

Most interestingly, £29,812 also captured the 1939 Mercury Eight Series 99A Estate Car in Sahara Desert Khaki that was famously driven by George Formby in North Africa and Italy to entertain the troops during WW2.

Quite a month for auctioneers, their vendors and those buyers who spent over £67m on 1100 collector cars at the sales reviewed. RH-E