Smitten by a Ginetta
I wasn’t alone in being smitten by an HTPpapered and FIA Class GTP1-eligible Ginetta G12 GT sold for £45,000 by Coys the Autosport Racing Car Show at the NEC. The Ivor Walklett-designed G12 chassis number 3 was raced and crashed by Peter Creasey in 1967, subsequently repaired and then most recently rebuilt by Ian Macdonald and raced by him and the vendor in 2013, then by Mark Godfrey during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. With a Rapier-refreshed Gathercole Lotus Ford 1600 twin-cam and a Hewland Mk9 transmission, G12/3 should provide the new owner with an entry key to international historic racing.
A brace of Tipton Garage-prepped MercedesBenz tin-tops in Silver Arrows Silver with blue roofs were regularly exercised by their vendor at the Goodwood Revival and in the HRDC Touring Greats series; both sold under the hammer for £38,900 apiece with premium.
The 1958 220S Ponton, rare in RHD, had been legally upgraded with a W123 2.8 and a four-speed manual ’box of the same vintage. The similarly right-hand drive and manual sister car – a 1964 300SE ‘Fintail’ with M189 3.0-litre big block six campaigned for 17 consecutive seasons during the same ownership. I gather the new owners intend to carry on racing these Mercs in future.
The DTV Vauxhall Chevette HSR in iconic Andrews Heat For Hire livery that was driven by Russell Brookes to victory on the 1982 Circuit of Ireland was sold to a telephone bidder for £72,000, just over the lower estimate. But a 1985 MG Metro 6R4 in Rothmans colours appeared to stall at an insufficient £80,000, apparently close to what was required, and the Ford Team Escort RS1800 MII, which I once saw being driven by Bjorn Waldegard to second place overall on the 1979 Monte, also petered out at £65,000.
However, a Marlboro-liveried and MLP-built Escort Cosworth – a Group N class winner on the Argentinian round of the 1993 WRC that has appeared at Top Gear Live and on the Festival of Speed stage – was knocked down for £46,000, thus costing £52,100 including premium.
The highest priced lot to sell though was not a competition car, but a roadgoing classic, a 1958 Aston Martin DB Mk3 FHC that had been in receipt of a great deal of restorative attention in the workshop of specialists Four Ashes Garage.
Richard Hudson-Evans has been reporting on classic car sales for more than 25 years.