Auction View
After the two most recent sale rates had fallen to only 46 per cent (in Surrey) and 54 per cent (in Herefordshire), UK auction market makers can engage top gear again and relax until the next slide dents consumer confidence. Only six lots failed to find buyers at the latest SWVA Drive Through in Dorset, where 92 per cent of vendors’ classics changed hands for a premium-inclusive £700,162.
One of the high fliers to take off just outside Poole on a Friday morning was an extraordinarily diligently restored 1949 Triumph 2000 Roadster (below). It was last auctioned in Southampton in 1965 – for £20 – before being taken on as a restoration project in 1999 for £1600. Eighteen years later, and very well turned out indeed, the famously Jim Bergerac- endorsed model finally fetched £11,820 more than the £19,500 top estimate to sell for £31,320 with premium – big money for what some unenlightened types view as an unfashionable slow-coach.
Another eyebrow-raising performer was a 1970 Jaguar E-type S2 4.2 fixed-head coupé. Patinated, but fitted with Eagle Racing upgrades, including a fivespeed gearbox and wide-rimmed wire wheels, which also overtook the Dorset firm’s £37,000-39,000 forecast to achieve £67,500
Whereas the catalogue cover featured Morris Mini Cooper 1275S MkI, it may have failed to find the required £33k+, not just because it was a left-hooker, but because it had been assembled from a complete knocked-down kit in Portugal in 1965.
And finally, the 75th of 475 purchase tax-qualifying Austin A35 pick-ups – too expensive in 1958, resulting in half of them being shipped overseas – had been in receipt of a £25k restoration back in 2001 and picked up a high (for this model, at any rate) £22,680.
SWVA’S 92 per cent sale rate is the highest logged on the UK auction circuit in recent weeks.
‘Auction markets can relax, until the next slide dents consumer confidence’