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Classic Car Auctions

‘Right now the market feels really buoyant’

GARY DUNNE, CCA SALES MANAGER

What’s your take on the market as it stands?

Right now the market feels really buoyant. While one might have expected a slight slowdown, it has not been the case. We have just consigned over 160 cars for our June sale, with a combined value of more than £2 million, and are already actively discussing future consignments for our September sale. Everything points to that being another success.

How successful was last year, and 2017 to date?

Maybe this is all as a result of achievements so far in 2017, with record-breaking results in April of more than £2.4 million for a sale with 200 cars entered and over 80 per cent conversion to sale. 2016 ended very well, and while I only joined CCA in February the depth of knowledge of my team is second to none. Whether we are looking at a car worth £5000 or £50,000 our guys work just as hard on behalf of the vendor, ensuring that the cars are valued accurately and have a great chance to sell. A couple of outstanding successes helps, of course.

What is your take on the modern classics segment?

What has been particularly interesting for me has been the number of modern classics we are now seeing. I joined the retail motor trade in 1994 and some of the cars I have sold as new back then are now coming up as modern classics. Everyone is well aware of the ‘Fast Ford’ evolution over recent years and these are now joined by the French and German hot hatches such as the 205 and Golf GTis and Renault 5 GT Turbo. The Fast and Furious franchise has been driving up prices of performance Japanese cars, too.

Are your buyers exclusively enthusiasts?

With Classic Car Auctions being aimed at collectors looking to buy cars at up to £50-60,000 we are typically attracting both trade and private buyers. They know what they’re getting, we service them in the same way as if they were spending hundreds of thousands of pounds, and they enjoy the buzz of the saleroom, too. I don’t see any reason for this to change in the near future. People are enjoying their cars, tinkering or fettling with them and then are able to move them on again with very few, if any, costs, which is much more interesting that the average family car which depreciates at a rate of knots.