ONE IN A BILLION

Think the auction market’s in decline? Its global value may surprise you…

‘Prices show how strong the market is’

The global classic car market has declined since hitting a peak in 2014/15 – but it’s still worth a third more than it was around five years ago.

That’s according to data released in the lastest Classic Car Auction

Yearbook – now in its 22nd edition – which charts prices, values and marques that are in or out of favour on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet while the classic auction world should be about the cars, to many it’s the statistics that really count, especially when it comes to prices made. And the Classic Car Auction

Yearbook duly obliges, revealing that the overall global auction market is now worth $1.086 billion. Covering the period September 1 2016 to 31 August 2017, it covers 5659 cars from 308 manufacturers, cataloguing major auctions across the world.

Those whose only interest in classics are the prices have plenty to keep them entertained, with a list of the Top 195 most expensive cars, Top 100 by make, a look back over the past 24 years’ Top Five and the Top 10 most expensive cars sold in the period that this book covers. A trend seen in the auctions covered – and definitely seen in many UK sales – is the increasing number of cars offered without reserve. Some 26 percent were noreserve lots, which had a significant impact as 14 no-reserve cars made it into the Top 100, up from just one last year. Such an increase isn’t the preserve of sellers wanting to take that approach – auctioneers don’t want to tie up money marketing high-value cars that ultimately may not sell.

There’s also a treasure trove of information that goes way beyond the facts that a classic car pub bore would dearly love to have close to hand, making it a valuable reflection of how the global market has performed, and giving clues to the UK market’s future direction.

Is this data important to anyone interested in old cars, or is it really only for those with serious amounts of money to spend? Despite the guide leaning towards higher-end cars, the answer has to be that it caters for both, because prices made this year at classic sales have demonstrated just how strong the market is, and how much money there is washing around, even when it comes to lower- (or perhaps now not quite so lower-) priced cars.

The Classic Car Auction Yearbook 2016-2017 is available from Chater’s Motoring Booksellers (chaters.co.uk, 01256 765443) priced £69.99.