‘THE CALLS ARE CONSTANT!’
Anglia Car Auctions reports big demand for its delayed classic car sale
Anglia Car Auctions (ACA) founder, Rob George, has said that he is determined to make the auctioneer’s 13 June sale happen for buyers and sellers ‘come what may’.
The King’s Lynn auction house had to cancel a classic sale three weeks ago due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Rob said: ‘ Whatever happens, we will run the 13 June auction. We have two ways of tackling it. The phone calls and emails are constant; people still want to buy cars.’
Rob added that he hoped that small groups of interested bidders would be able to view lots by 13 June: ‘Instead of one viewing day, we’ll do five. Cars will be on site, locked, but with the bonnet open. You would make an appointment and we would give you the keys.
‘ We would, of course, abide by regulations; people might not want to be that close even if they were allowed out – we’re used to attracting 2000 people. We’d tape up the floor to observe social distancing, people’s temperatures would be taken at the door and everyone would have to wear gloves.’
Rob said that he has another option – live online streaming – if lockdown is still in force by the time the auction date arrives: ‘It would be like a normal sale; people could bid on the phone and via the internet. The cars would be filmed, started, walked around and driven up to the sales rostrum.’
However ACA ends up running its sale, it will also host an automobilia auction in aid of the NHS and Air Ambulance, to which Rob has donated a Honda ‘Monkey’ bike. He told Classic Car Weekly: ‘ We’re asking each vendor for a piece of automobilia, with all proceeds donated to charity.
‘ We’ll hold this on the day before the sale proper.’