Sold and selling; Subaru BRAT anyone?

But mostly it’s good-quality, mid-market cars that are selling the best

GULLWING PRICES may have slipped back in recent months, but Silverstone Auctions bucked the trend with the sale of a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL for £832,500. Sales at its Silverstone Classic auction totalled a very respectable £6.4m, with 74% of the entries, a mixture of classic and competition cars, sold over the weekend.

This particular Gullwing comes from a long-term private owner, and has been regularly used and very well maintained. It was sold alongside a 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, which achieved £203,625. One of the highlights among the competition cars was a 1988 Group A Rouse Ford Sierra RS500 Touring Car, which made £170,000.

The collection of the late Barrie Williams was also offered by Silverstone, his treasured Mini Cooper ‘S’ selling for £65,250. Whizzo’s Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF was well bought at £39,375, and his fun Fastakart trailer and moped proved a surprising hit at £3600.

Historics at Brooklands managed a middling sale rate of 65%, with around a quarter of the cars offered at no reserve. This 13 July sale at Brooklands Museum, with a large 180-car catalogue, produced a total revenue of £2.3m, with a 1981 Porsche 911 Turbo leading the sale in making a bang-on-estimate £91,840. Some of the higher-value cars failed to sell but buyers picked up several cars at very sensible prices. A 2012 McLaren MP4-12C (below) looked great value at £72,240.

H&H Classics generated sales of £1.3m at Buxton on 24 July, where some of the more bread-and-butter classics attracted good results on the way to a 70% sale rate. The novelty of an ex-police Triumph TR4 was not lost on buyers. Used by the Southend-onSea constabulary in period, this restored car attracted a final bid of £34,500. A single-owner Jaguar Mk2 2.4 automatic, in running and driving condition, sold above estimate for £14,287.

In the US, Mecum’s Denver auction held on 12-13 July was small by this auction house’s standards, with 358 vehicles sold over the two days. Sales of $10.2 million were recorded, a modified 1957 Ford Thunderbird taking the top spot at $181,500, closely followed by a B5 Blue 1970 Plymouth Superbird at $165,000. One of the few modern cars on offer, a very collectable 2016 Jaguar F-type Project 7, sold for $143,000.