‘JLR’S affordable rides could be yours’

When news of this broke in the office there was an instant response: ‘Are we having a day trip?’ Because no matter how many classic auctions you go to, they still have the potential to excite. The ‘Affordable Classics’ one Brightwells that announced just before we went to press ticks all our boxes. They are holding this special one-off sale to clear out some of the lesser stars of the Jaguar Land Rover collection; it seems largely taken from the 543 cars acquired from entrepreneur and collector James Hull in 2014.

You’ll need to hurry as the sale is scheduled for the day after this issue comes out, March 21, at Bicester Heritage. It’s a shame there wasn’t a greater lead time, but it does appear to have been arranged in a hurry.

So what exactly makes this such a don’t-miss event? Apart from the cache of them being from the JLR collection, all 56 of the cars (and over 100 pedal cars) are being offered at no reserve. Many are good-looking project cars; many are rare, which I’ll come to in a sec.

A sale like this can go one of three ways, the least likely being that it’s dull and predictable. A much better bet is that they will all sell for way above market value, which is a spectacle to behold in itself. But they may not, and that chance of picking up a no reserve bargain is what makes it truly unmissable. When that includes cars that you so rarely see, like Austin A40 Sports and Ford Zodiac MKIV estates, of which there are two of each, then you really start to get the picture. You can see the full list of cars offered at

brightwells.com; you can see us – probably mob-handed – at Bicester.

‘All 56 cars in the sale are being offered at no reserve’