The remains of the day

It’s been almost a year since the passing of Bill Drake, one of the most informed individuals on the subject of the Vespa motor scooter in the UK. Unfortunately, he died intestate and for various reasons, it has taken this long for the scooter residues of his estate to come to auction; but now, that has finally happened.

It must be said at this point that although Bill owned some very rare pieces of scooter history, in amongst all that, much of it has suffered from the ravages of time.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

The auction finally took place on March 22, 2022 with some interesting prices being achieved – although for some of those not experienced in the workings of auctions, there were some stings in the tail; there was a 30% ‘buyer’s premium’ to be added to the hammer price on most lots, while some – i.e. the (ahem) ‘complete’ scooters – attracted a purchaser’s premium of 10% plus VAT. Of course, all of this led to some sharp intakes of breath when purchasers realised what their final bill actually was! And on top of this, if they couldn’t take their winning lots straight away, it would cost them £5 per day storage as well.

HAMMER PRICES

The highest prices of the day were achieved by the scooters, with Bill’s 1953 Vespa Douglas Rod (with Morecambe & Wise provenance) achieving £6000. An unrestored Vespa SS180 reached £4800. While by far the rarest scooter on offer, Bill’s 1948 Vespa 98 went above reserve price for £26,000.

Elsewhere in the auction there were bargains to be had – and some very strange mix ’n’ match job lots whereby parts obviously linked to other auction items were being sold as separate lots. Some extra thought (and the help of a Vespa scooter expert) would have resolved these mismatches prior to the event and would have been instrumental in avoiding a few puzzled faces.

All in all, the auction was a sad end to the legacy of one of the UK’s most respected scooter aficionados.