£8.75m in one afternoon....
There was no shortage of enthusiasm for 007’s favourite marque during the 18th Bonhams sale for Aston Martins at AM Works in Newport Pagnell. Led by a £700,000 1970 DB6 Volante MkII requiring re-commissioning, 62 per cent of the Astons on offer sold for a total close to £6m.
New project managers were forthcoming however for all the barn finds and TLC cases, a significant vote of confidence in their longer-term future. While underlining the strength in depth of the classic car market as obsessive consumers hunt down the trimmings to dress or complete their pride and joy, were a 1964 ZF five-speed ’box for a DB5 changing hands for £5250 and an L&E Millennium hydraulic jack for a DB5/6 and DBS lifting £3500, while a bidder paying £813 obviously really needed an original DB6 horn push with chipped Bakelite surround.
But then, simultaneously in neighbouring Northamptonshire under the Silverstone Auctions hammer, a Ferrari issue Daytona 365GTB/4 tool roll with contents made a similarly astonishing £12,000 (more than the average price of a classic at auction last month!) during the automobilia session that preceded a 72 per cent sold £3.6m afternoon.
Two contestants competed for a numerically rare 1993 Porsche 911 964 Turbo S Leichtbau beside the Silverstone GP circuit, the winner breaking the half-million pound barrier by paying a gaspinducing £556,875; a very high valuation for a 964, once the poor relation of the 911 family.
Although 17 Astons did not sell and 21 reserves were too high for potential buyers at Silverstone, nearly £9m had nonetheless been bet on classic futures at the two head-to-head sales, only a few M1 junctions apart and not one politician in sight.