Luxury buys pull ahead
Peter Blond classics boost strong Goodwood Festival of Speed result
The Goodwood Festival of Speed provided a suitable soundtrack to Bonhams’ auction – a sale where the accent was on the rapid and the unashamedly luxurious from across the decades.
As the Festival is open to cars of all ages so too was the sale, meaning that the old guard whose preferences might be considered more traditional had to be content with modern classics in the catalogue – this year a single volume rather than the two or three volume ones that we might have seen in the past.
For those with more traditional tastes there was probably delight that the 1937 Frazer Nash BMW 328 Roadster (which had been with just owners since 1950) excited bidders enough to secure a premium-inclusive £636,600, casting a 1964 Aston Martin DB4 convertible once owned by theatre director Sir Peter Hall into second place at a still-impressive £588,440.
Securing four cars from the late Peter Blond was a notable coup, the 1933 Phantom II Continental saloon making £138,000 and a 1932 20/25hp Weymann coupé £69,000.
A pair of 1938 SS100S were o ered, and both sold. A 2½-litre was bought for £177,100 and a 3½-litre outpaced its smaller-engined sibling at £425,500, the former having been restored and the latter having contested the 1938 RAC Rally.
For those who like grand tourers from the late-1950s to late-1960s ‘golden era’ temptation included a 1962 Facel Vega Facel II (£115,000) and a 1967 Lamborghini 400GT (£230,000), while three Aston Martin DB6S – all o ered without reserve – sold for £103,500, £143,750 and £170,000 respectively, those sums well beyond the £80,500 that bought a 1963 Lagonda Rapide.
Bonhams returns to Goodwood later this year with its Revival Meeting sale, which is scheduled to take place on 17 September.
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