Chasing Cars

Why a market shakeup means it’s good news for the Jaguar SS100, plus supercars on the slide

It’s hard to know where the market is at the moment, with sales rates varying from SWVA’S 94.2% reported on last month down to the 51% RM Sotheby’s managed in London recently. And that number was helped by offering 28% of the cars at no reserve. At Goodwood, Bonhams bucked that growing trend and offered only two cars without reserves, presenting its 61.1% sales rate in a better light.

There’s now little interest in low- or no-mile hypercars, but it was surprising to see that none of the four nice Bristols offered by a marque collector found homes at the Revival sale. However, the two period race transporters really flew – £64,400 for the BMC one and £402,500 for the Fiat-bartoletti that appeared in the Steve Mcqueen Le Mans film. As well as the SS100 below right, it also did well with pre-war machines from Aston, Bentley, Bugatti and Rolls. The market is still in reset mode since the investors left the party to the enthusiasts.

404 was one of four Bristols that failed to sell at Goodwood

Bonhams’ Goodwood Revival sale was most notable for not relying on ‘no reserve’ offerings to get the job done. Percentages relate to the 113 vehicles offered.