There was a good buzz around the Leominster salerooms for the August sale with an exceptionally large number of viewers on site in the run-up to the sale and plenty of new clients registering to bid, a good few of them from overseas. By the time the dust had settled, 93 of the 134 lots on offer had been successfully sold for a total of £825,000 giving a healthy 70% sale rate.
Top price of the day went to a nicely restored matching numbers 1930 Morgan SuperSports which raised an impressive £36,960. In fact, pre-war cars had a good day all round, with all but three of the 13 examples on offer finding buyers. A smart 1925 Alvis TE 12/50 with Australian coachwork in the Cross & Ellis style fetched £19,600 and is now on its way to a new home in France.
A wonderfully original ‘shabby chic’ 1929 Austin Seven Gordon England Stadium raised £18,530 while another 1933 Austin Seven AJ Tourer made £9,800. A nicely preserved 1928 Humber 14/40 Tourer also changed hands at £14,000 while a 1934 Singer Nine Sports previously sold by Brightwells for £15,000 in 2020 made £12,320 this time around – a fair reflection of the recent dip in value of cars from this era. A delightful 1931 Talbot AM 75 Saloon also looked like an interesting buy at £13,890 for such a rare and high quality car.
At completely the other end of the spectrum, Japanese performance cars from the Nineties are hotly sought-after these days so it was no real surprise that a 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI RS with only 9,000 miles on the clock fetched £32,540 despite having a very chequered history which included being stolen in Tokyo before making its way to Cyprus via Dubai and thence to UK – all very murky but a fine car nonetheless!
Also well-travelled was a 1995 Chevrolet Corvette Indy Pace Car, one of only 527 made for the American market which came to the UK in 2012 and is now on its way to Monaco following a successful bid of £16,800.
Lots of cars are coming into the UK from South Africa at the moment due to favourable Rand/Sterling exchange rates, and while many are in fairly poor condition there are also some real gems among them. Such was the case with the 1983 Lancia Montecarlo S2 Spider on offer, a really sharp-looking example showing only 55,000 kms on the clock that deserved every penny of the £11,760 required to secure it.
Recently imported from America and then fully restored and converted to RHD was a 1968 Triumph TR250 which looked good value at £20,120 considering all the work that had gone into it. Not quite as sharp but still very presentable was a UK market 1966 Triumph TR4a which had no trouble in raising £19,470, such is the popularity of this model which seems immune to the market dip affecting higher value marques from this era.
The same could be said for the ever-popular MGB, a highly original and sweetly patinated 1963 Roadster with early pull-handle doors being keenly snapped up for £13,450. A nicely preserved 1957 MG Magnette ZB also did well at £9,860.
Fast Ford values are also famously buoyant at the moment so it was predictable that a really smart 1987 Ford Capri 280 Brooklands would easily find a buyer at £23,080.
All six of the motorcycles on offer found new homes, top price going to a nicely original 1927 BSA G27 Deluxe and Sidecar which made £12,320 and is now on its way to a new home in Canada, while a 1959 BMW R69 recommissioning project fetched £6,380.
The next Brightwells classic car auction will be on 13th September and the deadline for entries is 1st September so if you are considering selling, please do get in touch by calling 01568 611122 or by emailing classiccars@brightwells.com