Rare Fiat Dino 2400 tops the charts and heads for the USA
The October Classic Car auction was a relatively compact affair by Brightwells’ standards with fewer vehicles on offer than usual but the viewers still came in their hundreds, with many more participating online. By the time the dust had settled, 62 of the 90 lots on offer had been successfully sold for a total of just over £776k to give a clearance rate of 68% - a very creditable performance in the current market.
Top seller of the day was a rare 1971 Fiat Dino 2400 Spider, one of only 420 made and with a freshly rebuilt engine but in need of attention to the paintwork which made £112,000. This was an excellent result for a Fiat Dino in a UK auction and the car is now on its way to a new home in America where this model is significantly more highly prized than it is here.
Attracting crowds of admirers during the viewing period was a magnificent 1932 Lanchester 30hp Straight-Eight which had been restored over a 30-year period and rebodied in the style of an open four-seat 30hp Tourer once owned by Nancy Lanchester. With engineering to rival any Rolls-Royce of the period, it looked a great buy at £46,000 and would undoubtedly have made significantly more had it sported a Spirit of Ecstasy mascot on the radiator – such is the power of badge snobbery!
A pair of Jaguar E-Types also sold well, a nicely presented 1969 Series Two Coupe fetching £42,560 while a largely original but slightly scruffy 1966 Series One 2+2 Automatic made a healthy £30,800. By way of comparison, a smart LHD 1959 Jaguar XK150 SE 3.8 Coupe could only raise £29,120 which indicates how these older Fifties Jaguars have dropped fairly significantly of late, although had it been RHD it would have made rather more.
A 1964 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk3 BJ8 was hammered away for £33,600 which seems to be the new going rate for decent examples of this model, again a drop of around 25% from the highs of a few years back. The same could be said of a 1954 Alvis TC21/100 Grey Lady in ‘driver quality’ condition which fetched £13,440.
Pre-war cars found the going fairly tough and although six of the nine on offer changed hands, prices were somewhat subdued, a 1924 Ford Model T Truck, a 1936 BSA Scout and a 1924 Austin 12/4 Windsor all falling into the £8k - £10k bracket rather than the £12k - £14k one would have expected a few years back.
Any Triumph 2000 Saloon is doing well to fetch much over £5k at auction but the 1965 example on offer made a strong £9,520 by virtue of its low 27k mileage and super original condition. Likewise a smart and highly original 1963 Rover P4 110 with 77k miles thoroughly deserved the £8,960 result, as did an equally smart and original 1974 Rover P6 3500S with 56k miles which made exactly the same amount.
Morgans always do well at Brightwells and a low-mileage 2000 Morgan Plus 8 with the rare and desirable 4.6 V8 had no trouble finding a buyer at £32,900.
The auction had a special Land Rover section and of the 23 on offer all but six were successfully sold, top price going to a 2016 Defender 90 Adventure with only 3,000 miles on the clock which made £47,600. A nicely restored 1956 Series One 86” made £25,670 which was probably some 25% less than it would have made a couple of years ago, again indicative of current market trends. The same could be said of the restored 1972 Range Rover Classic A-suffix which made £21,280.
Altogether a lively sale with lots of bidders, both here and abroad, showing that there is still strong demand for classics of all eras when pitched at the right level for current market conditions.
The next Brightwells Classic Car Auction will be on 4th December with a closing date for entries of 22nd November. If you are thinking of selling, please don’t hesitate get in touch by calling 01568 611122 or by emailing classiccars@brightwells.com for a free, no obligation valuation.
