H&H’s sale at Buxton this December, their ‘10th Anniversary Auction’, features over 80 cars many of which have celebrity connections or at least interesting prior ownership. Take the ‘Lady Di’ Range Rover for example, or one of David Beckham’s first ‘grown-up’ cars the 1996 BMW M3 Evolution Convertible at £18,000 – 20,000. Out of the paparazzi flashlight, but still belonging to this category, is the 1985 Mikkola/Hertz ex-works Audi Quattro SWB at £90,000 – 110,000.

The Audi is described as ‘the fastest and street legal way two people can be transported from A to B whether on tarmac or gravel’ and is from an era when the cars were just starting to be developed into highly-specialised competition vehicles but still, as with all rally cars, able to be driven on the public road. It is a fact that only around twenty or so of these short wheelbase cars were ever built as true competition cars, all of them serving in some works or semi-works capacity. This example is the one Hans Stuck Jnr used at Shelsley Walsh to emulate his father’s pre-war exploits in the Auto-Union (the forerunner of Audi of course). ‘What would you do with it?’ always comes to mind with some competition machinery, but with its price being but a fraction of what Audi spent on the cars at the time for the rally fan it represents a chance to buy the ‘GTO’ of the sport at reasonable money.

Of course the bulk of the sale is made up of solid classics from all the well-known marques, a significant proportion being of pre-war vintage the best being a 1931 Bentley 4.5 Litre Open Tourer. Estimated at £70,000 – 90,000, the car clearly requires restoration however it was last used some 18 years ago and one can be surprised at how little work is needed to get a car running again – although not in concours condition. The 1950 ex-HRH King George VI and Max Bygraves Daimler DB18 at £90,000 – 110,000 looks every inch the prime example of early 1950s’ British car design. The Daimler marque was always favoured by the monarchy and examples of these cars also found their way into the hands of show-business celebrities and self-made businessman. H&H do not state exactly when a bill for £81,594.25 from Hoopers for restoration work was charged, but clearly any prospective purchaser of the car will benefit from this sort of ‘money no object’ care over the years.

Six Ferraris are entered. A 1988 328GTS, £24,000 – 28,000, a 1983 400i £4,000 – 5,000, a 1981 400i Convertible by Autokraft, £6,500 – 7,500, a 1983 Mondial 3.0 QV Cabriolet at £11,000 – 13,000 and a 1986 Testarossa at £30,000 – 34,000. These, together with the late entry 1982 Mondial 3.0 QV at £8,000 – 9,000 show that entry to Ferrari ownership need not be expensive although the usual caveats of running costs should of course be borne in mind. The 400i Convertible is interesting in that a former owner was the rock guitarist Pete Townsend - the conversion being carried out by respected the company Autokraft for main dealers HR Owen. Other Italians include an ex-Doune Collection 1972 Fiat Dino 2400 Coupé at £7,000 – 8,000 and a 1994 Maserati Ghibli without reserve.

Several Rolls-Royce are entered, mainly from the pre-war period of which some are ‘barn-finds’ requiring restoration. It’s nice to see some of these peerless, dignified machines finding new owners and being brought back to life. Of the more modern examples a 1975 Camargue at £12,000 – 14,000 looks interesting, surely some day people will recognise the elegance of the big Pininfarina-styled motor car.

Also included in the sale is a rather nice 1959 Alvis TD 21 Convertible, first sold to a member of the Whitbread brewing dynasty and painted in ‘Whitbread Green’. Estimated at £16,000 – 18,000 the three-speed automatic car requires a little attention to its roof, and no doubt some sympathetic re-commissioning, but it photographs well and would provide a cheaper (by perhaps 50%), more modern-handling alternative to the equivalent Aston Martin DB2 Mk III.

The Sale is held at The Pavilion Gardens, Buxton, Derbyshire.

Viewing is from 09.00 am. Sales commence 1.30pm Tuesday 1st December with over 300 lots of automobilia.

To view the complete motor-car lotlist please CLICK HERE .

The motorcycle sale starts proceedings at 1.00pm on Wednesday 10th December with the motor cars following immediately afterwards.

To view the complete entry on the Classic Driver car database please CLICK HERE.

H&H Classic Auctions Ltd,
Whitegate Farm,
Hatton Lane,
Hatton, Cheshire, WA4 4BZ

Telephone: +44(0)1925 730630
Fax: +44(0)1925 730830

Text - Steve Wakefield