Christie's at Jack Barclay Showroom, London 7th June 2004 - Review
“A reasonable £70,000 - 100,000 will buy this Healey. Bet it goes for more than that,” was our summary when previewing Christie’s Sale of the ex-Pat Moss 1960 Austin-Healey 3000. Well it certainly did, being finally hammered down for what must be a world record £175,750 including buyer’s premium.
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Over £2,000,000 in total was the sale figure on the night and the sold-by-lot figure of 86% must have pleased the Christie’s Motoring Department team. Three collections were included in the sale; a tremendous archive of rallying trophies, badges and memorabilia, the ‘M’ Collection of 18 Ferraris, and the Private Collection of 10 Rolls-Royce. In addition there were two feature lots, the pre-war 8-Litre Bentley and the 1910 Silver Ghost.
The ‘M’ Collection Ferraris represented a microcosm of the crazy 1980s/early ‘90s classic car boom. Many complete with the black ‘Californian’ wing mirrors (with de-rigueur peeling sticker), the collection looked runners, but were certainly a little tired. The pick of the bunch, both in condition and price, was the RHD 1966 Ferrari 275GTB 6C selling to a buyer in the room for £208,750 after some stiff telephone and saleroom bidding. All the 246 Dinos went, with prices from £36,425 to £38,775, the GTS commanding a roughly £2,000 premium. The other cars achieved market-average, such as the 1973 365GTB/4 'Daytona', £58,750, and the 1969 365GT 2+2 (unkindly known as the ‘Queen Mary’ in Ferrari circles) for £18,800. A surprisingly high figure - £30,550 - was gained by the 1988 Mondial 3.2 Cabriolet, someone clearly highly values summertime, open-top Ferrari motoring.
The 1966 Ferrari 330GTC, an ex-London Motor Show car, was bid to £32,000 but did not sell and was, in all honesty, not in the finest fettle, while the poor old 400 auto went to £4,800 and was also unsold.
The Ferraris despatched in Rupert Banner’s customary efficient manner, it was time for the 1931 Bentley Pre-War 8-litre Dual Cowl Tourer which sold smartly for £203,250 to a US collector on a ‘commission bid’. Close examination of the car in the saleroom revealed a vehicle that will need a lot of work to restore it to its former glories, but my goodness won’t it be nice when it’s done?
Mention must be made at this point of the 1961 Jaguar E-Type SI 3.8 'Flat Floor' selling for £37,600. The subject of a fastidious restoration costing £25,000 in 1989/91, the car has been little used since but was clearly in highly original order with the desirable earlier specification chassis, matching numbers, 3.8 motor and S1 bodywork. Given the volume of these cars manufactured, it’s difficult nowadays to see E-types achieve really good figures, all the more so at Auction. The 1967 S1.5 4.2 litre car did not sell. Six-cylinder British rival, the 1969 Aston Martin DB6 Mk I Vantage Volante, went well for £99,850.
Looking at the Austin-Healey 3000, set as it was amongst the magnificent rallying automobilia, one couldn’t help but think “This really is it; the genuine article”. Beautifully presented with just the right amount of patina matched with clearly on-the-button mechanical condition, it was no wonder bidding started strongly and then just went all the way to the £155,000 hammer price, that’s £175,750 including buyer’s premium. It was nice to see Pat Moss, and her husband Erik Carlsson, in the saleroom to witness her ex-1960 Liège-Rome-Liège rally-winning car change ownership for such a significant sum.
Most of the Private Collection Rolls-Royce found new owners, a useful £203,250 achieved by the 1992 Phantom VI Landaulette. Christie’s could not maintain their fine Silver Ghost record - the 1910 example, estimated at £300,000 - 400,000 was ‘only’ bid to £260,000. Another time perhaps.
Speaking of which, Christie’s next European sale will be at the Le Mans Classic on 23rd July. We’ve previewed the sale elsewhere but Monday night gave your author the opportunity to see the pre-war Bentleys entered; and I can confirm that they are utterly gorgeous and eminently desirable. As they say in the property business - early viewing recommended.
On August 12 Christie’s will be holding ‘their’ Monterey Sale at The Monterey Jet Center. Amongst other entries one of the features must be the 1959 Ferrari 250GT LWB California Spyder. Finished in black with red leather interior, the car is number 19 of only 49 produced and was originally delivered to the Swiss GP and Porsche driver Jo Siffert. Not seen on the market for more than a decade, it carries an estimate of $1,000,000-1,200,000. Full preview to come nearer the time.
1959 Ferrari 250GT LWB California Spyder. Est - $1,000,000-1,200,000
