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23/09/2004
H&H at Buxton 5/6th October 2004 Preview

An extremely rare pre-production 100, and the oldest known Austin-Healey in Europe, is one of the feature lots at H&H’s next sale at Buxton. £45,000 - 55,000 will buy you the actual 1953 Turin Motor Show car, and a big slice of Healey history.

Left Hand Drive, in deference to the company’s big export markets in the 1950s no doubt, the car appears attractively finished its original Healey Grey Blue. Described as being to concours standard the 2.6-litre four and four-speed manual gearbox, together with other little refinements built into this special car make it a very desirable version of what are now valuable cars. If this Healey does not appeal H&H have several others such as the well publicised ex-Bruce Reynolds - Great Train Robbery - 1962 3000 Mk II for £25,000 - 28,000, a restoration project 1962 3000 MKII 'Without Reserve', and an attractive Red/Cream RHD 1955 100/4 for £20,000 - 22,000.

Rival Coventry make Jaguar is well represented too. ‘Without Reserve’ is a 1955 Jaguar MK VIIM, and judging by the description it could well end up being the bargain of the sale. Finished in British Racing Green with light green interior and recently French polished woodwork it’s a nice looking car.

H&H have always been very strong on competition cars and one Jaguar that catches the eye is this 1955 XK140 FHC, at £24,000 - 28,000, a typical ‘hot’ XK with several performance tweaks to make it a nice club racer or rally car. The engine is modified with an XK150 big-bore block, hardened crank, Guy Broad cams, free flow manifold and straight-through SS exhaust, sealed cooling with expansion tank, 2" sand cast SUs and D Type cam covers. Other upgrades include a heavy-duty diaphragm clutch, hardened-steel half shafts, stiffened suspension with poly-bushes at the front, solid steering rack mountings, Konis, discs with XJ6 calipers and 6J wires shod with 185 HR 16 Vredestein tyres. A nice car prepared in the manner of the 1970s and ’80 ‘Thoroughbred Sportscar Championship. Coincidentally H&H also have a 1969 TVR Tuscan V8 LWB entered that won a similar racing series in the late ‘90s [a car that I have competed against - Ed]. This is priced at a reasonable £18,000 - 22,000 reflecting the fact you can only do so many (non pre-’65 FIA) things with it.

Pick of the many E-types entered would have to be the 1965 4.2 FHC, a Black with Beige interior car that’s described as ‘probably the finest available anywhere’. It’s priced at £28,000 - 32,000 so the saleroom will be the judge.

1965 Jaguar E-Type 4.2 FHC

1955 Jaguar XK140 FHC

1969 TVR Tuscan V8 LWB

Of course at £140,000 - 160,000, top billing at the auction would have to go to the 1937 Frazer Nash Single Seater, a single-seater owned and raced in period at Brooklands, Crystal Palace and the pre-war Donington circuit by the Hon. Peter Aitken. On the 30 June 2003 the car was issued with the current (and all-important) FIA Historic Vehicle Identity papers, which are included in the document file and confirm eligibility for `Period D' of the `Single-Seater Racing Car' category. Aitken ran a Maserati in pre-war events as well as the ‘Nash, anyone considering buying one of these now would be looking at £500,000+ so this is a good way of gaining an entry to those prestigious racing events at a fraction of that price (or that of a Bugatti or Alfa Romeo).

1971 Ford Escort Twin Cam

1932 Riley Racing Special

1966 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Cabriolet

There’s also a 1932 Riley Racing Special at £20,000 - 24,000 which may lack the lines of other pre-war cars but anyone who saw the ‘Dixon’ Riley at the inaugural ‘oldie’ race at Goodwood recently will know they can certainly ‘go’. Final competition car to mention must be the 1971 Ford Escort Twin Cam, a LHD Safari Rally Works car, £34,000 - 38,000 will buy you a genuine ex-Mikkola ‘wide-arch’ car.

On Tuesday 5th October, H&H will be auctioning over 500 items of Automobilia at the same venue, including the John Hardy Collection.

Please click HERE to see a full lotlist.

All the motor car lots in the sale can be viewed in colour, with full catalogue descriptions on the Classic Driver Car Database. Please click HERE to see the latest motor cars.

H&H Classic Auctions
Whitegate Farm,
Hatton Lane,
Hatton,
Cheshire WA4 4BZ
UK
www.classic-auctions.com

Tel: 0044 (0) 1925 730630
Fax: 0044 (0) 1925 730830
Email: info@classic-auctions.co.uk

Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - H&H

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