Skip to main content

Magazine

Bonhams Aston Martin Sale at Newport Pagnell - 12th May 2007 - Review



If 2005 was the year of the DB5 hardtop, and 2006 the year of the ‘Barn find’ DB4, 2007 saw Automobilia reach new heights and a 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mk2 Volante sell for £430,500.

Works Service at Newport Pagnell once again played host to Bonhams’ annual all-Aston Sale. With 12 months of ever-increasing prices, there was fevered speculation when bidding on the motor car lots started after an over-running automobilia section included two Aston Martin DB4 and 4GT workshop manual lots selling for £12,650 each, and a gearlever knob that featured a hinged lid and red-painted ejector seat button achieving a colossal £41,100. The applause that greeted Toby Wilson’s hammer on that one nearly brought the house down.

Back to the motor cars, this year’s sale emphasised the importance of the David Brown-era with a nice - but not exceptional - 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage, estimated at £50,000 - 55,000 but selling for £120,300 (a figure that includes buyer’s premium as all our prices do). The other DB6 coupés found new buyers at market prices; the 1967 Aston Martin DB6 for £51,000, and the 1969 Aston Martin DB6 Mk2, £52,100.



1995 Aston Martin Vantage - Sold for £52,100


1965 Aston Martin DB5 - Sold for £100,500

Convertible DB 6-cylinder Astons always do well at the sale, and if the estimate of £220,000 - 250,000 seemed bullish for the Goodwood Green 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mk2 Volante, a car with an impeccable service history at Works service, the final price of £430,500 wowed the saleroom and must be a record for a DB6. Compared to that, the £221,500 achieved by the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Convertible seemed ‘correct’, but certainly not 'cheap'.

Of the V8s, top billing rightly went to the 1989 Aston Martin Vantage Volante ‘Prince of Wales’ at £128,000, while the 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage looked a nice car in a popular colour for £34,500. One of the last truly limited-edition cars from Newport Pagnell, the 2000 Aston Martin SWB Vantage Volante Special Edition, sold at today's market values for £238,000.



1984 Aston Martin Lagonda Saloon - Sold for £11,730


1972 Aston Martin DBS Vantage - Sold for £25,300



Last year’s restoration project DB4 sold for £78,500, a high figure at the time considering the likely £250k bill to put the car back to ex-factory condition. In 2007 it was the turn of the only DB2 entered, an ostensibly complete car but one also requiring a total rebuild (by a smaller number of specialists) and unlikely to see such long-term growth as the DB4. Estimated at £15,000 - 20,000, the 1952 Aston Martin DB2 Drophead Coupé actually sold for £45,500.



1952 Aston Martin DB2 Drophead Coupé - Sold for £45,500


1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series 2 - Sold for £54,300

Of the non-sellers, neither registration number found new owners and the 2005 Aston Martin DBR9 fell a little short of the reserve, bid as it was to £440,000.

As previously mentioned the Automobilia at a Bonhams Aston Martin Sale has developed a momentum of its own.

Gear knobs and workshop manuals apart, a sizeable proportion of the sale was the superbly catalogued selection of arch-Aston collector Ulrich Schödel. He was ‘very pleased’ with the results, and significant items sold included the AM-branded bike for £9,775, and an original DB3S Owners manual for £1,610.

Please CLICK HERE to see the full Motor Cars results.

Bonhams Motor Cars Dept.
101 New Bond Street
London W1S 1SR
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7468 5801
Fax: +44 (0)20 7468 5802 Email: [email protected]

Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - Classic Driver


ClassicInside - The Classic Driver Newsletter
Free Subscription!