With an estimate of over a £1,000,000, Bonhams will be hoping that next week in London the 1929 Mercedes-Benz 38/250-hp SS will maintain their excellent record of selling big-ticket items at auction this year. This apart, the sale contains just over 100 other cars for all tastes and pockets.

The 1971 ex-London Motor Show Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona you can see above is a prime example. With just 2,911 miles recorded the car is in a totally original condition that extends to still having the factory wheel balance weights, untouched spare and unused toolkit. £95,000 - 100,000 is the estimate, a bit higher than usual with these cars but in the right colour (Dino Blue with Tan/Black interior) and with an unbeatable history. There’s also a nice-looking Silver 1972 Ferrari 365GTC/4 Coupé for £30,000 - 35,000, and (inevitably) a 1983 Ferrari 400i Coupé for £8,000 - 11,000.

‘Part Two’ of The Patrick Collection starts the motor car sale proper (there is comprehensive automobilia and motorcycles first of all) and comprises forty-odd lots that are interesting (if not staggeringly so) and usually very well preserved. To pick out a few examples, the 1984 BMW 635CSi Alpina B9 Coupé at £6,000 - 8,000, the 1985 Porsche 928S Series 2 at £7,000 - 10,000, and the 1988 Lancia Thema 8.32 (the Ferrari-engined one) for £5,000 - 7,000.

The Mercedes SS is well down the running order, some 70 lots from the start of the motor cars. For a full preview of the car you can do no better then viewing our original article. Suffice it to say the £4.18-million bid on an, admittedly more desirable, SSK at Goodwood this year has created a precedent for these cars in 2004. Bonhams are confidently estimating this car at £1,200,000 - 1,600,000 (rather than the more circumspect ‘Refer Dept.’). Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts can also fetch solid money and the 1910 40/50hp Open Drive Limousine present at Olympia is valued at £260,000 - 320,000. I seem to remember another one selling at the same auction in 2003.

The ex-Tom May 1952 Aston Martin DB2 is the famous car that the intrepid Major May accomplished the ‘80-80-80’ feat in 1995 (in his 80th year, he averaged 88.72mph over an 80-minute period at the British Millbrook proving ground). The car was in such a good state of preparation that its fastest lap was at 108.49mph, and with some discrete modifications such as triple carburettors, an aluminium radiator and 3.27 rear axle ratio it was considered suitable for Tom’s 90-90-90 next year. Sadly this ambition would not be fulfilled. A super car waiting for a new chapter in its eventful life.


Several Bentleys are entered, there’s a 1924/26 3-litre Four-Seat Tourer with VDP style coachwork at £60,000 - 80,000, a very nice 1928 3-Litre Tourer for £65,000 - 75,000, a 1988 Turbo R Saloon, £10,000 - 12,000, a 1935 3.5 litre Sports Saloon, £18,000 - 22,000 and this attractive 1949 MkVI 4¼-Litre Drophead Coupé by Abbott for £45,000 - 60,000. Of the early post-war design school that verges between understated English elegance and the brave new technological era exemplified by the jet engine, it’s a slightly Hollywood or Antibes sort of car; a true ‘boulevardier’ to utilise an over-used expression. There’s just a slip of the Faber-Castell between this sort of design and the ‘Docker Daimler’ as exemplified by Hooper, and for this Bonhams have as ‘fine’ an example as anyone could want in Lot 672, the 1956 Daimler 3.5-Litre Continental Coupé. For £25,000 - 35,000 the buyer will have an example of a car from (as the catalogue so elegantly puts it) ‘an age when excess still had the capacity to shock’. I couldn’t put it better myself.

To see the complete lotlisting please click HERE.

Bonhams Motor Cars Dept. 10 Salem Rd London W2 4DL UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7313 3176 Fax: +44 (0)20 7313 3170

Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - Bonhams