The sale of the world’s oldest surviving Rolls-Royce for £3,521,500 may have made headlines around the globe, but Bonhams did well with many other entries at its Olympia sale, including the gorgeous RHD 1966 Ferrari 500 Superfast Coupé selling for £254,500.
The 1904 Rolls-Royce 10hp Two-Seater was first exhibited at The Paris Salon in the late Autumn of 1904, displayed at the Olympia Show in London in February 1905 - then returned to Olympia after some 102 years to be sold by Bonhams for the highest price ever paid at auction for both a Rolls-Royce and a veteran car (pre-1905).
The historic motor car was sold to a private UK collector, on the telephone, who successfully outbid two people in the room and two other telephone bidders. It is the only Rolls-Royce old enough to take part in the prestigious London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, and will stay in the UK.
 1975 Rolls-Royce Corniche Coupé - Sold for £16,100 |
 1904 Rolls-Royce 10hp Two Seater - Sold for £3,521,500 |
Back to more Classic Driver material, the Superfast was a glorious machine resplendent in pale metallic blue with tan leather and sold at its lower estimate, perhaps a result of the steering wheel being on the 'wrong' side for world markets. Also on the Maranello front was a nice-looking 1989 Ferrari 412GT for £22,425 and a lot of flat-12 Ferrari motoring for £38,900 in the form of a 1986 Testarossa.
Of the other headlining lots, neither the 1959 BRM Type 25 Formula 1 car nor the proper 'Blower' 1930 Bentley 4½-Litre Supercharged Tourer found new owners.
 1930 Delage D6L Tourer - Sold for £28,750 |
 1989 Ferrari 412GT Coupé - Sold for £22,425 |
Astons did well with a 1967 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage Automatic achieving £89,500 and a 1971 Aston Martin DB6 Mk2 Vantage £84,000. The much-fancied pre-War car, the 1930 International 2/4 1½-Litre Sports Tourer, went for a sizeable £106,000 - still a fraction of a no-less desirable 1930s Alfa Romeo or Bugatti.
A significant proportion of the catalogue was pre-War - and which War you may well ask (quite possibly the Boer judging by the age of some of them) - and Bonhams did well to sell not only the famous Rolls-Royce but also such specialities as the 1900 Benz Ideal 3 1/2hp Dos-à-Dos Spindle-back Four-seater for £133,500.
The Age of Elegance was well represented by the magnificent 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6B 37.2hp 6.6-litre Coupé de Ville. It sold for £397,500 and the most hardened enthusiast for 1960s GTs could not deny it was a beautifully constructed piece of automotive engineering.
 1965 Ford Lotus Cortina MkI Saloon - Sold for £136,800 |
 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 3.0-Litre Drophead Coupé - Sold for £24,150 |
Finally, the famous 'Make Roads Safe', 115,000-mile, 2005 Aston Martin V8 Vantage went for £38,900, with the entire proceeds generously donated by Aston Martin Lagonda to UNICEF China. Once through a car wash and you'd never know it had been the first car to cover the entire length of the newly completed Asia-Pacific Highway...
Prior to the motor cars, Bonhams sold various items of automobilia including a racing helmet believed used by Jody Scheckter during his 1979 Drivers’ Formula 1 World Championship-winning season for £2,990, while the registration number ‘FLY 1’ - sold on behalf of the family of Sir Freddie Laker - fetched £62,000.
Please CLICK HERE to see the full results.
Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - Bonhams
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