Last year, our man Rémi Dargegen paid a visit to Autoworld Brussels, a magnificent museum in the Belgian capital that tells the story of the automobile, from the pioneering beginnings to its radical future. Now, Bonhams is poised to stage a collector car auction in the impressive neo-classical building Autoworld calls its home.
Next week, the magnificent Grand Palais in Paris will reverberate once again to the sound of horsepower when the four-wheeled stars of this year’s Tour Auto file out into the streets of the French capital and commence their 2,140km journey to the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet via Clermont-Ferrand, Limoges, Toulouse and Pont du Gard.
Gooding & Company is delighted to officially announce that the highly anticipated “Passion of a Lifetime” auction has been rescheduled for 5 September 2020. The company's first-ever sale outside of the US will take place during the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace. This historic venue, once home to Henry VIII and the Tudor dynasty, will serve as an awe-inspiring setting to a landmark sale. The once-in-a-lifetime auction event will be staged in the palace’s elegant formal gardens, providing both telephone and absentee bids and foregoing the traditional live audience. Celebrated auctioneer Charlie Ross, who brings his charismatic British charm to every Gooding & Company live auction event, will be commanding the auction stage. These 15 extraordinary cars hail from one of the world's most revered private collections and represent the culmination of decades of research and dedication. The collector's meticulous passion for the very finest brings together the most coveted and valuable examples of European sports and racing automobiles of the 20th century.
The electrification of classic cars is a contentious topic right now and we can understand why purists might get the hump about making irreversible changes that taint a rare car’s originality and provenance. But while we agree that ripping the beating heart out of an old sports car, a vital organ that lends so much soul and character, is unacceptable, when it comes to large, luxurious limousines, electrification actually makes perfect sense.
We’ve already taken a closer look at the headline lot for Dorotheum’s upcoming Classic Car and Motorcycle sale, the über-rare Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 GT, but now it’s time to peruse the rest of the 71-lot catalogue. As we’ve come to expect from the Austrian auction house, there is a wonderfully diverse selection of collector cars and motorcycles on offer, ranging from the tantalisingly affordable to the über-desirable.