These £100K classics just sold at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting

A host of century-spanning cars went under the hammer

Amble along to your average club members’ meeting and you’ll likely find yourself immersed in idle chit chat ahead of a committee election and, if you’re lucky, a curry to close proceedings. Not Goodwood, though.

No, the annual GRRC Members’ Meeting is a little bit different: the symbolic start of the historic racing season, it invariably delivers a weekend packed with captivating classics – most of which race in anger.

Where better, then, to host an auction of remarkable classics? You can see the logic: watch a clutch of mid-century sports cars thundering round the West Sussex circuit, before bidding on an equally riveting selection of century-spanning motors.

And, while a bevy of the big ticket items didn’t sell – including a 1967 Lamborghini 400GT 2+2 previously owned by Sir Paul McCartney – there were still several sizeable sales at the Bonhams auction. Here are the 10 biggest.

10. 1968 Fiat Dino Spider

Sold for: £100,060

What do you do when you have a stellar V6 engine but can’t face the cost of building enough to meet homologation requirements? If you’re Ferrari, you commission Fiat to construct the block – and let them have their own model in return.

So was created the dashing Fiat Dino. In Spider form, it was a 160bhp Pininfarina-bodied two-seater that bore more than a passing resemblance to its distant Ferrari cousins. This pristine example carries its original bodywork, interior and a paint job redolent of mustard.

9. 1961 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Convertible

Sold for: £110,140

Where the lightweight, powerful Mercedes 300 SL was built to race, the 190 SL was altogether more affordable than the top-end Silver Star – despite sharing the better part of its styling and engineering (though lacking the tubular spaceframe).

Fitted with independent suspension and a capable 1.9-litre engine, it outclassed many a British sports car, even with its cruising bent. Stabled with the same owner for the last 25 years, its low mileage since a 1995 restoration made this 190 SL a hot lot on Sunday.

8. 1936 Talbot Alloy-Bodied BG110

Sold for: £113,500

Penned by Talbot’s chief engineer Georges Roesch, the BG110 was the last of his 3.5-litre machines and, with 120bhp squeezed from the engine, was both elegant and truly powerful.

Only 89 such Talbots were ever built, and just 14 of those were bodied in aluminium by Vanden Plas – a lightweight finish that unleashed the BG110’s ultimate performance.

This well-maintained 1936 machine is an all-original example of one of those 14, and has seen regular road rally action in recent years.

7. 1965 Jaguar E-type Series 1

Sold for: £119,100

An E-type’s an E-type, right? Wrong. If purity is what you want from your aerodynamic British tourer, it’s a Series 1 example you’re after – and the 4.2-litre iteration offered up the best blend of performance and drivability.

This 1965 E-type has a mysterious past, with little known of its life prior to its surfacing in Hong Kong in 2005. Come 2010, it underwent a complete restoration, which entailed some 4,000 man hours across almost three years, to make it a stellar running example (complete with practical performance upgrades). Not completely original, then, but beautiful all the same.

6. 1933 Lagonda M45

Sold for: £126,940

With 100mph in its range (going downhill), Lagonda’s 4.5-litre M45 put its hefty block and relatively compact body (based on that of the ZM 3-litre before it) to good use, winning a host of races in the early ‘30s – peaking with victory at Le Mans in 1935.

This example enjoyed an early racing career, before retiring to storage and, subsequently, a comprehensive strip-down restoration that sees it in excellent condition today.

5. 1959 Aston Martin DB Mark III

Sold for: £130,300

Evolved from the DB2/4 Mark II, the DB Mark III gained a simpler name and a symbolic grill – the first Aston of the David Brown era to carry that now ubiquitous front end. Under the hood, an updated Bentley-designed 2.9-litre straight-six made the Mark III good for 120mph, while disc brakes and overdrive gave it a dose of touring practicality.

Built in the last year of production, this beautiful example has been fastidiously maintained both visually and mechanically, making it ready to tackle period road rallies with its new owner.

4. 1956 Lancia Aurelia B24 Convertible

Sold for: £158,300

Carrying the first production V6 engine of any car, Lancia’s Aurelia was a clear sign of where post-war Italian sports cars were going. Launched in 1950, its finest iteration was the B24: wearing a magnificent Pininfarina-made body and the instantly recognisable Lancia grill, it combined performance, style and handling to outstanding effect.

One of only 521 B24 convertibles built, the example auctioned was restored in 2000 – including a full engine and chassis rebuild.

3. 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spring GTA

Sold for: £180,700

Externally identical to its roadgoing counterpart, Alfa’s racing Giulia Sprint GTA was lighter by some 200kg, by virtue of aluminium body panels, Plexiglas windows and a stripped back interior. In partnership with a race-tuned 170bhp engine, it was quite the force on European circuits.

This crimson Alfa saw action on UK circuits in the late ‘60s under the stewardship of Tommy Clapham – including a 1967 victory at Snetterton that made the front page of the Daily Express. Subsequently, it’s been raced in numerous period events, between several restorations that have kept it in race-ready condition.

2. 1967 Aston Martin DB6

Sold for: £186,300

The ultimate iteration of Aston Martin’s original DB machines (and doubtless one of the most beautiful), the evocative DB6 took the DB5’s style, added a Kamm-like rear end and made the whole thing more practical – while still looking the business.

Packing the same six-cylinder engine as the DB5, the DB6 auctioned at Goodwood benefited from a spec sheet replete with options – including power steering, chrome wire wheels and air conditioning. The latter doesn’t work, sadly, but that’s probably not an issue in the UK right now.

1. 1958 AC Ace

Sold for: £204,220

Without the AC Ace, we’d never have seen the Cobra – but this late-’50s British sports car is so much more than a stepping stone for Carroll Shelby. With a body developed from a bespoke racing design, the compact Ace inspired a host of tourers with its blend of drivability and accessible performance.

This 1958 example of the original Ace is one of just 21 produced in 1958 and, restored between 2007 and 2015, is made even rarer by its original AC engine.