DB4 leads Bonhams’ record-breaking £7m Zoute Sale

By Lizzie Pope

| 9 Oct 2018

Classic & Sports Car – DB4 leads Bonhams’ record-breaking £7m Zoute Sale

This 1962 Aston Martin DB4 ‘Series V’ Vantage Sports Saloon (above) was the top lot at Bonhams’ sixth Zoute Sale on 5 October.

What’s more, when the gavel fell at £1.06m (€1,212,250) it also set a new world record for the model.

Any DB4 is something special, but this example, chassis number DB4/1133/L, is a particular delight.

Sold to a European bidder, it’s a matching-numbers car that’s one of only 17 original left-hand drive models, and one of just a few to have covered headlights. It’s also had a Special Series engine from new and has recently undergone a concours-standard restoration – all of which helps to explain that landmark figure.

With 82% of the lots finding buyers, the Belgian auction was a successful one for Bonhams, making around £7m (€7,930,343) in total.

This Ferrari 250GT Series II Pininfarina Coupé smashed its estimate and world record

The Aston wasn’t the only record-breaker, either. By beating its pre-sale estimate of £525-700,000 and selling for £860,000 (€989,000) the 1960 Ferrari 250GT Series II Pininfarina Coupé pictured above also achieved a world record.

One nugget from its history that might have endeared it to bidders at the Zoute Grand Prix auction is the fact that it’s spent all of its life in Belgium: it was delivered new to Garage Francorchamps – the Ferrari dealership of Jacques Swaters, the famed racing driver and one-time team owner of Ecurie Francorchamps and Ecurie Nationale Belge.

Restored in the mid-2000s, it won the 2014 Prix d’Élégance at the Zoute Concours d’Élégance and is a matching-numbers, Ferrari Classiche-certified car.

Beautiful, Bertone-penned Arnolt-Bristol Roadster

It’s not hard to appreciate why lot 24 (above) turned a great many heads – and achieved a £343,000 (€391,000) sale price.

This 1954 Arnolt-Bristol Roadster, with gorgeous coachwork courtesy of Carrozzeria Bertone, is one of 130 built. Delivered new to the US, it returned to Europe in 2006 and has been fully restored.

Another notable sale was the 1970 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow originally owned by Muhammad Ali, which more than doubled its pre-sale estimate when it sold for £116,000 (€132,250).

Unique 1936 Bentley (left) and ex-Ali Rolls

This rare Citroën sold for £373,000 (€425,500)

Pretty AC (left) and Austin-Healey were also in the sale

Meanwhile, another British marque, again with a well-known former owner, sold for £358,000 (€408,250).

The car was a 1936 Bentley 4¼-Litre Cabriolet ordered new by André Embiricos with coachwork by Jean Antem and a unique specification.

There was more rarity in the form of a 1973 Citroën DS23 IE Décapotable, which went for £373,000 (€425,500).

Chassis number DSFG 00FG0041 is the first of a trio of DS23 IE cars produced by Chapron for 1973, and one of just four with this engine.

In addition, a 1958 AC Ace Roadster sold for £282,000 (€322,000) and the hammer came down at £161,000 (€184,000) on a 1956 Austin-Healey 100M Factory ‘Le Mans’ Roadster.

Left-hand-drive Batmobile was one of the more eye-catching lots

Finally, a lot that we were very excited about sold to a European buyer in the room for £156,000 (€178,246).

The car in question? A 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’, one of 110 built. It was restored earlier this year and has an apparently genuine lifetime mileage of 57,280km (just over 35,500 miles).

Manufactured on 25 September 1973 and delivered on 2 November to the UK importer, it’s been with the same family since 1975 – and is now surely going to make its next owner very happy.

It’s a knockout: Ali’s Rolls for sale

This bonkers BMW Batmobile could be yours next month