Barnfind Aston heads £7.25m Goodwood sale

By Graeme Hurst

| 2 Jul 2011

Bonhams delivered another spectacular result for a barn find Aston at its annual Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The quarter of a million an overseas bidder shelled out on a 1963 DB5 (below) that was a near doppelganger (same colour, similar condition, off-the-road-for-35+ years) for the example that made £282,000 at its marque sale in late May.

As with the Works Service car, this DB5 carried a similar £70 - 90,000 estimate (entirely reasonable, given the circa £150k a full restoration on one of these Superleggera beauties would swallow) but the hype for unmolested DBs fuelled bidding and it sold to a buyer over the phone.

The result proves that the money taken on the previous one sold wasn't a fluke. It also headlined one of Bonhams most successful Festival of Speed auctions in the sale house's 19 year history with the annual celebration of motor sport although the sale was short of £1m+ lots.

Also strong on the project front - but making more economic sense, given current near-£500k values for restored cars - was the £298,500 paid for a partially restored but disassembled 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental (estimate £120,00-150,000).

And the Aston Martin brand was behind the sale's top result: the ex-Innes Ireland, Bertone-bodied 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 Cabriolet (below) sold for a just-over-mid-estimate £606,500.

Also selling well was the well-known, competition-winning Bugatti Type 35 (estimate £400 - 500,000) which crossed the block at £430,500. Built up and raced by the late Jack Perkins (well known in the Bugatti Owners' Club) the Type 35 had been re-bodied and its chassis number wasn't the original but the result was widely seen as a bargain in the room, given the heady prices Type 35's with full history have made in recent times.

A less desirable Type 37 bust its £120 - 160,000 estimate when it went under the hammer 15 lots earlier for £197,300.

The pre-war lots extended to the wonderfully patinated, one-family-owned-for-45-years 1928 Bentley 3-litre Speed Model (below, £128,000) and a rare, James Young bodied 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Drophead Coupe (estimate £90 - 120,000) which sold for £100,500.

Bonhams wasn't as lucky with the 1936 Jaguar SS100 it had on offer for £220 - 250,000, however. Bidding on the 2½-litre sports car stalled at £180,000.

The sale delivered some strong results on the supercar front. A 1989 Ferrari F40 sold for £353,500 (estimate £320 – 350,000) while a one-owner, 2004 Pagani Zonda C12 Roadster, painted in an ‘Elvis Presley Cadillac Pink’ broke through its £200 - 250,00 guide to change hands for £320,500.

Also smashing its estimate was a smart 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SL 'Pagoda' (below, estimate £30 - 40,000) that made £70,800 to a phone buyer with bidders fuelled by the car's massively desirable (and seriously cool) 280 SL private plate.

Fittingly (given the sale's location) Bonhams dished up some well known motorsport icons which included an ex Spike Anderson 1973 Datsun Samuri going under the hammer for £56,500 and the late Gerry Marshall's famous 1971 Vauxhall Firenza 'Old Nail' (both below) which sold for an estimate (£30 - 40,000) breaking £47,400.

The competition fare extended to a 1963 Sunbeam Tiger which boasted several fast road upgrades. A regular Classic Marathon participant, the Tiger was snapped up by Stuart Jackson (below) for £21,850 - his bid eliciting a round of applause for the enthusiasm he and his mates showed while bidding the car.

Slightly unusual was the 1959 BMC Race Transporter (above, right) which made £35,600.

Overall Bonhams sold 84% of the 97 lots on offer.

Graeme Hurst