Records shatter at Gooding’s Concours of Elegance sale

| 5 Sep 2020
Classic & Sports Car – Records shatter at Gooding’s Concours of Elegance sale

The much anticipated Passion of a Lifetime sale by Gooding & Company more than met its heady expectations at the Concours of Elegance, Hampton Court Palace, London, on 5 September, with a whole host of world record prices.

Its lead lot, the King Leopold Bugatti Type 59 from 1934, has raised the bar for Bugattis, achieving £9,535,000. The remarkable unrestored survivor had been tipped to hit £10m, but the price is still more than ever before for a Bug under the hammer. History was made by the Type 35C, too, selling for £3,935,000 – the highest paid for a Grand Prix example at auction. 

The Type 57S Atalante, pitched at more than £7m before the sale, hit £7,855,000 to make it a hat-trick of Bugatti records, being the most paid for a T57S Atalante at auction.

Classic & Sports Car – Records shatter at Gooding’s Concours of Elegance sale
Classic & Sports Car – Records shatter at Gooding’s Concours of Elegance sale

Classic & Sports Car – Records shatter at Gooding’s Concours of Elegance sale

Bugattis 35C and 57S Atalante; patinated 35C and Flaminia; record-breaking Lamborghini Miura

The Lamborghini Miura also has a new benchmark, as the wonderful gold 1971 P400 SV Speciale surpassed its £1.6-2m estimate to £3,207,000 – the most ever for a Miura. 

No Vauxhall 30-98 has ever achieved more than the 1924 example offered, either, which bettered its upper estimate of £1,200,000 to £1,247,000.

A 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model Sports Tourer sold for £345,000, £5000 shy of its lower estimate, and a 1939 Bentley 4¼ Litre Cabriolet by Vanvooren hit £517,500 (£450-600,000).

Classic & Sports Car – Records shatter at Gooding’s Concours of Elegance sale
Classic & Sports Car – Records shatter at Gooding’s Concours of Elegance sale

Aston Martin pair DB3S and Ulster; Bentley 4¼ Litre with record Vauxhall

Of the trio of Lancias, the 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider America crept inside its pre-sale hopes at £709,400 (£700-900,000), a brilliant 1924 Lambda 3rd Series Torpédo sold strongly for £391,000, edging towards its higher ticket of £400,000, while its Flaminia 2500 Sport stablemate achieved £310,500 (£400-500,000).

The pale blue Aston Martin Ulster fell just short of its £1.6-2.2m estimate range at £1,583,000, while the DB3S did the opposite and dropped inside its £3-4m expectations at £3,011,000. The red DB4 Zagato, slated for £7-9m, was the only car to fail to find a new home on the evening.


READ MORE

Porsche and Messerschmitt on top at Concours of Elegance

Original is best: ex-King Leopold Bugatti Type 59

11 cars from Vauxhall’s Heritage Collection for sale

Barn-find Gullwing: inside the October 2020 C&SC