The seemingly never-ending barn-find fever helped push the takings for Bonhams’ largest-ever Beaulieu sale to a massive £2.49m, during the mammoth Beaulieu International Autojumble over the second weekend of September.
A complete, but in need of restoration, 1937 Bugatti Type 57 (estimate £40-50,000) and a 1966 Wolseley Hornet MkII Heinz Convertible (£2-3000) both smashed their estimates to sell for a whopping £165,500 and £13,800 respectively at the 10 September sale.
The Bugatti garnered so much interest that Bonhams had to juggle six absentee bids, along with 10 potential buyers on the phone and 12 bidders in the room.
Also boosting the sale total was the interest on yet another barn-find: the derelict (but complete) remains of a one-family-owned 1913 Isotta Fraschini that had been expected to sell for £20-30,000, but crossed the block for £78,500.
Another rare – but decidedly more obscure – car commanding huge attention was a 1926 OM Type 665S Tourer that had been entered with the same guide price as the Bugatti, but which romped home at a spectacular £106,000, after a duel between Swiss and Italian phone bidders.