A series of incredible prices – including nearly £1.8million paid for a race transporter – made Bonhams’ first sale at its new HQ one to remember.
With Dick Skipworth’s wonderful Ecurie Ecosse collection at the heart of it, there was a real buzz around the sale and all the main lots sold.
Naturally, the headlines were stolen by the converted 1960 Commer TS3 three-car transporter which raised £1,793,500, all the more amazing because it was ‘only’ £600k short of the the £2.55million given for the short-nose 1956 Jaguar D-type.
The collection’s other big-money lot was the 1952 C-type, which raised £2,913,500. The transporter and the two priciest cars from the collection are at this stage believed to have gone to a single buyer in the United States so, although the collection has inevitably been split up, it looks like key elements will stay together.
While the C- and D-type may not have matched the wildest pre-sale predictions, some of the other Ecurie Ecosse car did go stratospheric, including the £62k paid for the 1961 Austin-Healey Sprite and the £707k shelled out on the 1951 Jaguar XK120 roadster (main image).
Other cars from the Skipworth collection including the 1959 Tojeiro-Jaguar (£382,300), 1960 Cooper Monaco (£219k) and 1962/’63 Tojeiro EE-Buick (£214k).
The ex-Ringo Starr 1964 Facel Vega 2 that appeared on the cover of C&SC also made very healthy money at £337,500, but that was small beer compared to the £1.7million paid for a 1959 Aston Martin DB4GT and £1.3million taken on a 1934 Aston Martin Ulster.
Other results of interest included the £225,500 paid for a 1937 SS100 Jaguar 2.5-litre roadster and the fact that a well-known-on-the-concours circuit 1970 De Tomaso Mangusta topped £200k.
The other ‘collection’ offered at the sale included cars owned by the late John ‘Noddy’ Coombs.
Notable of these was his 1952 Frazer Nash Targa Florio (£270k) and his 1938 BMW 328, which cruised to £785,500.
The ex-Earl Court 1955 Austin-Healey 100M also astonished when bidding stopped at £161,660, but it was quickly overshadowed by the £270k paid for a well-campaigned 1961 Alfa Romeo SZ.
The £830k raised on a 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was less of a surprise and the London to Brighton eligible 1903 Clément 12/16HP rear-entry tonneau sold for a fraction under £350,000.
There was a lot of pre-sale hype for a rather more modern competition car, in the form of the ex-Michael Schumacher Benetton B194 single-seater, which sold for £617,500.
