10 great classics up for grabs in Historics’ MB World sale

By Marc McLaren

| 17 May 2019

Doing anything this weekend? You could do a lot worse than get yourself down to Historic Auctioneers’ sale at Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands.

The 180-car catalogue features everything from unassuming no-reserve superminis to £500,000 Aston Martins. There’s a 1972 Dino in dismantled form (estimate £135-165,000), a lovely 1972 Porsche 911S (£140-160,000) and a rare electric Zagato Zele 200 (£10-13,000). In short, there’s a huge variety of interesting lots on offer.

Fancy it? It takes place at Brooklands, Surrey, tomorrow morning (Saturday 18 May) and we’ve picked out 10 of our favourites below.

1. 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL

Estimate: £103,000 – £115,000

The BMW 3.0 CSL is an undisputed classic: designed as a homologation special to qualify the model for motorsport, it duly won the European Touring Car Championship five times between 1975 and ’79.

The roadgoing version is now widely revered – one starred on the cover of our October issue, after all – and prices are correspondingly lofty. This one is reasonably priced, especially given that it looks to be in superb condition. We love the Taiga Green finish with black interior, too.

View the full listing here

2. 1988 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3 16v Cosworth

Estimate: £12,000 – £16,000

Another German classic, albeit one with a far lower price tag, this Merc is an intriguing example of the high-performance 190E 2.3-16 model. It has a genuine claim to fame, too: it was originally owned by King Hussein of Jordan.

A RHD example with auto ’box, the description says it’s been garaged for most of its life – although with 102,127 miles on the clock, it’s clearly also seen plenty of road time.

It’s presented in Smoke Silver with black leather interior and comes with a raft of options including outside temperature display, Becker Mexico radio, electric sunroof and illuminated vanity mirrors. You’d expect nothing less of a royal motor.

View the full listing here

3. 1955 Renault 4CV ‘Bouton d’Or’

Estimate: No reserve

Built to the tune of more than one million between 1947 and ’61, the 4CV was a French icon. You don’t see them that often in the UK, though, and this no-reserve 1955 example looks like a cracker.

Imported to these shores in 1996, it was completely dismantled to bare metal and rebuilt from top to bottom soon after as part of a Renault charity competition. Need another reason to consider buying it? It is apparently named ‘Buttercup’…

View the full listing here

4. 1964 Morris Mini Cooper ‘S’ Mk. I

Estimate: £38,000 – £43,000

This year marks the Mini’s 60th birthday (yes, you might have read a bit about that already) and how better to celebrate the anniversary than by picking up a rare Cooper S.

And it really is a rare bird: the 1071cc model was the first 'S’, and was only built between April 1963 and August 1964, with around 4000 made in total. This one rolled off the production line on 16 January 1964 and still wears its Surf Blue and Old English White finish with Powder Blue and Gold interior.

It was comprehensively restored between 2003 and 2006, although the interior remains untouched and completely original. It’s not cheap, but it is a lovely example.

View the full listing here

5. 1986 Rolls-Royce Camargue Pininfarina Limited Edition

Estimate: £40,000 – £55,000

Now this really is a rare car. Only 531 Camargues of any kind were ever made, and the final 12 of these were designated special-edition models to celebrate, rather obscurely, the 80th anniversary of the first Rolls being sold in the US.

What that meant in practice was that these 12 gained a white with red/white leather interior, individually numbered plaques, Rolls-Royce monogram door caps and various additional extras such as a silver-plated, monogrammed vanity set.

This one’s number seven and is presented in impeccable condition.

View the full listing here

6. 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville

Estimate: £110,000 – £140,000

One Rolls not enough for you? This Phantom III dates from an era when every example was coachbuilt by hand, and wears lovely bodywork from J Gurney Nutting.

It was originally supplied to the Marquess of Queensberry and has spent much of its life in the US, where it is thought to have been restored at some stage.

View the full listing here

7. 1970 Alfa Romeo 1750 Spider Veloce

Estimate: £28,000 – £34,000

Our esteemed editor in chief Alastair Clements drove an Alfa Spider through Spain recently for a Classic & Sports Car cover shoot, though that one was a Duetto 1600, whereas this is a later 1750 Spider Veloce.

That’s a minor detail, though – the important bit is that it’s a gorgeous open-topped Italian sports car classic in seemingly good nick and with no known faults. We’re booking our Eurotunnel tickets now.

View the full listing here

8. 1974 Rover P6 Estoura

Estimate: £9000 – £12,000

The only thing you really need to know about the Rover P6 Estoura is that our own Martin Buckley recently included it in his list of the Top 10 Rare Estates. And trust us, Buckley is a man who knows his estate cars…

Created by FLM Panelcraft of Battersea, the P6 Estoura was only built to the tune of a few hundred examples (exact estimates vary) and while not exactly pretty, it is nonetheless endearingly quirky.

This one is said to be in good order and runs well.

View the full listing here

9. 1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series II

Estimate: £380,000 – £410,000

And now we’re really into the big hitters: this matching-numbers DB4 is one of several Astons in the Historics auction and is in excellent, mostly original condition throughout.

View the full listing here

10. 1964 Aston Martin DB5

Estimate: £525,000 – £575,000

The Aston Martin DB5 is every bit as intrinsic to the James Bond legend as outlandish gadgets and outdated innuendo. This one more so than most: it’s spent the last several years on display in Bond exhibitions and has been signed (on the glovebox) by one of the actors who played the secret agent on the big screen.

No, not Sean Connery, unfortunately. Nor Sir Roger Moore. But still, George Lazenby’s better than Timothy Dalton, right?

This superb DB5 is finished in Silver Birch – but of course – and is a matching-numbers example in very good order throughout. And if you buy it, you can always ask Mr Connery to add his scrawl to the glovebox too.

View the full listing here

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Have you ever seen a more varied car collection than this?