10 of the best classics coming to auction this week

Historics’ sale is packed with brilliant buys

This Saturday, 13 July, Historics auction house will send 180 classic machines across the block at its annual summer extravaganza, held at its traditional Brooklands Museum venue in Surrey. For full details, click here.

As well as being huge, the entry promises to be the firm’s most eclectic yet: it covers everything from motorbikes to fire engines, spans 90 years from 1922 to 2011, and includes a collection of bargain American classics (above).

C&SC took a look through the catalogue to pick out some of the most weird and wonderful lots on offer…

1922 Mack Open-cab Fire Truck

Estimate: £13-18,000

It makes sense to start with the oldest lot – not least because it’s also one of the most unusual. This imposing 1922 Mack Open-cab Fire Truck wears an estimate of just £13-18,000 – not bad for something that’s hyper-rare here in the UK.

Discovered in 1972 after being parked up in an oilfield scrapyard in California, where it had rested for some 25 years, the Mack was restored over the course of a year before being neglected once more.

Since its arrival in the UK it’s been renovated again, and finished in the livery of the New York Fire Department.

2002 Ferrari 550 Barchetta

Estimate: £250-285,000

After the oldest lot, we move on to one of the newest. Not the most recent, mind – that’s a 2011 Ferrari California (est £61-69,000) – but one of the most intriguing Prancing Horses of the modern era, the Ferrari 550 Barchetta Pininfarina.

Launched in 2000 to mark the 70th anniversary of Pininfarina, the 550 Barchetta revived the spirit of the 365GTS/4 Daytona Spider, combining open-top motoring with a classic 5474c V12 engine.

This white 2002 example is one of only 42 right-hand-drive cars and is guided at £250,000 to £285,000, having covered just 3250 miles during its 17-year life.

1972 Buick Riviera Boat-Tail

Estimate: no reserve

From one barchetta (little boat) to a very large land yacht, in the shape of this fabulous 1972 Buick Riviera. And what a shape it is.

The third-generation Riviera is arguably the wildest of all, swapping the stylish but relatively conservative style of earlier models with a bold ‘boat-tail’ style penned by Jerry Hirshberg under the direction of GM design chief Bill Mitchell.

Sales were disappointing, but today the dramatic-looking coupé is becoming increasingly sought-after, and this 1972 car is part of a collection of American classics up for grabs from a private enthusiast.

It's also set to feature in an upcoming C&SC article and, better still, it’s one of the 45 lots in the sale to be offered without reserve, so you could bag yourself a bargain!

2000 AC Cobra 212 S/C

Estimate: £80-100,000

An AC Cobra coming to auction is hardly unusual, but when it’s a super-rare 212 S/C it has to be worth a closer look.

One of only two right-hand-drive examples to emerge from the AC factory in 2000, the 212 S/C held the honour of being the world’s fastest-accelerating production car when it was new, courtesy of its single-piece carbonfibre tub body (weighing in at just 900kg) combined with a 3.5-litre, twin-turbo Lotus engine from the Esprit V8 developing 350bhp. 

The price for this unusual piece of AC history? At £80-100,000 it looks a steal compared with the more coveted earlier Cobras.

1965 Sunbeam Tiger

Estimate: £45-54,000

From Carroll Shelby’s most revered model (albeit a highly developed version of it) to one of the legendary Texan’s less famous creations, in the form of a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger rally car.

Finished in Mediterranean Blue with black trim, this Tiger was built by Jensen in 1965 and first registered in 1967. It was bought in near-concours condition in 2008 and turned into a historic rally machine by the vendor, who has since campaigned it extensively throughout the UK and Europe.

It’s apparently never failed to finish due to mechanical woes, and is on the button and ready to rally on.

1972 Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF

Estimate: £34-40,000

If the idea of rallying a V8-powered, hairy-chested roadster sounds a little too intimidating but you still want to get your fix on the stages, then how about this rather lovely 1972 Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF?

It’s not much cheaper than the Tiger, wearing a £34k lower estimate, but the original right-hand-drive example is believed to be a matching-numbers car and comes in the classic Fulvia rally livery of red with a black bonnet.

The Lancia made its way on to the rally circuit after being an insurance total loss in 1989, then subsequently being rebuilt with historic competition in mind – complete with full roll-cage, aluminium fuel tank, sump-guard and all fuel and brake lines located inside car.

The engine was rebuilt around 3000 miles ago with Omicron cams, pistons and competition exhaust manifold, plus twin Weber 45 DCOE carbs, and has been rolling-road tested where it produced a very healthy 137bhp.

1959 Bocar XP-5

Estimate: £80-110,000

There are 53 different marques represented in Historics’ sale, and surely none more obscure than the Bocar.

Designed and built by enterprising American enthusiast and racer Bob Carnes (the same man who popped a Cadillac engine into a Jaguar and dubbed it a ‘Jagillac’), the XP-5 is believed to be one of 30 cars produced, each subtly different in specification.

The majority of XP-5s are racers, but this youthful-looking, UK-registered 60-year old has never seen the track and is fully prepared for the road.

It features an eclectic specification that includes the evergreen Morris 1000 steering rack, modified Porsche 356 suspension and a 283cu in V8 from a Chevrolet Corvette – enough for a alleged 180mph at 6000rpm with its 3.5:1 differential. We suspect that driver courage may run out long before that is achieved…

1921 Rolls-Royce Twenty

Estimate: £95-120,000

Around £100,000 doesn’t seem like an awful lot to pay for a copper-bottomed piece of British automotive history, but that’s very much what this 1921 Rolls-Royce Twenty appears to be.

Launched during the post-WW1 drive for austerity, the 20hp was a new ‘entry level’ Rolls-Royce model slotted in beneath the 40/50hp Silver Ghost. This Goshawk II is reputedly the oldest-surviving Twenty, and was an experimental machine that for a period was the personal car of company co-founder Henry Royce.

The open tourer coachwork by Hooper & Co that Royce would have enjoyed on drives to his summer home in France was replaced in 1925 by a Sedanca Cabriolet body by TH Gill & Co, before the Twenty was sold to Sir F Stanley Hewett of St James, London – the first of 10 keepers, all of which are recorded.

1934 MG NA Magnette

Estimate: £40-50,000

The reputation of the affordable British sports car was forged prior to WW2 by the likes of this charming 1934 MG NA Magnette, which is coming on to the market for the first time in more than half a century.

Bought by the vendor in 1963 for the princely sum of £40, the Magnette came with no history and was in a very poor state. A painstaking – and fully documented – restoration ensued over the following six years, and the car has since been meticulously cared for.

When the rebuild was completed and the car was registered with the MG Car Club, it emerged that this NA had also successfully competed in the 1935 Rallye Monte-Carlo.

2003 Renault Avantime Privilege

Estimate: no reserve

Few cars of the noughties have a stronger claim for modern classic status than the wonderfully illogical, Matra-built ‘MPV coupé’ Renault Avantime. And you will likely have to go a long way to find a finer example than this 2003 Privilege 3-litre V6, which has covered fewer than 30,000 miles and even featured in a celebration of the Avantime by Martin Buckley in the November 2017 issue of C&SC.

As well as boasting the top-of-the-range trim level and engine, the handsome Steel Grey metallic Renault is one of a handful of UK cars to feature the rare ‘Exception Pack 2’ leather interior. It’s being sold without reserve.