Having been painted silver and shipped to New York when new, it came to the UK in 1989, now red, and its first owner here was Lotus Team Manager, Peter Warr.
It was sold with a substantial history file and has been enjoyed on European driving holidays, which we hope will give inspiration to its next owner – wouldn’t it be amazing to spot this car on a sun-kissed road trip?
Not only did this Mercedes not achieve its anticipated price, many of the sale’s other higher-priced lots failed to sell at all – both trends seen in other recent auctions.
The lot with the second-highest estimate, a fresh-to-the-market 1965 Aston Martin DB5 that it was thought would hit £575-675,000, didn’t sell.
A 2018 Ferrari California T ‘70th Anniversary’ with the third-highest guide price did sell, and within its estimate when the gavel came down at £270,000 (£255-285,000).
However, running down the list of estimates, the next three were unsold: a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300b Cabriolet (£200-250,000), the seven-mile 1985 MG Metro 6R4 (£200-240,000) and the ex-John Whitmore 1965 Ford Lotus Cortina (£190-220,000).
Of course, that’s not to say there wasn’t some success. All the cars consigned to the sale from the estate of the late Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams found new homes, the Lancia Fulvia HF 1600 reaching £39,375, £65,250 for the 1963 Austin Mini Cooper S, Williams’ kart selling for £3600 and his Gilera Stalker Paddock Bike fetching for £731.
