7 Cars You Shouldn't Miss At Bonhams' FOS Sale

You can view all the sales, cars plus an amazing variety of motoring and motorsport memorabilia, on the Bonhams website here but for our preview we thought we’d get Bonhams head of collectors’ cars, Tim Schofield, to show us around and pick a few highlights in different categories – including the one car in the auction that he’d most want to spend his own money on.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale this year is at 11am on Friday 24 June in the Bonhams marquee (near the Supercar Paddock).

Here then are Tim’s choices…

Most Significant

“This has to be the Aston Martin DB Team Car with a wonderful history – including seventh at Le Mans in 1949 – but in need of total restoration after being laid up in the early ‘70s. You’d probably only see one car globally every year with this sort of provenance in this condition, which makes this an incredibly rare opportunity for someone.  One day when it is ‘fresher’ it is comfortably a car worth a million and a half. How much would it cost to get there? That depends who you gave it to. If you took it Aston Martin Works at Newport Pagnell the restoration might cost around £400,000 plus VAT. But at the end of it you’d have a landmark car in Aston’s history which with the eligibility papers could be run in all the world’s greatest motoring events.” Estimate: £600-£900,000.

Most Valuable

“Ferrari 275 GTBs have performed extremely well in the market and as 275s go this one is a beauty. It’s also rare, being one of the last two-cam, six-carb cars and one of only 48 to have been made in right-drive. It might not be as powerful as the later four-cam but it’s purer in design terms and ranks as one of the finest GTs ever produced by Ferrari. Is it a good bet for the future? 275s have been a good bet for the past 30 years.” Estimate: £1.6-£1.9 million.

Cheapest 200mph Supercar

“My pick here is this 1985 Lister Jaguar 7.0-litre Le Mans coupe. When new it was a £160,000 car with around 500bhp and 200mph top speed. Autocar & Motor magazine tested this actual car in 1989 and concluded: ‘No Ferrari owner will know what it is like to have so much power’. Pretty soon after that this car was given twin superchargers! That was part of a general updating that’s said to have put the total cost of this car up to £250,000. We must have sold five or six Lister Jags in the past 10 years and their values just keep going up. This is one is ultra rare, very fast but definitely for someone not scared of big fuel and tyre bills!” Estimate: £40-£60,000.

Lowest Miles

“Many of the cars in the sale have very low recorded mileages but you have to go some to beat this BMW M1. This supercar legend has covered just 3,000 miles from when it was new in 1981. It’s an absolute time warp motor car, and in the right colour combination of white with black leather and cloth inside. This is number 413 of only 453 built, and with its German engineering, Giugiaro body and chassis by Lamborghini’s Dallara, it’s a real icon. I think M1s have a way to go still in terms of value. All the other sporting BMWs of the 1980s are charging on nicely and this is the daddy of them all.” Estimate: £280-£320,000.

Biggest Sleeper

“My pick for this category is a pretty little green sports car that is quite unique, and a real what-might-have-been. It’s Pininfarina’s idea of what the MGB could have turned into. At its estimate, the 1965 EX234 is surely the sleeper of the sale. It’s a useable car and a unique piece of motor industry heritage.  As an experimental design concept – with rather Fiat 124 Spider type looks – it’s has independent Hydrolastic suspension and body styling that is different from side to side: one side shows the coupe, the other how the roadster would look. An unrepeatable buy for the MG enthusiast.” Estimate: £35-£45,000.

Biggest Time Warp

“When the Alfa Romeo SZ came out in 1989 it was relatively affordable for a limited edition special from an Italian design house, and many buyers bought two: one to use, one to put away as an investment. But this was just before the collectors’ car market peaked in 1990, and some of the second cars stayed put away and were hardly ever used. This one-owner 1991 SZ has spent most of the past 25 years in a heated garage covered by its original SZ car cover. People called the SZ the Monster but I have always liked them and it can only be increasingly collectible.” Estimate: £60-£70,000.

Bargain Competition Machine

“This 1981 Audi Quattro rally car might not be a world rally winner but it still comes with a nice back story – and Hannu Mikkola did drive it in period. At its estimate it’s also about £120,000 less than the WRC car we sold at Members’ Meeting last year! It was the very first Quattro brought into the UK by Audi and served initially as a press car before being converted to rally spec. That’s when Hannu drove it in preparation for the Manx Rally. It’s been rallying recently and is ready to use.” Estimate: £120-£150,000.

And The Car I Would Buy...

“I have always had a hankering for a Series I 3.8 fixed-head E-type, and the car we have here does it for me. It’s a light blue two-owner car from new that needs a little tender loving care but with an estimate that reflects that. Its colour combination is spot on, it has the original number on it, and there’s a chance to improve it. Last year at Members’ Meeting we got £185k for an early flat-floor Series I FHC 3.8 so this (non flat floor) car looks a steal.” Estimate: £60-£80,000.

Photography by Tom Shaxson and Pete Summers