From a signed photograph of Juan Manuel Fangio to a Pagani Huayra, from the registration number D2 to one of the most famous Aston Martin racers ever, this year’s Bonhams Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard sale at Goodwood on July 13th promises an avalanche of automotive riches. It’s shaping up to be among the biggest and potentially most valuable auctions ever held at Goodwood.
From a Huayra to a photo – things you might have missed in the Bonhams #FOS sale
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The full catalogue is online at http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24876/ and take it from us browsing the wondrous objects up for grabs rarely gets better than this.
What will be the star of the show? There’s no doubt about it, the headlines on 14 July will be extolling the virtues (and value!) of the ex-Jim Clark Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, famous all around the world as 2 VEV, a numberplate so well known from so many iconic motorsport images. By some margin, it is the most valuable British car ever to be offered at a European auction.
Or perhaps the star of the Bonhams sale will be the 1957 BMW 507? With a guide of around £2 million it might be worth a fraction that 2 VEV is likely to make, but it is a one-owner car. That owner being the late World Champion driver and motorcycle rider John Surtees.
Then again maybe the hero of the FOS hour will be the ex-Richard Shuttleworth Alfa Romeo Tipo B Monoposto. One of the most significant and charismatic grand prix cars, this machine’s crowning achievement was winning the 1935 Donington Grand Prix. Bonhams believes it will make as much as £5 million.
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The Aston, the BMW and the Alfa have all been recent visitors to Goodwood, making their auction preview in the Bonhams marquee at the 76th Members’ Meeting back in March.
They will be joined at FOS by an astonishing range of enticing classics, important racing cars and wild modern-day supercars. This is where you really should start browsing for yourself, but here’s a few of the lots among the 80-odd cars for sale that made us look twice…
Cars like the 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT. The DB4 GT Zagato a bit on the pricey side? This almost-as-nice road racer is a snip at £2.3-2.5m.
Staying Aston, why not splash out on the 1965 DB5 as used by Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in the 007 movie, Goldeneye? It may not have all the gadgets of that other DB5, but it is a Bond original for £1.2-1.6m.
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If you bag the DB5 then it would be really neat to pair it up with the 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX that was used in filming the 2015 Bond film, Spectre. One of 10 built to Bowler race spec, “Bigfoot” (its wheels are 37-inch!) was extensively modified and upgraded by Land Rover SVO. It has a presale estimate of £220-250,000.
The film-star Defender comes with a neat numberplate – OO07 SVX – but if that’s a bit too obvious then grab 1 SVO that is also in the Bonhams sale, with a guide of £10-14,000. Surely JLR is going to snap that up?
Racers we love include the ex-Jerry Leonard 1955 Austin-Healey 100S sports racer (£580-640,000) – perfect for the Mille Miglia next year. Then there’s an ex-works, Goodwood race-winning 1954 AC Ace roadster, actually the first Ace ever built by AC so the tap-root of the Ace/Cobra dynasty and thus highly significant. With a guide of £380-480,000, it is the first time in 50 years the car has been offered for sale.
Everyone loves a Blower Bentley and Bonhams has a peach: a 1931
4½-litre supercharged tourer, with a guide of £2-2.5m.
The Bentley is fast but not as fast as this spectacular quartet of modern supercars: a 2012 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (the last of the 267mph record-breakers ever built), at £1.6-1.8m; a 2011 Aston Martin One-77 Q-Series with just 205 miles up, for the same guide price; a 2016 Pagani Huayra coupe at £1.3-1.6m; and coming in with a guide of £1.3-1.7m, a delivery-miles McLaren P1.
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E-Types, 911s (including the one from The Bridge Scandi-noir TV drama), SLs, 246 and 308 GTs, Continentals, Spiders, XKs, Lotus Cortinas and plenty of plucky Brit sports cars all add to the appeal of what is a huge and quality array.
And if you have £1000 to spend rather than a million? Never fear, tempters here include that aforementioned signed photograph of Juan Manuel Fangio among a host of pictures, posters, signs, mascots, picnic sets, models, books, brochures and a treasure trove of Donald Campbell and land speed record automobilia.
Not all of it comes in with a guide of a grand though: two race helmets that prove that are Fangio’s (£30-40,000) and Senna’s, worn during testing at Paul Ricard in 1994. That comes with a guide of up to £80,000.
Still a drop in the ocean next to that D2 numberplate. That is expected to make almost three times that…
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