Rocketman’s Ferrari Boxer and the King of Cool’s Excalibur – plus a huge variety of other collectors’ cars in every shape and form – were among the sale highlights of the Bonhams 77th Members’ Meeting auction at Goodwood this weekend.
11 Stars from the Bonhams 77th Members’ Meeting sale
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Rocketman’s Ferrari Boxer and the King of Cool’s Excalibur – plus a huge variety of other collectors’ cars in every shape and form – were among the sale highlights of the Bonhams 77th Members’ Meeting auction at Goodwood this weekend.
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Meanwhile the car that took the fancy of the King of Cool – Dean Martin – is rarer still, with only 22 of the V8-powered Mercedes SSK-style cars built in 1973. Restored, with 21,000 miles and that famous name in the logbook as the first owner, the Excalibur went to a new home for £75,900.
Here are some more highlights from the auction:
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Top priced child’s car
The honours here went to surely every kid’s dream machine: a miniature Silver Arrows pedal car. Made by Audi in 2008, the half scale replica of the famous Auto Union Type C sold for £6,325. Nine hundred and ninety-nine of the cars were hand-made with an aluminium body clothing a spaceframe chassis. The car features spoked wheels, pneumatic tyres, hydraulic disc brakes and chain drive with seven forward speeds. Some kid’s going to be very happy…
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Top priced number plate
Selling for way above its pre-sale estimate the star registration plate at this year’s auction sold for £166,750 including the premium. The plate? U8.
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Top priced racing car
A McLaren from the company’s glory days dominating Can-Am racing in North America was top lot among the competition machines. The 1966 M1B Group 7 Can-Am car, recently fettled by no less than Lanzante Racing, sold for £172,500. The Chevy 5.8-litre V8 powered sports racer has had only one shakedown test since refurbishment – we certainly hope to see it at Members’ Meeting next year!
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Top priced police car
With so many Minis providing so much entertainment elsewhere during the 77th Members’ Meeting, it was fitting another period-perfect Mini was in the Bonhams sale. But this was no racer, this was the car Liverpool Police used to catch all the boy racers. The 1970 Mini Cooper 1,275cc S MkII has been fully restored and could one day race… now that would make quite a sight chasing the field in the Betty Richmond Trophy with blue lights ablaze. It sold for £31,050.
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Top priced American car
Postwar Cadillacs don’t get much more desirable than an Eldorado convertible, and the 1954 Series 2 example in the sale showed why in spectacular fashion. Magnificent in its extravagance and over-the-top style, the car came to the UK in 1983 and has been restored to concours condition. How to make a big American statement for £69,000!
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Top priced Jaguar
Beating the E-Types on price, the exquisite XK150 S in the sale amply demonstrated why it is regarded as the ultimate XK sports car by selling for £188,333. The 3.8-litre roadster, one of only 24 right-drive S roadsters, has been continuously maintained rather than restored and today is said to be outstandingly original – right down to a service book signed by Sir Williams Lyons.
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Top priced Rolls-Royce
That was the 1931 20/25HP Shooting Brakes with coachwork by James Young. The car was originally commissioned – by American banker and US ambassador to the UK J Pierpoint Morgan II – as a landaulet bodied by Barker and Co. before being converted to a shooting brake in 1942. Perfect for a bit of huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’, the Rolls sold for £50,600.
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Top priced Porsche
The star among a good selection of Porsches in the sale was a 356A Speedster which sold for £241,500. Not currently UK registered, this super little 356 was restored in 2006 and has covered 11,000km since.
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Top priced French car
Of several Citroen DSs in the sale – some at the temptingly affordable end of the market – the star was the DS21 Décapotable, one of the original Henri Chapron convertibles from 1966. The rare right-hand-drive French beauty has had effectively two owners since 1986. It sold for £117,300.
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Top priced Mercedes
One of the cars from the Key Museum in Turkey in the sale, the 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SC coupe with Sindelfingen coachwork sold for an impressive £356,500. Only 200 of this post-war top-of-the-range Mercedes were ever made.
Photography by Pete Summers and Bonhams.
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