It’s one thing to advise, but it’s an entirely different thing to act. At Classic Car Auction Results, we spend our days searching through auction listings and studying what enthusiast cars are actually selling for. However, over conversation one day it came out that few of us had ever actually bought a car at auction.
We’d been talking for a little while about how much fun it would be to have an office car that we could each take on weekends, and as the discussion progressed, the cheap throwaway comment was quickly turning serious.
And then the website owner, Ian, called my bluff. Anglia Car Auctions were holding one of their famous classic car auctions that coming weekend. ‘You’ve got a £3,000 budget – head up and buy something fun for the office.’
Whoo-kay. No pressure.
The first task was to hunt through the 221 strong online catalogue and form our short list. Whilst our options were reasonably open, there were a couple of prerequisites; we didn’t want a restoration project, we didn’t want anything that needed too much work before it could be used, and whatever we bought had to offer a modicum of reliability without ridiculous levels of maintenance. And most importantly, it had to be fun. Our office is in central London and none of us drive to work, so commuting with it wouldn’t be an issue. But it needed to be a car that we would look forward to taking on weekends – nothing too practical, then.
After much debate we had put our shortlist together, and I jumped on the train out of London Kings Cross early one Saturday morning, bound for Kings Lynn. With just under two hours to travel, I read as much as possible on the cars we had chosen and wondered what awaited me at the other end. An ’88 Austin Mini Mary Quant was our first choice, but its estimate sat at the high end of our budget and we suspected it would sell for even more. A green ’99 Mk2 MX-5 seemed an obvious choice, and a silver ’99 Fiat Coupe was interesting to me but the boys back in the office had deemed it a little dull. There were three late eighties/early nineties era Mercedes-Benz’ that would have made cool cruisers, particularly an ex-Saudi Royal Family E220 limousine, and a yellow Peugeot 205 Rallye was an instant favourite.
I arrived at the auction and was instantly overwhelmed by the sheer energy of the place. It was packed with people, and all of the cars were unlocked and open for inspection.
Attending a classic auction makes for a great day out, even if you’ve got no intention of buying a car. It’s fun to just grab a coffee and wander about the lots, as you never quite know what you’ll find.
The auction format means you really need to know what you’re looking at, especially in a classic auction such as this. The cars are all unlocked and you can spend as much time inspecting as you like, but you cannot start the engine and you certainly can’t drive the car before you bid. You need to either be reasonably confident of what you’re looking at, or be prepared for the worst, but the upside is that you can often get a stellar deal. If you’re not an experienced mechanic and you’re looking at something high-end or complex, I’d definitely recommend hiring a specialist to come with you and help inspect the car. I’m no mechanic, so had arranged for Paul from Quest Brothers Classic Cars to meet me there.
We all secretly had the Peugeot as our number one pick, but Paul and I had deemed it a no-go as soon as we walked up. It had been prepared for motorsport; it had a roll cage that made me nervous just looking at it, and a twin carburettor conversion that clearly hadn’t been tuned very well. The poor thing barely ran. I don’t doubt that a little bit of effort would have transformed it into a brilliant weekend car, but it sadly didn’t meet our brief.
Paul inspected the MX-5 thoroughly. To me, it looked like a great little car and I would have bought it on the spot. Paul, however, had noticed some previous rust repairs underneath and he couldn’t verify how well they had been done. Not a deal breaker, though, as repair panels for MX-5’s are plentiful.
The Fiat Coupe made Paul and I both excited and nervous in equal parts. It was fitted with the naturally aspirated 20v 5 cylinder, not the turbo, but was otherwise immaculate. We couldn’t find a spot of rust on it, it was a two owner car (the first owner had it until January 2017,) and it had receipts for £4000 worth of work in the past eight months which included four new Pirelli tyres and the major cam-belt service. The thought lingered; who spends £4000 on a car, and then puts it up for auction when the estimate is only £3-4000? What else was wrong with this car that we couldn’t find?
Paul gave me his thoughts and headed off. I went into the office to register to bid – it was a matter of filling out a simple form and leaving a £10 deposit for my bidding number.
One-by-one, each car was driven through the crowd and parked in front of the auctioneer while bids were taken. On average, each car takes just 45 seconds to sell, so everything moves at an extremely fast pace. It’s a situation where you’re afraid to scratch your nose, and you really need to be on the ball to keep track of everything. The 220 lots took just under three hours to sell.
A tip I picked up is that each car is started a few minutes before its turn to be auctioned, and then driven through the building to the main area. You’ve got to make a quick decision, but it is possible to hear the cars started from cold and idled for a few minutes before you bid. The Mini was Lot 23, and it quickly exceeded our budget before I had a chance to bid. It sold for £4,462.
It wasn’t long until Lot 43, the Fiat came up. It created a bit of an awkward situation; the Fiat was my first choice due to its obscurity, but it was nobody else’s first choice. The MX-5 was Lot 47, a few cars later. If we bought the Fiat, then we obviously then couldn’t buy the MX-5 as well. But if we passed on the Fiat and bidding was strong on the MX-5, we would either end up overpaying for it, or come home with nothing.
Bidding opened at £2000, and bounced back between two bidders in £100 pound increments until it stalled at £2500. This was well below what we had decided the car was worth, and I had to make a split second decision. Bid now or forever hold my peace. I nervously raised my hand for a £2600 bid, and to my great surprise, nobody matched me. SOLD! Just like that, in the space of 48 seconds, I had bought the Fiat!
With buyers premium included, the total cost was £2730, so I headed to the auction office to settle the paperwork. You can either leave a deposit and return at a future date to collect the car, or pay in full on the spot and take it right away. We had no insurance arranged, so I decided to return a few days later to collect it.
I studied the service history and books on the train back to London. Only time would tell if this was a great decision, or something which we would come to regret.
I returned a few days later to collect the Fiat. With the keys in my hand I set course for Quest Brothers Classic Cars, who are located just outside of Cambridge. We were keen to start driving the Fiat right away, but decided that it needed a full inspection and safety check before we took it too far.
This was the nervous moment where we would discover just what we had bought. Thankfully, the news was good.
The cam belt had indeed been recently replaced, the oil was still golden, there was hardly any rust underneath and the shock absorbers, bushes and springs had all recently been replaced as well. The only advice was that the rear brake pads were getting a little low, so we gave it a wash and I continued on my way. An auction success story!
A thousand or so miles behind the wheel has us questioning whether there might be an issue with the clutch; it operates just fine, but the takeup point is higher than we would expect and we’re wondering if it might fail in the near future. That might have been the reason why the Coupe was sold – the previous owner had spent £4000 in 10 months, only to find that it now needs a clutch. But this is okay with us, even with the cost of replacing the clutch we still feel that we’ve got a great deal.
I’ve really fallen in love with it. The Chris Bangle penned lines (he was responsible for the controversial ‘Bangle Butt’ BMW 7 series of the early noughties) are unique, and as a piece of Industrial Design, the Fiat Coupe is a surefire future classic. It’s not really a sports car, it is far too nose-heavy for that, and its not a car that impresses on a quick squirt around the block. But it is one that grows on you with time, and I love taking it out. The five cylinder engine is punchy rather than properly fast but it sounds brilliant, and the Coupe is great fun to cruise on a fast and flowing road. In a word, it suits our brief perfectly; it is unique, it’s a little bit impractical but still useable, and I can’t wait to take it for a weekend away.
And what’s even better is that the Fiat is winning over each of my colleagues. Other than me, nobody really wanted it, but now they are all falling for it too. Everyone is planning their own weekends away with it, so expect plenty of future coverage.
This whole plan could have been a disaster, but it wasn’t. Choosing the Fiat was a bit of a gamble, it could have been a dog, but its quickly turning into one of the best ideas we’ve ever had.
Stay tuned for more.
Andrew Coles