Classic Car Auction Results analysis:
Available lots: 53
Lots sold: 41
Sell-through rate: 77.3%
Total sales amount: £12,645,569
Average vehicle value: £308,428
Individual results can be viewed by clicking here.
*this sale featured 13 automobila lots which have been excluded for the purpose of this vehicle analysis. All prices include 15% buyers’ premium.
If you’re into old cars, racing or the finer things in life, you needed to have been in Monaco last weekend for the annual Historic Grand Prix of Monaco. With open-wheeler cars stretching the entire timeline of the sport being raced around the exotic harbourside circuit, it’s every bit as exciting as it sounds. One of the headline events during Historic Grand Prix week was the Bonhams Sale, where several important racing cars and a small handful of highly collectable road cars went under the hammer.
Ex-Senna 1993 McLaren-Cosworth Ford MP4/8a – sold for £3,693,800
As Bonhams themselves are quick to point out, this vehicle represents the absolute crème de la crème of racing car sales. Factors that highly affect value include historical and technical importance, a verifiable provenance, originality, and current condition. Chassis number MP4/8-6 is the car that Ayrton Senna drove to his record-breaking sixth and final Monaco Grand Prix victory in 1993, after which it remained in the McLaren collection until 2006, where it has stayed in the hands of just one collector since. It presents in original condition, down to the actual engine and gearbox (verifiable by serial numbers) which Senna used for that victory, and is mechanically ready to be started and driven – a relative rarity for Formula One cars of this vintage. It ticks every possible box, making it one of the most important sales of the year.
Ex-Senna, ex-Johansson 1984 Toleman-Hart TG184 – sold for £1,416,800
Bonhams pulled off quite the coup by securing not only the last car to be driven at Monaco by Senna, but his first, as well. One can only hope that they have both gone to the same collection.
This Toleman-Hart was at the centre of the famously washed-out 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, where Senna had manhandled the underdog Toleman from a ninth place start to second, catching the McLaren-TAG Turbo of Prost at a rate of three seconds per lap. With just a seven-second deficit to Prost, the red and chequered flags were shown simultaneously, calling the race off due to the terrible weather. Prost slowed over the line, Senna passed and was convinced he had won. Of course, the customary prior-lap countback on display of the red flag left Prost as the victor, but Senna had undeniably announced his arrival as a legend of the sport.
1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS Touring Sunroof Coupé – sold for £506,000
Many have predicted that the Porsche bubble has officially burst, but the nuanced view is that the bubble has burst for the kinds of over-inflated cars that made ideal purchases for the bandwagon-jumpers, and that the right cars are still bringing the numbers. The example here seems to support that claim – this highly original, unmolested, matching-numbers example has a comprehensive history file from new and is showing a genuine 248,000km, somewhat justifying the dizzying half-million paid for it.
1967 Mercedes-Benz 280SL Convertible – sold for £202,400
What did we say about good money being paid for the right cars? At £202,400, this is the most expensive Pagoda that we’ve ever seen by at least fifty grand. Of course, it’s one of fewer than 300 built with the ZF five-speed manual, it’s the 77th 280 SL built, was retained by the factory as a press and test car, and benefits from a full restoration to concours condition. It goes to show that the market is still strong for the right cars.