Market Intelligence
Beyond the Spotlight: What We Missed at the 2024 International Auctions
What we've missed in this year's classic car auctions: rare cars, unique prototypes, and Steve McQueen’s Le Mans watch broke records, including Ford Racing Pumas, an Aga Khan Audi, and a legendary Dakar Rolls-Royce.
And so, we’ve reached the end of this year with our monitoring of International Auctions. But what did we miss? In the second half of the year, I spotted some truly appetizing pieces in smaller events—here are their stories.
While still in the middle of summer, a pair of Ford Pumas caught my interest. Compared to a standard Ford Puma, the ones offered by H&H on July 24 and by CCA on June 17 were rare Racing versions, a limited series of 500 units, featuring the 1.7 Zetec SE engine boosted from 125 bhp to 155 bhp with revised suspension. Available exclusively in blue with specific multi-spoke wheels, examples 174 and 321 had nothing particularly remarkable about them. The strange thing, however, was that both had been abandoned in garages and were promoted as “barn finds”. I believe these are the first barn finds of cars built after 2000. Still, this didn’t deter bidders, who appreciated the “Indiana Jones spirit” and pushed bids up to £11,700 and £11,250.
