Market Intelligence
Historics... Galloping ahead!
Historics auction house held an event in Royal Ascot, instead of its traditional Brooklands venue, due to social distancing requirements. The event saw 135 cars sold out of 170, representing 79.4% of the lots, and a total of £4,479,638 in sales. One of the most interesting lots was a Rover 75 Connoisseur SE V8, one of fewer than 900 produced, which sold for £19,244. The top lot was a 1967 Aston Martin DB6 which sold for £220,740, and the highest-performing lot was a 1989 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster which sold for £70,184, a new world record for this model. Additionally, a 1987 Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 Ex Sir Stirling Moss sold for £20,160.
The Historics auction house is inextricably associated with the Brooklands race circuit, so much so that enthusiasts call it “Historics at Brooklands”. Of the 5 auctions held last year, 4 were held at this location. But the new social distancing rules even managed to upset traditions that were previously “written in stone”.
Historics needed a different location to Brooklands for reasons of space. Royal Ascot, the most important equestrian event for this city and arguably the most glamorous of all England, was held behind closed doors this year. Why not exploit these circumstances? And so it was, with very interesting and positive results.
It should be noted that the Historics team is always able to organize simple and highly attractive auctions, “family events” almost: there were no millionaire lots from experts in the field but with so many interesting cars and absolutely affordable prices, it’s hard to get it wrong. Once again, they hit the mark: with 135 cars sold out of 170 lots on offer, they managed to sell almost 80% (79.4% to be precise) and the total takings of £4,479,638 is yet another demonstration of their skill, especially if we consider that this represents 74% of the total £6,046,000 value on offer.
