H&H and ACA Auctions. A shame not to have been there…
27 June 2025 4 min read 10 images
Photo credit: ACA Anglia Car Auctions, H&H
Two new British auctions, where, as ever, there is much to learn. H&H organised a sale at Newark, in Nottinghamshire, on 17th June: 83 cars offered, 42 sold, for a sell-through rate of 50.60%. That figure, decidedly low, is one we cannot fully interpret. Certain cars are listed as "SOLD" but without a recorded hammer price. To avoid distorting all the parameters, we will work from the published figures: £1,179,010 in realised value and an average price of just £28,072. Cars offered without reserve represented 13% of the total.
ACA held its sale at King's Lynn, their headquarters, between 20th and 21st June, selling 215 of the 313 cars offered and achieving a 68.69% success rate. Despite the considerably larger number of cars entered, the combined pre-sale value reached only £1,631,750, and by the close of the auction total sales amounted to £1,262,534. As is typical of ACA, the average price was markedly modest — just £5,872 per car — and those offered without reserve accounted for little more than a third of the lots: 109, equal to 35%.
Following chronological order, we begin with H&H. The most expensive lot of the entire sale was a 2010 Bentley Brooklands Coupé. A magnificent example in dark metallic blue with ivory interior, one of 105 right-hand-drive cars built, it had been sold new to a collector and then passed, in 2019, to the celebrated Jay Kay, frontman of Jamiroquai. Showing just over 11,000 miles. The rarity, the condition, and the provenance placed it firmly at the upper end of the model's range, and the estimate of £120,000–140,000 was more than justified. It closed at £147,375 — a thoroughly correct figure.
In terms of curiosity, the prize goes without question to the 2001 Strathcarron SC-5A. At first glance it recalls the Lotus Elise — and indeed it occupied the same niche — but it is very different: it runs a motorcycle engine, a Triumph 1200 producing 120 bhp (the Lotus Elise carried a 1.8 Rover unit producing 143 bhp), yet it weighs just 545 kg, more than two hundred kilograms less than its rival. The power-to-weight ratio tilts accordingly in favour of the SC-5A. It appealed to me also for its rarity: 150 examples were planned, but credible sources speak of somewhere between six and seventeen units built. It is quite possible that this orange example, showing 5,700 miles, is the only one in circulation. Difficult to value, but the estimate of £22,000–26,000 proved reasonably accurate: it changed hands for £20,250.
From a historical standpoint, the 1955 Sunbeam Alpine III registered "RPH 704" was in a category of its own. In 1952, Stirling Moss was a young man of 22, dividing his time between single-seaters and rallying. That year, Sunbeam engaged him for the Monte Carlo Rally, where he finished second. A collaboration followed that lasted years. It was set to continue in 1955, and "RPH 704" was to be the very car in which he would have contested the Coupe des Alpes — but with the Le Mans tragedy having occurred just days before, the Automobile Club de France decided to cancel all motorsport competitions. Although this car never raced, numerous photographs survive of Moss testing it. Beyond that, it carries a series of details found on no other example: a history that justified an estimate of £50,000–60,000, double that of a standard car. Whoever paid £45,000 for it made a sound acquisition — even if they did, after all, pay twice what a standard example would fetch.
In the contest for the highest price, the 1977 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow I surpassed everything. In truth, this was a record that announced itself: bought new by the vendor who brought it to auction, it had covered just 604 miles from new. Brown with pale leather interior, the floor mats remained in their original box alongside all accessories, never used. Faultless in every respect. An unrepeatable car with an equally unrepeatable price: the estimate was £70,000–90,000; the hammer fell at £82,125. Setting aside examples with famous ownership histories, this is the new record for the model.
As we have seen, ACA offered a far broader selection, though at values that were genuinely modest. Which is why no car reached £50,000. The most expensive was a 1962 Jaguar E-Type S1 3.8 FHC. In light blue with a black interior, it changed hands three times in its first decade but has remained within the same family from 1972 to the present day. Fully restored some twenty years ago, it had not been recommissioned since 2018, though in 2024 nearly £5,000 worth of work was carried out. Compared to a few years ago this model has lost a little of its lustre, but the estimate of £40,000–45,000 was decidedly pessimistic — sold at £45,900, it remains a very sound proposition.
Among the ACA entries, nostalgia often plays tricks. Consider the 1992 Mercedes-Benz 600 SEL. Grand tourers and flagships depreciate rapidly and carry high maintenance and running costs. They frequently end their days in a scrapyard, which makes survivors genuinely scarce. I have a soft spot for this model — I remember it as the driven protagonist of the film The Peacemaker with George Clooney. A very fine shade of amaranth with a light interior, the V12 enormously expensive to service but in working order; estimated at £4,000–6,000, it sold for £5,616. Best to set aside thoughts of what it cost new.
The Triumph GT6 is the one I would have taken home. For a long time I have considered buying one, to the point that — even without the auction house's notes — I can tell you this is the third, and final, series. I have always tended to prefer the second series for its rear light treatment, so much closer in spirit to the baby Jaguar E-Type, but the MkIII was the more powerful, so the choice has never been straightforward. This 1972 example, white with a black interior, had been off the road since 1989. The estimate of £3,000–5,000 was low precisely because any restoration work would likely exceed the car's value. Sold at £3,024, it almost certainly will.
The final ACA car was a very rare Nissan 300ZX Turbo. This was the model preceding the coveted and rare Z31 — itself already scarce, making this example rarer still. Developed for the American market, this 2+2 Targa dated from 1984, was fitted with the uncommon manual gearbox, and showed just 69,000 miles, in all likelihood original. Off the road since 2010, a thorough inspection before returning it to use was strongly advised. The estimate remained close to ACA's average at £6,000–8,000, and it sold within that range: £6,210.
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