‘Over the Road’ with Bonhams at the Goodwood Revival 2015

At Bonhams’ Goodwood Revival sale, held ‘Over the Road’ from the historic circuit, auctioneer James Knight brought the gavel down on 88 lots, of which 52 found new homes on the day…

Surprise, surprise

As the heaving saleroom slowly thinned out throughout the lengthy four-hour sale, Knight’s sterling effort was rewarded several times, the biggest surprise being the 2005 Ford GT that smashed its £150,000-200,000 estimate, achieving £290,000 (£326,300, inc. premium). Other lots to well exceed their estimates were the Mercedes CLK DTM AMG (£200,000), the fabulous red, restoration-ready 1937 BMW 328 Cabriolet (£290,000) and, perhaps predictably, the ex-Keith Richards Bentley, which fetched £680,000 – that’s £763,100 all in. Rock 'n' roll!

There’s time yet...

Bonhams will be hoping for subsequent enquiries on some of the sale’s big hitters that failed to sell on the day: the Porsche 908/3 Turbo, the Bentley R-Type Continental and the Scarab sports car, to name but three. And we can imagine Chris Evans was a little disappointed when his trio of headlining Ferraris, the 275 GTB/6C, 250 GT Lusso and Daytona Spider, went unsold. The latter was bid to £2m, £300,000 more than the RM Sotheby’s brown car achieved just last week in London (also a non-sale), demonstrating the importance of colour when it comes to demand for classic Ferraris.

Money talks

We liked the ex-Autodelta Alfa Romeo Giulia TI – more so after seeing the enthralling St Mary’s Trophy race – and at £43,700 inclusive of fees (some £23,000 under its lower estimate), we thought it was well bought. Only two of the five planes offered managed to sell, the plethora of vintage aircraft starring at the event failing to inspire bidders. Have there been too many auctions in recent weeks? The market speaks for itself…