A concours-ready 1965 Aston Martin DB5, a former barn-find immaculately restored into a showpiece, led the bidding at the Bonhams Bond Street Sale in London, selling for £586,200 ($776 ,009) in the UK auction house’s final colldector car sale of the year.
The annual auction achieved a sales rate of 80 percent for the 55 cars offered, with a total result of £5.465 million ($7.236 million), including auction fees.
“We are so pleased to have ended the Bonhams UK motoring calendar on such a high,” Tim Schofield, the head of Bonhams Motor Cars UK, said in a news release. “This strong-performing sale offered a comprehensive selection of collector’s cars covering 100 years of motoring, which clearly appealed to our international clientele.”
A 1955 Austin Healey 100S competition car with significant in-period racing history, Bonhams auction says, reached the second highest sale at £575,000 ($761,000). The 100S variant is one of 55 produced, and just four made for the British market. Among the renowned drivers who have owned this Healey are David Shale and Tony Lanfranchi.
A pair of pre-war Bentleys from a 4-car collection also topped the auction, with a 1928 Bentley 6½-Litre Tourer selling for £460,000 ($609,000) and a 1930 Bentley 4½-Litre Vanden Plas-Style Tourer hitting £448,500 ($593,843).
A classy-looking 1933 Bugatti Type 46S two-door coupe with coachwork by James Young, sold for £460,000 ($609,000). One of 18 Type 46S variants produced, and the first to be brought into the UK, it was once owned by Charles Burnett III, the former land-speed record holder and heir to family interests in Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason, who inherited the car from his father, Charles Burnett II. It was offered from the Burnett family trust.
Contemporary cars did well at auction, including a one-owner 2010 Porsche 911 Type 997 SC Coupe which achieved £333,500 ($441,576), more than £100,000 ($132,400) above its top estimate.
Also among the newer lots were a pair of Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG supercars, a 2014 GT Final Edition coupe that reached £235,750 ($312,148) and a 2011 coupe that sold for £216,200 ($286,263).
The Bond Street Sale also auctioned a selection of automobilia, with notable results including UK registration plate ‘BH 14’ that sold for £16,100 ($21,317), doubling its pre-sale estimate.
Bonhams next auction in the US will be January 27 in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, visit the auction website.
