Bonhams Sale

Simon P · Post by **Simon P** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:25 am

I trotted along to Bonhams sale at the RAF Museum Hendon yesterday.

There were five E-types on offer. An 'ex-Lofty England' 2+2 development car with overdrive fitted by the factory went for just shy of ?44k, an S2 roadster went for ?61k, and a LHD 3.8 FHC, which looked very nice apart from the fact that the bonnet looked like it had been resprayed using the old 'Halfords Maracas' rather surprisingly made only ?44k.

More surprisingly, a couple of barn find 3.8 FHCs which were really good only for their chassis plates, engine blocks, tailgates, and glass, which were both being sold without reserve and with estimates of ?10-12k each, both went for around ?30k apiece

:

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21899/lot/302/

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21899/lot/303/

I guess the rationale is if you're going to restore an E-type you might as well start with a basket case because at least that way you know what you're letting yourself in for! Doubtless both cars will emerge in a few years' time, better than new, with price tags of ?150k upwards....

V12 Epyte · Post by **V12 Epyte** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:09 pm

Note for David ,the early red car also had sun visors edged in chrome trim again

Simon P · Post by **Simon P** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 10:55 am

And looking at the website post-sale, it looks like the overdrive/Lofty England car must have failed to hit reserve and therefore didn't sell at ?44k after all.

Post by **Heuer** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 11:18 am

All good news because a professional restoration will end up costing ?150k+ on each so people are valuing genuine UK registered RHD FHC 3.8 cars at ?180k! There were only 1,799 3.8 FHC's and 936 OTS's produced which compares to 1,023 2+2 DB5's!

MarkE · Post by **MarkE** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 1:22 pm

GENUINE UK registered RHD...cars? They may have a genuine roof, and perhaps part of a genuine bulkhead, but the rest of the shell is going to be courtesy of Mr Robey. I can't see that much of the chromework, brackets and trim will be of much use, not that the red car has any to start with. A genuine REPRO UK registered RHD car surely??!! I'm afraid that is all you will get starting with this sort of basket case. Well, and a huge bill of course.

Crazy, crazy prices.

V12 Epyte · Post by **V12 Epyte** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 3:47 pm

The Red car also had the Fred Flintstone option with no nearside floor

vipergts · Post by **vipergts** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 3:47 pm

Makes my 62 FHC that I just bought very good value...Especially since I'm going to have it MOTd and driving. Not sure how these were kept in dry storage........I'me pretty sure they couldn't have looked that bad when stored in the 70's. Doesn't make sense though why cars you see advertised at dealers for 55-60 up and running and seemingly good.

Simon P · Post by **Simon P** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 4:07 pm

Just as remarkable as the number of E-types that seem to have been stuffed away in barns (seriously, who does that?), is the number of people with barns. I mean, really - who in this day and age still owns a barn?

MarkE · Post by **MarkE** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:50 pm

Simon, there are a lot of barns outside London. Around here, probably one every ten acres or so. Each smallholding has one or two, each farm a few more.

Multiply that out by however many acres of farmland there is in the UK, and you'll have many 10s of thousands of barns and outbuildings.

Lots of goodies stored within! My other interest is Lotus Cortinas, and I've recently been told of a stash of 12 Mk 1 Lotus Cortinas that were tucked away in the 70s...in one barn.

If you think that daft money is spent on rusty Jags, you should see what folks pay for 'barn-find' Cortinas!

Simon P · Post by **Simon P** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 8:05 pm

Ah! Here in south London we have much the same thing. They're called 'lock-ups' and they're generally full of.... well, best not to ask too many questions really...

ernie · Post by **ernie** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:04 pm

Simon P wrote:Just as remarkable as the number of E-types that seem to have been stuffed away in barns (seriously, who does that?), is the number of people with barns. I mean, really - who in this day and age still owns a barn?

Me ....I live in one!

V12 Epyte · Post by **V12 Epyte** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 11:11 pm

The price of the Bonhams cars does not make sense when this was at the H&H Duxford auction last week

http://www.classic-auctions.com/Auction ... 37736.aspx

And sold for just over ?62,000 inc commission

Quite similar chassis numbers as well

MarkE · Post by **MarkE** » Thu May 01, 2014 9:49 am

On the face of it, that S1 looks amazing value at that sort of price. But photos don't tell the whole story!

I go to many classic car auctions, and look very closely at the E Types going through. There is often a lot of detail wrong, and the panel clearances / alignment is nearly always poor to bloody awful. There is nearly always a reason why a car is going through an auction!

I think it's that last point about clearances that really brings down the price, as to sort it properly, virtually all the outer panels have to be removed / tweaked in some way, and of course, the whole car re-painted. The shape of the repro panels is also wrong in some areas, and when you see a car that's had a large number of reproduction panels banged on in a budget restoration, the result can be pretty poor.

For many folks that sort of thing really doesn't matter, in which case they can get a really good driving car for considerably less that the price of a perfect one. And maybe that's not a bad thing...there are many perfect ones sitting in the garage most of the year not being used.

I've just been and had my S3 MOT'd, and took the scenic road home through the rain and mud....now I have an afternoon of cleaning to do!!

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