Another trip chasing classics, this time to Norfolk for the Anglia Classic Car Auction. From the sedate journey to the frenzied auction it turned out to be worth it, even if our buying was not to be the most successful…
After years of pointing powerful radio telescopes at nearly 1,500 stars over 150 light years away, astronomers have come to a conclusion; there is no intelligent life elsewhere. As we headed across the windswept Fens of East Anglia driven mad by road works, diversions and a disobedient Sally Sat Nav, we were coming to the same conclusion. Yes, we’re off to Anglia’s Spring Classic Sale, read on to find out how things went.
Lot 29. Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. When a car doesn’t sell at auction, its often said, “there was no-one in the room for that car today”. However, when there is two or more people in the room for a car its usually fireworks! This lovely Alfa had a very reasonable Guide Price of £10-12k. Sold. £25,000.
Lot 165. Datsun 240Z. This LHD Californian Z came to the UK in 2019 along with a fresh resto from a few years before. It is great to see some very good Z’s coming to market now. The market definitely liked this one too. Guide Price of £12-16 was well stretched. Sold for £17,500.
Lot 158. This 1969 Jaguar XK 150 3.4 DHC was offered up at No Reserve needing extensive restoration. Sold new via Henley’s London, it entered storage some time in the Seventies and there this beauty remained until today. It’s rather rare to come across an all original fully complete car in this condition. Sold. £36,000. We didn’t think that was expensive.
Lot 173. 1973 Mercedes SL 500. A question? Does mileage matter? People often ask us. Generally we’d say yes, however, it’s not the be-all and end-all. If everything else is right, like this Mercedes was, the numbers on the clock, which in this case were 100,600, are not massively important. The market seemed to agree. Sold for shade under £20 grand. Good car.
Lot 183. 1967 MG 1100. This was our Star of the Sale. Heritage Certificate, good pile of original documents, 53,000m, presented in stunning condition. The cracking little MG attracted a lot of attention and sold well at £8,600. Fab car.
Lot 14. 1974 Rover P6 3500 Auto. With just 48,000m on the clock, a great document file, five owners and the last one for 22yrs, we are slightly bemused why the market is not recognising these cars. This was in terrific condition too. Sold. £3,200. At the moment P6’s are massively under-valued in our view. Time to grab a bargain.
Lot 222. 1974 VW Karman Ghia. What is not to like? Not much to say about this lovely little Karman other than it was a lovely little car and we were out bid. #SadFace. Sold. £12,700.
Summary.
Apart for an obvious lack of marvelous Mini’s and some fab Fast Fords, as always the team at Anglia, delivered yet another great collection of cars and genuinely something for everyone.
The auction room was packed, over-packed some might say and the bidding, as usual, was fast & frenzied.
Unless we’re bidding for a client on a particular car they’ve chosen, our approach is to simply buy good cars. We sometimes pay a little more for that luxury, but we know the cars we buy are right. Cars that have been checked for damage, condition, ownership and originality. We bid on nearly a dozen cars at this Sale and only managed to bag one of them. That is a good sign the market is healthy. But on the other hand, it means we came away nearly empty handed.
On to the next Sale and in between our search for the right cars continues.
Thanks for all your contacts, via social media, phone and text – although one of our team stubbornly refuses to text, no names – keep them coming and keep in touch.
If we can help with anything, give us a shout. Just don’t text Chris..oops!
