Bonhams Goodwood Revival: Surprises still keep coming

The 2022 Bonhams Goodwood Revival sale – previewed here – concluded yesterday with some surprising results. After a delayed start caused by a technical issue that crashed the Bonhams website, initial results put the sell-through rate at 67% with a few misses but also some really impressive sales. As always, those results are mixed into the extensive data that powers the Hagerty Price Guide and helps vehicle owners and prospective buyers keep up to speed on the values of special cars. Here are the highlights from the 2022 Bonhams Revival sale – all results are inclusive of the buyer’s premium.

Lot 375: Aston Martin DB3 Sports Racing Two-Seater

Estimate: £2,800,000 – £3,300,000
Not sold

The star lot of this Bonhams sale received a great deal of interest on viewing day. With a fantastic combination of race history and current restored condition, it looked great in its current dark green paint and contrasting yellow grille. A period Mille Miglia entry and winner of the Goodwood 9 Hours race, Bonhams were keen for this car to sell and estimated at about a third of the price of a DB3S, this seemed like a good buy. The money wasn’t in the room though and bidding stalled at £2,300,000. That was a surprise.

Lot 15: 21 Brooklands Race Programmes

Estimate: £800 – £1000
Sold for: £4080

As Hagerty has come to expect, the Revival sale offered over two hundred high-quality automobilia lots – including these travel sets for the discerning driver. This group of official Brooklands race cards and programmes, from 1934 to 1939, was a nice set in fair condition and attractive to a collector. These tend to change hands for between £60 and £100 a copy, so it was extremely surprising to see the bidding quickly exceed the top estimate. Programmes and race cards are easy to store and make a great collection, and Hagerty has seen a rise in interest in recent years. Nevertheless, this was an unexpected result.

Lot 307: 1985 Ferrari Testarossa ‘Monospecchio’

Estimate: £90,000 – £120,000
Sold for £93,150

Testarossa values have risen sharply in the most recent update to the Hagerty Price Guide. This car was a straight Condition 3 ‘fair’ car, a little stone-chipped around the edges, with vinyl peeling from the dash and rust on the wheel hubs and it sold for pretty much spot-on the Hagerty value. But this was a car with a lot going for it: right-hand drive with early ‘monospecchio’ mirror and single-nut wheels, it has recently been recommissioned with receipts for £20,000 of work in 2020. It looked like a car with great potential and appeared well bought at this price.

Lot 390: 1961-64 Cooper-Zerex-Oldsmobile ‘Transformer’

Estimate: Refer to department
Sold for £911,000

‘Refer to department’ meant that Bonhams had no real idea of how this lot would be perceived by the bidders. A bent, battered and rusty frame, a seized engine and a few bits of running gear made an interesting sight mounted on a plinth in the Bonhams tent, but the photo behind showed why: this was the first sports-racing car to wear the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team badge and raced at Goodwood in the RAC Tourist Trophy Race. Even before it was bought by McLaren, it had a number of race wins under its belt, driven by Roger Penske. After years laying in a South American farm, it was recently returned to the UK. The story really hit home with bidders who rapidly pushed up the price and the result of £911,000 drew fully justified applause. Whether this was a US buyer attracted, as many have been at this auction, by the extraordinary current Dollar/Pound exchange rate, or a more local buyer, remains to be seen. We suspect that we’ll see this car again, fully restored, back on the Goodwood grid before too long.

Lot 330: 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722S Roadster

Estimate: £240,000 – £320,000
Sold for £687,000

Hagerty has been watching the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren closely in recent months. In collectability terms it has a lot going for it: the right badges on the bonnet, F1 DNA, stunning looks and the Midas touch of a Gordon Murray design. Values have been rising, especially the limited-edition 722 and McLaren Edition cars. The estimate on this, and another 722 coupe also consigned to the sale, seemed very low given current dealer asking prices and this was a fantastic example: delivery mileage with an absolutely stunning colour combination of Crystal Fayalite Green paintwork over Silver Arrow leather and a contrasting red top. The estimate may have been tempered by the additional 20 per cent VAT and 10 per cent import duty that any UK buyer would have to pay, but it didn’t put off bidders. The sale price of £687,000 was a real statement of the 722 edition’s collectability.

Lot 345: 1973 Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2

Estimate: £52,000 – £60,000
Sold for: £69,000

The Ferrari 365 GT4 and later 400/412 iterations has turned a corner in the last few years. The boxy four-seater was once rather looked-down upon but recently the attraction of a V12 Colombo engine, a practical four-seat interior and wedge styling seems to have dawned on many buyers. This car looked great in the metal: a superb colour, presenting very well and with a Ferrari Classiche certificate. Being a 365, it has a manual gearbox and is a rare right-hand drive car. At just over the Hagerty Price Guide ‘Excellent’ value, this seems like a great buy for the money.

Lot 351: 1964 Porsche 904 GTS Coupé

Estimate: £500,000 – £600,000
Sold for: £614,200

It’s tempting to feel a little sorry for this little Porsche 904. Formerly part of the Petitjean Collection and on static display for 27 years, it is a very pretty car and eligible for all sorts of historic competitions. This one has been fitted with a 911 six-cylinder engine and looks like it needs a little fettling to make it ready to race but the hammer price – close to Hagerty’s Condition 4 value of £557,000 – seemed like a fair sum. Some industry veterans feel these cars should be worth more.

Lot 358: 1922 2-Litre ‘Strasbourg’ Sunbeam

Estimate: £700,000 – £800,000
Sold for: £597,400

Sunbeam entered three works cars in the 1922 Strasbourg Grand Prix, one of the first post-war races to take place. One caught fire during testing, so the spare car was drafted in. Drivers Kenelm Lee Guinness, Henry Segrave and Jean Chassagne did what they could with the car, but the engine proved to be fragile and the Sunbeam couldn’t challenge the dominant Fiats. This lot is one of those cars and has been the subject of a great deal of recent research. Sunbeam were not clear with their chassis numbering on the entry sheet, so proving which car was which has been difficult. However, the catalogue identified this as the spare/ prototype car that took place in the race. One of the other team cars sold in 2009 for £493,500 and this estimate seemed fair but the bidding didn’t rise and the hammer fell some way short of the low estimate.

Lot 421: 1981 Vauxhall Chevette HSR

Estimate: £45,000 – £60,000
Sold for: £59,800

When was the last time you saw one of these? Only 18 HSR Chevettes are believed to exist of the original 33 built, and this one looked to be in good condition with a respray around eight years ago still holding up. A rare ‘homologation special’ the plaid interior made a fantastic contrast to the silver, box-arched body and bidders really liked it. The sale price, just under the top estimate and over the Hagerty Price Guide ‘Excellent’ value, was still surprising.

Lot 366: 1935 MG K3 Replica

Estimate: £85,000 – £100,000
Sold for £117,300

An original example of MG’s preeminent 1930s racer with no stories is now worth well over £500,000 so a very detailed replica complete with ENV pre-select gearbox is an attractive proposition. This car presented pretty much as a new car and lacking any feeling of history but that didn’t put off the bidders and it sold for well over top estimate. Hopefully it will now see some use, whether on the racetrack or the road.

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