Dukes, with the help of Brian Chant of DVCA, achieved a 100% sale rate when it disposed of 22 cars from the Robert Ball collection. At Athelhampton House near Dorchester on May 19 almost all the lots sold high, from a fair Bristol 401 at £22,138 and a fully-equipped Austin Champ at £7130 – to the amazing £11,500 paid for a 1964 Hillman Husky once owned by Sir. Winston Churchill, and sold complete with a waxwork figure of the great man.

A 1908 Mass 8hp sold for far more than expected at £24,380, a single-cylinder 1906 Delage F3 two-seater voiturette was £26,450 and a 1926 Peugeot Type 172 Quadrillette was £9200 – and even the ‘Batmobile’ from the Brading Experience where the collection used to live on the Isle of Wight found a new home. The winged wonder is not all it seems, however: the body, from a generic ’70s Plymouth, is now welded to the floorpan of a denuded Vauxhall Carlton Estate, presumably after the original American chassis and running gear expired. It was in possession of an MoT and fetched £4255.