Bonhams had a very successful outing for its annual sale at the Beaulieu Autojumble on 11 September, raising a huge ￡305,100 for the ex Forrest Lycett 3 Litre Bentley. This very original car had been expected to make up to ￡200,000, still ￡50k in front of the going rate for an ‘average’ 3 Litre. A DB4 restoration project made a now-predictable ￡86,200, though no-one was brave enough to take on the Maserati Ghibli project from the same stable.

Restoration projects were not as thick on the ground as in previous years at this sale, but a just-started (rather than unfinished) matching-numbers 1959 XK150 3.8 dhc total project was ￡18,400, while a barn-find 1932 Lagonda 3/41/2 doubled its estimate to fetch ￡78,500 – and the only Beverley Straight Eight left, a chassis and a pile of bits, yielded ￡31,050 against an ￡8000-12,000 estimate.

Though a really super 1972 boat-tail Buick Riviera Gran Sport 455 with deep, lustrous paint, a very ‘70s interior and excellent history failed to find a new owner, a ‘brand-new’ Ashley MG with all the right bits that had only been built this year was ￡16,675, and a 1910 Stanley steamer Model 60 Runabout fetched ￡52,100.