Though the biggest surprise was a white van selling for almost £40,000, Bonhams sold several cars for the right numbers at its first visit to Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands on December 6, replacing its annual Christmas Olympia sale.

A1955 300SL Gullwing still in near-perfect order having only covered 5000 miles since restoration was appropriately the high sale, fetching £441,500 including premium, having taken pride of place in the atrium of M-B’s high-tech new English HQ. A 1913 Rolls-Royce 40/50hp Silver Ghost with imposing Limousine coachwork by Barker brought the right money at £419,500, as did the 1964 Maserati 3500GTi, formerly the property of late Maser guru Bill McGrath. Three of his daughters were present to watch the first and last car their father restored fetch a deserved £78,500. No-sales included a pretty 1964 leaf-sprung Cobra bidding to £200,000, about £40,000 short of what might have bought it, and a shiny 1923 Blue Label Bentley 3-litre that reached £155,000 against an ambitious £170-220k estimate.

The white van? It was a 2001 Renault Master race transporter that went with the previous lot, a fairly complete ex-Rubens Barrichello Honda RA107 kitted out complete with simulator that went for £42,200. The Frenchman who bought the F1 car on the phone was desperate to acquire its ex-BAR, ex-Honda, ex-Brawn transporter too – but so was a man in the room, and in the end the most expensive secondhand Master in the world stayed in England after £37,400 changed hands.