Things were off to a good start – at least for the bidder who took home a substantial 1984 Mercedes 380SE complete with moss and 12 months’ MOT, for £225 plus commission, at Historics’ latest auction on 18 May.

The Brooklands-based auction house’s biggest sale, to date, continued with an interesting but unloved 1977 Lotus Eclat, directly from a barn where it had languished since 1994. An easy restoration project, with no body-welding required, and very ‘fetching’, in period leopard skin headlining.

After the no-reserve first batch, the cars’ evocative allure rose and, with it, so did the reserve price.

A beautiful black Jensen Interceptor MkIII reached 10k before the auctioneer reminded the crowds that buying a “new” Interceptor would cost over ten times that much, though interestingly both Interceptors on offer hovered at the top-end of the model’s price scale as an unmolested classic car.   

A 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS convertible with the all-important matching numbers, restored in the USA, sparkled under the lights: its metallic burgundy with white stripe paint enhanced its lowered stance on aftermarket (but period) five spoke alloys. Bidding for the 400 American pony-propelled beast was strong with a five-pronged bidding war. It went for £16,250.

In line with current trends, which see competition-inspired Porsche 365s selling easily, if not for insane money, Historics dispatched two for £28k and £23.5k respectively, but it was a beautifully restored Jaguar XK150 fixed-head Coupe’ (LHD) which went for the best price at £36.5k before it was the serious cars’ turn.  

Historics could have renamed their auction ‘a Ferrari celebration’, as some 20% of their consignment had a Cavallino Rampante on their bonnet: a 1962 V12 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2, penned by Pininfarina, went to a phone bidder under the hammer for £85.5k. One of two Daytonas, a 365 GTB/4 Daytona and apparently loaned to Prince Charles for a week in 1973, reached £190k yet failed to sell by the end of the auction; the other also remained unsold despite being offered £142k.

Celebrity-owned Ferraris did not score any better, as a late entry, a bright yellow Ferrari 575 Maranello, owned by Eric Clapton and Chris Evans only reached a provisional £61k.

Ironically, interest soared when a 1951 Austin A70 Hereford Pickup was offered, in a fully-restored condition and looking perfect in red and cream, complete with a wooden load area. One of only five in the world, it looked perfect for Heartbeat, and after a bidding frenzy it sold for £17.750, well over the upper estimate.

It is indeed the more demure models which sometimes yield an interesting story, and bidding frequently reflects that. A 1965 Rover P5 coupe’ sold for £11.5k, well over its upper estimate: a very low mileage, six cylinder, four door model, in immaculate condition, having been rescued from a banana plantation in Madeira prior to a complete and sympathetic restoration.

The size of the assembled crowd at Brooklands promised a healthy sale, however cold, hard statistics (the auctioneer repeatedly and candidly confessed to being “disappointed”) state that, by the closing time, only a third of the cars offered for sale had sold, despite the consignment’s substantial and intrinsic value.

One could venture that a higher-than-normal number of commercial vehicles on offer may have detracted attention from the more glamorous cars; it would certainly be a more positive and optimistic theory than fearing a downturn in the classic car market. A further dozen cars sold post-auction, pushing the sale rate to somewhere around the 50% mark.

The next Historics’ auction to be held on 20 July at Brooklands will also feature Classic Motorcycles and the famous Monkeys Pontiac GTO of TV and film fame.