The Club’s own event took place on the same day, and its members’ historic cars were proudly displayed among tents, stands and model areas: Coys’ marquee blended in, Porsche 911s and 356s for sale fanning out under the unlikely sun of Gloucestershire’s ‘Indian summer’.

With just over a month to put the event together, the catalogue brimmed with a selection of Porsche 911s (Cabriolets and Speedsters, Targa and Turbos), as well as earlier 356s, of age suitably closer to the Club’s own birthday.

Star of the show was a 1987 Porsche 959, which fetched £137k before premium. It prompted an interest from two potential buyers from abroad, possibly because of the allure of a machine which can still reach 198mph and 0-60mph in 3.6sec (Lamborghini territory with German efficiency).

Intriguingly, it sat just under the auctioneer’s podium next to a simple restoration project, a 1961 Porsche 356 Cabriolet requiring cosmetic action but not mechanical attention. Like a few of the lots at the auction, the latter was a left-hand-drive car, escaping the rust thanks to the Californian sun. It went for not much less than half the price paid for the best-seller, at £52k plus premium.

Somebody pocketed a deal when the Oman-sourced Porsche 928 GTS with low mileage and in good condition sold for a mere £10k – the original car would have cost over 0k when new in 1994.

Two rarer models, the 911 Targa Supersport (only 17 built in the UK) and the 924 GTS Clubsport (only 15 ever built) were sold for £22k and 90k respectively.

An unexpectedly ‘racy’ 1970 VW Camper (with a 2100cc engine and a restoration influenced by the classic Porsche 356 outlaw look) got close to selling, at £15k. A more illustrious example, which was used by Jamie Oliver in his trips to Italy, recently sold for £57k.

The most fun to be had? Perhaps a Ferrari P4 replica, one of a few ‘intruders’ at the auction: gorgeous to look at and originally registered as a Noble Renault, the big toy went for a reasonable £22k against an estimate of £27k/30k.

Coys’ latest auction was a brave collection to offer to an extremely knowledgeable audience: a concentration of Porsche owners, fans and enthusiasts outside the marquee followed the auction with interest, and provisional sales of around 750k and a percentage of 80% was not a bad way to bid farewell to the summer.