Bonhams sold nearly all of the lots offered at its annual sale at the Beaulieu Autojumble on September 10. As the sale stretched on into the night, slowed by the preponderance of private bidders outnumbering the trade, 127 of the 137 cars offered sold, for a sell-though rate of 93%.

Top money was the £166,500 for a barn-find 1937 Bugatti Type 37 saloon by Gangloff, expected to make -50,000, and a well-used Cooper-Vincent MkVI made £18,400, twice what was expected, but the really astonishing money came near the end of the sale as buyers scrabbled for the last few lots, of unrestored cars from the Willow collection being sold at no reserve.

‘Heinz’ Wolseley Hornets are very collectible, with only 57 made, and are the pinnacle of Mini fanciers’ collections, but £13,800 against a no-reserve £2000-3000 estimate for a rough car in need of total restoration had everyone shaking their heads. The next lot, a 1967 Morris Minor Traveller had been better stored and was less deteriorated than expected, but it still didn’t look like £10,925-worth