Historics’ headliners were more exotic than the usual Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martins. The Queen’s Land Rover, put up for sale by the MoD, sold for £28,380 (with commission). The oldest vehicle on offer, a 1825 Indian State Carriage from the Maharaja of Mysore, sold for a conservative £78,400 (with commission) against an estimate of £70k-£100k.

A provisional £170k offer might buy the 1933 Bugatti Type 35 ‘Reformation’, which, although not entirely a Type 35, probably boasts more original parts than the real racers of the 1930s. There seems to be a trend towards a better appreciation of these once-called ‘replicas’.

Historics does Aston Martin DB5s very well, with a 1965 DB5 selling for £206k and a 1965 Coupé for £254k. Neither world-record prices, but comfortably within estimates. The auction house sold another DB5 at its last sale for £336k, the fourth most expensive of the year.

Two years ago, internet bidding only accounted for around 10% of overall sales, this time some £600k was traded in cyberspace - almost a third of the overall sales total, at £1,687,624. Historics closes its 2012 books with £5.5m worth of sales.