Bentley Specials find buyers during 79% sold ACA sale

Both late 1940s Bentley Specials performed strongly in the end of season ACA Drive-Through for classics on a decidedly autumnal Saturday in King’s Lynn, where a full house of punters saw £60,900 handed over for a 1949 dated car and £50,400 for an even racier 1990s conversion of a 1946 MkVI. By the Monday morning, 79% of the 229 auction cars had been successfully re-homed and buyers, 12% of them from overseas making the most of post-Brexit vote exchange rates, had invested £1,663,252 including 5% buyer’s premium in 180 classics.

Benchmark E Type Jag prices paid were £70,350 for a three owner 1965 S1 4.2 OTS and £65,100 a 1968 S1½ 4.2 OTS from third ownership since 1991. One of the most viewed lots at the Norfolk sale was an increasingly handsome and rated 1973 Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato 1600 left hooker from one Swiss and one British ownership which realised a more than top estimate £39,900. Even with an Alfa 33 motor fitted, a 1982 Alfsud Sprint Veloce with original engine included sold for a more than forecast £8190.

A clutch of 911s came to market on the former Cattlemarket site led by a 1988 911 Carrera 3.2 Sport Coupe from the William Hunt portfolio (or should that be Porsche-folio?). Even being the subject of a declared total loss claim in 2002 did not prevent it from selling for £32,025, £4000 more than the guide price. Another of Hunt’s Carrera 3.2 Sports of the same vintage sold for £28,350, despite having been driven 209,521 miles with 26 stamps of service history to prove it.

A water-cooled Type 996 911 Carrera 4 from 1999 by contrast had been service stamped 13 times during 36,000 mileage and changed hands for £24,675. Whilst the same money was required to own an even more recently made Jaguar XK R-S 4.2 that had been driven 53,000 miles by one owner from new in 2008. A 2015 Japanese import 1996 Honda NSX with Japanese service records for 64,000k sold for £24,150 and another Japanese serviced 1989 Mercedes 500SL R107 in left-hand drive with 89,000k on the odometer for £21,000.

The £19,950 performance of a 1959 Bugeye Sprite on steels with hardtop - the restoration of which commenced in 2009, but had not been fully completed - was therefore all the more impressive. While both Volvo P1800s exceeded their pre-sale estimates; a 1968 P1800S with 36,000 recorded mileage that had last been on the highway in 1976 selling for £16,590, and a 91,057 miles since 1971 P1800E restored between 2009 and 2011 for £15,120. Once again, a great many votes of confidence by classic car consumers had been cast on Bonfire Night afternoon in Norfolk.