October auction previews: Coys and Historics
Two classic car auctions turn up some very appealing Seventies coupes.
After the August Monterey madness, attention turns back to the UK for the classic car auction world. The big show is RM’s auction in London on 26th October, which I will cover separately, but providing slightly more affordable catalogue lists of cars, Coys are holding their annual Ascot Racecourse-based auction on 8th October, whilst Historics, a relatively new player in the auction world, will be holding a sale at Brooklands on 22nd October.
For no particular reason, I've followed a theme of cars from the Seventies when choosing my picks from the lot lists, and starting with Coys Ferrari 365GT4 Berlinetta Boxer.
Ferrari 365GT4 Berlinetta Boxer
The Boxer should be fairly familiar to most people when talking about Ferrari. It was Ferrari’s first mid-engined 12-cylinder car and the first to use the horizontally-opposed engine configuration. The 365 Boxer was the first of the Boxers and directly replaced the Daytona. For some reason, the Boxer has never really set the world on fire when it comes to classic car values, and this particular example seems very reasonably priced with an estimate of £70-£80,000 - around half what you would pay for even an average Daytona. At that price, and assuming the car needs no major work, it's probably a better long-term financial bet than a used Ferrari 430, and in my view probably more fun to drive.
Citroën SM
A good chunk of the Drive Cult team - well, Jamie Wolfcale and I anyway - are big fans of the SM, Citroën’s unconventional coupe powered by a Maserati V6 engine. Coys has a rather nice example as very last lot in its auction. Finished in an uninspiring-sounding but actually rather attractive metallic brown, the car was once owned by the Secretary of the French SM club. With the catalogue description indicating the car is in showroom condition, it seems quite good value at an estimate of £17-£20,000.
Rolls Royce Corniche II fixed head coupe
I have never been a fan of Rolls Royce and especially not the Silver Shadow. The saloon version makes me think of cheap weddings, while the drophead Corniche seems only to be suitable for Michael Winner. However, while perusing the Historics online catalogue I was surprised to find myself strangely attracted to the rare fixed head example, listed with an estimate of £11-£16,000. Less than 400 FHC Corniche IIs were made, and buying one back when they were new was certainly an individual choice, since it seemed to offer nothing extra over the saloon other than two fewer doors. That said, for some intangible reason it does appeal to me. Perhaps a long-term hangover from the Cool Britannia Brit Pop era has made this old Roller more desirable; you can easily imagine one of these turning up in a hip Guy Ritchie mockney gangster movie. (Update the Corniche originally featured has been withdrawn but another has been consigned which can be seen by clicking on the link). There is also an earlier Mulliner Park Ward version.
Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato
At the other end of the size and weight scale is a lovely Zagato-bodied Alfa, a limited edition derivative of the smaller-engined Giulia range. This particular car was originally a 1300cc Zagato, while later cars had a 1600cc engine and a restyled longer tail. I’m sure 1300cc was enough to hustle the lightweight Zagato along at a reasonable pace, but a previous owner evidently wanted more power, which was achieved by swapping the 1300 unit for a tuned 1750cc motor by Alfa specialist Alfaholics. With 183bhp on tap, fully uprated suspension and GTA style alloy wheels, this Zagato probably has the firepower to embarrass much bigger cars on a trackday. At an estimate of £10,-£15,000, it also seems remarkably good value too.
Our pick of the cars
Of the cars I've highlighted, I think the Alfa would be the one to most likely get my bidding paddle in the air, though I can’t help thinking that you'd need to buy a trailer to take it to the track and events, since I suspect it may be a little noisy inside! Mind you, the Roller would make a fantastic tow car and assuming they both sell within their estimates you could buy the pair for less than a misery-spec BMW 3 Series Coupe. Now that is value for money.