RICHARD EDMONDS AUCTION, CHIPPENHAM, WILTSHIRE, 17 JUNE
At the same time as 258 collector vehicles were being driven through the ACA auction hall in Norfolk, 99 more classics went under the gavel in the Richard Edmonds auction tent pitched beside the Allington Farm shop in Wiltshire, where 78% of car-lots auctioned sold for £625,643. During the three day mega-sale, 97% of the 391 spares lots also sold, followed by 75% of the 1030 petroliana and automobilia items and 65% of the 55 classic bikes, the Wiltshire auctioneers enjoying their best auction yet.
The highest priced car was a 1981 Lagonda 2-Litre Low Chassis Open Tourer supercharged by the factory from new that sold for a close to top estimate £116,050, while an LR Roadsters D Type Jag Replica with fin made a racey £55,000. Although the at least £45,000 sought for a futuristic looking 1981 Aston Martin Lagonda V8 was not forthcoming, a deceased estate entered 2009 Nissan GT-R Modern Classic did attract £37,125 from the next owner.
More surprisingly with such an uncertain future for the economy, there was no shortage of takers for many of the rest-projects in the field outside, many of them looking like lost causes. This clearly was not the case however for brave buyers who volunteered £1210 for a rust-ravaged 1968 Morris 1000 Pick-Up and £935 for a long abandoned US-market MG B GT to a dormant 1975 Austin Allegro Vanden Plas 1500 saved for the nation for £220 and one of several rust-munched Austin A40s from the 1960s that was swept up for £110.
The star lot in the Richard Edmunds auction tent – a Low-Chassis Tourer with 2-Litre engine that was claimed to have been supercharged when it was first driven out of the Lagonda factory in 1931 – had been extensively toured at home and abroad before fetching £116,050, mid-estimate money.
Forecast to cost a winner £50,000-60,000, a D Type Jag was not a real one, of course, but an LR Roadsters Recreation. Built up from a Realm Engineering kit with a steel-braced body in grp with distinctive fin atop a tubular chassis packing a 3.8 XK motor, the D Type look-alike clocked £55,000.
Minor dented 195mph 2009 Nissan GT-R Black Edition with 4WD and 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds capability had been out to play for only 4750 miles since acquired by a deceased owner for £48k in 2010. Seven years later, one of the hottest Modern Classics was picked up for a cool £37,125.
An MGA 1600 emerged from the Abingdon works 58 years ago, since when the always right-hand drive Roadster had been repainted in Powder Blue, treated to new trim and an MGB head. The quintessentially post-war British sports car with luggage rack sold for £19,250, just over top estimate money.
One of the rarest and now desirable body-styles that could be factory-ordered for an Austin 7 was the Boat-Tail model. A 1931 survivor, the subject of a two year back to bare metal resto with mechanical rebuild completed in 2015, came to market at the Wiltshire sale where it made the required £16,225.
A former Post Office Telephones employed 1971 Morris Minor Van went under the hammer for the second time since a 2000 ground-up revival. Featured in many motor mags and a regular show winner over the years, the potentially Top Van still realised £9350 despite some bubbling to the rear roof.
From the last year of production, during which 28,455 were built by BMC, a 52,000 miles since 1969 Wolseley Hornet 998 had been stripped down to its sub-frames, repainted, treated to a new interior and rewired only last year before being cashed in for £9000, costing the next keeper £9900 with premium.
Launched in 1958 as Austin’s response to the Land Rover, and following in the wheel tracks of the army Champ that failed to catch on with civilians, was the Austin Gypsy, only 500 of which were sold. A rare 1961 example that used to put fires out at Bertram Mills Circus sold for £7700 including its trailer.
