Aston Martin DB5C leads the way for Bonhams in Greenwich

3rd June 2018

By some sort of strange symmetry, although held 24 hours later and separated by some 3500 miles, it was another DB5 Convertible that topped the charts at a Bonhams sale, this time for $1.45m gross – say £1.1 million for the far rarer left-hand-drive car.

Packing the sale with No Reserve entries once again served the Brits well, with the 1958 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster the only high-profile casualty on the day.

At a glance:

* Gross: $9,572,000 (2017, $7,419,170)
* Percentage sold by number: 91% (2017, 92%)
* Top-selling car: 1965 left-hand-drive DB5 Convertible $1.4m net post-sale, $1.45m gross (est. $2m to $2.5m)
* Well sold? Ex-Carroll Shelby 1997 Shelby Can-Am Aurora V8 ($20k to $25k) sold for $100.8k incl. premium
* Well bought? Dark blue metallic 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE 3.5 Coupé with original Behr a/c, sunroof and Becker radio. Estimate: $90k to $120k, sold for $76,160 all-in

$76k 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE 3.5 Coupé with all the trimmings. We like it

A fair proportion of the catalogue – more than 20 cars – was devoted to cars from the private collection of Carroll Shelby. The more recent models might not appeal to all, but we like ones such as the manual 1969 Shelby GT500 that sold for $93k with premium.

The price of the DB5 Convertible – around £1.1m against £886k for the RHD car – demonstrates the premium earned for left-hand drive, though both results are some way off the $2.7m paid for a DB5C at RM’s New York sale in November 2017.

Only a 206, but a pretty Dino Spider for $99k

The rest of the catalogue was typical Stateside fare and (in a local environment of more pragmatic sellers risking No Reserve) did as well as usual, matching last year’s sell-through of just over 90%.

Bonhams at the Greenwich Concours, 3 June 2018 (2017)

Gross: $9,572,000 ($7,419,170)
Number of cars not sold: 11 (7)
Number of cars withdrawn: 1 (1)
Total number of cars: 123 (90)
Number sold: 112 (83)
Percentage cars sold by number: 91% (92%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 66% (68%)
Percentage of cars met or sold below low estimate: 37% (67%)
Percentage of cars sold below avge of estimates: 71% (84%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 21% (7%)
Average year of cars offered: 1964 (1962)
Average price of cars sold: $85,464 ($89,388)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve: 72% (61%)

Photos by Bonhams