RM hits £17.4m at The Peninsula – a new highlight of ‘London to Brighton Weekend’

Knightsbridge’s recently opened uber-chic Peninsula Hotel was the fresh backdrop for RM’s seasonal November auction, held on the eve of the venerable London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, which dates all the way back to 1896 and attracts a global entry.

The glamorous five-star location was inspiring; the catalogue perhaps less so, filled with currently-less-fashionable large tourers from the 1950s. Despite that, the gross total of £17,435,275 is one of the highest recorded by the Canadian firm in the capital, and you can’t argue with the impressive sold-by-number figure that saw 82% of the car catalogue find new owners.

A packed saleroom for the auction on Saturday that only thinned out after the non-selling Jaguar XKSS had crossed the block proved the wisdom of moving the event from a (very expensive, we hear) tent adjoining Pall Mall to one of the latest jewels in arch-connoisseur Sir Michael Kadoorie’s Peninsula Hotels Group. Guests at the luxury hotel were encouraged to visit the auction and it generated a standing-room-only vibe that will surely make an early November RM sale at the Peninsula London a permanent fixture in the auction calendar.
 
Billed as “the first XKSS offered at auction in Europe” (others may remember another XKSS no-sale at the Nürburgring back in 1990) this car was originally built in 1955 as a D-type and was only converted to XKSS spec a few years later in 1958. Semantics, maybe, but not dissimilar to the 330 LM/250 GTO sold in New York a year ago, and it inevitably played a part in bidders’ reasoning; a period engine swap probably less so. It had a low-key competition history but no major dramas. Auctioneer Sholto Gilbertson passed the car at a declared bid of £8m after little visible action: with premium, probably its full value today.

So it was down to the Italian delivered ‘non-cat, non-adjustable’ 1989 Ferrari F40 (above) to take top slot. The 20,921km car sold for £1,973,750 gross, the equivalent of $2.6m: a good buy.
 
At a glance:

* Gross, motor cars: £17,435,275 (£13,295,650)
* Percentage sold by number: 82% (2023, 75%)
* Top-selling car: 1989 Ferrari F40 £1,973,750 gross, £1,750,000 hammer (est. £1.85m to £2m)            
* Well sold? Purely against the estimate, the 1967 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine by James Young. Estimated at £120k to £140k, it was bought for £178,250 all-in, but still a lot of value for one of these rare and elegant chauffeur-driven cars.
* Well bought? Although delivered in unfashionable cream (now green), the stylish 1956 Bentley S1 Continental Fastback was bought for a bargain £193,200; its iconic predecessor the 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental Fastback (desirable manual and lightweight seats, pictured, top) gleaming outside the hotel went to a new owner for just £488,750, and the bidder who paid £736,250 for the 1958 Bentley S1 Continental Drophead Coupé by Park Ward should be very happy. Aren’t they usually a million? If you want a quick result, maybe not.

The catalogue was overloaded with Aston Martins and Bentleys from the mid-1950s, some of which required total restoration. The market has of course been flooded with Astons out of long-term storage in Kuwait for years now. The comparison of prices for Feltham era Aston Martins requiring the full treatment today with those recorded at the old Works Service Bonhams auction at Newport Pagnell make interesting reading. In 2007, a £15k-£20k 1952 DB2 Drophead Coupé for restoration sold for £45,500. The 1950 DB2 Saloon in similar condition offered for £70k to £100k on Saturday afternoon made £39,100.

Before the headlining XKSS came up, all eyes were on the 1954 London Motor Show Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, offered directly from the British family who bought it in 1956. RM deserve credit for discovering and announcing it had been heavily crashed before delivery, and although factory repaired, this story won’t have helped the price. It went to a jubilant bidder for £1,445,000, perhaps slightly light, but presumably cause for some celebration by the vendors compared to its purchase cost.
 
Everyone admired its more recent equivalent, the 2009 Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series, sold for £331,250 for the 670bhp widow-maker with 22,719 miles. A 2006 Mercedes-Benz SLR 'McLaren Edition' achieved £623,750, proof that the success of No Reserve ex-Middle East cars sold for big money by Bonhams is not a one-off.

Much pre-sale publicity had justifiably been devoted to the 1936 Delahaye 135 S, famously raced by the late, great Rob Walker at Le Mans in ’39 when he changed into a pin-stripe suit as darkness fell, and bought back by him in 1970. Although its 54-year provenance from one of Britain’s most respected motor racing families (Walker had also been the Gullwing’s original intended client before it was crashed) and the colourful anecdotes that came with it could have been the ingredients for auction magic, a not-quite-fresh-to-market feel and a replica body both subdued bidder fervour.

In the end, a two-way Franco-Dutch bidding ding-dong in cautious £5k increments ended at £1,096,250 with premium in favour of France: a lot of history for the money, but as one casual, non-specialist spectator remarked, “Imagine getting home and telling your wife you’ve paid a million pounds for that.”
 

Other results of note (all prices gross)
 
* 1924 Bentley 3-4½-Litre Speed Model by Vanden Plas, £218,500. Fine pre-War Bentley ‘hot rod’ with character and patina – very well bought.
* 1962 Aston Martin DB4 Series IV Vantage, £426,875. A well-viewed RHD Aston placed outside the venue that sold for fair money considering a misguided change from original Black Pearl/terracotta to blue over tan.
* 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Touring, £483,125. Factory black over black looked great; decision of first owner to delete the iconic ‘ducktail’ less great when car has one today. Restoration documents consisting of “early 1990s photos” and mentioning “brought to us half dismantled” won’t have bolstered confidence in a picky market segment. A fair price for a great ‘driver’.
* 1934 MG K3 Magnette Two-Seater, £522,500. A solid figure for a pre-War icon and lovely to see the sale witnessed by its more mature owner of the last 21 years.
* 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, £1,146,875. An unremarkable Lusso only recently returned to original silver from the inevitable red, quite possibly for the auction.
* 1965 Aston Martin DB5, £376,250. Purchased by the trade for restoration and resale. As-delivered Fiesta Red ‘kiss of death’ livery unlikely to survive the process.
* 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 'Daytona', Not Sold. RHD, predictable red/tan and pop-up headlamps killed this at £425k to £475k, particularly when lovely original spec of Nocciola with beige leather, Borrani wires and polished wood-rim steering wheel beckons with a proper (expensive) Italian restoration.
* 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB, £1,748,750. A ‘starter’ 275 GTB: short-nose, three carbs and steel but an older restoration delivered new to the US in boring  Rosso Cina  over Nero. Red Book-certified, replacement transaxle. 

The fact that Mercedes-Benz (Simplex and replica W196 streamliner) and Fiat (giant, pre-WW1 racing car with 140mph potential) brought crowd-pulling cars from their museums says a lot about how London in the days leading up to the Veteran Car Run is now seen by the movers and shakers of the global car business. The Run itself brings in some of the top collectors in the world, connoisseurs whose garages include blue-chip greats such as Ferrari 250 GTOs, McLaren F1s and Le Mans-winning D-types and GT40s.
 
RM’s official connection with what has become informally referred to as ‘London Car Week’ can only be good for the market, and we predict a stronger line-up next year since sellers and buyers have tested the water. Not to mention a flood of automobilia after Graham Hill’s helmet made £144,000…

RM Sotheby’s in London, 2 November 2024 – results (2023)
 
Total gross cars: £17,435,275 (£13,295,650)
Number of cars not sold: 11 (15)
Number of cars withdrawn: 1 (0)
Total number of cars: 61 (61)
Number sold: 50 (46)
Percentage cars sold by number: 82% (75%)
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 46% (50%)
Percentage of cars sold below low estimate: 74% (76%)
Percentage of cars sold not met avge of estimates: 86% (85%)
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 4% (7%)
Average value of cars sold: £348,706 (£289,036)
Average year of cars offered: 1959 (1972)
Percentage of cars offered at No Reserve: 39% (38%)
 
Photos by James Brown for K500