Bonhams held their annual Collectors Motor Cars and Automobilia auction on Friday, July 3rd at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. With the roar of cars on the Goodwood hill climb in the background, the auction produced a sales rate of nearly 80% and total sales of £2.45 million.
Star of the sale was the 1922 Sunbeam 2-litre Strasbourg Grand Prix Works Racing Car that sold for a record auction price of £463,500, exceeding the pre-sale estimate of £300,000. Another record sale was the 1970 Lamborghini Miura P400S that realized £359,000 – the highest price attained for this particular model at auction.
Additional highlights include the 1938 SS100 Jaguar 3½-Litre Roadster at £199,500; 1931 Bentley 4-Liter Coupe for £194,000; Ex-BMC Factory Team 1963 Morris Mini Cooper 1275S at £67,500 and 1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 for £57,600. Notably, the 1965 Ford GT40 (ex-Shelby American/Laurie O’Neil) did not sell.
Bonhams also offered a 2008 Mini One Hatchback to be sold on behalf of the British Forces Foundation’s ‘Lap of Honour’ campaign. Introduced by Mark Cann from the charity, the car went on to sell for an outstanding 
£29,000 – some £17,000 more than the estimate of £10,000-£14,000.
James Knight, Group Head of Bonhams Motoring Department said, “The overall results of the sale are pleasing and complement our year to-date figures well. We achieved much interest for motor cars that are important, rare and seldom seen on the open market. This was amply demonstrated by the tenacious bidding on the 1922 Grand Prix Sunbeam and I was also impressed by the price realized for the exceptional Lamborghini Miura. There were one or two casualties, however, and more general motor cars – those not particularly rare or compromised by condition or provenance – need to be priced realistically to attract interest.”
[Source: Bonhams]
