So it’s finally happening. We always wondered when it might. Bernie Ecclestone is selling off his cherished and unspeakably precious grand prix and Formula 1 car collection – arguably the greatest such ever brought together and a living history of motor racing as well as a timeline of its owners’ passion for and involvement in motor sport.

The news of the sale came on a Sunday evening in December, mischievously timed to coincide with the penultimate race of the current F1 season. But while the world’s media salivated over the supposed value of the collection (speculation varied wildly from £100m to £500m), Motor Sport was invited to visit the secure hanger in Biggin Hill to see the collection in the flesh – the only publication to merit the privilege.

The hanger itself is nondescript and offers no clue as to the riches that lie inside. Security is tight – we must access the airfield through two specially designated gates. Inside the vast hanger – far bigger than it looks in the pictures – the cars are neatly lined up in serried rows, the Brabhams at the back, the Ferraris forming a red phalanx at the front. Two helpers push our requested cars into position for our photoshoot. Afterwards they will be returned to their exact spots in the formation, marked out with tape stuck on the polished concrete floor. You know Bernie: everything is exact.

Specialist car dealer Tom Hartley Jnr has been anointed with what is surely the job of his lifetime: to sell all 69 cars, from a collection that spans the pre-war years to the early 21st century

“There has never been a collection like this one offered for sale, and no one in the world has a race car collection that comes close to Bernie’s,” he says. “I feel very privileged that Bernie has entrusted the sale of his cars to [me].”

Not as privileged as we feel standing in the hanger; we always knew they existed but to now view them gathered in their entirety, in pristine condition (of course) and in all their considerable glory… it’s simply astonishing.

“To see them gathered together in all their considerable glory… it’s simply astonishing”

“I have been collecting these cars for more than 50 years, and I have only ever bought the best of any example,” said Bernie as the veil was drawn back on December 1. “While many other collectors have opted for sports cars, my passion has always been grand prix and F1 cars. A grand prix and, in particular, an F1 car is far more important than any road car or other form of race car, as it is the pinnacle of the sport, and all the cars I have bought over the years have fantastic race histories and are works of art.

“I love all of my cars but the time has now come for me to start thinking about what will happen to them should I no longer be here,” – note the ‘should’! “– and that is why I have decided to sell them. After collecting and owning them for so long, I would like to know where they have gone and not leave them for my wife to deal with should I not be around.”

How he’s chosen to sell them harks back to his roots as a Warren Street second-hand car dealer. There will be no glitzy auction. Hartley Jnr has been commissioned to offer each as £POA (price on application). He can sell them individually or in batches – say, all the Ferraris, or all the Brabhams.

One single deal to buy all 69 as a job lot would be a nice bit of business, but who (or what oil-rich national state) could justify the price? And what price would that be? For once it is not mere modesty that prevents an estimate: how much would someone pay for Lauda’s 1978 Swedish Grand Prix-winning Brabham BT46B ‘fan car’? Or the Thin Wall Special? Or Moss’s Vanwall? Or Ascari’s Ferrari 375? And on, and on.

The Times couldn’t resist pointing out the sale announcement follows a year on from Ecclestone’s guilty plea to tax fraud, which left him with a bill of £652m payable to HM Revenue & Customs. That might be an achievable sum to recoup. But it’s also true this sale is about much more.

Whatever his critics might think of him, no one can deny Bernie has always been a racer at heart. He collected these cars, yes, because he could – but also because he cared. He knows they matter and he’s looked after them properly. “Having collected what are the best and most original F1 cars dating back to the start of the sport, I have now decided to move them on to new homes that will treat them as I have and look after them as precious works of art.” A genuine sentiment, we reckon.

Hartley Jnr’s phone will glow red hot as calls fly in from around the world. But what will collectors covet the most? For some, heads will rule over hearts. For the rest, we can only daydream about our choice picks.

And here’s ours, with added context from Motor Sport’s founding editor Bill Boddy and our European correspondent Denis Jenkinson on why these cars matter – taken from the magazine’s archive.