Hammer down

Racers that are going, going, gone…

Sold: The H&H Classic Auctions sale at Buxton on July 27 saw a new world record price for a vintage Lagonda. The 1934 Fox & Nicholl team car driven by Bengafield/Gunter to 13th at Le Mans in 1935 (see Motor Sport  August), went for £430,000 (including buyer’s premium), a whopping 53 per cent over the original estimate.

***

For sale: A bumper crop of racers are set to go under the hammer in the coming months. As we go to press, Christie’s sale at the Monterey Jet Center includes the famous Scuderia SSS Ferrari 250GT SWB ‘Breadvan’ which is estimated to reach $2.5 million. On the same day (August 18), Bonhams & Butterfields is selling a 1966 ex-Autodelta Alfa Romeo TZ2, chassis 116, with an estimate of $1 million, along with the ex-John Greenwood ‘Spirit of ‘76’ Chevrolet Corvette that once clocked 236mph on the Daytona banking. Closer to home, Bonham’s Goodwood Revival sale on September 16 promises as many as 40 cars including the Bugatti Type 35B driven to victory in the first ever Monaco Grand Prix in 1929 by Grover Williams. Arguably the most original of its type, it’s expected to reach £2.25 million. It had been on display in the late Prince Rainier’s museum in Monaco for the past decade. Also for sale are an ex-Chris Lawrence Deep Sanderson 301 and the Sunbeam Harrington Alpine that took the Index of Thermal Efficiency prize at Le Mans in 1961 (full story next month).