Interesting cars from the auction at the historic Surrey venue
There are a number of classic car auctions around the world this weekend and given the choice I would rather be checking out the multi million dollar catalogue entries while drinking a glass of champagne at RM and Gooding & Company's auctions in Amelia Island Florida. As the Drive Cult travel budget doesn't extend to a weekend in Florida, instead, with themos of hot coffee in hand, I headed for a rather rain sodden Brooklands for the viewing for Historics auction which is being held tomorrow. There is an old adage that you shouldn't view cars in the rain as it can disguise pore paintwork. In this case it made interesting photography difficult but I gave it my best shot (pun intended).
I'm sure many Drive Cult readers are Porsche 911 fans and are a number of 911s offered some of which have become part of the current taste for back dating 911's. A red 911SC backdated to be a very good replica of a 2.7 Carrera RS, estimated at £22-28,000 it is a tenth of the price of the car it replicates. Slightly less authentic but perhaps more interesting as a hot rod is a 911 2.7 that has been turned into a replica of the 3.0 RSR (picture above). Fitted with a later 3.2 Carrera engine it is estimated at £25-30,000.
A rather less authentic conversion is a 964 that purports to be an RS replica. As far as I can tell the only change has been an RS badge on the boot lid. Confusingly the car is listed as a 1985 car some four years before the 964 was introduced. At an estimate of £16-22,000 it is middling money for a 964.
We/ve been featuring Rolls Royce quite heavily lately and there are a number of classic Rollers and Bentley's from the day before the two companies went their separate ways into German ownership. It is actually the Bentley Continental R which offers the closest classic equivalent to the new Wraith. At an estimate of £22-25,000 and having covered a relatively low 51,000 miles this nineties gentleman's express offers remarkable value.
The fastback shape of the new Wraith has also been likened to the rather more blue collar Ford Mustang and there are a number of classic Mustangs being offered by Historics. The pick of these has to be the 1965 Mustang Fastback. With a 289 v8 and painted Highland green you can live out your Steve McQueen fantasy's for an estimate of £22-26,000.
Ford also manufactured the Galaxie 500, offered for an estimate of £28-33,000, but this highly modified example probably has little left that was as it came down the production line. Prepared for racing the car has a 427ci Cammer V8 producing a claimed 657bhp. It will make for an exciting drive for anyone brave enough to take it on. A little tamer but equally cool is the rally prepared Lotus Cortina offered at an estimate of £38-£45,000.
When it come to Italian cars a rare 2600 Sprint caught the eye at an estimate of £21-25,000. Looking like a bigger version of the iconic Giulia Sprint this is much more of a GT than it's smaller sibling. A rather newer Italian GT offered is a De Tomaso Longchamp GT5E. One of the last Longchamp's made it have the wider arches and four headlamp arrangements seen on later cars Estimated at £23-26,000 it's a fairly safe bet you won't seen another one on the roads very often it at all.
Lastly for anyone feeling brave and looking for a cheap entry into Ferrari ownership could look at the uncompleted Dino project. The car has a chassis from a 308GT4 but uses the 400bhp V8 from a 360. This concoction is clothed in a glassfibre body that apes the style of a Dino 246GT. The estimate of £21-25,000 doesn't take into account the several thousand hours needed to make this into a viable car.
Update
The results can be seen here. Perhaps the weather counted against Historics on the day as there were a significant number of no sales.
Pictures of the cars described above and more in the gallery below
Gallery
