Five cars to watch at Silverstone Auctions' Restoration Show sale
This limited-edition Mini has a four-speed auto and disc brakes up front, in addition to newer switchgear.
Importable European classics gather for auction in the UK
Silverstone
Auctions' Restoration Show sale is coming up this Saturday, a popular
event that has scared up some long-forgotten cars from sheds in the
English countryside in previous years. Meant to showcase machinery that
needs more than a buff and a wax, the Restoration Show sale offers up
minty cars and projects alike, including a cylinder block or two from
pre-war Bugattis or an Austin Healey shell in need of everything else.
This
year Silverstone Auctions will have more than 60 mostly-complete cars
on offer, ranging from a 1963 Renault Estafette van to a Jensen
Interceptor that will require more than a few days of sitting on eBay
Motors and sourcing parts. We can't figure out what we'd do with either
of those, so we've picked out some less labor-intensive alternatives.
Here are five cars to watch from the upcoming sale.
Silverstone will offer this 1989 Porsche 911 Turbo Targa.
Porsche 911 Turbo
values are going one way -- up -- and Silverstone will have a 1989
Targa on offer equipped with the somewhat rare G50 five-speed gearbox.
An example from the last year of production for the 930 Turbo model,
this one is finished in Baltic Blue over a cream leather interior. The
car shows a claimed 74,500 miles, and Silverstone opines that it has led
a charmed life given the condition of the paint and the leather. A car
that has spent most of its life in the UK, this right-hand drive example
will now be offered with German paperwork. Silverstone estimates that
it is likely to bring between £55,000 and £65,000 on auction day, which
translates into $82,000 to $97,000. This is the price range where 930
Turbos currently live, and there is no indication so far of values for
these cooling down. The era of cheap used 930 Turbos ended a few years
ago.
This Mini from the 1980s features an automatic transmission.
Demand for classic Minis is showing no signs of abating, but
collectors tend to go for the earlier models, as original as possible.
The Mini's long
production run means that bargains requiring less mechanical attention
can be had a bit further down the road, with plenty of special editions
from the 1980s and 1990s to choose from. For Mini fans in the U.S. it's
just the 1980s for now, with Minis through the 1990 model year being
ineligible for importation. Silverstone will be offering a
late-production Mini from 1986, a Mayfair Limited Edition, with such
luxuries as servo disc brakes up front, a modernized dash, velour
seating, and opening rear side windows. This one is equipped with a
British Leyland four-speed automatic, and is showing a claimed 11,200
miles on the clock, both factors which make it that rare half-way step
towards a modern BMW-era Mini. There are a few more modern details
throughout, such as the revised taill lights, trim, and wheelcovers, in
addition to newer switchgear. Silverstone estimates this example to
bring between £8,500 and £10,000, which translates to approximately
$12,600 to $15,000. We can see this one becoming a summer car at a
beachhouse here in the States.
There's another Mini in the sale, a 1998 Rover Mini Cooper Sport Limited, but it won't be importable for another eight years.
This rare 1976 Daimler Sovereign 4.2 features the six-cylinder engine.
We may be used to seeing surviving Jaguar
XJ6Cs at concours events, but there was an even rarer version of the
Jag coupe that was offered from 1975 till 1978. The coupe was also
offered as a Daimler Sovereign, with Daimler being the upmarket badge
applied to range-topping Jaguar sedan models. This particular example
from 1976 is equipped with the 4.2-liter six-cylinder engine, so it's
not the expensive V12 that was also on the menu at the time. Silverstone
doesn't state whether the paint on this example is original, but
reports that it is showing a claimed 59,000 miles and comes with
documentation supporting this. The auction house estimates that this
example will bring between £14,000 and £16,000 on auction day, which
translates into approximately $21,000 to $24,000.
This 1986 Mercedes-Benz 500SL is a low-mileage car, but will it fetch $74,000 to $89,000 as the auction house predicts?
Mercedes-Benz
SL roadsters of all flavors from the 1980s can still be easily found,
but perhaps not with the low mileage that this example from 1986 claims
to have. Silverstone will be offering a 500 SL showing a reported 9,044
miles on the odometer, a car that had resided in the Patrick Car
Collection created by Joseph Patrick of Patrick Motors Ltd. that was
later turned into a private car museum. This RHD example reportedly
received a full service in 2013 at a Mercedes-Benz dealer and has
covered 58 miles since. Silverstone estimates this example to bring
between £50,000 and £60,000 on auction day, which translates into a very
ambitious $74,000 to $89,000 range. That's a handful in either
currency, and we have trouble picturing someone paying that much for an
500SL from the 1980s, even with delivery mileage. There is a reserve on
this lot, but we'll see what really happens once the bidding starts.
Someone may end up getting a bargain.
This Testarossa shows a claimed 27,000 miles.
Ferrari Testarossa
values are slowly inching up after bottoming out in the early aughts,
with an increased number of these popular supercars now coming to market
after having been stashed away for a couple of decades. Just in the
last year, the best examples have gone from the mid-$60,000 range to the
$100,000 range.
The example that Silvertone will be offering is
from the 1988 model year and is the 4.9-liter 390-hp version. Delivered
new to Switzerland, spending time in a private collection there until
coming to the UK and now shows a claimed 27,000 miles on the odometer
(which is in kilometers, actually). This example is reported to have
received the pricey cambelt change within the last 1,000 miles, and will
be offered with the spare spare wheel, tool bag, jack, and the leather
handbook pack. Silverstone estimates that this example will fetch
between £80,000 and £90,000 on auction day, which translates into a
pretty ambitious $119,000 to $134,000 range.