Baron's Spring classic Auction brought some huge prices and some stunning cars from all over the world.

A trio of Italian sports cars topped the popularity polls at Barons’ Spring Classic sale at Sandown Park on April 6^th. However, in an auction in which several lots powered past top estimate, the biggest battle was over a one-owner, 1963 Triumph TR4, which sold for more than double estimate after frenzied bidding.

The highest price of the day was the £79,200 achieved for the immaculate 2004 Lamborghini Murcielago, reinforcing that fine examples of this supercar will command premium prices. It was joined on the ‘podium’ for top spot by the very pretty 1959 Alfa Romeo 2000 Touring Spider, which exceeded top estimate to sell for £35,750, and the 1971 Alfa Romeo Montreal restoration project, which also exceeded estimate, at £27,500.

Bidding on the highly original 1964 Triumph TR4 was quite extraordinary, with a tenacious telephone bidder finally securing it for £26,950. The one-owner car has sat in a garage since its road tax ran out in November 1991, and the bidding battle to over double estimate reflected both the desirability of this classic British sports car and the importance of interesting provenance.

Another iconic British model to power past top estimate was the superb 1973 MG B roadster, which has had almost 3,000 man-hours spent on refurbishment. The new owner drove that away for £20,350. And the charming 1935 Riley Falcon – which was in the same ownership for 77 years from 1935 to 2012 – has gone to just its third owner, for £15,765.

It was a very busy saleroom again, creating a great atmosphere for the auction. There were a record number of internet bidders, and a large number of telephone bidders - many of whom ended up buying cars - and multiple commission bids on several cars. Many of the cars that did not sell under the hammer generated a lot of interest afterwards, most notably the Triumph TR3, which subsequently sold. Barn find and restoration projects are still very much in vogue; in addition to the Alfa Montreal, the Jensen Interceptor and Volvo P1800s sold under the hammer.

Tim Gascoigne, Barons’ Auction Manager, commented, “We are really pleased with the strong results, and it goes to show that you don’t always need to have a large number of cars to have a good sale, as quality really is key. We’re now very much looking forward to returning to Sandown Park for our Ford Auction on Saturday 30th April at the International Ford Show.”

Results, Barons, Sandown Park, April 6^th

Make/Model	Sold @ Inc
2004 Lamborghini Murcielago	£79,200
1959 Alfa Romeo 2000 Touring Spider	£35,750
1971 Alfa Romeo Montreal	£27,500
1963 Triumph TR4	£26,950
1965 Ford Mustang Coupe	£25,850
1973 MG B Roadster	£20,350
1995 Aston Martin DB7	£18,150
1998 Aston Martin DB7	£16,500
1935 Riley Falcon	£15,675
2001 Maserati 3200 GT	£14,300
1969 MG CGT	£12,925
1950 Opel Olympia	£8,800
1984 Mercedes 500SEC	£8,580
1967 Toyota Corona 1600S Coupe	£6,875
1972 Jensen Interceptor III	£6,750
1975 BMW 1602 Coupe	£5,610
1991 Bentley Turbo R	£4,600
1989 Mercedes 500SEC	£3,960
1984 Jaguar XJS V12 Coupe	£3,850
1996 Mini Cooper Saloon	£3,800
1998 Jaguar XJS Paul Banhams Conv.	£3,520
1998 Jaguar XK8 Coupe	£3,520
1992 Mercedes 190E	£3,080
1985 Opel Monza GSE 3.0 Coupe	£3,080
1996 Alfa Romeo Spider Convertible	£2,860
1991 Mitsubishi 3000 GTO V6 4WD	£2,800
1979 MG BGT	£2,420
1999 BMW 323i	£2,200
1973 MG BGT	£2,200
1964 Volvo P1800S	£1,870
2004 MG TF Sports Convertible	£1,760
1999 Mercedes C200 Classic Saloon	£1,350
1972 Volkswagen K70	£1,250
1995 BMW    328i	£1,150

A new weekend long Ford event to be held next year for the first time, in collaboration with Ford magazines.

• New weekend-long event set to become highlight of the Ford calendar
• Featuring classic and modern Fords from across the world
• Advance tickets now available, from just £10 a head

A brand new event celebrating Britain’s most popular car brand is set to become one of the biggest highlights of the show calendar when it opens its doors for the first time in 2016.

The International Ford Fair will be held at Sandown Park, Surrey, on the outskirts of London, on the weekend of April 30-May 1, and will bring together fans of the blue oval from all over the globe.

The indoor event will feature some of the finest Fords from the UK and beyond, be them standard, restored or modified, along with premium trade stands from a variety of Ford experts and specialists. There will be live demonstrations throughout the day, along with a significant presence from two of the Ford scene’s most respected magazines – Classic Ford and Fast Ford.

Advance tickets for the show are available now, priced at just £10 per person for single day access, or £20 for the weekend (up to two children below the age of 14 go free). Those wishing to make even more of a weekend of it can also take advantage of on-site camping for an extra £10 per person, adding to the show’s festival feel. They can be bought from the show’s official website at 

http://www.theinternationalfordshow.com/

Full details of the show, the cars and the various activities will be announced nearer the date, on the event website, or via the official Facebook page and twitter feeds.

Some Rare, Some Uber rare and some, just stunning, but all will be at the next Barons Auction Sale.

The entry list for Barons’ sale at Sandown Park on September 15^th features an eclectic mix of cars spanning 10 decades, turning the saleroom into something of a ‘pop-up’ motoring museum.

The sale is headlined by an extremely rare 1936 Alvis Speed 20 SD drophead coupé with Vanden Plas coachwork. One of five such examples built, just three are believed to still be in existence, and this is the only car of its type registered in the membership list of the Alvis Owner Club. 

It comes with a complete record of owners since its manufacture nearly 80 years ago, and still drives very well and performs strongly. Estimate: £100,000-£130,000.

Another rarity is the unrestored, highly original 1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal V8 Bertone Coupé, which has covered just 38,000 miles in over 40 years, and has been barn-stored since 2011. 

Whilst the bodywork is in need of renovation, the car is in excellent mechanical health, thanks to the careful nurturing of its three owners, and the all-important Type 33 engine howls into life at the first turn of the key.  Estimate: £21,000-£25,000.

Classic commercial vehicles have become highly collectable in recent years, and the 1962 Austin A55 Half Ton on offer at Barons is just the type of machine to catch a collector’s eye, not least because it has covered just 3,700 miles from new and even runs on its original Dunlop cross-ply tyres! 

It was purchased new by the vendor’s father, who had a provisional licence, so only drove it when accompanied. 

The only items which have been changed on the vehicle since 1962 are the exhaust, service items and the rear brake shoes. Estimate: £18,000-£22,000.

The name ‘Auto Union’ immediately conjures up images of those legendary Silver Arrows race cars of the inter-War era. However, there’s an Auto Union of a rather different type in the sale – a 1964 1000S De Luxe.  

A ‘must’ for Audi fans, this very rare car runs on a mixture of petrol and oil, thanks to its two-stroke engine.  Estimate: £7,500-£9,000.

The 1973 Opel Manta 1.9 Berlinetta is another rare beast, particularly in such immaculate condition.  

Prior to its current ownership it had been the hands of one family since new, and had stood in a barn for nearly three decades before the vendor acquired it. He has re-manufactured the car from its bare component form, and a complete portfolio of the work is provided with this ‘better than new’ car. Estimate £12,000-£15,000.

The Ford marque is particularly well represented in the September 15^th sale, with some fine examples from 1917 to 1987. The oldest Ford on offer is the 1917 Model T – in black, naturally! The estimate for this sprightly machine, which is just two years off its centenary, is £10,500-£12,500.  

Its fellow Fords include the 1955 Consul £5,500-£7,000, 1963 Anglia 105E (£7,000-£9,000), 1983 Cortina Mk 5 1.6 Crusader and 1987 Escort 1.4L.  The Cortina has just 10,000 miles on the clock, and the Escort has 11,000. These cars carry estimates of £3,500-£4,500 and £3,000-£4,500 respectively.

And a Ford of a very different nature can be found in the form of the head-turning 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback GT350 Hertz tribute car, which was painstakingly restored by Hurst Mustang in California just 3,700 miles ago. Estimate: £33,000-£37,000.

An ultra-rare, unrestored and original Aston DB6 Mk 1 Volante Vantage set a new record for Barons.

An ultra-rare, unrestored and highly original 1969 Aston Martin DB6 Mk 1 Volante Vantage set a new record for Barons when it sold for £781,000 at Sandown Park on July 28^th. The highest price ever achieved for a car at a Barons sale, it broke the auction house’s previous record of £739,000, set just three months ago for a 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental Fastback ‘barn find’.

The Aston above is the one sold at Auction, the cars below are illustrative examples of models that were sold at the auction, but are not the actual cars.

“We believe this may be a record for an unrestored example of this particular Aston Martin, so these are very exciting times for Barons,” said company director Peter Gascoigne. 

“The past six months since Tony Cavell and I took the reins have seen significant growth in the value and quality of cars across the sales, and in the overall sale results. To have two such cars within three months of each other is truly remarkable.”

The Sandown Park saleroom was packed, and the number of online bidders had swelled by 50% for this sale. Bidding on the Aston – one of just 29 ever made, and believed to be the final such Volante Vantage built – actually started slowly, building gradually from an initial £350,000. 

Then telephone bids began flooding in and the car accelerated rapidly up to the final figure paid by the UK buyer.

Another British classic was second in the popularity charts at the sale. The stunning 1968 Series 1.5 Jaguar E-type 2+2 had been the subject of a comprehensive nut-and-bolt bare metal restoration, and sold for £46,750. 

It was followed by a very impressive, and considerably younger, machine; the 2014 Dax Cobra, which has just 500 miles on the clock, roared past its £20,000 estimate to sell for £32,175.

Barons is now gearing up for its British Heritage, Classic & Collectors’ Sale, at Sandown Park on September 15^th.

The full results of Barons’ July 28^th sale appear below.

Year	Make	Model	Sold @ Inc
1969	Aston Martin	DB6 MKI Volante Vantage	£781,000
1968	Jaguar	E-type 1.5 2+2 Coupe	£46,750
2014	Dax	Cobra	£32,175
1989	Porsche	911 Carrera	£22,000
1963	Triumph	TR4	£21,450
2002	Porsche	911 Carrera 4 Widebody Coupe	£15,950
1977	Jaguar	XJ6 4.2 S2	£11,825
1961	Jaguar	MKII 3.4 Saloon	£11,220
1967	Ford	Mustang	£9,900
1990	Jaguar	XJS 3.6	£9,350
1977	Triumph	Stag	£8,525
1966	MG	B Roadster	£8,250
1972	Fiat	500L	£6,820
1994	Land Rover	Range Rover Vogue LSE	£6,050
	B0B 60	Registration number	£5500
1971	MG	1300 MK2	£5,225
1974	Fiat	500R	£4,675
1986	Porsche	928 S2 Coupe	£4,400
1997	BMW	Z3 1.9	£4,290
1992	Porsche	968 Cabriolet	£4,180
1989	Volkswagen	Golf Gti 16V	£3,410
1973	Morris	Mini 1000	£3,300
1977	Ford	Capri	£3,300
1986	Jaguar	XJS 5.3 V12	£3,300
2001	BMW	Z3 3.0i	£3,300
1957	Ford	Anglia 100E	£3,080
1985	Volkswagen	MKI Golf Gti Cabriolet	£2,970
1998	Alfa Romeo	Spider 2.0	£2,695
1999	Volkswagen	Golf Convertible	£2,530
1989	BMW	320i Convertible	£2,475
1978	MG	Midget	£1,870
2003	MG	TF 1.8	£1,650
1986	Saab	900GLS TA	£1,200
1980	Daimler	Sovereign 4.2	£1,150
1976	MG	B Roadster	£750