The Gentleman Magazine Issue 3 | June/July | Page 30

MILLION EURO CASTLE-FIND MERCEDES LEADS THE PACK
AT BONHAMS SPA CLASSIC SALE
Bonhams triumph once again at its fourth Spa Classic Sale,
held at the legendary Circuit de Spa Francorchamps, Belgium.
The deafening roar of 250 GTOs, McLaren F1s and 300SLs at
full throttle around the track provided the perfect background
for the sale, which saw an impressive 80% of lots sold.
German motor cars proved particularly popular, with half
of the top ten lots coming from the Mercedes and Porsche
marques. The star of the show was the perennially popular
1958 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster, which achieved an
astonishing €1,127,000 against a pre-sale estimate of €600,000-
800,000. After a lengthy duel between two keen bidders, the
hammer finally fell to an international buyer on the phone to a
tremendous round of applause. 
No Bonhams sale would be complete without a barn find,
but the Spa Classic auction offered an even more exciting
opportunity – a ‘castle find’ collection of twelve of the most
iconic motor cars ever created, all of which were offered at
no reserve. The temptation of such a unique offering was too
strong for the crowd, and all 12 cars found new owners.
The 1969 Maserati Ghibli SS 4.9-Litre Coupé sold to a
telephone bidder for €174,800 against a pre-sale estimate of
€100,000-150,000.
30 | The Gentleman Magazine
The 1980 Aston Martin V8 Volante Convertible achieved
€172,500 against €90,000-140,000 and the 1933 Rolls-Royce
40/50hp Phantom II Roadster realised €111,550. The collection
achieved a total of €2,026,300.
Bidding throughout the sale was keen and exchanges
prolonged, as was the case with the 1958 Porsche 356A Super
Speedster, which eventually achieved €322,000 after auctioneer
Rupert Banner presided over a lengthy three-way bidding war
with aplomb.
Indeed, Porsches were popular throughout the sale: the
1989 Porsche 911 3.2-Litre ‘Narrow-body’ Speedster realised
€280,000 and the 1993 911 Turbo 3.6-Litre Type 964 Coupé
sold for €195,500.