The Lotus Elan Auction of the Century

[111Robin]

Chapman's personal Plus 2 now added to the same auction.

[trw99]

Harry's Garage Video has just gone live with his review of the auction lots. He devotes a good deal of time discussing the Piddington Collection.

To go straight to the Elans, start at 18 mins 30 secs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnERQg0rSWI&t=2s

Tim

[pharriso]

Thanks for posting… excellent guide through the cars. I like his style.

[Andy8421]

Tim,

Thanks for the post. For those who want to dodge the 'boring stuff', the section on the Elans begins at 18:35.

Having had my interest piqued by the sale, and having googled around it, I believe that the owner of the collection is a member of this forum.

To the owner - if you read this comment, its a fantastic collection, and I wish you well with your sale.

[Spyder fan]

For those of you that can't attend the auction there is a live feed for Silverstone Auctions on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@SilverstoneAuctions/streams

Click on the Live Tab from 12:00 GMT tomorrow Saturday 25th February

[trw99]

The auction was steeped with tension. There was clearly a good deal of interest in many of the cars but the Piddington Collection was a start attraction.

I, my son and grandson hung around the Silverstone Auctions desks and watched some of the prior lots go through. Most of them went for just below the low catalogue estimates. There was interest, but I would say it was muted, compared to a year or two ago. The Duke of Edinburgh's LWB Land Rover Defender went for a remarkable £110,000 hammer price.

The hammer prices for the Elans were as follows:

"Myers" FHC Sprint £ 40,000
"Hickman" DHC Sprint £ 58,000
"Rindt" FHC S4 £ 58,000
"Emma Peel Avengers" DHC S3 £ 146,000
"Walker" DHC S3 £ 44,000
"Duckworth" FHC S4 £ 32,000 Reserve not met
"Sellers" DHC S3 £ 66,000

Overall, some of the Elans did not quite reach the low estimate, reflecting other lots in the auction. The Avengers Elan was, however, the star of the show as far as I was concerned and reached a record busting hammer price. There were at one stage 10 bidders, I understand.

Not part of the collection, but none the less a well presented car, the "Chapman" Elan Plus 2S 130/5 went to £ 41,000, failing to reach its reserve.

We enjoyed the auction but I feel the Piddington Collection did not quite achieve the heights in value that most of us probably hoped it would. Nonetheless, the majority did at least sell and for what are by any measures good values for our cars.

Tim

[RichardS]

I watched the auction on line, and the Emma Peel Elan was exciting!
Guess I am biased but I thought the last Elan Sprint was a bargain, guessing around £46k with commission.
Richard

[mark030358]

I watched the auction on line, and the Emma Peel Elan was exciting!
Guess I am biased but I thought the last Elan Sprint was a bargain, guessing around £46k with commission.
Richard

Have to agree with that comment Richard.

Looks to me as the value of classics is perhaps not as rosey as we thought, although the really outstanding and rare cars will always be up there.

Cheers

[Andy8421]

Indeed.

Perhaps trying to sell all at once flooded what is quite a niche market. Selling over a period of time might have been more successful.

Given the cost of an original vehicle and the price of a chequebook restoration, the buyer of the FHC Sprint got a good bargain, and had the provenance thrown in for free.

[cliveyboy]

I personally think the prices realised were realistic.
Paul Matty was asking £55K for a freshly restored Sprint some years ago. (I know the guy who bought it).
So Myers and Hickman's Elans were what I would expect. The Sellers and Rindt ones have a bit more celebrity status so a premium was paid but nothing ridiculous.
As for the Avengers Elan. That is the iconic one so someone paid top bucks for bragging rights.
That been said check the price of some of the low mileage Ford RS's. Lot 504 Sierra Sapphire Cosworth, £109K.
Lot 508 Sierra Cosworth RS500, £596K.
You could have bought every Elan in the auction for that sort of money.
Clive

[elanfan1]

Wonder how long it will be for the new owners to break cover?

[jcocking]

The value of the Emma Peel elan is wow.

The interesting story is the lower dollar amounts for the FHC (£ 32,000) and DHC (£ 40,000). These cars are museum-quality restorations with well-documented provenance and a historical premium. The auction results provide a guide on what the high side of the market is at this time.

Considering that these cars are rated excellent, most road cars without mechanical issues will sell for 20% to 25% less. If you remove a small 5% premium for the historical value, the market for an S4 FHC is ~ £ 23K, and an S3 DHC is ~ £ 29K.

Thoughts?

[111Robin]

It would be nice to think that they were in the hands of enthusiasts and not speculators or dealers as is so often the case with auction sales.

[Andy8421]

I don’t think this auction is that much of a guide. Frankly, I think they did a disservice by having the high guide prices.

I didn’t bother following the auction as I thought it would all be too expensive. I would have paid more than £40k for the FHC Sprint, and I am kicking myself for not having got involved.

I am really surprised they didn’t have higher reserve prices.

I would expect to see a number of these cars +£20K offered out through the usual suspects in the coming weeks. Perhaps Harry bought one, I rather hope he did.

[Donels]

I have to agree with Clive re:values. The price of classics seems to be determined by what was cool in your youth and what you wanted. Elan lovers are alas a dying breed and the market has moved forwards, see Sierra Cosworth prices. Elans are slipping into historic territory................