Silverstone Auctions Race Retro sale 2016 – results & analysis
Silverstone Auctions really seem to have tapped into the psyche of the average UK classic car enthusiast.
In 2015 they kicked off their year with a host of low mileage Ferraris which set something of a benchmark for the year as buyers went wild over the marque’s modern classics. As an auction house that pushes the investment angle of classic car ownership with barely a blush their target for 2016 seems to be be Fast Fords and the more affordable classics that buyers seem to be lapping up at the moment. We shall see if that sector of the market goes the same way.
What did well?
The absolute stand out sale was a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II which sold for an amazing £292,500 inc premium. Silverstone have been pushing these hard and it seems to have done the trick. Even with only 1,700 miles can they really get any more expensive?
There were six Fast Fords available (less than 2015) and we saw some impressive results. A 1987 Ford Capri 280 ‘Brooklands’ found £54,000 with premium and a 1995 Ford Escort RS Cosworth LUX sold for £52,875 – both low mileage cars.
What didn’t do so well?
Of the 15 Ferraris offered only two got near their upper estimate – nine remained unsold and 4 sold below estimate – showing that LHD or cars with a story aren’t what buyers are looking for right now. It was much the same story for the 16 Porsches that went under the hammer.
Patterns and trends
Despite some rumblings on the forums that a lot of cars sold under estimate, in fact the auction was a success with Silverstone bettering last year’s Race Retro sale result. Fewer cars sold below low estimate and more sold above top estimate. Overall the sell through rate was down by around 10% but more cars sold better and by value they were leagues ahead of last year – just take a look at the infographic below.
We saw quite a number of cars that had previously not sold at previous Silverstone Auctions return for a second time after 6-12 months away from the sale room and remarkably some of them sold well. There were also quite a number of dealer cars for sale mostly with a story or lack of real provenance.
Previously offered…
Previously offered
Previously offered
Buy Now For (£)
Maybe we’ve missed it in the past but we saw”come and see me afterwards” turn into a rubber-stamped reality on the Silverstone Auction website. It’s a good idea and we’d love to see what sort of flexibility there is on price – given some of the post-sale asking prices it looks likely that there would need to be a fair bit of movement.
Buy now for (£): 148,500
Buy now for (£): 220,000
Buy now for (£): 84,000
The numbers
| Total lots | 81 | |
| Sold lots | 53 | 65.43% |
| Unsold lots | 28 | 34.57% |
| Sold over estimate | 14 | 17.28% |
| Sold under estimate | 23 | 28.40% |
| Sold in lower half of estimate | 9 | 11.11% |
| Sold in upper half of estimate | 6 | 7.41% |
| Sold in lower half of estimate or below | 32 | 39.51% |
| Sold in upper half of estimate or above | 20 | 24.69% |
| Sold at median estimate | 0 | 0.00% |
| Sold within estimate – ACCURACY | 15 | 18.52% |
| Left hand drive cars | N/A | N/A |
Click here for full results with estimates and heatmap.
