A 1963 Jaguar E-Type found under a hedge in the village of Bisley in Surrey sold for £58,000 at COYS Spring Classics auction in London.
Chris Routledge, CEO of international auctioneers COYS, said: “We were encouraged by strong results achieved across the board and the number of registered bidders joining us and bidding in the room – it’s always good to see the market is as active as ever.”
He added: “The derelict E-Type attracted attention from all four corners of the world and bidders in a packed auction room and via telephone fought fiercely for it on Tuesday night. It ended up going to an English collector and Beatles enthusiast who plans to slowly restore it to its former glory.”
The E-Type showed just 44,870miles on the clock and still had the last tax disc on the windscreen which expired in November 1969. The car’s first owner in May 1963 was none other than Ivor Arbiter, who owned Drum City and Sound City in London and was the designer of the ‘drop – T’ logo for The Beatles.
It changed owners a couple of times between 1965 and 1967, when it moved to its last owner Frank Riches, who raced it extensively at Oulton Park, Brands Hatch and Blackbushe between 1967 and 1969. Frank burnt out the clutch and instead of getting it fixed he put the car into storage in a lock up until the 1980s, he then moved it to his garden where is remained under a tarpaulin until the present vendor rescued it in 2015.
Other important cars auctioned included a veteran 1901 Delin 4HP Voiturette eligible for the London to Brighton Run (sold for £64,520), a 1984 Lamborghini Countach 5000 S (£253,800), a 2010 Aspira F620 (£86,920) and a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 190SL (£81,320).
Routledge said: “Values of classic cars remain robust with a particular note to the Lamborgini Countach selling for £253,800. COYS next auction will be the Essen extravanza with a catalogue of 160 classic and sports cars.”
COYS ‘Techno Classica’ auction takes place on April 9th 2016 in Essen, Germany, followed by ‘COYS at Ascot’ in the famous British racecourse on April 16th 2016.
