541 R 3674319 at Bonhams auction

[Peter Rothery]

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26809/ ... t/5470877/

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[VFK44]

This is the late Norman Paskin's car, restored about 6 years ago by Kestrel.
The paint is similar, but not identical, to the famous London-Paris car.

[shaun]

Is this the car Norman brought back from Italy?

[Peter Rothery]

Apparently, yes.

[David Davies]

Looks a thoroughly nice car which will probably fetch around the £50k mark inclusive, or even a bit less, which seems a lot to someone who remembers good CV8s at £3-4k (showing my age) and who bought his CV8s for £11k and £12k some years later (shouldn't have sold them). But £50k is not much (if I had it) compared to £200k asking price for a CV8 Convertible! I imagine the 541R may well end up in the EU again if the owner does not suffer too much from "brexit woes". Against a purchase and recommissioning cost of £50-£60k before taxes and customs, surely such additional costs are small beer?

[Jens]

I doubt the car will reach the estimate when I look into the engine bay, David. 4/5 points in the "under bonnet" assessment seems to be at least ambitious.

And there are no pics of the chassis and the areas with the usual issues.

Body and interior look nice though.

It is not easy to sell a 541 nowadays for GBP 50k. It then has to be nearly perfect. This one clearly isn't.

I hope I have not bothered anyone here, I can only tell my experience and I have only seen the pictures. But having bought cars from Bonhams and knowing their assessments I think I'd share my thoughts.

[johnw]

Bit of a crazy description if Kestrel restored it, saying it was restored in Italy. The Speedo reads 0 miles too. I wonder if that photo was taken in 2017? I also wonder why there is no radiator cap on the engine bay photos?

[Peter Rothery]

Fully agree with Jens. It needs an amount of tidying under the bonnet and maybe elsewhere before it can be described as "mint". It looks like the tyres are of late 2009 vintage as well but I'm sure a dealer can sort it out and attempt to make a profit!

[VFK44]

It was restored in Italy, but then required major reworking once it arrived in the UK. Kestrel did most of the work, but I fear it was not completely finished when Norman passed away.

[VFK44]

I did like it before it went to Italy, when it was fitted with chunky Revolution wheels and a rather neat sidelights conversion.

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[AlistairT]

Have to agree with Jens, bodywork and interior look okay but under the bonnet it needs a lot of work and the extra indicators don’t look right to me. Think it’s missing the right gear knob and air filter? A good work in progress car for someone who could tidy it up and get it looking more original..
Cheers

[johnw]

I did like it before it went to Italy, when it was fitted with chunky Revolution wheels and a rather neat sidelights conversion.

It really looks like a usable classic there, a bit of a rogues car. Totally love it! Battleship Grey. Reminds me of HMS Belfast for some reason.

[David Davies]

When I said it is a 'thoroughly nice car' I did not think it was anything like concourse. I just thought with a bit of work it could be a very nice presentable car for someone to actually use and go touring in. I've never had a 541R but always greatly admired them. The engine bay is not that bad although it could be improved. Don't see it having much impact on the value. One would hope that if the car has been through Kestrel Classics and others it would not have received a presentable retrim and paint job with the chassis left rotten? Auctions are a harsh environment though to sell anything. It will be interesting to see what happens - maybe a bidding war will break out

[DaveT]

Hi Stephen

"This is the late Norman Paskin's car, restored about 6 years ago by Kestrel."

the records suggest that Norman Paskin intended for the car to be "thoroughly sorted out" by Kestrel but that he passed away before this could happen. Therefore we should not be suggesting that Kestrel have been responsible for any of the work, good or otherwise, carried out on this car. I am sure Alan Bray of Kestrel, will put the record straight if requested.

Dave

[VFK44]

You are of course quite right, David. Sorry for stating otherwise. The car which Kestrel restored for Norman was his C-V8; they gave the 541 a good look over and drew up plans, but were sadly unable to do much on it.