Historics Auction 26/11/22. 3 Int, 1 541R & 1 Healey.

[Dan Smith]

Tomorrow is Historics.co.uk auction at Mercedes world at Brooklands. There are 5 Jensens going through. 3 Interceptors (all mk III, inc 1 SP), 1 541R and a Healey. Myself and Alan Smith will be there from 08:30 representing Ron Smiths 541R. If you are attending come and say hello or if you cant make it and would like to know more details on any car that we may be able to assist on then send me a PM.
https://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auct ... =Jensen&q=
Regards
Dan.

[ajc9415]

According to the website these are the results;
Jensen Healey sold for £10,296
Red Int 3 HRV591N sold for £17,36
Maroon Int 3 KLO95N sold for £42,560
541R not sold
White SP sold for £26,880

[David Davies]

The 541R reached £29,000. Estimate £40,000-50,000.

[GB]

Nice to meet you Dan and Alan and for your company for much of the day, I eventually managed to get the white SP over the line and it now sits in my garage, I think I'm quite chuffed with that.

I wish you luck with getting the 541 sold at a decent price, it certainly is an extremely nice car.

Greville

[VFK44]

Can't believe the 541 didn't sell. Surely the reserve could not have been above the £40,000 minimum guide price. This is still a very impressive car after all these years at the top and although I can't say what the mechanical condition is like, it was visibly a superb example at the NEC show.

[kenny38]

This 541 needs special ads, not really an auction car. I told you the JH (the one Pymmie wet himself over) was underpriced at 2-4K. JH's should make a minimum of 5K unless lotsa body damage Kenny38

[Pymmie]

Wrong JH , silly old man

John P

[felixkk]

Can't believe the 541 didn't sell. Surely the reserve could not have been above the £40,000 minimum guide price. This is still a very impressive car after all these years at the top and although I can't say what the mechanical condition is like, it was visibly a superb example at the NEC show.

Was even featured in the latest Classic Car issue

BF6259F6-9BEF-4126-8B6B-1FD9440C88F4.jpeg (146.17 KiB) Viewed 924 times

[johnw]

This was so well publicised that perhaps many casual first time Jensen buyers thought a bargain was not to be had. The novice might assume every Jensen collector would be all over it if it was a bargain.

I think the classic market is generally depressed on what could be the run up to an economic slump, social upheaval, war, etc. Jensen's are doing very strongly recently on frequent occasions when first time buyer's meet over a good car. Interceptors in particular with new buyers. Ford Capri, Jensen Interceptor, two well known's, can't go wrong classics is the perception. Some new buyers get bidding, away you go. SP, FF, 541 new buyer not so sure, unless it is a basket case on wheels which they assume is easy to add value to and flip if they get in too deep.

Interceptors are also doing well because the club and members are getting the name out there, this "Gentleman's Express" movement, TV adverts for example.

The 541 is not a typical "First Jensen". All of us that have Jensens are not rushing out right now are we. That is the key. The answer is to be found in ourselves. Why are "we" not buying that 2nd or 8th Jensen.

[David Davies]

I agree it's very hard to believe this much-admired car only reached £29k given the massive exposure it has had on the auctioneer's website, at the NEC, in Classic Car magazine and in the JOC Forum and magazine, especially as the auction house achieved a strong result with a 541R barn find only a few months ago. However, many cars did not reach their estimate or did not sell. Aside from the fairly weak market, my take on why is:

1 Colour - very few people want a "purple car" as the auctioneer unhelpfully described it. It's costly to put back to the original Pastel Pink and Dusk Rose (which I love) or any other original Jensen 541R colour scheme.
2 Mileage - any 174,000-mile car is potentially going to struggle. An independent engineer's report with some compression readings would be a great help

If it was mine, I would take it off the market for at least six months, then try it on a carandclassic auction at no buyer's premium and five per cent vendor commission, where I think there is a higher proportion of enthusiast bidders than the mainstream auction houses. Placing it with a dealer on commission would of course be an option but I fear it would sit there for a long time. I would offer the tools and parts as "available if required", or sell separately, rather than as part of the lot as not everyone wants a heap of stuff much of which they may already have.

[johnw]

Some good ideas there David. Personally I would want the parts and tools included ideally as obviously with that mileage they are tried and tested specific to the car. Pictures of those might help. I helped a buyer find a classic car recently, 68k miles, advertised privately on Car and Classic, POA. It was a joy to deal directly with the seller, who was after a fair representative market price nothing more. The car had been advertised for a couple of months. I think the car turned out to be better than either of us expected when we drove off in it. The colour wasn't on our wanted list so we overlooked it at first.

[Dan Smith]

All,

Many thanks for everyone's comments regarding the 541R. Myself and Alan were present at the auction for the whole day and we did speak to the 2 new owners of the red and white interceptors as well as the seller of the Healey. It was a tiring day but a real experience. We put this car into the auction as we felt it needed to be seen to be sold, we were getting very little interest over the internet but it always got interest when it was shown. The cars position at the auction right next to the sales podium and outside the registration office was ideal. The car got lots of attention throughout the day and we spoke to many potential purchasers. Shame none on the day actually bid above £29,000, it was a shock to us and the auctioneers but we did note many of the cars struggled to get to their lower estimates.
Historics still have 2 weeks to try and sell the car at the reserve price and then I will be putting it back up for sale on the internet priced to sell.
We did provide photos of the tools and spares supplied with the car but I believe they were not used due to limited numbers of photos they could use. The spares were available for viewing on request. They will be available with the sale of the car going forward.
The good thing of it not selling is that I still get to use the car, we drove it to Brooklands from Wiltshire around 90miles and then back again this morning in the rain with no issues, where most of the other cars turned up on trailers. It is a joy to drive and I am honoured to drive it. The handling of it actually makes my CV8 feel poor, winter job to get this up to the 541s standard.

Well done to GB for getting the white SP. enjoy it.

Many thanks
Dan.