Int 1 at Historics Auction OOJ 865G 115-2998

[Peter Rothery]

https://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auct ... eptor-mrp/

OOJ 865G 115 2998.jpg (93.73 KiB) Viewed 669 times

[Pymmie]

That’s been subject to a decade long restoration.

Based in North Devon ..

John P

[BritArms]

As a proud MK1 owner myself..The auction houses estimate is very disappointing.

[David Davies]

Agreed, it does seem low for what’s described although obviously it will be the bidders who will decide what it’s worth.

[Peter Rothery]

It is only an estimate which some auction houses set low to attract bidders....some (like Brightwells) use the reserve as the bottom estimate....some suggest the estimate is say £30k whereas the reserve might be £40k. In todays Market this could end up anywhere pricewise and is difficult to predict.

Even good restored Interceptors have struggled to make upwards of £30-£35k in public auctions recently despite the odd alleged off the radar sales of double this amount. You cannot buy a wreck and restore it for this sort of "estimate" even doing most of the work yourself like the current vendor who may be gutted that his efforts may not be rewarded. You only have to take a look at the ever increasing prices at Robeys to conclude fully restoring a Jensen is currently fiscally questionable.

I suspect some details of this lot like the hot rod exhaust or, as the auctioneer describes it, "a delightful addition is the stainless steel exhaust which has a ‘loud’ button opening up the exhaust to really turn heads" might put a few people off as will the "silver Hammerite" finish of the underside and non standard wheels.

[Peter Rothery]

sold for £35k which with commission charges equates to £39,830.

[David Davies]

Quite a lot of interest in it and a good price towards the upper end of the estimate. The ‘original’ wheels in the boot were in fact three ropey mk III wheels plus a ropey rostyle one so quite a bit of expense needed to source a fully fettled set of original wheels if that is what’s wanted.

The auctioneer liked the loud exhaust button and I do too. This car is not one for the purist but I think it’s one you could have a hell of a lot of fun in, as I am sure the lucky bidder will. It also caught the eye of one of the Mercedes Benz staff who buttoned hole me about it on viewing day wanting to chat about it.

[VFK44]

The ‘original’ wheels in the boot were in fact three ropey mk III wheels

Historics sailing very close to the wind with this description. You don't need to know about the marque to count up to four. They say they will not enter into any dispute about descriptions, but I'm not sure if that is legally defensible. I've lost a lot of respect in them over this.

[David Davies]

I find auctioneer descriptions tend to be rather flakey so if one was a prospective bidder one of the first things to look at (or get someone to look at) were the so called original wheels. I doubt if the auctioneer staff even know the difference between mkI and mkIII wheels or even thought to check. Not to mention assessing the quality of the restoration. Nevertheless I think the winning bidder bought it for a fair price.

On another lot in which I had an interest, the catalogue noted there was a blemish on the bonnet on a recent nut and bolt restoration - in fact there was micro blistering all over the bonnet and it would need completely stripping and repainting. I also had the auctioneer come round 10 days earlier to my house to buy a spare factory manual I had for the car as their mechanic had just been instructed to replace the cylinder head gasket as the vendor had forgotten to tighten the cylinder head nuts after 500 miles and driven it for a further 700 miles with presumably done issues. That was not disclosed, nor when it was marketed by another auctioneer a few weeks earlier. Also there was absolutely nothing whatsoever on file regarding its history or recent restoration. So I gave up.