The 8 Best Cars Heading to the RM Sotheby’s London Auction
Tom Hains, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
The annual RM Sotheby’s London sale will offer an appropriately strong lineup of British metal on November 1 and 2, and its star lot is one of the rarest, most sought-after, and now most valuable cars the UK has ever produced: a 1957 Jaguar XKSS, which carries a high-end estimate of about $14.4 million.
The auction also gains a new venue: the Peninsula London, the city’s first billion-pound (GBP) hotel. Owned by major car collector Sir Michael Kadoorie, and with historic motoring and aviation-themed bars and restaurants, it opened a year ago but has already become a hub for the London collector-car market, hosting the Peninsula Best of the Best awards just last month.
The 62 vehicles on offer range from a 1900 De Dion-Bouton tricycle to a 2020 McLaren Senna GTR LM, and the field has an equally broad range of values, from a no-reserve 1967 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow two-door (estimated at just around $32,500) to that eight-figure XKSS. There’s also an impressive selection of automobilia.
Yet the European market has been slow of late, and the British market slower still. This sale will be a useful indicator of the state of that market, and possibly an opportunity for wise investors to secure a bargain. Here are the eight cars that caught our eye from the very diverse selection set to cross the auction block.
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1900 De Dion-Bouton Vis-à-Vis Voiturette (Estimate: $85,000 to $110,000)
Image Credit: Courtesy of the owner This utterly charming French-made voiturette is almost 125 years old and dates to a time when car design was still very new and the basic principles we now take for granted were far from settled. Hence this car’s vis-à-vis (face-to-face) seating arrangement—with the passengers at the front facing rearward—and the tiny, horizontal steering wheel mounted on a pillar.
It’s odd to drive, but with only 3.5 hp you won’t get into much trouble. There’s a loyal and free-spending following for these cars, and this one has previously been granted an entry to RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, the blue-riband event for such vehicles that runs the day after the sale.
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1990 Ferrari Testarossa (Estimate: $175,000 to $215,000)
Image Credit: Neil Fraser, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s The Ferrari Testarossa celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and although its exterior design and those side-strakes are emblematic of the 1980s, it has not kept pace with the growth in value of some other cars of the period. With its twin wing mirrors and five-bolt wheels, this 1990 example is the most evolved of the original iteration of the Testarossa, but still a slightly truculent drive: Ferrari’s much-improved 512 TR would soon follow.
Celebrity provenance may help the sale: this one was first delivered to Formula 1 and IndyCar champion Nigel Mansell for personal use in his final season at Ferrari. A plaque on the door commemorates this, and the early maintenance records bear stamps from Mansell’s own Ferrari dealership.
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1994 Honda NSX-R (Estimate: $300,000 to $380,000)
Image Credit: Tom Gidden, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s The Honda (or Acura) NSX is one of greatest cars Japan has ever produced, forcing Ferrari to raise its game with the F355. The NSX-R version went several steps further, losing nearly 264 pounds in weight for a scalpel-sharp driving experience. Only 483 examples of the NSX-R were made, and those were only for the Japanese market.
Ordered new by a British banker working in Tokyo, this specific car was built to his particularly discerning mechanical and cosmetic specifications, and since he brought it home to the UK it has had only one subsequent owner. It’s reported to have strong presale interest, which is not surprising since you’ll seldom see one better.
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1954 Bentley R-Type Continental Fastback (Estimate: $650,000 to $800,000)
Image Credit: Neil Fraser, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s Fitting for a London auction, the catalog for this sale is replete with examples from Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, and Bentley, and also includes a McLaren and even an MG. Some of these homegrown cars are estimated in the low five figures. But for us, this particular Bentley is the star Brit. Its aluminum bodywork was honed in an early wind tunnel, lending it one of the most elegant shapes ever to be conveyed by four wheels.
This model was also the fastest four-seater of its day, and because it cost 15 times the average British salary at the time, it was rare too, with just 207 made. With a manual gearbox, lightweight seats, and rear-wheel spats, this example has a particularly desirable specification.
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1993 Porsche 911 Turbo S Lightweight (Estimate: $900,000 to $1.2 million)
Image Credit: Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s If you happen to want a box-fresh, delivery-miles example of one of the rarest and most savage iterations of the 964 generation of Porsche’s 911, it’s safe to say that this may provide your only chance. Just 86 examples of the Turbo S Lightweight were made, and only 18 in a right-hand-drive configuration.
The model variant was essentially a street version of the car that won the 1992 IMSA Supercar Championship. Output was up 61 hp compared to a standard Turbo S, and weight was down 400 pounds by deleting every creature comfort: most of which you could add back in as options. Thought to have been owned by the Sultan of Brunei, this one has been thoroughly recommissioned.
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1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing” (Estimate: $1.35 million to $1.7 million)
Image Credit: Simon Clay, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing”—the model at pole position in Robb Report‘s recent “50 Greatest Sports Cars of All Time” roundup—hardly needs an introduction. Seen by some as the first supercar, it features design elements and engineering that were transformative when it debuted in 1954, and it still drives with an ease and fluency that belie its 70 years.
This particular example deserves some introduction though: it’s a very rare pre-production car, built by Mercedes as a “Standwagen,” or display car, for the 1954 London Motor Show. Mercedes used it as a demonstrator before it passed to the same British family who have owned it ever since. Now, seven decades after it made its very public debut, it’s in the London limelight again.
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1964 Ferrari 250 GT/L Berlinetta Lusso (Estimate: $1.45 million to $1.7 million)
Image Credit: Tom Hains, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s Even at these prices, a Ferrari 250 Lusso looks to be undervalued. That Scaglietti bodywork is among the most beautiful ever to clothe a grand tourer from the marque. The engine is the most evolved, refined iteration of the Colombo V-12, which powers the iconic 250 GTO, and the suspension was also honed on that most valuable of all Ferraris.
This car has grace, pace, and glamour, and will still cross a continent in comfort. Yet older cars such as this—even Ferraris—built before a new generation of collectors were born, are seeing values stutter, and somebody might get a bargain.
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1957 Jaguar XKSS (Estimate: $12 million to $14.4 million)
Image Credit: Neil Fraser, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s This is easily the most desirable and valuable road-going Jaguar model ever produced, and by the same wide margin, this example is the star lot being offered. It’s also the first XKSS to be sold at auction in Europe: of the mere 18 made, 14 went stateside, where owners included Steve McQueen.
All were based on a D-Type racing chassis, but this one was built and sold as a D-Type to a British owner before he returned it to the factory to be bodied as an XKSS. Although street-legal, this one was used for competition—Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart were once pictured in it—but it remains remarkably original. It goes on sale just as Jaguar finally ceases production of combustion-engined cars—of which this was arguably its greatest—and prepares for a purely electric future.
Authors
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Ben Oliver
