The live auction calendar lightens a bit as we enter the summer doldrums, however there are a couple of interesting sales in July worth noting. The first is the Bonhams Cars Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale scheduled for July 12, 2024. For this week’s Market Monday, we’ll do a brief preview of the event and highlight some of Wolf and Mare’s favorite cars crossing the block at this classic UK sale.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a significant annual motorsports event held at Goodwood House in England. This year, the event starts on Thursday July 11 and runs through the 14th. If you happened to be in the UK for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, this would make a wonderful event to visit the week after the race.

Goodwood Estate is a historic racing venue, with the eponymous Goodwood Circuit having hosted a number of races including the Glover Trophy, Tourist Trophy and Goodwood Nine Hours endurance race in the 1950s and 60s. Racing there ended in 1966 and with a desire to bring motorsports back to the estate, Lord March created the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 1993.

Essentially a hill climb event, visitors are treated to a spectacular display of historic and modern vehicles including World Rally Championship, Formula 1, endurance racing and MotoGP disciplines piloted by famous motosports talent. Various exhibits including new car launches round out the experience. Mark Webber, former Formula 1 Driver and WEC Champion calls it the best event in the world.

Bonhams has hosted a live auction at Goodwood for many years as its premier sale, and this year is no different—the motorcars on offer span decades of automotive history. Last year, Bonhams sold 49 of the 79 cars featured at the sale, with a gross of over £10 Million. How will this year’s softer market impact results? Time will tell, but here are the cars I’m watching and why.

Often overshadowed by other Group B rally greats like the Lancia Stratos, Audi Sport Quattro, and Peugeot T16, the MG Metro 6R4 has represented a bargain at a value between $200-250,000. That is, until the staggering price obtained for a Mobil-liveried 6R4 at Iconic Auctioneers’ sale in May. That car sold for over $540,000, a result I’m sure Bonhams would love to realize. Their car is currently guided at a market-correct $190-260,000. This feels right given it’s a rebody, but the chassis does have an impressive history.

At Bonhams Cars’ Goodwood Revival sale in 2023 (a different event), the house sold a genuine 1973 Porsche 911 3.0 RSR in Martini-livery for around $4 million, so it’s interesting to see this 1981 backdate tribute replicating the same car at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale. The build is guided at $120-180,000 and executed to what appears to be a very authentic standard.

It’s not FIA-spec so not eligible for racing in its current configuration, but would it make a lovely streetable companion for the real deal. Based on sales of previous tributes, this is right-on, but could go higher due to its faithfulness to the iconic original.

The early Astons are overlooked, as most people think Aston Martin didn’t make cars before the DB5. The marque has a storied racing history going back to the early days of motoring, and this car is a works-example from the early 1950s. This one has a wonderful racing and rally history, and it steering wheel has been held by none other than the great Stirling Moss. Reason enough to want it. Genuine DB2 race cars seldom appear at auction, so the guide of $1-1.5M is as good an estimate as I can figure when comparing to other rare DB2s.

While there is also a 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing at the sale, this little pre-war Merc is what caught my eye. It fits into a subculture of modifying touring cars by shortening the frame, replacing the bodywork with a custom race-inspired shell and hopping up the engine. This is a rather tidy example of a car inspired by a 1924 Mercedes Sportwagen. The large range given for the estimate indicates to me that the house isn’t sure of its value, but I’d say the high end of its $100-180K estimate is optimistic.

Not nearly as valuable as the other Ferrari in our list, this 1982 Ferrari 308 would allow you to live out all your Magnum P.I. fantasies. TV fame aside, I think the 308GTS is one of the most beautiful cars Ferrari ever made. I’m watching this one because the guided price is incredibly low at $51-64,000. Nice 308s are going for big money these days, occasionally topping $100,000. While it’s not a Quattrovalvole, it’s in good driver condition. I expect a bid closer to the average price of $75K.

Owning a pre-war car is on my bucket list, and while my budget is more in the MG TA and Ford Model T space, I’d love to own a pre-war Bugatti. An “affordable” model that still sports the iconic horseshoe radiator grill is the Brescia. A petit French racer called a voiturette, it’s tiny but powerful. Like last week’s pre-war Bugatti, this one is assembled from a bit of a hodgepodge of parts, but executed to an extremely high standard. Type 13 Brescias average around $249,000 so I think this one will land somewhere toward the low end of the estimate of $230-280,000.

Perhaps evident of a concerning theme, this Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider is yet another reconstructed car, not an original. Pur Sang, the noted manufacturer of Type 35 Bugatti replicas, also makes an 8C replica but this car is claimed to be a cut above. Essentially built in the 1990s to resemble the iconic pre-war race car, this one is registered in the Netherlands as a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider, but that doesn’t make it one. While I agree and love the build, I think it lands in the middle of its $450-640,000 estimate at best. 

I’ve had the pleasure of inspecting a LaFerrari in person, and they are imposing and fantastical vehicles with Formula 1-inspired powertrains putting out an insane 950hp. For Ferrari collectors, it’s up there with the F40 in must-have lists and with only 499 made, difficult to come by. A 2015 LaFerrari with more miles sold at auction in June for $3.7M, so the low end of the estimate of $3.6M seems achievable.

I would highly recommend perusing the rest of the catalogue for the Bonhams Cars Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale. In addition to a ton of collectibles and memorablia, you’ll find standard high-end auction fare like a Ferrari Daytona, Aston Martin DB5 and Lamborghini Countach. But you’ll also see some real gems like a 1995 Porsche 911 993 GT2 and a 2020 Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti.

Goodwood Festival of Speed typically streams its event live on YouTube, so keep an eye on their channel for great content coming this weekend. Have a great week, folks!

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisals, and auction services for buyers and sellers of collector European cars. If you’re interested in acquiring an overseas car, give us a call or drop a line!