Originally I started by trying to sell my 280SE privately.   However, I had the issue that I have a fair amount of work travel in the first part of the year, and a fairly busy work and family schedule at other times.    I missed out on a couple of buyers because they purchased something else before I could even show them the car.

As I was just about to embark on a 3 week work trip, I enquired about various auction options.  As the car was in good shape and fairly original, plus a desirable colour I thought it would probably do reasonably well.

Potential buyers could go and look at the car at the auction house and then make a decision to bid or not.

Based on that, I considered a number of different auction providers:

• Shannons
• Lloyds
• Grays
• Collecting Cars

At the time, I didn’t really think about Trading Garage or Burns and Co.  I probably should have.

I quickly ruled out Grays and Collecting Cars.   The impression I have of Grays is that it is the place that people dump cars they can’t otherwise sell.   I’ve also had stories from friends about the quality of the cars they had purchased from Grays.   Given my car was a very nice original car, I didn’t think it was a good fit.

I also didn’t think the commercial model worked well with Collecting Cars.   The minimum buyers premium is $1,000.   This is an exorbitant amount of money for a car I expected to sell for around $10,000.  I wouldn’t bid on a car unless I was getting it cheap as chips as I would feel I’m being ripped off.  It might work well for cars at the $40-$50,000 range, but at that point I think the high value stuff goes through other auction houses anyway.   Plus each auction runs in its own time so you don’t get the marketing impact of a regular auction date at a well publicized auction house.

That left Lloyds and Shannons.   I went with Shannons because I felt they have the reputation as the auction house where the nice cars go through.   They generally do good descriptions and take high resolution photos plus the mechanical report.   The Lloyds descriptions are often one sentence and the photos are quite low resolution.     I can’t remember the exact numbers but the fees were fairly comparable.

I also chose to go with a no reserve auction.   I felt the exposure I would get through Shannons would give me enough exposure I would get a good market price.   While I was hoping for $10,000, I felt I would easily get $8,000 if things went badly.    I think reserve auctions put off buyers at the cheaper end of the market.   The fees are much higher.

The sign up process was pretty easy and the Shannons employee I worked with was really helpful and was genuinely interested in the car and appreciated it.    The showroom is in St Leonards which is reasonably simple for me to get to.  I was able to drop off the car on the way to the city one day.

Once the car was there, Shannons took some very good high resolution photos of the car.   The only criticism is that their watermark covers the middle of the photos, meaning it can he hard to zoom in and look at the details.   They also do a mechanical report, which I think is a useful thing for bidders.  I thought their report was reasonably fair, although like a 280SEL they had a previous auction, they noted the car as down on performance.  I don’t think it actually was and they were comparing it to a non ADR27A car.   ADR27A had a big impact on the performance of the M110.

Shannons don’t do an in person Auction anymore.   The lots go live and bidding is open for a week.   Like most Auctions, most of the bidding happens in the last 10 minutes or so that the lot is live.    I normally find a general rule of thumb on these type of auctions is that the bid level will double in the last day of the auction.

The collector car market has really softened in the last 6 months or so.   I went into the last day at $4100.   This was below where I wanted to be, but not fatal.   While my overall goal was to get a figure that would net me $10,000, I felt $8,000 while disappointing would at least be a tolerable result.

Some of the early auctions were doing quite well – then something happened that would change everything.    The Shannons main website went down.   This was a little after 6pm.    It would remain down for the rest of the evening.

During this whole time, the Auction site was unaffected.   The issue is that many people get to the auction site via the main website.    I don’t know how many people this impacted, but certainly the lots that were scheduled for later in the evening had pretty poor results – worse than the ones scheduled earlier.    In the end, I managed to scrape a result of $6,400.   I hardly had any bidding right at the end.

I wasn’t alone.   There were other cars going to equally low numbers around the time of mine.   A great example was a rough R107 that went for $6,800.   The car was rough, but that is a particularly low result.   Neither of the Pagoda SLs got good numbers, and they are normally very popular cars.   The W126 280SE couldn’t get any bids at all.

Shannons had one job to do that night.  Keep their IT infrastructure up.   A short outage of 10-15 minutes would have been inconsequential.   But the hours long outage had a major impact.    While the market is down, and I didn’t expect to get a number in the mid to high end of the guiding range, I felt my personal guiding range of $8-$11,000 was reasonable.

A great contrast was another 280SE sold by grays a couple of weeks earlier.   This is a good comparison as both cars are sold under the same market conditions.    The grays car actually got a slightly higher hammer price than mine, but there was a big gulf between the two cars.   For example, compared to my car, the grays car was:

• In materially worse condition, with various dents and scratches on the body work
• A 1974 D-Jet car vs a 1979 K-Jet car.
• Poorly optioned (no sunroof, crank windows)
• Sold on grays vs Shannons

I pointed this out to Shannons and they agreed to waive the 7% commission.   This puts me at an equivalent hammer price of around $6,850.   Better, but I don’t think a realistic representation.

I think this outage cost me $1,000-$3,000.   Based on my experience here, I won’t be sending another car to a Shannons auction.   The front end process may be good, but if they can’t do the basics of keeping the IT infrastructure up on the night of the Auction, what is the point?

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Instead of separate Sydney and Melbourne auctions, they now run a combined online auction.   The cars are still available for viewing in both their Sydney and Melbourne auction rooms.   The Sydney location is much better than before – bigger, brighter and easier to see the cars.   I’m told this location will also be available for car club events too.

There are also some very interesting lots in Melbourne but I have not seen them, so I will only be covering the Sydney based cars here.

Lot 157:  1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SE Coupe

Regular readers of this site will know I am a huge fan of the two door W111 Mercedes-Benz rage.  This lot was an honest looking coupe, which seemed in very nice original condition.   I think white is not the best colour for these cars, but if you’re going to have one in white, the dark red interior is the best.   It is quite similar to the car I used to own, except this one is in much nicer shape.   The guiding price of $75-100k seems reasonable based on recent prices.   Certainly these cars have shot up a lot in the last 2-3 years as it wasn’t all that long ago that this was a $40k car.

The 280 benefits from a more powerful engine than the earlier cars, but looses out on some of the nicer interior touches such as the wooden instrument cluster binnacle.   This car does have the Behr air conditioning system vs the aftermarket unit that many have.

Lot 170: 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300d ‘Adenauer’

Another classic Mercedes-Benz – this time the fabled Adenauer.   In this case the 300d, which was improved from the previous 300 models.  These cars really do have beautiful lines and the pillarless construction makes the interior really airy.

This car looked in nice original shape, similar to the 280SE Coupe.   Black with a red interior is the best colour combination for these cars in my view.   My only real criticism is the modern radio in the dash.   Its great that the original radio has been preserved, but the modern one should have been hidden.

The guiding range is $70-90k

Lot 172 – 1966 Mercedes Benz 300SE Coupe (with M100 transplant)

Lot 172 is not an original Mercedes-Benz model.  Rather, it is a tribute to a model that might have been.     The M100 engine was original created for the 600, however Mercedes-Benz did create the W109 300SEL 6.3 ‘hotrod’.   They never expected this car to be a big seller, so I imagine it wasn’t seen as viable to also create a saloon version.   Interestingly, the test mule for the car was a rejected 250SE Coupe body shell so there is precedent.

In doing the conversion, they obviously used an early 6.3 engine as the transmission has the park position at the bottom.   The condition of the car is really nice.  The colour stands out and the quality of the work in doing this car is evident.   Having said that, I have heard its not all that great to drive by somebody who has.   That was some years ago, so its possible any faults have been corrected.

I find it interesting they didn’t use the normal bumpers for a 1966 300SE.   Rather they have used later bumpers with rubber inserts.   Personally, I would have used the earlier ones had I been building the car.    Overall I really like the car.   I’m not normally one for modified cars, but this car looks like it has been done right.

The guiding price is $200-$240,000 which is about double what it sold for some years back.   Having said that, you couldn’t build one for less in this condition.    Not sure I would want to spend that sort of money for a non-original car.   You could have an original 300SE and an original 300SEL 6.3 for that money.

As well as these Mercedes-Benz models, there were also a number of classic Alfa-Romeos that caught my eye.  I really don’t know much about these cars, but they are very impressive and I would love to own an Alfa one day.    There was also a white 3.8 MK2 Jaguar that can be seen in the picture next to the 300SE.    Its the right spec, manual with overdrive but I find it hard to get excited about a white one.

The lot I really wanted to see was 166, but this car was in Melbourne.  It is the 4 1/4 Derby Bentley with coachwork by Barker.   That car has a guiding price of $90-$110k.   These cars do not come up often and this one looked quite nice.

The lot estimates on the W111 cars got me talking with the auction staff about insurance values for my cars.    Based on these, I will bring it back in for the Auction staff can take a look and suggest a proper insurance value.    I also asked them about what the prices were doing with some of the other cars I own.   Classic Mercedes are up, hence the values of the W111 coupes.   Even some cars in relatively poor shape have seen strong bidding.   This has extended to the 107, but not to later models.

I specifically asked about the W126, especially the SEC as I have seen the high asking prices of these cars.   According to the Shannons auction staff these prices do not reflect reality.    Things are also fairly stable with the E-Type (So many to choose from) and the Citroen DS.

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This auction also had a large number of the numeric numbers plates at massive prices.   I’ve never seen the appeal of these.

Any fans of big German coupes, with a budget of $15-$20,000 will have three good choices at the auction.   Lot 33, a 1983 Mercedes-Benz 280CE looked like a really nice example.   I’ve seen 280CE’s that were far worse being advertised (but not selling) for significantly more.   The 280CE is an underrated car and doesn’t command much of a premium on the sedan for some strange reason.   I doubt that will last.

Next is Lot 34, A 1973 Mercedes-Benz 350SLC.    This SLC is finished in a lovely period colour, with some of the nice early touches like a small mirror on the drivers side only and front radio antenna.   The wheels are particularly ugly, but a set of original wheels or even Pentas would have the car looking a lot better for a reasonable outlay.    I would also remove the aftermarket chrome wheel arches.    I did on my 450SLC.

Finally for the more sporting driver is Lot 35 – a 1986 BMW 635CSi.   This car is equipped with the preferable manual transmission and provides a good alternative to the Mercedes-Benz models.    This E24 6 Series is one of the best looking models they ever made.

Another car that stood out to me is Lot 53 – The 1926 Frazer-Nash.   This was one of the more expensive cars on display with a range of $130-$150,000.   It has the chain drive that these early Frazer-Nash cars are well known for.

I also admired Lot 59, The 1941 Packard 120.   While the 120 is a ‘Junior’ Packard, it is still superior to most other cars from that time with its straight eight motor, high build quality and period interior.   This car has not been over-restored like many and things like a leather interior added.    Many Packards have big limo bodies on them befitting their high purchase price, but this 120 has a smaller coupe body that would be much nicer to drive.

At the Auction was a Maserati Kyalami (lot 69), which looks like the one I had stored in my garage a couple of years ago.   As there were so few right hand drive cars, I suspect it is.   The Maserati sounded amazing as it drove in to storage.

Finally some interesting cars included a Jaguar MKII 2.4 with great patina and a reasonable $15-$20,000 range; A Rolls Royce Silver Spirit III, imported from Japan, a beautifully restored Riley RMB and a 1936 Jaguar SS project car.    I think of all of the cars at the 2020 Shannons Sydney Summer auction , I would have the Packard.

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There were a few cars that caught my eye:

Gold Medal: Lot 59: 1953 Jaguar XK120 Drophead

This was the standout for me at the Auction.   The XK120 was one of Sir William Lyons best creations and the combination of black paint and red interior really shows it off.   The Drophead is the most desirable model and this car looked in excellent condition.   Guiding range is $120-$150k and I expect the car to do this or more.

Silver Medal: Lot 36: 1961 Mercedes-Benz 220SE Coupe

Regular readers will know how much I admire the W111 Coupe and Cabriolet models.   This 220se is one of the nicest early 220SE’s around.   The car was a common attendee at Mercedes car shows at one time and I got to talk to the long time owner a few times.   He had owned the car since the 70s and the condition was a credit to him.   The paint colour really sets off the lines of the car and it has a rare sunroof.    Guiding price is $60-$70k.   This seems a lot for a 220, but probably not for one in this condition.

Bronze Medal: Lot 33: BMW M635CSI

If I had a BMW in my garage, it would be one of these.   In exactly this spec.   The M6 might get the attention, but it is not 3x the car of the M635CSI.   This car is equipped with a manual transmission, black leather interior, low miles and only a few owners.  Guiding range is $32-$38k

Honorable mentions:

The Fiat 500 and the Mini cooper both looked like great fun cars and in great shape.   I would be happy to own both of them.   I am not normally a ute fan, but the Holden FX ute was in great condition and was a standout.    The Buick is a nice looking car, but it is disappointing the straight 8 was replaced by a V8.   I’m also normally a fan of Rolls Royce Silver clouds, but this one was the long wheelbase with division.   These are rare, but more set up for the owner and driver to be different people.   This particular car was bought for the Premier of Victoria, before it was electoral suicide to be driven around in such a car.

The post Shannons Sydney Autumn 2019 Auction preview appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The lots that I will be keeping an eye on during the auction are:

Lot 34:  Jaguar S-Type 3.8

The S-Type is the somewhat overlooked compact jaguar.   In 3.8 spec, in some ways it is the ideal compact Jaguar for touring, rather than the MK2 which is better for classic racing.   This car was an older restoration and looked very nice.   It was close to the ideal spec for me, being an unmolested 3.8 liter model.   Too many of these cars have suffered from dubious restomods.   The no reserve $15-20,000 guiding price is also attractive for this car.   What lets it down for me is the colour (I can’t stand white cars) and the fact it is automatic.   In my mind, a sports saloon like the S-Type should be Manual+Overdrive.

Lot 66: Rolls Royce 20/25 Open Tourer

The guiding price of $70-$90k seems reasonable for a pre-war Rolls Royce tourer.   I suspect the price is kept low due to the fact that it is a re-body rather than an original tourer body.  From reading the description, the original body was a long sedan.   The auctioneer refers to the car as a great example of a ‘Goshawk’ but I don’t think that is actually true.   My understanding was that the Goshawk was a particular 20hp, and not a general term for the entire small horsepower range.

Lot 67: Bentley 4¼ Litre Open Tourer

This car was the standout for me of the entire auction catalogue.   Owning a Derby Bentley is a bucket list item for me and this one looked like an ideal candidate for a car that is used vs a trailer queen.   As it is not an original tourer body, the price is lower than an original.    I will be very interested in seeing the result, although this car is well outside my price range.   The Guiding price is $120-$150k.

Notable Mentions

There were also some other lots that caught my eye.  First and foremost was the 190SL in red.  Obviously a striking car, and a much better colour than the white which most of them seem to be.   Values of the 190SL are up a lot primarily because they look a lot like the 300SL.   I still contend that the E-Type is the much better car.     There was also a set of nice looking Alfa Romeos, but the price for these is also above what I think they are worth when you compare to other cars you can buy for similar money.

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Lot 62:  1962 Jaguar E-Type 3.8 OTS

This is a nice looking 3.8 E-Type, with a guiding price of $185,000-$210,000.   It is a nice example and they will probably get it.   E-Types have shot up incredibly in the last few years.  While higher values mean they get saved, it also means many are now in the hands of speculators rather than enthusiasts.

Lot 59:  1975 Mercedes-Benz 450SL

At first some may run away scared with around 450,000 on the clock.   However, with all the work done this car may be good buying.   It is a really period colour (Silver Green) which is not to everyone’s taste, but is in great condition.   The asking price of $28,000-$35,000 is not unreasonable, but the odometer may put some off.

Lot 50: 1998 BMW 840Ci Coupe

The 8 series doesn’t have the same fan base of the earlier 6er, but to me is the most striking BMW to come out of the 90s.   Potentially the E39 M5 may be a better car to live with, but the 8 series has the looks and the V8 is reportedly less problematic than the V12.   The car is estimated at $25,000-$30,000

Lot 52: 1960 Jaguar XK150 FHC

The XK’s used to be similar money to the E-Type, but not anymore.    This nice 3.8 had a guiding range of $85,000-$95,000.   Personally, I prefer the XK140, but the 150 has the advantage of the 3.8 engine and is probably a more usable car.   British Racing Green is probably the best colour for these.   Lighter colours can make them look like a jellybean.

Lot 67:  1933 Rolls Royce Phantom II

The guiding range of $35,000-$50,000 may attract some to what is an extremely desirable pre-war Rolls Royce.   Having sat there since at least the 80s, I suspect the cost to just mechanically recommission this car would be astronomical.   After that you’re still stuck with a fairly dowdy re-body from the 60s.  Apparently there is a photo in the Phantom II book of the original and more attractive body.

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There was a fair amount of interest right around Australia and the Auctioneers did a good job of generating excitement.   Therefore the earlier and better lots sold for good prices and in my view probably above market.    The later lots that were in poor condition or basically parts cars sold for next to nothing.    Most of the cars were registered previously on numeric plates that were worth orders of magnitude more than the cars.   These were being auctioned off separately.

The lot started off with a couple of Cadillacs and a Buick with the best one fetching $41,000 and the other two mid teens.    Then the Flynn Collection Auction turned to the rovers.

In my view, the best rover there was the blue P5B Coupe.   It has been the personal car of the late Dr’s mother and felt like a good original car that was a little tired.   Fitted with an aftermarket sunroof the engine sounded good and the car looked nice from a couple of meters, but closer up there were various dents, scratches and so on.  The car had clearly spent a lot of time in the sun as the door rubbers had actually melted and the leather at the top of the seats felt like cardboard.    In the end it sold for $14,000 to an online bidder which is not surprising as it was better in the photos than it was in the flesh.  The only over rover to hit the $10,000 was another P5B Coupe.     From there, most of the better P5s sold for around $2-$5,000, The better P4s from $1-$4,000 and the P6’s from $500-$1200.   A couple of nicer cars beat these ranges and many P6’s sold for less than $100 in the end.   At the end of the day the very best of the cars were in fair condition only, and the prices reflected that. It was also evident that the cars went to a wide variety of people, I captured the bidder numbers below to illustrate how many different people walked away with a car.  The Flynn collection auction certainly dispersed the collection.

The next day was the parts, and there were some real bargains to be had.   For example a whole pallet of P5 seats for about $50, a rebuilt Rover v8 for around $100, various wheels, workshop supplies and so on.   You needed to but the parts by the pallet so the cost per part was very low.    Whole shelves of spares (e.g. Distributor caps) also went for low prices.

All in all it was an interesting experience to go and see this Auction.  I hope many of the parts and scrap cars can be used to keep good cars on the road and they don’t end up op the scrap heap.  I wonder what the late Dr Flynn would have thought of the whole thing?

Auction Results:

Lot 1: 1935 Cadillac 38, $41,000, Online
Lot 2: Buick 40, $15,000, Bidder 555
Lot 3: 1939 Cadillac 39, $17,000, Bidder 557
Lot 4: 1970 Rover P5B Coupe Blue, $14,000, Online
Lot 5: 1976 P6 3500 Red, $2,000, 557  (This car looked good from 2-3 meters but up closer was not so great)
Lot 6: 1949 P4-75 Cyclops, $3,000, 571 (This was probably the nicest Cyclops there)
Lot 7: 1971 Rover P6 3500 White, 572
Lot 8: 1957 Rover P4-105R Brown, $4,000, 606 (This was one of a number of Roverdrive cars for sale)
Lot 9: 1964 P5 3 Liter MKII Sedan Grey, $2200, 567 (Apparently this is the one the Dr used the most)
Lot 10: 1969 P5B Sedan Green, with re-trimmed interior, (I didn’t catch this one but it sold for good money)
Lot 11: 1967 Rover P5-3 Liter MKIII Coupe White, $6000, Online
Lot 12: 1968 Rover P5B Coupe Grey, $10,000, 576
Lot 13: 1968 Rover P5B Sedan White, $2,000, 545
Lot 14: 1966 Rover P5 3 Liter MKIII Coupe, Green, 558 (This was one of the best value buys of the night)
Lot 15: 1972 Rover P6 3500 Cream, $3,000, 557
Lot 16: 1959 Rover P5 MKI Sedan Manual Black, $4,000, 538
Lot 17: 1958 Rover P4-105R Blue, $700, 526
Lot 18: 1968 Rover P5B Sedan Green, $200, Online (another good value buy)
Lot 19: 1972 Rover P6 3500 Yellow, $1400, 575
Lot 20: 1962 Rover P5 3 Liter MKII Sedan, $350, 576
Lot 21: 1958 Rover P4-105S Brown, $2,100, 518
Lot 22: 1968 Rover P5B Sedan, $3600
Lot 23: 1971 Rover P6 2000 Yellow, $1,000, 558
Lot 24: 1968 Rover P5 Sedan, $600
Lot 25: 1957 Rover P4-105S Grey, $2000, 589
Lot 26: 1969 Rover P5B Sedan Blue, $1300, 530
Lot 27: 1972 Rover P6 3500 Yellow, $500, 514
Lot 28: 1974 Rover P6 3500 Brown, $800, 581
Lot 29: 1958 Rover P4-105 Black. $4,500, 610
Lot 30: 1971 Rover P6 2000TC, $500, 561
Lot 31: 1962 Rover P4-110 Grey, $900, 542
Lot 32: 1971 Rover P6-2000TC White, $750, 552
Lot 33: 1970 Rover P5B Coupe Grey, $7500, 583
Lot 34: 1971 Rover P6 3500 Yellow, $1100
Lot 35: 1974 Rover P6 3500 Blue, $700, Online
Lot 36: 1972 Rover P6 3500 Yellow, $?
Lot 37: 1976 Rover P6 3500 White, $800, Online
Lot 38: 1969 Rover P5B Sedan, $2300, Online
Lot 39: 1972 Rover P6-3500S Yellow, $1600, 605
Lot 40: 1968 Rover P5B Coupe White, $6800, 594
Lot 41: 1965 Rover P5 3 Liter Sedan Maroon, $1600
Lot 42: 1971 Rover P6 3500 Brown, $500, 576
Lot 43: 1970 Rover P5B Coupe Grey, $4700, 567
Lot 44: 1955 Rover P4-75 Sedan, $2100, 596
Lot 45: 1960 Rover P5 3 Liter MKI Sedan Dark Green, $500, 519
Lot 46: 1969 Rover P6 3500 Sedan Brown, $300, 526
Lot 47: 1956 Rover P4-90 Sedan Black, $600
Lot 48: 1960 Rover P5 Sedan MKI Blue, $600, 622
Lot 49: 1969 Rover P6-2000TC White, $1600, 613
Lot 50: 1963 Rover P4-95 Blue, $500, 575
Lot 51: 1969 Rover P6 2000TC Cream, $900
Lot 52: 1955 Rover P4-90 Sedan Black, $500, 620
Lot 53: 1974 Rover P6 3500S Brown, $100, 541
Lot 54: 1969 Rover P5B Sedan White, $2250, 573
Lot 55: Rover P6 2000 White, $250, 546
Lot 56: 1954 Rover P4-90 Black, $500, 612
Lot 57: 1968 Rover P5B Sedan White, $1300, 530
Lot 58: 1962 Rover P5 3 Liter MKII Sedan Light Grey, $100, 605
Lot 59: 1962 Rover P5 3 Liter MKI Sedan Light Grey, $900, 551
Lot 60: 1974 Rover P6 3500S White, $1100, 582
Lot 61: 1958 Rover P4-105S Cream
Lot 62: 1973 Rover P6-3500S Green, $1000
Lot 63: 1965 Rover P5 3 Liter Sedan Grey, $850 (this one was in quite good condition for the price)
Lot 64: 1968 Rover P5B Sedan, $1850
Lot 65: 1971 Rover P6 3500 White, $300, 619
Lot 66: 1973 Rover P6-3500S Yellow, $1100, 546
Lot 67: 1971 Rover P6 3500, $350, 537
Lot 68: 1974 Rover 3500S, $1100
Lot 69: 1974 Rover P6 2000 TC, $100
Lot 70: 1969 Rover P5 3.5 Sedan Green, $1000, 530
Lot 71: 1970 Rover P5B Grey
Lot 72: 1974 Rover P6 3500S White, $700, 533
Lot 73: 1962 Rover P4-100 White, $200, 592
Lot 74: 1976 Rover P6 3500 Orange, $100
Lot 75: 1968 Rover P5B Green, $1200, 525
Lot 76: 1969 Rover P6 3500 White, $50, 595
Lot 77: 1959 Rover P5 MKI Blue, $400, 595
Lot 78: 1958 Rover P4-105R Beige, $300, 520
Lot 79: 1957 Rover P4-105R Grey, $600, 617
Lot 80: 1970 Rover P5B Sedan white, $4400, Online
Lot 81: 1951 Rover P4-75 Cyclops, $400
Lot 82: 1954 Rover P4-90 Green, $100, 592
Lot 83: 1960 Rover P5 MKI Sedan, $100?
Lot 84: 1973 Rover P6 3500S, $500, 595
Lot 85: 1951 Rover P4-75 Cyclops, Beige
Lot 86: 1969 Rover 3.5 Blue, $100, 532
Lot 87: 1962 Rover P4-100 Green
Lot 88: 1971 Rover P6-3500 Blue, $100, 558
Lot 89: 1951 Rover P4-75 Cyclops Black, $50, 595
Lot 90: 1966 Rover P5 MKIII Coupe White, $50
Lot 91: 1963 Rover P5 MKII Coupe Grey, $350
Lot 92: 1950 Rover P4-75 Green, $50
Lot 93: 1960 Rover P5 3 Litre Sedan, $50, 595
Lot 94: Rover P5B Sedan Grey, $50, 545
Lot 95: 1957 Rover P4-105R Green, $50
Lot 96: 1960 Rover P4-95 Sedan Black, $50, 533
Lot 97: 1955 Rover P4-90 Black, $50, 526
Lot 98: 1960 Rover P5 3 Liter Blue/Black, $50, 548
Lot 99: 1971 Rover P5B Sedan Maroon, $300, 551
Lot 100: 1960 Rover P5 3 Liter Sedan, $50, 595
Lot 101: 1972 Rover P5 3500S white
Lot 102: 1963 Rover MKII Coupe Green, $200, 621
Lot 103: 1960 Rover P5 3 Liter Sedan Blue, $500
Lot 104: 1958 Rover P4-105R, $20
Lot 105: 1970 Rover P5B Coupe Blue, $900
Lot 106: 1969 Rover P6 2000TC, $250, 552
Lot 107: 1964 Rover P5 3 Liter MKII Sedan Manual, $20
Lot 108: 1968 Rover P5B Sedan Maroon, $100, 530
Lot 109: 1968 Rover P5B Sedan, $50
Lot 110: 1975 Rover P6 3500 White, $50
Lot 111: 1975 Rover P6 3500 Yellow, $50
Lot 112: 1963 Rover P5 3 Liter Sedan, $20
Lot 113: 1959 Rover P4-105R Grey, $70
Lot 114: 1965 Rover P5 3 Liter MKII Sedan Green
Lot 115: 1970 Rover P6 2000 TC Beige
Lot 116: 1961 Rover P5 3 Liter Sedan Green
Lot 117: 1961 Rover P4-100 Black, $175
Lot 118: 1951 Rover P4-75 Cyclops Black
Lot 119: 1973 Rover P6 3500 White, $25
Lot 120: 1950 Rover P4-75 Cyclops Grey, $175, 536
Lot 121: 1967 Rover P6 2000 White, $10, 678
Lot 122: 1950 Rover P4-75 Cyclops Grey, $450, 561
Lot 123: 1960 Rover P5 3 Liter Sedan Grey, $10, 612
Lot 124: 1957 Rover P4-90 Blue, $20, 534
Lot 125: 1969 Rover P5B, $650, Online
Lot 126: 1968 Rover P5B Maroon, $350, 584
Lot 127: 1955 Rover P4-90 White, $125
Lot 128: 1966 Rover P6 2000 White
Lot 129: 1958 Rover P4-105R
Lot 130: 1959 Rover P5 3 Liter Sedan Grey, $20?
Lot 131: 1972 Rover P6 2000TC White, $180
Lot 132: 1960 Rover P4-100 Grey
Lot 133: 1974 Rover P6 3500 White, $20
Lot 134: 1965 Rover P5 3 Liter MKII Grey, $230
Lot 135: 1961 Rover P4-100 Grey
Lot 136: 1969 Rover P6 3500 Brown
Lot 137: 1967 Rover P5 Sedan White
Lot 138: 1974 Rover P6 3500
Lot 139: 1968 Rover P5B Coupe Purple, $3100
Lot 140: 1969 Rover 3500, $20
Lot 141: 1957 Rover P4-105R Grey, $700
Lot 142: 1966 Rover P5 3 Liter MKIII Coupe
Lot 143: 1962 Rover P5 Sedan Dark Grey

The post The Flynn Collection Auction appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The auction people put in a few litres and it started right up.    It seemed to settle down into a smooth idle and it wasn’t smoking when given a few revs.     The mechanic who had worked for the old Dr said that the car was previously registered and the engine and gearbox seemed in good health, although the car was not driven a whole lot.

I secured an unregistered vehicle permit and took to the streets.    The car spluttered and wouldn’t go up and down hills.   But 10l of fresh fuel solved that and once I turned it off ‘reserve’ fuel it ran quite well.     I had a 30 minute drive to my relatives house in Canberra and despite the 30 degree heat the car never ventured out of the normal zone on the temperature gauge.  The car is a Rover P5 MKII Coupe, so it has the weslake head with the DG gearbox.   The unregistered vehicle permit was $25 for each day, and I also took out a refundable 3rd party property damage insurance polcy.

The main thing I am concerned about is the age of the radiator hose so I plan on buying some generic hose to take in the car on the drive back to Sydney.   I was pleasantly surprised with this car, especially the engine and gearbox.

The post First drive of the Rover P5 MKII Coupe appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

This car is equipped with the 3 liter six.   Most collectors prefer the 8, but the six has its fans due to its refinement.  It is much smoother, and some would regard more in character with the car.    The sixes were also built when Rover was an independent company and are better built than the 8s which came out under BL.

The nice coupes went for good money but this one isn’t as nice and so went rather cheap. I paid $230 for the car so you can imagine the condition.  Not as cheap as some P6’s that were going for $50 or less.

The poor car couldn’t even start for its turn at the auction.  It was later discovered that the car was just out of fuel.

As the car is in Canberra, tomorrow I need to assess if it can make it back to my relatives house in Canberra.  From there, can it make the journey back to Sydney under its own steam?

The drive back may end up like one of the those Top Gear challenges, but not the ones where they have reliable cars!

The post The $ 230 Rover P5 MKII Coupe appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Apparently Dr Flynn built this collection up over years.   Most of the cars were kept registered on ACT numeric plates. The plates were worth far more than the cars that they were attached to!   They cars were not purchased to be restored, it would appear they were hoarded more than cherished and apparently various attempts over the years to purchase them were rebuffed – they were simply kept registered and had some level of maintenance mechanically.   Sadly, many of the cars were purchased in far better condition than they are in now.     In addition to the cars, there are over 400 lots of parts and workshop contents to be auctioned.    As with the cars,  there are whole pallets of engines and transmissions of unknown quality, interior parts, hoists etc.

Everything needs to be picked up in the 2-3 days after the auction, so with the large number of cars for sale at the same time, the location and this restriction the prices should be below market.    Hopefully most of the parts find buyers as it would be a shame to see them go to the crusher.

The catalogue consists of the following models.  This does not include the cars listed as parts cars in the parts auction.

Models:

• P4-75: 10 (including 8 Cylops)
• P4-90: 7
• P4-95: 2
• P4-100:  4
• P4-105: 2
• P4-105S: 2
• P4-105R: 6
• P4-110: 1
• P4 (unknown): 1
• Total P4: 35
• P5 MKI Sedan:  11
• P5 MKII Sedan:  9
• P5 MKIII Sedan: 0
• P5B Sedan: 18
• P5 MKII Coupe: 3
• P5 MKIII Coupe: 4
• P5B Coupe: 8
• Total P5: 53
• P6 2000:  6
• P6 2000TC: 5
• P6 3500: 25
• P6 3500S: 5
• Total P6: 41

Update 22/11/16:  The auction is now concluded and the results are outlined here.

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