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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This year the Jaguars were moved from the top paddock to the middle one.  This pushed clubs like Rolls Royce and Daimler down to the bottom paddock.  In itself this isn’t so bad, but it has a few flow on effects.   Firstly, the Jaguar display felt a bit cramped and smaller in numbers.    There was a nice line up of E-Types and MK II’s, but other models were in smaller numbers.  Secondly, all cars had to use the same entrance which resulted in traffic gridlock.   I’m surprised there were not more cars overheating trying to get in.   My engine fan was to fail later in the day, but luckily it was still ok at this point.   What was worse was that the cars needed to move over a series of about 5 speed humps that scraped the exhaust system on my car quite badly.

They made better use of the bottom paddock to account from going from three to two, but I’m not really sure to what end.   Instead of the Jaguars on the top paddock there was a food truck and some stands for car dealerships.   It was a bit of a nothing use for a great space.

I can live with the two paddocks, but if they keep up the same route into the event, it would force me to stop bringing my car.   I did have my car on display this year, and ideally would at future events as well.

The two displays I was most impressed with this year was the Triumph display, which had a great turnout of all sorts of interesting triumph models.   And of course perennial favorites Rolls Royce.   This year they had a number of older vehicles that were in stunning condition that I had not yet seen before.  I think a couple of them were Silver Dawn’s, but I am not an expert in 50’s Rolls Royce.    Even though it was at the shannons display, I got to see a Derby Bentley too!  As a coupe, they want serious money for it at the auction coming up in November.

For the first time since I can recall, 3 litre Rover P5’s outnumbered v8 P5Bs.   The P5 was eclipsed by the P5B, and its nice to see the P5 survivors.  There was also a great little MG from the 50s with a dolls house style caravan.   Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to take a photo.   In the Daimler section there was a very impressive older Daimler, I think from the 20s, with a sleeve valve engine.

I also spent some time trying to see if I could find a match for the interior light in my Traction Avant in other British cars.   I’m sure it would have been a standard part used in other cars but I have not yet been able to identify it.    In summary, the 2018 British Car show was a great event and hopefully I will be back in 2019.

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