Extraordinary Daimler SP250 roadster to star at Bonhams' Revival sale

26th July 2016

Ethan Jupp

The CC or coupe convertible has been a fairly commonplace thing in the motoring world for the past 20 years or so. You take your fabric off your drop-top, and replace it with a folding metal mechanism. The Mercedes SLK re-introduced us to this in the late ’90s and it spread through cars of all shapes and sizes. Everything from the Peugeot 206, to the Ferrari 458 adopted this method of taking the top down.

It’s not a modern fad, though. There were smatterings of folding hard tops through the ‘40s and ‘50s with the first commercial application arriving curtesy of Peugeot in the form of the 402 Éclipse Décapotable in 1935.

Featuring in September’s Goodwood Revival Bonhams sale is this 1960 Daimler SP250 AHC Retractable Hardtop, and it couldn’t be further from commercial – as it is the only prototype of its kind. Antony H Croucher Precision & Prototype Engineering Co Ltd (AHC) set upon this 1960 SP250 following the acquisition of the patents to apply a retractable hardtop to the car. It was completed in 1963 at a cost of £30,000. The current owner and vendor of this car bought it from his Father in 1969.

The car has until recently been in a slight state of disrepair with micro-blistering paint due to a faulty car cover as well as a malfunctioning roof mechanism after a respray. The owner's brother eventually convinced the owner to get the roof fixed. Post repair, SP250 “309RFP” was put on display in its fully working and restored state in 2013 at the Attwell-Wilson Motor Museum in Calne, Wiltshire.

This gloriously unique example of the hard-roofed convertible breed is expected to sell for between £50,000 and £70,000 at the upcoming Bonhams sale at the Revival in September.

Images courtesy of Bonhams