£200k no reserve Aston Martin DB4 headlines Bonhams' SpeedWeek sale

The newest addition to Bonhams’ sale calendar for 2020, the SpeedWeek sale on Saturday 17^th October will be different in one regard: like the rest of Goodwood’s latest motoring spectacular, it will be held behind closed doors. But as with all the high-speed excitement from the Motor Circuit, all the drama of the auction room will be streamed live to a worldwide online audience, free for everyone to watch.

Bonhams is already tempting us with what it has in store for the sale. The cars will be on display in the Earls Court Motor Show building at the circuit where they can be physically inspected, by appointment only, on the three days prior to the sale. Or you can take advantage of Bonhams’ virtual, real-time condition reports on each car. Video content will be streamed live during the auction, giving bidders a detailed look at the cars. Bids can be made by telephone, online and by commission.

Bonhams group motoring chairman James Knight said it would be a weekend to remember. “As a founding partner to the Goodwood Estate, Bonhams is proud to support SpeedWeek by presenting a prestigious sale of collectors’ motor cars,” he said. “We are delighted to be back at the circuit and early indications are really promising. We have already consigned some important motor cars that will soon be revealed.”

Cars lined up ready to cross the virtual auction block so far revealed include one that definitely gets our mouse-click finger twitching: a 1959 Aston Martin DB4, the 48th of only 150 Series I models built and so quite rare. The Touring-designed Superleggera sports saloon was delivered new in 1959 to the London surgeon Gordon Ostlere, better known by his pen name of Richard Gordon, author the Doctor books and Doctor in the House TV show.

The Aston, which is being sold with no reserve price, is matching numbers and still in its original Pacific Blue with blue-grey Connolly leather colour scheme, and with its original registration plate. Its last restoration was 30 years ago, but the DB4 is said to wear its age well.

With no reserve, this Aston could be sold for anything but Bonhams estimates it should make ta least £250,000.

Other highlights in the Bonhams Goodwood SpeedWeek sale include  a mighty 1939 Lagonda V12 drophead coupé, one of only 189 made and a Pebble Beach concours class winner in 1997 (£200-300,000); an even grander 1926 Hispano-Suiza H6B coupé, the actual 1926 Olympia Motor Show car (£350-400,000); and two one-owner supercars, a Ferrari 488 Spider 70th anniversary model (£230-300,000), and a 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren with just 2880 miles on the clock (£220-280,000).

The sale also includes the Chester Collection: an Aston Martin DB6, Ferrari 246 GT Dino, Mercedes-Benz Gullwing recreation, Mercedes-Benz 190 SL, Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Speciale and a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. 

To see the catalogue, visit www.bonhams.com/26117