A huge variety from the Golden Age

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In some auction sales you really have to hunt to find the gems, but not in Bonhams ‘The Golden Age of Motoring Sale’, which takes place on the 30th of this month and which fully focuses on motoring between 1886 and 1939. Good gracious, just about all the 235 lots seem of interest to us here, and it seems simply impossible to select just a few. That is, never the less, exactly what we’ll do.

We adore the immaculate boxed sets of BARC Brooklands member’s and guest’s lapel badges, dated 1910 to 1914 and squeezed in between the bronze acetylene lamps and radiator mascots (the angry cat being our personal favourite). We also wondered what lot numbers 125 and 126 may tell us? They are assortments of German and Danish plaques and badges - plus a pipe. Something that must have come from the walls of real enthusiasts? There are early bound volumes of early The Autocar and The Car magazines, some beautiful pencil drawings and paintings, including a childhood drawing of Georges Hamel (Geo Ham) and a rather cheeky design for a greeting card commissioned by Ettore Bugatti’s daughter Lidia. And even a registration document for a Daimler limousine signed by Winston Churchill.

The 35 cars on offer are all beautifully presented and seem to be in excellent condition. Noteworthy are perhaps the 1910 Rover 8HP and 1925 Bentley 3-Litre that have both been in one ownership for the last six decades. There’s a stunning 1½-Litre and supercharged Alta with what seems to be a low estimate to us. The wacky Fowler 10HP Showman’s Road Locomotive is from the same year of manufacture (1932) and has only had three owners since. It’s a real piece of art but won’t come cheap. The ex-Marquess of Queensbury and Gurney Nutting bodied Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville is remarkable due to its sheer extravagance. The very last lot of the Dual-Power Woods is an interesting one, too. Did you ever know there had been hybrid cars using both electric as combustion engines as early as in 1917?

Words by Jeroen Booij. Pictures courtesy of Bonhams Auctioneers.

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