AE 01 to auction

[alexG]

I have decided its time for a change having owned UPJ 75 for a mere 49 years, so it should appear from tomorrow on the Bonhams website for the FoS auction on July 13th, yes its a Friday! No doubt there will be feeds out to other websites.
That auction already has a  number of high profile cars like the Aston Zagato 2 VEV, another long term ownership car. Hopefully UPJ won't be lost amongst them all.
Apart from the first Ace built the car, as many will know, has a huge competition, road test etc history, so the auction route, although very public, was felt to be the only practical one for a car like this.
Firstly, of course, there's no done deal with an auction, but if things go to plan I would definitely buy another car, could it be an AC? Maybe, and I must admit I've always had a soft spot for a 2.6, although an early Cobra would be lovely!
It's going to be an interesting few weeks....

[Cargirl]

Was is there no write-up about the car's history?
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24876/preview_lot/5166551/

[alexG]

Kelly, it's there now. It was in draft and amendment mode for a while....

[Cargirl]

Good luck with the sale of the car.  I am not a fan of auctions but if I had to choose one to work with it would be Bonham's.  Great car.

[pjbowman]

Car sold for £404,700 (US$ 532,492) inc. premium. Well done!

[Exowner]

Yes, well done, Although it depends on one's outlook. For the vendor - yippee, brass in pocket. For the future of the younger generation popping out to buy an Ace and perpetuating the the ACOC by joining and participating - ??
The lack of ACs at the sprint, the lack of 'youth' enrolling in the club and the escalating prices may mean a decline in the club's ability to sustain itself.
It will be interesting to see how quickly the two vacant positions within the club are filled.
Getting people to take on official roles within the club can be difficult. Let's hope I'm wrong, but somehow I think the writing may be on the wall.
Glenn Burnage
ACOC member

[alexG]

A slightly belated reply to both posts.....

Firstly re the price and auction, as stated it includes the buyers premium, ie about £45k, and thats before vat is added to that, so the buyer pays another £9k on top. Sellers, at lower levels, typically pay up to 10% + vat, or 12%. You can roughly halve that at higher levels, and this of course has  to be deducted from the hammer price, ie what the seller receives. So not bad for the auction house eh, with 17-20+ % overall.

AE01 is a special car, and was always going to be about double the value of a standard car, so its not indicative of the market generally. Having said that Aces and Cobras are premium cars and have been ever since I can remember. I couldn't possibly afford to go and buy one now, but £500 in 1969 was about right when a typical MG, TR or whatever was £300 - see, the premium was there even then!

Club and membership wise I can only agree re the future - I've been a member, apart from 2-3 years way back, for 49 years. Interestingly I sent some thoughts to Terry Webb about this, and copied a link to an article about what some other clubs are doing to prop up membership.