Best Of British Head-To-Head With Best Of Germany

Filed under: Auctions,Classic News |

vcsPRAsset_3053006_62618_0671223c-1e67-40de-8fc4-b8865a63fa8c_0Mercedes SL joins Jaguar E-type on H&H classics stand at London Classic Show.  H&H one of only five auction houses to sell a car for more than $10m brings two special cars to London

H&H Classics will feature another beautiful car on their stand at the London Classic Car Show (ExCel18-21 Feb) – a Mercedes 250SL sports car from the 1960’s will join a racing E-Type Jaguar. Both cars will be sold at the H&H Duxford sale later this year in Cambridgeshire on April 20th. “The 1967 Mercedes-Benz 250SL that will grace the H&H stand in London shortly, ‘SYR 16F’, must surely be among the best Mercedes-Benz 250SLs available today and carries a guide price of £100,000 - £120,000,” says Damian Jones, H&H Sales Manager. The Mercedes’ British owner trained as a mechanic before pursuing a more lucrative career path. He has had a lifelong passion for Mercedes-Benz cars and a particular interest in the marque’s ‘Pagoda’ models (so-called because of the distinctive shape of their detachable hardtop roofs). A valuation official and concours judge for the Mercedes-Benz Owners’ Club (UK) who even re-named his house ‘The Pagodas’, the vendor went to great pains when having ‘SYR 16F’ restored during the 1990s. Whilst not every single ‘nut and bolt’ may have been changed the majority were and the accompanying ream of invoices extends to one for new glove-box brackets! Some 16,000 miles later – including trips to Germany and Switzerland – the results are stunning. Jones adds: “The nicest W113-series Pagoda that we have had the pleasure of offering for sale, ‘SYR 16F’ is presented in its original Silver Grey with Blue livery and retains such niceties as factory-fitted power steering and automatic transmission.” H&H Classics stand, number C170, will also feature a special 1961 Jaguar E-Type 3.8 Competition Roadster, ‘9 VPD’, which was among the very first E-Types to go racing. Shaped by Malcolm Sayer (1916 –1970), an aircraft and car designer, his most notable work being the C-Type and D-Type Jaguar sports racers that claimed five Le Mans 24-hours victories between them as well of course as the immortal E-Type production car. He spent the last twenty years of his life working at Jaguar Cars and was one of the first engineers to apply principles of aircraft design to cars. It is thus hardly surprising that this car has something of the aerodynamics of an aircraft, but the fact that is was so beloved by so many has something to do with its sheer artistic beauty. Finished in Opalescent Dark Blue livery the 1961 Jaguar Roadster is estimated to sell for £700,000 - 900,000 at H&H Classics Duxford sale on April 19-20.

 Tags:,