We’ve been attending these classic auctions in King’s Lynn for so long now (ten years at least) it still feels slightly odd to be bidding from the comfort of our own sofas via YouTube. While we do miss getting up close and personal with the cars on the sale day, hearing them start and smelling all those vintage hydrocarbons wafting around the industrial estate we have to say that ACA have done a stellar job of keeping these sales going in this socially-distanced world.
The viewing days of old have become trade-only viewing weeks, whereby you book an appointment and get to wander around a nicely signposted one-way system rarely seeing anyone else. It’s sort of like a timed rally, with competitors setting off in 15-minute intervals, no over-taking allowed and it all worked perfectly in our experience. In fact, it felt a bit more relaxed and gave us more opportunity to have a proper nose at the lots that had caught our eye. Also, having to wear gloves when touching any of the vehicles made a respectful change from the painful sight of some oaf lumping their full weight down on the wings to rest their legs (my auction bug-bear!).
But, these are all technicalities. What matters most is always going to be the cars, and ACA had delivered another eclectic mix of Italian cars to tempt us to break our current duck on buying new stock.
1972 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300 Super
Why the Giulia saloon is not as fervently adored as the 105/115 Coupes will always be a mystery to us. Ok, aesthetics might come into it, but actually the Super’s boxy angles and chiseled details create a more aerodynamic form than the Coupe. Maybe Alfaholics need to make a GTA-supeR to convince everyone else? Maybe that would push their values up.
Because the estimate for this 1300 Super was nothing short of an insult. OK, yes it was no concours garage queen, but it was all there and semi-presentable. Originally a Cyprus car imported back to the UK by an RAF corporal who bought it while stationed in Limassol, it looked pretty solid on first inspection. Cosmetically, the paintwork wasn’t great, but it was shiny enough and the interior looked okay. We were relieved when the hammer price got to a more sensible figure than the paltry guide, but it still looked a nice buy to us.
1967 Fiat 500 F
It wouldn’t be an ACA sale without a healthy spattering of 500’s, but it’s not every day you see a RHD version up for grabs. While prices did go grazy on these at their peak around 5-6 years ago, things have settled down and the estimate felt about bang on for this one. Quite a pretty little thing, shiny and straight, but nothing particularly arresting about it either.
I could have done without the Ferrari badge on the back, thanks, but other than that there was nothing too offensive. Little in the way of history but nothing to suggest the mileage of 52k was anything but genuine.
2004 Alfa Romeo GT 3.2 V6
Normally precisely our cup of tè, the famed Busso engine found a fitting swansong in these 3.2-powered GT’s. Sadly, however this one didn’t sit right with us. The rear spoiler was doing nothing for the styling, paint was a bit patchy, wheels scruffy and there were a few too many other bits tacked on. The mileage was nice (54k) and it did fall into the right tax bracket (later registered cars are extortionately charged), though.
But, to be honest, we found the sale price absolutely extraordinary. We’ve sold a few of these over the years (and still have the track day 3.2 being developed) and this is one of the very highest-priced we’ve ever seen. By the time you add on fees, etc, this is going to owe the new owner around £8,500 - are these the next modern-classic Alfas on the up?
Estimate - £6,000 - £8,000
Hammer Price - £7,750
1999 Fiat 126p (Maluch)
Fiat’s “blue period” in the 90’s was on point, wasn’t it? The Imola Blue Cinquecento Sporting, Sprint Blue 20VT and even this humble little 126p just look superb. In fact I (Kirk) was rather taken with this ‘Little Mouse’. Looked very honest and original, it had been imported over from Poland in 2019 where it had been owned by the same family from new.
Just 42k miles from new, this was pretty much the ideal starter classic in the sale. No major work needed immediately on the surface of it, easy to maintain, inexpensive to run and (had it hovered somewhere around the estimate) affordable. As it was, we were once again impressed by the bullish hammer price.
1982 Zastava 750 LHD
Not technically an Italian car, we know, and we’re not suddenly going to become Yugoslavian marque specialists, but I couldn’t help but start dreaming up Abarth 1000TCR replica designs when I saw this. The Zastava 750 was built on 600 underpinnings, but slightly longer to make room for the 767cc engine…surely our spare 2.0 16v Turbo Lampredi could just slide in the back there?
Luckily I came to my senses, but I am only half joking when I said this looked a nice little buy. Yeah, it was battered to hell but when everything else was sprinting ahead of its guide price, this looked more realistic.
Fiat Barchetta Projects
There are a lot of questions being thrown up here aren’’t there? How did these two little-boats end up like this? Who honestly thought that it would be cost effective to try and make a decent car out of the two? Why would you swap the bonnets and then give up? How on earth did they get into this auction? And, most confusingly, how on earth did the bids reach £950?
I don’t have the answers to any of those, particularly not the crazy sale price. Let’s move on.
Estimate - No reserve
Hammer Price - £950
1967 Lancia Fulvia Rallye
Another restoration project requiring a generous dose of brave pills, this one. It appeared to be pretty far gone bodily and structurally. But, going for it was the fact it was an early alloy paneled Rallye and it had not been touched since 1979. Were Fulvias worth the sort of figures they deserve (ie, more in line with a Giulia GT Sprint) this might be worth tackling.
As it is, however, I think you’d just have to accept that the serious wedge of cash you’d need to throw at this to get it up to any sort of usable standard would never be seen again. A shame, as what a superb car it could one day make.
1969 Lancia Fulvia Sport Series I Zagato
I once upset a lot of people on another blog post by saying I didn’t really see what the Zagato bodied Fulvia Sports had to offer over a standard Fulvia coupe. I mean I like them, they’re very pretty, but the standard Fulvia is just that bit tidier from a design perspective, I think. This one came from the same dry storage as the earlier Rallye above, and was probably a slightly stronger proposition to start from.
Ultimately a restored Fulvia Sport will be worth considerably more and this didn’t appear to be quite as tired as the Rallye. The interior actually looked pretty good, desptive the battle scars to the bodywork. I’m glad it made a healthy price, as that would suggest someone is willing to revive it rather than just break it out for parts.
1983 Alfa Romeo Spider Early S3
The eagle-eyed amongst you may well recognise this Spider, as it is indeed our very own car. We restored it from a barn-find a few years back but just never got round to properly using it. We had it all taxed, tested and looking resplendent but I think we covered a grand total of 16 miles in it in 2020! So, we thought it made sense to let someone else enjoy it.
And enjoy it someone will, because it’s an interesting little Spider. A very early S3 (which some people refer to as a S2.5) it matches the spec of the original Alfa press car precisely. Supplied with the less common 1600-engine, a more subtle Zender rear spoiler and sharing a lot of the interior components with the Kammtail Spiders, it deserves more use than we could get out of it.
If we’re totally honest we were a little disappointed with the sale price, but it’s moved on and we’ve now got a space in the garage to fill with something else!
1975 Fiat 500
The least interesting of the two 500s offered in the sale, in our opinion, although reasonably estimated. We just don’t get why these 500 “restorations” always add sporty looking upholstery, twin-exit racy exhausts and the obligatory Abarth badges thrown on. If you’re buying a 500 for some sort of hot-hatch thrills, I’m afraid you’re looking in the wrong place from the get-go - their 20hp ain’t gonna get your pulse racing.
But, taking my cynical, jaded purist hat off for a second, this actually looked pretty well done. Paintwork was nice, everything clean and tidy and had clearly had some time, money and love spent on it. Slightly above the higher estimate but felt about right.
1981 Lancia Montecarlo Spider Series II
The first of a batch of Lancias owned by a very fastidious enthusiast, this Monte’ had been treated to a restoration between 2015 and 2016 and still presented very well indeed. Just 46k miles and a huge library of history (honestly, I’m not joking - there were folders of the stuff!) this looked like a safe bet to do very well indeed from even the first glance.
I don’t know what I was doing when taking photos of this one, as they all ended up being more interested in the floor and my feet. Which is not indicative of our opinion of the car as it was a really nice example and it deserved to do well. We didn’t expect it to approach £20k considering McGrath Maserati sold a 700-mile Monte’ a while back for less, but nice to see the Lancias getting the appreciation.
1975 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4
Were it not for the Mondial, the Dino 308 GT4 would probably be accepted as the “ugly-duckling” of Maranello’s stable. But they do have a following and values have definitely climbed over the past 10 years or so. In fact, the estimate of under £40k on this one looked very conservative indeed. It had clocked up over 100k miles, but was a genuine UK-supplied RHD example.
It wore its impressive mileage well, although would have benefitted from a bit of titivation. When you consider LHD examples are regularly fetching north of £70,000 these days, I’m surprised this couldn’t find a buyer this weekend.
1972 Lancia 2000 Sedan
No doubt about it, this was the car of the whole weekend for us. Just absolutely superb. Incredible condition with paintwork as clear as crystal and a sumptuously inviting interior (check out the curtains in the back!). The same Lancisti owner as the Montecarlo above, there was again folder after folder of history going back to the 1970s.
We loved it. Absolutely loved it. And we weren’t alone, clearly, as the bids simply snowballed in. Probably a record price for the model in the UK, but worth every single penny.
2004 Maserati Quattroporte AB4 S-A
Continuing the theme of big, four-doored Italian saloons that look like insane value for money, this Maserati offered 400bhp (ish), V8 power swathed in Pininfarina artistry and untapped luxury inside. While the world and its mother queue up to spend £60k on an ugly new EV built by a crazed bond villain, I’ll do my bit for sustainability by smoking about in second-hand wafters like this, thanks.
Just 65k miles from new, with history courtesy of HR Owen and respected specialists, isn’t this the absolute pinnacle of the phrase “ a lot of car for the money”?
1981 Lancia Beta Spyder 2000
The third lot from the Lancia collection but, unfortunately, they hadn’t left the best until last. This Beta Spyder was not a wreck, by any stretch, but was just all a bit “saggy”. Ripples down the bodywork, little details slightly askew and a lack of decent history. A nice enough car, I’m sure, but it certainly didn’t seem a likely candidate to smash through its upper guide price.
These are fantastic cars so it’s nice if this is a sign that their values are on the ascendent, but there better looking Beta Spyder’s advertised out there for less than this one realised.
2001 Alfa Romeo Spider 3.0 V6
The car we intended to make our own, and the very last Italian car in the sale. An honest 38k mile car originally sold by Desira and stuffed full with main-dealer history, this was a superb example. It was due belts, but other than this everything looked pretty much spot-on. The bodywork was remarkably straight and the rare Lightning Blue (427/B) paintwork was stunning when the sunshine hit it).
We knew the estimate was on the conservative side but, even so, we couldn’t quite stretch to the £10,750 plus buyer’s fees, etc. Best of luck to whoever did though, we think they’ve got themselves a lovely 916 Spider!
