Veteran to classic -- early auction

Motor auction sales began soon after the cars themselves had become desirable purchases but the beginning of the present spate and intensity can be attributed to Lord Montagu staging the first Christie’s auction at Beaulieu. Consequently, it was interesting to discover that there was an auction sale at Brooklands in the first season of its existence. Stanley Sedgwick has drawn my attention to this sale, in an advertisement dated October 16, 1907. It was conducted by Hampton & Sons of Pall Mall, and took place on Saturday October 26th, and every car could be tried round the Motor Course free of charge beforehand.

The catalogue listed 21 cars, from a 90hp Mercedes, down to an 8/11hp Panhard phaeton. In between were such delectable-sounding offers as an 80hp Napier racing car “ready for the Track”, a 60/70hp Peugeot phaeton, a 50/60hp Peugeot, a 50hp Napier five-seater, three Napier 40s, a De Dietrich of the same horsepower, and a 28/36hp Daimler for which a hood was specified. The other makes were Siddeley, Charron, MMC, Minerva, Wolseley, Crossley, Mors, Argyll, Martini, 16/20 Sunbeam landaulette and Panhard, and the last to come under the hammer was a 60hp Napier chassis. Rather curiously, magneto ignition and four-speeds-and-reverse were quoted for most of the cars on offer, although they would have been almost universal for most of them. Another facet of Brooklands Track recalled! — WB