Now that it’s time to wave good riddance to a true annus horribilis, it’s also a chance to dip in to the latest edition of the Classic Car Auction Yearbook, the depository of annual saleroom data that is the result of co-authors Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi tracking the results of every significant collector car sale to take place, in this case between September 2019 and August 2020.

Now in its 25th year, the CCAY really is both a labour of love and an invaluable insight as to what cars are truly worth and how their prices are faring.

The good news is that, despite Coronavirus lockdowns, economic gloom, the circus that was the US presidential election and other negative forces, classic car auctions held up impressively with an average of 71 per cent of lots offered being sold, although the fact that the total turnover of £575m was 27 per cent down on 2018/2019 is not so positive.