Three exceptional sporting motor cars from the 1930s and 1960s are to be offered at the Bonhams Legends of the Road Sale on 19 February, following decades of single-family ownership.
A 1960 Aston Martin DB4GT, estimate £1,400,000 – 1,800,000, one of the world’s most desirable Grand Tourers, and a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS, estimate £700,000 – 900,000, considered the marque’s first luxury convertible, will be presented in next month’s highly curated selection of motoring masterpieces, following 55 years and more than 40 years respectively of single-family ownerships.
Considered by many as the marque’s finest post-war road car, the DB4GT was the ultimate Gran Turismo of its time with a top speed in excess of 150mph and a 0-60mph time of 6.1 seconds. The DB4GT was also one of the first motor cars to go from standstill to 100mph and then brake to a dead stop in under 20 seconds.
With its prototype, driven by Stirling Moss, winning its first race at Silverstone, it is not surprising that the DB4GT succeeded in motorsport and was Britain’s answer to the Ferrari 250 GT SWB.
Fittingly, the 1960 DB4GT offered by Bonhams, finished in ‘Snow Shadow’ grey livery with red hide interior, was sold new to Gilby Engineering and is believed to have been the road car of Syd Green, owner of the company. Green was also the founder of the eponymous Grand Prix racing team which had its debut in the 1954 French Grand Prix with British driver Roy Salvadori at the wheel of a Maserati 250F.
1966 – when England football team’s celebrated victory in the World Cup – was the year that the late David Picking, an engineer and pilot, purchased the 1960 Coupé, making the Aston live up to its ‘Grand Tourer’ name by undertaking numerous continental road trips across Europe.
The keen engineer embarked on a restoration project in 1983 when the car was taken off the road. The DB4GT is presented as a part restoration giving the opportunity for the next custodian to complete its reassembly as David Picking had intended.
Similarly treasured by a single family since 1977, the 275 GTS offered is a rare jewel, one of only 19 right-hand drive examples of the 200 luxury 275 GTS variants produced over four years during Ferrari’s ‘golden age’.
Ferrari had established a convertible within the preceding 250 range, which the 275 continued, although all examples were then produced with ‘standard’ coachwork by the celebrated Italian styling Carrozzeria Pininfarina. The 275 GTS also benefitted from a larger engine – a 3.3-litre V12 unit, producing 260bhp and was the first road-going Ferrari to employ an independent rear suspension.
This combination delivered the unique Ferrari racing car sensation, while the interior offered a more luxurious experience, with notably generous leather seats and wood veneer dashboard, the first to appear on the Maranello marque’s motor cars.
The GTS is offered from a renowned UK-based private collection in its original colour of ‘Sera’ blue with black leather interior and a private registration number ‘II HLO’ and the all-important Ferrari Classiche Certification.
These latest consignments will assemble alongside one of the world’s most valuable and desirable pre-war motor cars. A 1937 Bugatti Type 57S, which has been off the road for the past 50 years leads the extraordinary sale of exceptional motor cars and is offered at NO RESERVE, estimate £5,000,000 – 7,000,000.
This astonishingly original high-performance 3.3-litre twin-cam Bugatti, with British body by the renowned Corsica Coachworks, has been effectively hidden in one concerned and dedicated ownership since 1969.
Most intriguingly its chassis is of the special lightweight type made specifically for the 1936 French Grand Prix-winning and world speed record-breaking works team of only three Bugatti Type 57G ‘Tank’ streamlined sports-racing cars, of which only one has survived intact. Evidence suggests that one of the longtime missing 57Gs’ chassis was then re-used for this 1937 Type 57S.
Owned in turn by Sir Robert Ropner of shipping-line fame and Rodney Clarke – future principal of the pioneering British Connaught Grand Prix team – and latterly by respected engineer/Bugattiste Bill Turnbull, ‘Dulcie’ – as this fine Type 57S was charmingly nicknamed – is indeed a Bugatti of very special interest.
Report by bonhams.com
