I hadn't planned to go to this auction, but a friend of mine showed me a car that was due to be sold there and it captured my interest. There were also a few other items that I was interested in, so I decided to make a day of it. As it was a two day auction I rang the auction house the Thursday prior to the sale and asked what number lots they were covering on the Saturday. I was told it was numbers 1 to 366. The lot number I was mainly interested in was 364, so it was going to be a very long day!
I set out at around 6.30am in the beautiful sunshine and made my way to Kings Lynn car auctions. I arrived at 9am and paid my £500 deposit and registered to bid. Coffee was the first thing on the agenda and after being refreshed I made my way outside and started looking round all the cars.
The bidding started at 10am with the automobilia items, so I made sure I was back inside for that. I was interested in a set of TR6 steel wheels and my mate Dave was interested in a set of TR6 alloys and had asked me to bid for him. My wheels were up first, but the maximum price I had in mind was soon reached and advanced well above that. I hoped that wasn't the pattern for the rest of the day. Dave's wheels were up next and I did manage to get a bid in this time, but was outbid at £225. (Dave's limit was £200) The buyers commission on automobilia was 15%, so the final price can escalate considerably.
Although it wasn't the car I had come to bid on, I was interested to see what price a four door Mk1 Cortina GT would go for. I have to say, it looked a fantastic car on the auction website pictures and video, but in the flesh, it was a different story. (Who on earth came up with the saying 'the camera never lies'???)
The bidding started slowly, but then the price started to climb quite quickly. I also noticed that nobody in the room was bidding on it and it was internet bids only. (They hadn't had the advantage of seeing the car up front!) The bidding finally finished at £14,750. With the buyers commission (8% on cars) and vat on the the commission, this equated to a whopping £16,166. Very strong money for what it was. I also did an MOT history check on this car and there was no history recorded, meaning that its either been off the road since before 2006 (That's as far back as the records go) or, its been imported from another country. Either way, it was very strong money for what I thought wasn't a very good car!
I spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to entertain myself until finally, finally, it was time for lot number 364 to come through. I accosted the chap driving it into the auction room and asked him how it drove. I was pleased to hear that he himself had a Mk1 Cortina and a Corsair and he said this drove spot on. He said the clutch and brakes were fine and it runs lovely. All music to my ears. I had looked over the car several times throughout the day and it was obvious that this car had been very, very well looked after. The MOT history check showed that it has only covered 7000 miles since 2006.
The bidding started at £4,200. Internet bids started coming in and then I got in on the act. I saw off the internet bidder at £6000, but then a telephone bidder had come in as well. Luckily he dropped out when we reached £6500. With my adrenalin racing it seemed like an eternity before the auctioneer said the magic words 'going for the third and final time......sold for £6500'. I had won what I had come here for. To be honest, I would have probably gone to £8000, so I was very pleased with £6500. (£7124 with commission and vat)
So, the object of my desire?
A 1963 Mk1 Cortina 1500 de luxe estate. 14,000 miles, not warranted, (probably 114,000) but still a very good well cared for car. All I have to do now is find a way for getting it home from Kings Lynn.
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