LONDON.- Bonhams achieved superb results this weekend at the Collectors’ Motor Car and Automobilia sale in Oxford, fetching a grand total of £1,017,317 and an 86% sale rate with 44 out of 51 car lots selling.

The top price (£166,500) was paid, as expected, for a fabulous 1956 Bentley S1 Continental Fastback with coachwork by H J Mulliner, while the other Bentley in the sale – a 1964 Bentley S3 Continental Coupé with coachwork by H J Mulliner, Park Ward Ltd surpassed its estimate of £40,000 – 50,000, fetching an impressive £62,000. The 1989 Ford RS200, Group B Homologation road car, attracted the second top price in the sale - £87,300.

The 1936 Alvis Speed 25 Saloon was hotly contended for in a ten way bidding battle in which a number of European countries were represented. The car – a barn discovery - eventually sold to an Irish bidder for £31,050, beating its estimate sale price of £18,000 – 22,000.

More modestly priced classics also performed well, including a 1986 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupé which sold for £21,562 against a pre-sale estimate of £10,000 - £15,000.

Among the automobilia lots, an electric powered half-scale Ford model T child’s car sold for £9,200, an amount which could afford a real model, against an estimate of £4,000 – 5,000.

James Knight, Head of the Motoring department at Bonhams, comments; “This was our second sale at Oxford, and yet again delivered a very strong performance. The test for any new venue is looking at how you perform the second time. I am thrilled that Bonhams and this fabulous venue passed the test with flying colours.”