Are the British crazy now, or are they?
08/04/2016
No, we're not talking about Brexit here, but about the results of the Silverstone Auctions sale at the Silverstone Classic on July 30/31, 2016.
A bidder actually bought a Peugeot 205 GTI for £ 30,938 (EUR 37,031 or CHF 40,114), which is probably a new world record for this youngtimer.
Back on April 9 of this year, a (red and restored) 205 GTI from 1991 was sold on the island for £ 25,500, which at the time was the equivalent of EUR 32,020 or CHF 34,952, as we reported at the time.
In any case, and irrespective of currency movements, the sum now paid corresponds to around three times the new price in 1989, when the car was bought for £ 10,001.93 by its only previous owner.
The color was silver metallic, and the enthusiast did without a sliding glass roof at the time. At least he installed a Philips radio-TB.
And then? Shortly after buying the car, which like all the other 205 GTIs was intended for use as an everyday car, the proud owner was given a company car and so he pampered the Peugeot and only drove it very rarely. He made sure that the car remained in roadworthy condition and covered just 7986 miles (i.e. around 13,000 km) in 27 years. And when the 205 GTI was then laid up for two years, it was carefully restored afterwards, at least that's what they say.
The result? A practically brand-new Peugeot 205 GTI, the like of which there are probably no longer many. Pedals, seats, trunk, interior, etc. look like a new car.
And apparently the GTI also drives like a new car: "The car looks, drives and smells practically like a new car that you could buy from a Peugeot dealer in 2016".
As such an opportunity doesn't come around too often, the generally "hot hatch"-enthusiastic Brits were tempted to get into a bidding war. They even outbid the (lower) estimate by £ 12,000.
There were also other interesting cars for sale at Silverstone, such as a beautiful Ford Escort RS 2000 from 1974, which also looks almost like it did back then. But it also cost £ 32,060.
A 1939 Fiat Topolino was a much cheaper way to buy a classic, but at £1240, you were only buying a restoration object. And perhaps a lot more trouble and sweat.
Incidentally, the most expensive car at the auction was one of around two dozen original Porsche 924 Carrera GTRs built in 1981, which was worth £495,000 to its new owner.
The results of the auction can be found here at Silverstone Auctions.
