Restored Austin Allegro Equippe makes £3600 at Brightwells auction

An Austin Allegro Equippe that had been fully restored made £3600 when the hammer went down at auction on Wednesday, 26 November. The 1980-registered car, which went under the hammer at Brightwells in Leominster, was treated to £10,000 worth of work so although that’s top money for an Allegro, it’s still something of a bargain.

A trio of BL’s finest took the honours for cheapest cars of the day. A 1982 Austin Maxi 2 1750HL made £200, while a 1979 Allegro 1100DL went for £350 and a 1987 Mini Metro L fetched £250. That meant you could have come home with three cars and still had change from a grand.

There’s no word yet though on how the star of the day – a stunning Facel Vega HK500 – got on. We’re also waiting to hear how the 1928 MG 14/40 got on.

Our favourite car of the sale – a 1966 Austin A35 van – went for £2300. That’s quite tempting when you see them at dealers for £3500. The other car that really caught our eye was a 1959 Austin-Healey ‘Frogeye’ Sprite, which smashed its meagre £1500 top estimate to go for £4400. With good ones topping out at around £7500, that doesn’t leave much room in the budget for its restoration.

Speaking of projects, a ‘no reserve’ barn find 1934 Austin 7 Ruby went for £2200, while a Series 1 Land Rover struggled just nudged past its bottom estimate to make £2100.

Hidden gems? Well what about the Volkswagen 412 from the Stondon Motor Museum. The last air-cooled model before the K70, you’ll certainly stand out from the crowd and at a hammer price of £1600, we think it was a bit of a steal.

Full report as soon as the final sale results are finalised.