Barn find Jaguar E-type sells for £80,800 at auction

British marques dominated the H&H Classics sale at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, on 12 October. In total, £5m worth of lots were sold with 70 per cent of lots finding new homes.

Grabbing all the pre-sale headlines was a barn find Jaguar E-type. The 1964 3.8-litre coupe sold for £80,800 against a pre-sale estimate of £35,000-£45,000.

That’s strong money for a restoration project. But the talk on the floor was of a car that was solid and that should be straightforward to re-commission while leaving the exterior and interior beautifully patinated.

It wasn’t the only E-type project at the sale, however. A 1966 4.2-litre roadster sold for £68,640 (its pre-sale estimate was £55,000 to £65,000).

But while recent sales have seen 1980s performance cars do well, the big money at Duxford went on very traditional, very safe classics.

Top-sellers included a 1924 Bentley 3 / 4.5 Litre Tourer (£297,440), a 1959 Jaguar XK150SE 3.4 Litre DHC (£257,400), a 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 Saloon (£196,768) and a 1930 Aston Martin International 1.5 Litre Short Chassis Tourer (£125,840).

Other highlights were a 1935 Lagonda M45A Le Mans-Style Tourer (£118,976), a 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I All-Weather Tourer (£114,400), a 1934 Alvis Speed 20SC Vanden Plas-Style Tourer (£74,360), and a 1974 Jensen Interceptor 111 Convertible (£68,640).