7 Cars That Caught Our Eye at the 2024 Bonhams Bond Street Auction

Held at the Bonhams headquarters on New Bond Street in London, this was one of the last collector car auctions of consequence held in 2024. Typically a small sale in an intimate setting, this year’s edition featured two dozen cars crossing the block, and 17 of them were reported sold. The most expensive was a 1925 Bugatti and the next priciest was a McLaren from 2022—there was plenty of range among the lots offered. The cheapest, ironically, was a Rolls-Royce once owned by a Saudi sheikh.

Our colleague Chris Sharpe was on hand to inspect cars in person and gave valuable notes on the condition and options for each of the vehicles. We look at the most interesting cars from the Bonhams Bond Street sale in detail below.

Lot 101: 1975 Rolls-Royce Corniche Custom Convertible

Sold for £34,500 ($43,867)

Chassis no. DRX 22383. Silver over bright blue leather. Visually maintained, largely original, #3+ condition.

Equipment: LHD. 6750cc V-8, automatic, gold hood ornament, custom interior with embroidered headrests, blue leather, blue-tinted wooden dashboard, original Clarion sound system.

Condition: Ordered new by Saudi Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed Al Ashmawi and reportedly used for traveling to and from parties and his private jets. It has had two private owners from new and is represented as 39,000 genuine miles. U.K.-registered since 2018.

A striking convertible with good paint that only shows minor imperfections, though poor paint masking is visible on the top edges of the doors. Externally, there is minor pitting on the chrome, and the wonderful radiator surround has polish marks. The blue leather interior is in superb condition and is quite a feast for the eyes, though there is a long crack in the wood running the length of the glovebox. Not much is represented mechanically other than that it runs and drives “beautifully,” but also that the “engine emits a ‘ticking’ noise/misfire, the cause of which is unknown.” Certainly an eye-catching car, but no longer fit for the jet set like it was 50 years ago.

Bottom line: Named for a road running between Nice and Monte Carlo, the Rolls-Royce Corniche was a flashy status symbol from the moment it was introduced in 1971. This one’s custom interior makes it even more eye-catching and interesting, but lack of maintenance information on old Rolls-Royces is a big red flag and the bidders were wisely cautious when raising their paddles here. The final price is condition #3- money, and that seems about right.

Lot 106: 1994 Aston Martin Vantage V550

Sold for £138,000 ($175,467)

Chassis no. SCFDAM2S7RBR70015. Buckinghamshire Green over beige leather. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: RHD. 5341cc/550hp twin-supercharged V-8, six-speed, power seats, factory cassette.

Condition: Supposedly bought new by a member of the band U2, but no word which one. Originally finished in Snowden White. It had its speedometer replaced, its sunroof removed, and its speedometer replaced in the 2000s. Comes with service history by Aston Martin Works and RS Williams. Excellent paint that has been freshly detailed. Perfect wheels and good tires. Then inside has an aged aroma. All the leather and carpets are in fine shape, there’s just an off-putting whiff from poor storage.

Bottom line: When it came out, the twin-supercharged Vantage was more powerful than nearly everything else on the road, but also notoriously scary to drive. This one’s supposed celebrity history is a bit murky, and its color change plus sunroof removal don’t do it any favors, but it sold for a price similar to what other used examples of this overpowered piece of ’90s Anglo muscle have brought in recent months.

Lot 107: 1925 Bugatti Type 35A / 35T

Sold for £552,000 ($701,868)

Chassis no. 4564; Engine no. 4826. French racing blue over burgundy leather. Older restoration, #3 condition.

Equipment: RHD. 2.3-liter straight-eight, four-speed, aluminum wheels, single spare mounted on the passenger’s side, wood-rim steering wheel.

Condition: This car has lived a varied life, with period competition history after being registered new in France before racing in England, including at Brooklands, Donington Park, and Shelsley Walsh, and with two lady drivers behind the wheel. Engine rebuilt to 2.3-liter Type 35T specs in the 1950s, and Stirling Moss reportedly drove it in 1959. Used extensively as a vintage car in the 1960s and 1970s. Sold in 1978 to Hugh Graham Conway, who had it restored. Sold here in 2024 by the Conway family. Comes with extensive documentation detailing its history.

Older, slightly rough paint with cracks at the hinges of the hood. The chassis looks used and old but well-painted. The suspension, brakes, front axle, and wheels all look superb. The steering wheel is a later replacement, as is the flat sheet dash panel. The seat leather is well-used but of great quality. Similar to many Bugatti racers, this car is a mixture of older and newer parts, but it has a known history and the long-term single-family ownership is reassuring.

Bottom line: While the Type 35 was Bugatti’s all-conquering Grand Prix machine, the 35A was a slightly more subdued road-going version of the race car with a milder tune on the engine and wire wheels instead of the alloys of the race car. Some 35As took to competition regardless, and this one has an enviable resume that adds to its value. It was one of the stars of this auction, and it sold right in the middle of its presale estimate range.

Lot 112: 1984 Lamborghini Countach 5000 S

Sold for £391,000 ($497,157)

Chassis no. ZA9C0005003LA12681; Engine no. 708. White over white leather. Visually maintained, largely original, #3+ condition.

Equipment: LHD. 4574cc/375hp V-12, five-speed, white wheels.

Condition: First owned by a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family then owned in Norway since 1987. In present ownership since 2005. Good main paint. With the scissor doors lifted there are some minor scrapes from entry and exit across the sill areas. The headlight covers have signs of debris and water ingress. The wheels are superb. One exhaust pipe end has a dent. The Miami-look white leather seats are aging and look correct to the car’s year. In fact, everything looks right to the year and 65,803 km (40,888 miles) driven.

Bottom line: The aforementioned “Miami-look” on a Countach isn’t for everyone, but it definitely is the look for a lot of people, and certainly representative of the decade, its excesses, and its party drug of choice. So, despite its visible age, this white-on-white wedge brought a strong price usually reserved for cleaner, lower-mile Countaches.

Lot 119: 2007 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti Sessanta

Sold for £126,500 ($160,845)

Chassis no. ZFFJY54B000157847. Cream over cream leather. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: LHD. 5748cc/540hp V-12, paddle shift, carbon-ceramic brakes, yellow calipers.

Condition: One of only 60 made and recently recommissioned by Stratton Motor Company at a cost of over £14,500. Represented as a 400-km (250-mile) car. Perfect bodywork and wheels. The driver’s seat bolster has the slightest use but that’s it. This car is nearly faultless.

Bottom line: The 612, offered by Ferrari between 2004 and 2011, is a four-seater model and generally on the lower end of modern Ferrari values despite its desirable front-mounted V-12 layout. Any 612 equipped with the rare six-speed manual (fewer than 200 cars got it) is worth more than twice a comparable paddle shift car in today’s market, but another option with a big premium is the Sessanta (Italian for “60”), built to celebrate Ferrari’s 60th birthday and offered to 60 of Ferrari’s most exclusive clients.

The Sessanta added special wheels, a three-stage electrochromic glass roof, special seats, and badges. The condition #1 (“concours”) value for a 2007 612 Scaglietti with paddle shifters in the U.K. Hagerty Price Guide is £103,000, but given this Sessanta’s special features on top of its like-new condition, a £126,500 final price for it seems like a good value.

Lot 122: 2008 Bentley Brooklands Coupe

Sold for £207,000 ($263,201)

Chassis no. SCBCC42M89CH137. Dark blue over cream leather. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: RHD. 6.75-liter/530hp (and 774 lb-ft!) twin-turbo V-8, automatic, alloy wheels.

Condition: One of a limited run of 550 cars. Serviced in 2023 and stored since. It is represented as having covered 723 miles from new. Lovely dark metallic blue paint that has a dizzying depth to it. The exterior has no marks or imperfections at all, which adds to the incredibly impressive overall look. The luxury theme continues with an opulent interior of leather and shiny wood. Only the foot pedals look touched. The classiest modern carriage here by far.

Bottom line: A gorgeous car, especially in side profile, the second-gen (2008-11, the first was a sedan built from 1992-98) Brooklands is a pillarless coupe based on the Azure convertible. Built by hand in relatively low numbers, the Brooklands doesn’t pop up for sale often but generally sells for significantly higher than other, more common used Bentleys and Rolls-Royce models that tended to depreciate more quickly than almost any other car on the road. Even so, this car sold for more than any other Brooklands we’ve seen at auction previously, surely thanks to its incredibly low miles and its tasteful colors.

Lot 125: 2007 BMW Alpina B6 Convertible

Sold for £59,800 ($76,036)

Chassis no. WAPB644008WH10076. Alpina Green over cream leather. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: LHD. 4.4-liter/493hp supercharged V-8, ZF automatic, Alpina wheels, blue-face gauges.

Condition: Built to Gulf States specification. It is left-hand drive but was first registered in the U.K. in 2007. It is represented as driven 1258 miles from new. Perfect unmarked bodywork and swaths of clean, untouched leather and clean carpets. The front nearside alloy wheel has a scraped rim. A sharp, barely used convertible.

Bottom line: Based on the E63 6-Series, the second-generation Alpina B6 was available in coupe or convertible form and used a modified version of the BMW’s N62 engine with a special block, forged crankshaft, Mahle pistons, and special exhaust. It also added the usual Alpina touches of subtle graphics and badges, beautiful paint, a more premium interior, and gigantic but good-looking wheels. This car is at a sort of awkward age where it’s not quite old enough to be a “classic” or for people to be nostalgic about it yet, but it’s too old to be considered a contemporary high-end car. As it stands now, it’s an exclusive, fast, and rather attractive car at a perfectly reasonable price.