Explain this fluctation in vintage 8 litre auction results?

[AdvocatusD]

Hi all

Was just having my periodic trawl through RM Auctions results, and found two entries that interested me.

The company sold 2 x 1931 8 Litre Bentley in 2010. Both 1931 cars, both open tourers and both green (not that the colour is important!). In short, very similar cars without further examination.

http://www.rmauctions.com/AuctionResultsSearch.cfm...

One sold at £756,000 (estimated 770k - 1m) and the other sold at £369,600.

Quite a difference! Just wondering how one car could be work double another. They are both in good condition and if I recall correctly, the "cheaper" one actually had an interesting history.

Add into the equation the "modernised" 8 Litre Bentley (the red one) that Stanley Mann has up for sale some time ago that was advertised at £500,000 makes me wonder if there are actually is a standard value for 8 litres at all!

[Markymark69]

These sort of cars are worth what they make on the day, dont drive yourself mad trying to work out the why nots of it all

[2708420018]

Its usually all about condition and rarity. The auctioneer reflected the price difference in his reserve and this worked through to the sale. The body on the higher value one seems a lot rarer which may account for the difference or it may simply be that two or more people both wanted it on the same day!

Paul

[Bluebottle911]

The more valuable car had original coachwork. The other was a later re-body, which, while nice, is not the same as being original.

[jake15919]

The 8 litre is a very rare car and there is a relatively huge variation in authenticity. Firstly you have to consider the originality if the engine, chassis and running gear. From there, as mentioned above, you have to consider the body work. Is the body original, a period rebody or a modern rebody. From there you can start considering the condition and desirability of the individual car.

If you want to know about individual 8 litres this site is quite helpful.

http://www.vintagebentleys.org/bentley-registry/pa...

[AdvocatusD]

Thread resurrection!

Just heard on the grapevine that a short chassis Bentley has changed hands for a round £1m! I have also heard it's rebodied (which is why I posted), in that the body is not the original but was changed at some point in the 60s. Perhaps someone can confirm? I don't have any other details...

[hog 1]

jake15919 said:

The 8 litre is a very rare car and there is a relatively huge variation in authenticity. Firstly you have to consider the originality if the engine, chassis and running gear. From there, as mentioned above, you have to consider the body work. Is the body original, a period rebody or a modern rebody. From there you can start considering the condition and desirability of the individual car.

If you want to know about individual 8 litres this site is quite helpful.

http://www.vintagebentleys.org/bentley-registry/pa...

Excellent link Jake, and some good reading on that site. Never knew of it before.