Overview of the Year So Far

22nd June 2010

It’s been an eventful first few months for us here in London. However the year began a little more slowly than usual, due largely to the coldest winter the South East of England has endured for a generation. Heavy snowfall on more than one occasion was more than a little disruptive to life in general as the city struggled to keep moving during the arctic weather. It’s unlikely that Mayor Boris Johnson will be rushing out to buy several dozen snow ploughs in case we have another harsh winter in years to come, but perhaps he might like to stock up on London’s salt and grit supplies instead. However as the weather began to improve we looked ahead to the summer and the motoring season.

Our first major outing of the year was exhibiting at the Essen Techno Classica in Germany, displaying three pre-war Rolls-Royces and two post war Bentley Continentals. We have been exhibiting at Essen for over twenty years and it’s certainly an event we would thoroughly recommend to anybody who has an interest in classic cars. We followed up last year’s success in the annual Concours d’ Elegance by adding the coveted “Best in Show” award for the 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Playboy Roadster by Brewster we had on display to the “Best Coupe” award we won last year for the 1948 Bentley Cresta by Facel/Farina. It’s the first time we have been fortunate enough to win this prize and were greatly honoured to be rewarded in this way. The prize winning car was quite something, restored to an exceptionally high standard to complement its stylish design. The new owner took delivery of this fine motor car, along with the trophy just a couple of weeks after the show in Germany.

Just a week later we began to prepare for our second annual Open Day at our West London showrooms and workshops. Our main showroom housed sixteen pre-war cars, five Cricklewood built Bentleys and five Derby built Bentleys, which were complemented by six pre-war Rolls-Royces, all contrasted by the very latest offering from Goodwood, the new Rolls-Royce Ghost. We had a display of fourteen post war coach built classics on our frontage, including a Graber bodied Mk VI Coupe, two R Type Continentals, several S1 Fastbacks and a unique T1 Coupe by Pininfarina. With over seventy Rolls-Royces and Bentleys on display from a 1911 Silver Ghost to a 2009 Bentley GTC throughout our buildings there was something for everybody. Well in excess of five hundred guests attended throughout the day making it a great success. We have begun planning next year’s event already, and will try and make it bigger and better once again, which may be difficult.

Our showrooms have been very busy so far this year with collectors, enthusiasts and friends visiting us from all over the world to browse the cars on display. A number of cars have found new owners both via the public market place and also by private treaty. The major auction houses have also enjoyed some excellent results so far this year with the most desirable and collectable motor cars achieving handsome prices in Scottsdale, Monaco and a number of other events. This trend has been consistently confirmed when browsing our sales records for the past few years, with the rare and interesting cars continuing to find favour with collectors and investors alike. The ever increasing cost of good quality restoration work has translated into increasing prices being achieved with the very best quality cars, with considerable numbers finding their way into prestigious collections the world over. Whilst the rare and exotic have continued to appreciate at a steady but sensible pace, a number of the middle market cars have held their own admirably even during recessionary times. Models such as the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III (1962-1966) and the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn (1949-1955) are just two of many examples we could highlight in this bracket of the Rolls-Royce and Bentley market.

Our workshop, trimming shop and restoration department has also enjoyed an exceptional surge in activity in the past three or four months as the weather has improved. Several major restorations are currently ongoing whilst we have recently completed a number of other long term projects. The flow of cars for servicing and general maintenance has also been far greater when compared to recent years. So our engineers, trimming staff and fitters have been kept very busy to meet the demand of our ever growing client base. In fact the many visitors to our premises often enjoy looking at the diverse array of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motorcars being worked on in our workshops just as much as viewing the finished articles on display in our showrooms.

The summer season is almost upon us with the two major national rallies taking place in the forthcoming fortnight. We will all be attending the RREC Rally and the following weekend we will be exhibiting for the second consecutive year at the BDC Rally, held for the first time at the BDC headquarters. We will have a selection of around half a dozen cars on display and will be interested spectators at the Concours d ‘Elegance prize giving, especially when the Frank Dale & Stepsons Trophy is awarded. We look forward to seeing you if you are planning on attending either of these excellent events.

That brings our summary of the year so far to a close. We look forward to an equally busy second half of 2010 and wish all of our customers and friends a very happy and safe summer motoring season.