An English country auction: RM Sotheby's presents post-war exotica at Cliveden House

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Constructed in neat, ordered layers at the end of an immaculate emerald lawn, the proud and prosperous façade of Cliveden House rises from the Chiltern Hills as a glorious tribute to the beauty and splendour of the Italian Renaissance. Completed in 1851 for the Duke of Sutherland, but more famously occupied between 1893 and 1966 by the Viscounts Astor, the palatial country pile stands out as one of the crowning glories of Charles Barry's distinguished career, and with its opulent interior notably including a French Rococo dining room, it belongs very much to the first rank of English stately homes.

Always worth a visit, especially in summer, we would make a particular recommendation to head there on June 12th, when it will host an RM Sotheby's auction at which numerous vintage and thoroughbred motor cars are set to pass under the hammer.

Ferrari head-turners

Three delectable Ferraris are very much the chief attention-grabbers, especially the shapely 1960 250 GT SWB, with its £5,000,000-6,000,000 estimate. Chassis 2067GT was the 34th of the 165 SWBs completed between 1959 and 1962, and was first owned by Franco Caimi or Milan, who in 1967 passed it on to Gastone Crepaldi, who owned the official Ferrari dealership for Milan. In a moment of madness, Crepaldi commissioned Drogo to replace the beautiful original Scaglietti body with an ungainly wedge that looked almost as if it could have been fashioned from cardboard or plywood. In 1969, it managed to find a buyer in France, but by the end of the decade it had landed in Britain and was stripped of its strange bodywork and restored with an aluminium copy of the original body. Enjoyed thereafter at various motor sport meetings, it was restored again in 2009, this time with a correct steel body, and finished in its tasteful original colour combination of grey with a black interior.

The 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso by Fantuzzi (£1,100,000-1,500,000) is a much more aggressive-looking machine, and the 16th of the 350 Lussos produced from 1962 to 1964. Chassis 4383 left the factory in Silver Grey with a black interior, but was extensively modified after being sold new in Bologna to Luciano Pederzani, who with brother Gianfranco had founded the Tecno racing team in 1961, which constructed Formula Three cars. In 1964, Pederzani requested Tecno's stylist to design a new body for the car. Medardo Fantuzzi completed the work to make it more closely the 330 LMB racing car, giving it a smaller, rounded grille, and fairing the headlamps into the wings beneath Plexiglass covers. A veteran of the concours lawn at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it now appears in red paint, which it has worn since it landed in Texas in 1976, which is also when the three ducts were added. Also consigned is a 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS (£1,300,000-1,600,000), chassis 10845, the 75th of 99 built.

Aristocratic motoring

A venue like Cliveden House is perhaps a more natural setting for stately Rolls-Royces and Bentleys than roaring Ferraris, and the 1954 Bentley R-type Continental by H. J. Mulliner (£450,000-550,000), 1956 Bentley S-type saloon by James Young (£140,000-180,000) and 1972 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine by Mulliner Park Ward (£60,000-80,000) would all look very much at ease gliding along its driveway. The S-type, chassis B456AN, is the rarest of them, being one of just 26 to receive James Young's B10 body. Sold viâ Wadham Bros. of Southampton to Charles Purley, co-founder of the Longford Engineering Co., but after a front-end accident in 1958, it was repaired by Rolls-Royce and sold to Mr. Cruddas of Croydon, who kept it until 1978. Expertly restored from 2016 to 2021, it has since won a number of concours awards from the Bentley Drivers' Club and Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club. The Phantom, chassis PRH4661, was sold through H. A. Gox of Mayfair to Sterling Moulding Materials. Still in its original Masons Black with tan leather and beige cloth upholstery, since 2016 it has formed part of the private collection of Jody Scheckter.

Most of all, though, it is the Continental which takes our fancy for the excellent taste in which it is presented. Sold by Kingsbury Motors to L. C. Hudson, who owned the Birmingham-based ACME whistle factory, he specified it with numerous special features and the unusual but exquisite colour of Pacific Green. An attractive registration number spelt out with Silver Peak characters and a very period-looking badge bar help it stand out for the right reasons.

Continuing on the grand-tourer theme, the 1960 Maserati 3500GT (£120,000-150,000), restored in Connecticut, is thing of great beauty, but perhaps the most unusual car in the sale is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 SE coupé by Michelotti (£300,000-350,000). It actually started life as a standard French-market coupé, sold through the Paris dealership of Charles Delacroix to Mlle. Jeanne Gaymard, but the body and original engine were destroyed in an accident in 1957. It was then that Michelotti restyled it along very modern lines with an aluminium fastback body, such as would have made a worthy rival to the Aston Martin DB2/4, AC Aceca or Jensen 541. Sadly, little more is known about the life of chassis S814286 until it was rediscovered in 1979 by a French collector of unique Jaguars. A Belgian enthusiast started restoring it in the present century, but died in 2016, leaving it in an unfinished state. It promises to be a fascinating project for one lucky enthusiast.

The full catalogue for RM Sotheby's Cliveden House sale on June 12th is available to view here.

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