Meet the Specialist

What do you do at Bonhams?

I am the Bonhams Group Motoring Chairman and motor car specialist. My role is to work with the motoring team management and determine our strategy for the years ahead. I also handle cars on behalf of clients whenever possible and I'm a principal auctioneer taking sales across the various Bonhams departments, from motor cars to fine watches.

What inspired you to go into the auction world? 

My background is not one immersed in old cars, but I evidently had an eye for a good looking one from an early age. My father was an antiques dealer and he had a friend, another dealer, who used to visit in the 1970s in the most beautiful car I’d ever seen. Turned out to be a Ferrari 246 GT Dino – bright red of course. I thought, why can’t Dad drive a car like that instead of the bronze liveried Ford Granada Estate? And that started more than a passing interest in classic cars.

What was your first job? 

I joined the auction business in 1982 as a porter with Christie’s where I had a year in the warehouse for the then weekly furniture sales - learning to create terrifying 15 ft-high stacks! I then moved into the saleroom for the weekly sales, before graduating to the motor car department in 1984.

There I worked with Robert Brooks (former Bonhams Chairman) who would become very much my mentor and inspiration. I then went with him in his new venture when he set up his own auction house Brooks in 1989, which became the Bonhams we know today.

 What has changed in the business?

We’ve witnessed extraordinary growth of the collectors’ car world over the last 20-30 years or so, which led to a rapidly appreciating market. Prices have calmed down in recent years but the very best examples still have the ability to break new records. Just look at the community now – and the number of classic and historic motor car events. The 1980s-90s introduced big events such as the Mille Miglia Retrospective, Goodwood's series of events, Le Mans Classic, Monaco Historic Grand Prix etc. These increased awareness of the market, fuelling an increase in demand and appreciating values across the category.

What’s exciting you about your next sale?

Bond truly comes to Bond Street as we are offering an original 1969 Ford Mercury Cougar which featured in the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, driven by Dame Diana Rigg playing Tracy di Vicenzo, at our season-finishing Bond Street Sale. The vendor bought it in a rather sorry state in the late 80s and has spent 30 years restoring it to the film’s specification – complete with a ski rack!

Keeping the 007 theme, we also have a beautiful 1953 Bentley Continental Sports Saloon, considered the pinnacle of post-war Bentleys and a model loved by James Bond creator, Ian Fleming.

We are of course also offering an example of Bond’s car of choice – a superb 1964 Aston Martin DB5 4.2-litre sports saloon – however, it is finished in Sierra Blue rather than the Bond Silver Birch.

Name one of your triumphs: 

I’ve been fortunate enough to work on many special consignments and sales and have witnessed several auction world records. In the late 80s I was working with Robert Brooks when we were commissioned to sell a Bugatti Type 41 Royale – one of just a handful of magnificent 12.7-litre straight-eight cylinder Bugattis built, as the name suggests, for royalty and UHNW individuals of the day. Robert said we should find somewhere equally prestigious to sell the Royale so we rented the Royal Albert Hall for 24 hours. We had to take the doors off the building to get this spectacular car inside, but it was worth it – the Bugatti made a then world record price, selling for £5.5 million.

Another more recent record was the one achieved by 2 VEV, the 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, and one of only three super lightweight MP209 prototypes, and raced in period by Jim Clark no less. It achieved more than £10 million when we sold it at the Festival of Speed Sale in 2018 – a new record for a British car sold at a European auction.

What is your dream motor car? 

My ideal car is a pre-war Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Corto Spyder, with coachwork by Touring, and particularly the ‘Rimoldi’ car. Some of the world’s greatest car collectors have owned this Alfa, which is named after its owner from the 1960s to 80s – a Mr Rimoldi of Wandsworth, South London. He was a gentleman of Italian descent who – rather appropriately – was an ice cream merchant.

It's still the most beautiful motor car I’ve ever seen, with twin-mounted spare wheels on the rear, shrouded with a fanned – and finned – cover and a bonnet that goes on forever. It’s the type of car you could drive to a race, compete, win and then drive home. Its supercharged straight-eight 2.3-litre engine is one of the best and looks like a work of art.

James Knight is an Executive Director and Group Motoring Chairman at Bonhams. He can be reached at james.knight@bonhams.com