Vintage News
Vintage Auction defies credit crunch!
Cambridge Vintage Sale - Saturday 26th April 2008
A 1961 Fordson Major tractor in ultra original condition and consigned from a North Cambridgeshire farm became the focal point of Cheffins most recent Cambridge Vintage Sale on Saturday 26th April as spirited bidding saw the hammer drop at an astounding £12,650. Even before the auctioneer had opened his mouth the bidding had started at £5,000 with any number of bidders putting their hands up. The record breaking Fordson Major tractor was eventually sold to a collector from the Manchester area. Whilst not the highest price in the sale by some distance, it was the talking point of the sale after the final lot had been sold.
A wonderful entry of five steam engines saw only two find new homes with the 1920 Garrett Showman’s tractor making £152,500 and a 1920 Aveling & Porter steam tractor with Showman’s fittings making £105,000.
The tractor section however, started in lively fashion with no less than two pre-1920 Overtimes from the same stable and which had been supplied locally by F A Standen of St Ives to farms in the Bluntisham area of Cambridgeshire making record prices of £43,500 and £40,000 respectively. A very rare Marshall MP6 (no.3), which had also been a UK supplied tractor and having been in the same ownership for many years and used by a threshing contractor made £66,500 (plus VAT), a record price for an MP6 at auction. Two David Brown 50D’s were on offer, one was a one-owner tractor from a local Cambridgeshire farm which had been badly painted and unfortunately failed to find a new home. The other had been expertly restored and made a solid £31,000. Also from the same stable was a David Brown 996 with just 255 recorded hours, which made a record breaking £10,250. In the same colours a 1200 made £5,600 and a 990 4wd made an incredible £6,800. There was an excellent selection of Field Marshall tractors, with a 1952 Field Marshall Series III from the Dave Jackson Deceased collection making a healthy £7,900 and another Field Marshall Series III making £8,500. Another record which was to fall was that for the £7,500 paid for a 1927 John Deere Model D that had undergone a superb restoration. It was clear that vintage tractors were in demand as a very original Austin Model R (English) made a superb £14,200 and a Ferguson Brown Type A at £9,800. With such an excellent selection of tractors on offer it was no wonder that two superb Massey Ferguson 100 Series were to make top prices in their class, with a 1968 135 at £8,700 and a 1966 165 at £9,300 respectively. Continuing in the same colour a superbly restored 35X was sold for £8,100 and another 135 at £7,000 stood this marque in good stead for the day. Classic 4wd were also in demand with an International 634 County at £8,500 and a Ford County Super Six at £10,300. With some 293 tractors, 226 found new homes, a selling rate of a staggering 77%.
The fine weather obviously contributed not only to the trade but the attendance at the sale with queues of cars forming outside the gates to the saleground. The excellent trade was not just confined to the tractors with the sales of spares keenly contested. Both early and later tractor parts were in demand with a Ford 3000 steering box panel making £440 and a Marshall Series II rod and piston making £420. A Ford 5000/6600 safety cab made a staggering £820 and a quantity of Ford tractor toolboxes made £360. Again Ferguson spares were in hot demand with a JCB single arm loader for a Ferguson TE20 at £340. Overall trade for over 800 lots of spares was excellent. In the implement section ploughs were sought after with a Pearce of Wexford 2furrow making £620 and a Ransomes Robin making £520. However, two ploughs made in excess of £1,000 with a International B13 3furrow making a whopping £1,150 and a Ransomes Robin 2furrow match plough making a topping £1,650. As always Ferguson implements were in strong demand and a Massey Ferguson single disc harrow made a record price of £1,900 and a Ferguson Hayturner at £3,000. A Ferguson 4rotor root gapper made £2,100. Inside literature was making a very good trade with prices exceeding over £100 particularly for steam related material and early tractor manuals. Classic tractor literature dominated and achieved very sensible prices, the top price in this section was £380 for a Massey Harris Tractor & Implement catalogue dated 1935.
An excellent selection of model engines caused much excitement with a 1” freelance traction engine making £1,400 and a Stuart beam engine at £2,600. A superbly constructed York Fire Brigade steam engine made £3,600 and a Wolf portable steam engine made £2,500. A collection of model steam locos were on offer with two making £5,000 exactly.
In the marquee a fine selection of memorabilia, enamel signs and petrol cans were on offer and again these items were in demand. Top price in the petroliana section was for a hand operated petrol pump, which had been superbly restored and made £1,550 and is destined for a new home in Melbourne, Australia. Steam spares although the last to be sold in the marquee, held a large crowd who made sure the prices achieved were strong, particularly for lamps, with a pair of Eli Griffiths traction lamps making £1,650.
The automobilia section saw the much publicised Tom Karen archive achieve a 100% sell out with prices ranging from £20 to £680 for examples of this much loved designers work. An inkwell and pen holder bequeathed by Lord Nuffield (founder of MG) to his housekeeper found favour at £600 whilst 5 early Lucas catalogues were hotly contested to £550. A large quantity of early motorcycle brochures were popular with the large crowd and all found new homes with Velocette examples leading the way at £150.
The Motorcycle section attracted huge interest and 44 machines were on offer, as with the tractor section the fabulous selling rate (only 6 remained unsold) prove that folk are still prepared to part with their money for those special toys despite the economic gloom. The first machine on offer was a 1934 “barn find” 600cc overhead cam Ariel square four. Still bearing it’s 1946 tax disc and absolutely unmolested, this was what the market demanded and the 4 telephone bidders and commission bidders were eventually outdone by a bidder in the room who took the machine for an estimate busting £9,100. Similar