Welcome to what I do. It’s Sunday morning, December 4th, 2005 and I am in a hotel room in London. The weather is typical December London, a hint of sunshine trying to break through, but the clouds are winning the battle. Chilly, but not cold, Dry, but not for long, according to the news reader on the BBC.
I’m heading just a few steps away to Olympia, a large venue where the Bonham’s auction is having a preview of tomorrows event. The catalog is a thick tome of perhaps 500 pieces of automobilia combined with perhaps 75 cars for sale. The potential “stars’ of the show are a beautiful Mercedes 540 and a one-off Lamborghini known as the Lamborghini Monza. It’s styling is a bit controversial, I like it but some don’t. It reminds me of a Bizzarini, long hood, quite low, with a bit of a cam tail look to the rear end.
My assignment is not the Bonham’s auction (SCM other senior auction analyst and friend Richard Hudson Evans will be covering this) but rather the Christie’s auction across town at the Jack Barclays showroom at Nine Elms, near Vauxhall and next door to New Covent Gardens, the flower market for London. The Christies sale is smaller, perhaps 20 cars, some of them Vintage and what the Brits call Veterans. I’ve already been out with some friends enjoying some room temperature Guinness, something I must say I have a bit of a taste for. Guinness tastes great in the UK, let’s leave the stuff they sell in the US alone, however. It just does not do well after an Atlantic voyage, I guess. Time to head out and make the rounds, this time by Tube throughout the day. It looks to be a great day of friends old and new.