Antique classic cars sold through auction have always attracted high bids, some entering into the record books, but no one was expecting an old Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A, which had been sitting neglected in its owner’s garage near Aberystwyth, Wales, to fetch between £370,000 and £450,000 at auction.
Discovered rusted and gathering dust in the 1980s by a barn discovery detective with auction house Bonhams, Mr Worthington-Williams described the vintage vehicle (which was found with body work corroded, headlights, bumpers and eagle mascot all missing) as still not having lost its ‘handsome lines’ in spite of years of neglect.
Its owner, garage boss Bert Fielding, bought the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A in the 1950s and it once won top prize in a classic car show at Goodwood before it was stored away.
However, now the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A, found and recovered after 25 years gathering dust, is expected to fetch between £370,000 and £450,000 all thanks to the careful restoration carried out by a Danish collector and self-made businessman Mr Frederiksen.
Mr Frederiksen, a lover and collector of mainly pre-war vehicles, added the car to his collection of 48, said to be worth a total of around £13m.
Mr Frederiksen told Classic.com “I went to the bank as a young man, and got a loan for £10,000. With this, I bought some shares in a company for the equivalent of £300 each, and ultimately sold them for £3.5 million apiece.”
This, added to success in medicinal, shipping and automotive investments, has allowed Frederiksen to own and enjoy a beautiful and diverse collection of cars. The wealth he has amassed also gave him the opportunity to take up residence in a 16th Century country estate originally built for the Danish Royal Family and larger in area than all of Monaco. It will be at his residence where Bonhams will host the sale of the restored Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A and the rest of his 48-car collection.
Mr Frederiksen decided to sell the cars after losing his wife Vivi, with whom he built the collection and enjoyed the vehicles during many road trips.
Isotta Fraschini is an Italian brand founded in Milan, Italy, in 1900 by Cesare Isotta and the brothers Vincenzo, Antonio and Oreste Fraschini. It is known historically for the production of some of the most luxurious and prestigious cars ever built. The Isotta Fraschini was the Italian equivalent of Rolls Royce or Bentley. The cars were made to order for the super-rich, including royalty.
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Posted : 2015-09-04