1953 Empress Two-Door Hooper Saloon

[simonp]

John

Sorry to hear you are parting with the Daimler after all the effort and money you put into it. I shall be at the auction and will watch its progress and hopefully it will find a good home. Brightwells are a good auction house and have gone from strength to strength in recent years.

I hope it gets a good price. Sadly no room to store and probably a bit too much for a joint venture!

Anyone else going to be at the auction, please let me know.

SimonP

[Keith Ashworth]

I saw this car partially restored at Ross on Wye in 2009. Truly a beautiful car.
It's sister is here in Melbourne.
The restoration is a credit to you John and it deserves a lot more than the estimate.
Hopefully it'll go to someone who appreciates it and importantly someone who will take it to shows etc and promote the marque.
Keith

[theoldman]

Go on, Keith, you know you want to own it......................

[JohnRidley]

Many thanks for all your support and kind remarks: they are much appreciated.

The car is now at Brightwells. JohnR

[Sydsmith]

Don't want to rain on your parade John and I am sorry to see that you have to let the car go.

One word of caution. Some years ago I entered a car with shall we say "a certain auction house". The chap that came to see it valued it well below the going price for the car for the day and I insisted on a much higher reserve than he wanted to put on it. The guide price in the catalogue showed more than my estimate of value.

On the day they sold the car for exactly his reserve, well under my reserve, the catalogue value and the lowest price I would have accepted.

They argued and I had to accept that I foolishly signed his contract with his price on it. He had forgotten to amend his reserve and the auctioneer was not aware of the error and knocked it down.

I reluctantly agreed to accept the auction price but they charged me no fees.

The car turned up at a dealers not a million miles away, well above my estimate of value and was sold within a month.

You live and learn, read before you sign. Syd

[rodingo]

Lovely car, I saw it on Trevor Farringtons stand at the national at Shrewsbury. Looking at auction prices for the Empress ( I know this one is one of only 2, 2 door examples etc) the sort of maximum reached is about £17k. There are a number of classic cars on the market at the moment at about 30 % to 50% of the expenditure on restoration. For example there is a nice Alvis (Kult Classics) on sale @ £21k with invoices for £47k. The same is true of Austins to Rolls Royces . A dealer I know down South sold a Bentley some months ago for £29k, invoices for £62k on file !!!. Regretfully The cost of restoration is no guide to the sale value, it just helps to sell a car. I hope that John gets most of his money back, both he and the Empress deserve it.
Rod
Century & Dingo

[ranald]

I've watched the auction on-line. It fetched £34,500. Incl comm + vat = £38640.

[rodingo]

Yep well bought. I was the under bidder & bid up to £34k for you John. Glad it helped you get a good price. World record I think for the Empress.
Regards & going for a stiff drink to drown my sorrows.
Rod

[simonp]

I was there too and a friend of mine also was in the mix. Glad John got a good price which is some recompense for all the work and heartache that went into it.

Hope we see the new owner on here soon.

SimonP

[marchesmark]

Did those who were there see the straight eight pre-war Daimler as well? It says withdrawn, so I am not sure if it even appeared. Looking at the photos, something looks odd with this car - maybe the way the body sits on the chassis. It was advertised on Car and Classic a while ago, with some not very flattering pictures. Does anyone know more about the car?

link to catalogue here:

http://www.brightwells.com/classic-moto ... 7th-march/