2021 Bonhams Amelia Island Sale (Rolls-Royce Announced)

A 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and 1935 Godsal Sports Tourer are on sale in the Bonhams Amelia Island 2021 classic car auction in Florida, USA.

1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost on sale in the Bonhams Amelia Island 2021 classic car auction — © Bonhams

The first two lead cars for the Bonhams Amelia Island 2021 classic car auction were announced: a 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, estimate US$1,300,000 – 1,500,000, and a 1935 Godsal Sports Tourer, estimate US$750,000 – 950,000. Like the other auctioneers, Bonhams postponed the Amelia Island 2021 sale to May rather than the traditional March events.

Bonhams Amelia Island Sale 2021

Bonhams returns to Florida for its Amelia Island 2021 sale on May 20, 2021, in line with the rescheduled Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

The Bonhams Amelia Island Auction 2021 will be held as a traditional live auction at the Fernandina Beach Golf Club, with bids accepted from clients in the room (respecting social distancing and all local COVID-related guidelines), with limited public admission by prior appointment. Real-time online, telephone, and absentee bidding options are also available.

Red and black 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport Roadster on offer at Bonhams Amelia Island Sale 2020 — © Bonhams

In 2020, Bonhams sold the most valuable motor car during the Amelia Island Car week, a 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport Roadster for $7,100,000. In the same auction, a 1907 Renault Type AI Vanderbilt Racer achieved US$3,332,500 – setting the marque record for a Renault, tripling the previous record for a Vanderbilt Racer.

In 2019, Bonhams earned $16 million with a respectable sell-through rate of 84%. Highlights of this sale were two dozen American antique Brass Era cars from the Don Boulton Collection.

In 2018, Bonhams earned $13.4 million and in 2017 the gains were around $10.2 million. Bonhams’ best Amelia Island auction was in 2016 when it earned $27.5 million in sale that included a $9,735,000 result for a 1937 Bugatti Type 57 SC Sports Tourer

Lead Cars for the Bonhams Amelia Island 2021 Sale

The two early lead cars announced for the Bonhams Amelia Island classic car auction 2021 are:

1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

Leading the Bonhams Amelia Island 2021 auction will be an early example of the quintessential collectors’ Rolls-Royce: a 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, estimate of US$1,300,000 – 1,500,000, the model dubbed the best car in the world and the epitome of Edwardian coachwork and engineering excellence.

Production of the Silver Ghost was more modest in the early years and, owing to the repurposing of many pre-Great War examples for the war effort, very few of the cars that survive retain their original coachwork. ‘Aurora’, as her current owners christened her, escaped such fate owing to the fact that she was originally delivered to a Mrs Cawthra of Toronto, being the second to arrive in Canada and the oldest to remain.

Chassis 1120, has long been admired as one of the most authentic and original extant, having been carefully maintained and preserved with its mere five custodians over the course of its life, including notable collections such as that of pioneering enthusiast D. Cameron Peck and the Pennsylvania State Museum. It is the oldest to retain original coachwork that is not in a museum or long term, institutional-type, private collection.

1935 Godsal Sports Tourer

Although Rolls-Royce is known the world over, another exceptional British consignment to the sale has a name that is largely forgotten. The 1935 Godsal Sports Tourer, estimate US$750,000 – 950,000, is a true one-off, the sole eponymous prototype produced by engineer Charles Godsal. With a sleek and sporty well-constructed body styled by Corsica coachworks, powered by a Ford V8 engine, the Godsal was surely destined for successful production, had it not been for the lack of finance. Chassis 001 disappeared before emerging more than 30 years later in the movie ‘Mosquito Squadron’.

In its present ownership, a ground-up high-quality restoration has been undertaken. This was charted throughout in a recent episode of Wayne Carini’s Chasing Classic Cars, showing how every aspect of the car was rebuilt and color choices made to accentuate its stylized Corsica bodywork. This culminated in a debut display at the 2020 edition of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, where the car took a Best in Class award for its era.