Brilliantly detailed and perfectly preserved scale replicas of some of the most iconic motor vehicles of the 20th century have been sold in Harborough for an impressive price

Collectors and the wider motorsports fanbase seized the opportunity this January to buy brilliantly detailed and perfectly preserved scale replicas of some of the most iconic motor vehicles of the 20th century at an online auction held at Gildings Auctioneers in Market Harborough.

Brilliantly detailed and perfectly preserved scale replicas of some of the most iconic motor vehicles of the 20th century went under the hammer in Harborough.

And the auctioneers sold all of 136 lots at a sale of scale model cars and motorbikes from a private collection dating back to around 1990.

The lots all sold for £50,000 at Gildings Auctioneers in Market Harborough.

The extensive collection featured covetable racing cars, motorbikes, locomotives, tractors and tanks.

The models included examples of scale 1:18 to 1:4 from leading scale model manufacturers such as Exoto, Javan Smith, Glen English, and Jeff Luff.

“We were delighted with the strong results at this sale which achieved £50,000 against an estimate of £34,000,” said Gildings’ scale model specialist, Andrew Smith.

“As you would expect from a dedicated and discerning private collector, the auction included many models that are now out of production and therefore highly sought after. This was reflected in the consistently high results achieved across the entire auction.”

The seller traces his fascination with all things motorsports back to November 1958, when he came across the latest issue of Motor Sport magazine, which featured a colour photo of Mike Hawthorn driving a Ferrari Dino 246 in the Belgian Grand Prix on the cover. Collecting models was a natural progression from collecting magazines and of all the lots in the auction, the seller found his Jeff Luff and Glen English racing machines the most difficult to let go.

The highest hammer price on the day was a 1961 Glen English hand built 1:4 scale motorbike; a Manx Norton 500cc which sold for £1,800. On four wheels, a silver GMP Real Art Replicas 1:8 scale model Porsche 550 Spyder won the bidding race, selling for £1,600 despite a few signs of wear and tear including a snapped exhaust pipe.

“This auction followed our highly successful scale model railway auction in August 2020, which was also notable for the fact that every single lot in the sale sold,” said Mr Smith.

“This, combined with the high results achieved at both sales, is testament to the current strength of the market for scale model cars, motorbikes and locomotives."