In a month where 85% of our Price Guide Movers On The Slide are in the £100k+ category, the Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider is leading the way. These darlings of the high-end auction world are down 12%, bringing entry level for project cars to £500k, with usable cars typically £560k and the best £650k to £825k, depending on perfection and provenance.
The improved B24 Convertible built from 1956 to 1958 has fallen less, but from a lower base, losing 5.2% to give £145k, £190k, £235k and £275k in equivalent condition. Despite its refinements making it a nicer car to use, the purer aesthetics, smaller production numbers and first-of-type kudos of the 1955-1956 Spiders ensures that they remain more collectable, despite this latest price slip.
Five years ago, a Spider would have cost £550k to £1m, so today’s figures represent a 16% decline. Over the same period the Convertible is down just 5.5%. By contrast, fellow auction favourite, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster, is up 21% since 2017. Despite wider forces that play on the collectable classic car market, individual models can fall in and out of favour in relation to cars that might be considered rivals. With nearly eight times as many Mercedes built, you might expect its (relative) ubiquity to count against desirability, but sometimes the more obvious car wins out because its appeal is, well, more obvious.
Price Guide Movers On The Up is part of our regular 16 pages of market and buying coverage in Classic Cars, which also includes smart buying guru Quentin Willson’s Hot Tips, market-watcher Russ Smith’s Chasing Cars, a detailed four-page buying guide and Ads on Test evaluations of four classics for sale.