Tim Surman was guest at last week's auction by Coys

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The last Coys auction of the year, held in one of the Royal Horticultural halls, London. The day was split into three different auctions, first up was collectors film posters, including James Bond 007, fittingly this being 50years of Bond. Followed by the Bob Keeler collection of superb models and related automobilia.

But it was the car auction in the evening that could be considered the main event and the amount of people that filled the hall proved that point. One car that caught my attention, a 1967 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage, again fitting with 50years of Bond. A beautiful car that I would love to own, but with a list price of £330k-£380k, I might have to put my dream of being James Bond on hold.

Not far away was a very dusty, dented and sorry looking 1969 Lamborghini Miura 'S'. But it was the history of this Miura that really made this dusty car special. Owned by Aristotle Onassis and given to his friend and favourite singer Stamatis Kokotas. As a gift from one of worlds richest men, it was no ordinary Miura. For a start it had optional air conditioning, with personalised engraved air vents, engraved passenger grab handle, gear lever, electric windows and ignition switch surround. Finished with a detailed engraved steering wheel boss. But the history of the car was even more fascinating. After two years it had an engine fault, it was removed and sent back to Lamborghini, engine-less the car was stored in the underground car park of the Athens Hilton and after 30 years it was still there! The engine had also been with Lamborghini for all that time too, only being reunited with the car 2 weeks ago. Although the hammer fell at £300k, it fell short of the price and did'nt sell.

Like all auctions, it was fast and took a lot of attention to keep up with telephone, internet and bids coming from the floor. The next Coys auction is at the Autosport International in January 2013 at the NEC Birmingham.

Tim Surman   www.timsurman.co.uk     

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