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Monday, November 24, 1997 Published at 21:22 GMT



UK

Churchill's car sold for more than £60,000
image: [ Going, going, gone ... for £66,000 ]
Going, going, gone ... for £66,000

A car used by Sir Winston Churchill during the Second World War has sold for 11 times its estimate value.

The sale of collectors' cars and automobilia at the RAF museum, Hendon, north London, totalled £1.3m, helped by massive bidding on the 1938 Austin 10HP owned by the wartime prime minister.

The car had been expected to make £6,000 but sold for £66,400.

A 1911 Rolls-Royce Laundaulette went for £496,500, the highest price achieved at any car sale in Britain this year, Sotheby's said.

A Daimler coupe used by King George VI during the war fetched £14,375. The car was never photographed during the war for censorship reasons.

It later passed to the Marquess of Bath, who also owned the Churchill car.

Another high priced car was a 1932 Alfa Romeo 6C Gran Sport Spyder, which sold for £260,000.

Earlier, a solid silver cup awarded to land speed record ace Malcolm Campbell was bought by an American collector for £35,500. The trophy, awarded by Lord Wakefield, was commissioned from royal jeweller's Asprey's to honour Campbell's final record of 301.129mph at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, in 1935.

It was sold by his daughter, Mrs Jean Wales, whose son Don is mounting a bid to set a new land speed record in an electric-powered car next spring.

Driving Bluebird Electric at Pendine Sands, Wales, he hopes to travel above 230mph.

Mrs Wales sold the cup because she was afraid of burglars and could not afford the insurance on the trophy.


 





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Churchill's war-time car for sale

 
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Sir Winston Churchill information: The Churchill Center

Information about Sir Malcolm Campbell


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