Ford to Formula 1: six Bonhams|Cars lots that sold at Goodwood in 2025

Here’s a selection of the cars that sold this year to illustrate the diversity of what was on offer, from a vintage Rolls-Royce that found its new owner at the 82^nd Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport, to a Jaguar XJ220 that was offered at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard. Which of these would you have raised your hand for?

1973 Ford Capri 3.0 GXL Group 1

Sold for £80,500 including premium

This Group 1 Ford Capri has recent Goodwood competition history, but more significantly it was built by Ford to compete in the 1973 Avon Tour of Great Britain. The event brought together racing and rally drivers, as well as motoring journalists and celebrities, to compete on stage, circuit and cover more than 1,000 miles on public roads. The Capri was driven by Roger Clark and HRH Prince Michael of Kent. It finished a respectable 16^th.

Soon after, the same car was entered in the Spa 24 Hours and a one-off race at the Österrreichring where it was driven by future Formula 1 World Champion Niki Lauda. Another famous driver was Suzuki works rider Barry Sheene who drove it in a celebrity race at Brands Hatch. In 1975, it scored 34 points in the British Saloon Car Championship in the hands of Stuart Rolt.

After that, it spent 34 years preserved in storage. A £100,000 rebuild started in 2018 to bring it up to speed for historic racing and it appeared at the 78^th Members’ Meeting in 2021 and the 250km of Estoril later the same year. This historically significant Ford sold for £80,500 including premium.

1938 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Saloon

Sold for £80,500 including premium

Could there be a more stark contrast to the blue collar Blue Oval hero? In the same Members’ Meeting sale was this 1938 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Saloon which sold for exactly the same figure. The later iterations of its V12 engine, such as the one fitted to this example, produced 182PS (133kW) which was enough for 100mph performance. For its time, that was remarkable for such a large and well-appointed car. There were 727 Phantom III saloons produced from 1936 to 1940, each of them bodied by third party coachbuilders.

This example was shaped by HJ Mulliner, one of the leading Rolls-Royce and Bentley coachbuilders of the era. It was previously owned by a well known Rolls-Royce collector who commissioned an older restoration in the United States. There’s a photographic restoration, showing the renovation of the interior woodwork and retention of the original pigskin upholstery. 

The vendor had owned the car since 2010 during which time it was shipped to Dubai for a Rolls-Royce touring event. By the time it came to auction, it had Romanian registration papers and was in need of recommissioning despite good overall condition. Which would you choose between the epitome of 1930s luxury or a 1970s Ford with period competition history?

1992 Jaguar XJ220

Sold for £310,500 including premium

The Jaguar XJ220 was offered at the Bonhams|Cars Goodwood Festival of Speed sale. It hails from a era when 200mph supercars were a new and rather big deal. While it may have been overshadowed by the McLaren F1 that arrived a few years later, it’s part of a category of cars that represent a period of optimism and excess that hung over from the 1980s, the decade in which the XJ220 was first shown in concept form.

When the production car arrived, the promised V12 engine had been swapped to a turbocharged V6, which gave many deposit-holders the reason they needed to withdraw their orders in the recession-hit 1990s. The result was that production numbers were smaller than originally intended, and only 69 right-hand-drive examples were built.

This example is in very original condition, barring a factory spec upgrade to its brakes. There are also some JaguarSport extras, including racing harnesses and additional paint protection film. The original paint and interior are in good condition and it has escaped some of the usual wear that afflicts XJ220s, such as the delamination of the glass. The sale price of £310,500 including premium took into consideration that the car required some recommissioning. 

2017 Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Sold for £149,500 including premium

And now for something completely different — a Force India Formula 1 car, which was offered as a non-running show car. While it’s a 2017 chassis (number VJM-03), the body and livery are from the 2020 Racing Point RP20, complete with its prototype halo. By then, of course, Force India had been taken over and renamed. While it may now only be suitable for static display, it covered 2,574km in its original incarnation. All these kilometres were covered in testing in the lead-up to the 2017 season. 

In total, five drivers completed test and development miles in the car, including Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon. Force India test driver, the Mexican Florian Celis, formerly of GP3, also drove it, as did Russian Nikita Mazepin and Austrian Lucas Auer also drove it. Auer is the nephew of Gerhard Berger and went on to make his name in DTM racing.

VJM-03 became a show car towards the end of 2017 before being given its current livery in 2020 after Lawrence Stroll had taken control of the team. It carries number 18, the number Lance Stroll has raced with since 2017. The VJM10 made the most of Force India’s resources of the time, but came from an era when the team was struggling financially. This show car sold for £149,500 including premium at the Festival of Speed.

1969 Aston Martin DBS Vantage

Sold for £110,400 including premium

Having been built in 1969, this Aston Martin DBS is only three years newer than the Goodwood Revival era, but it looks considerably more modern with its sharp two-door styling penned by William Towns. By contrast, the six-cylinder engine was carried over from the pebble-smooth DB6 for the earliest cars. Performance was slightly blunted in the larger and heavier DBS, but that was countered by proper full-size seating for four occupants. A V8 came later.

This example was originally finished in Aegean Blue with fawn Connolly leather, but has since been refinished in a new colourway. The original BorgWarner automatic transmission has also been switched to a manual ZF gearbox. That was fitted by 1970, as recorded in the service notes, but when it was installed is unknown. Options from new that remain include power-assisted steering, a Radiomobile radio and Marchal auxiliary lighting.

The Vantage’s vendor had owned the car for ten years, during which time they decommissioned it after seven years in dry storage. The work took two years with bills totalling close to a quarter of a million pounds. The most recent buyer benefitted from that work, with bidding reaching £110,400 including premium.

1950 Healey Silverstone

Sold for £84,166.67 including premium

This Healey Silverstone is every bit era-correct for the Goodwood Revival, and has the period racing history to match. Value-wise, it brings us back to where we started too, more or less, with an unusually specific £84,166.67 including premium.

There were 104 Silverstones built between 1949 and 1951, and it was squarely aimed at the clubman racer who would use their car both on road and in competition. Many were competed by drivers who would go on to become well known, and this example was occasionally raced by Tony Brooks. He was a friend of the car’s owner, Dudley Hely, who also owned a Frazer Nash. That was the connection that led to Brooks getting a Frazer Nash works drive early in his professional career.

Back to the Healey. Hely raced it exclusively at Goodwood and Silverstone, but unfortunately crashed the car on the road in 1956. He later succumbed to his injuries. The car was sold to Healey who sold it salvage. The engine was removed and the car stored until 1996 when the vendor bought it. It wasn’t badly damaged, so a replacement 2.4-litre engine was sourced and the car restored. It subsequently had outings at two Goodwood Revivals and one Members’ Meeting.