MANOR PARK CLASSICS CELEBRATES BELTING INAUGRAL YEAR

After just one full calendar year of trading, Cheshire-based auction house Manor Park Classics has already become a leading light in the industry, with its focus on affordable classics through regular, multi-platform sales from its purpose-built HQ.

With a total revenue of over £4m generated from its four sales last year, MPC has concentrated on the sub-£100k market, which has grown hugely over the last two years. In fact, 63% of all MPC sales were under £30,000, embracing a diverse selection of vehicles. Fast Fords, from Mexicos to RS2000s and XR3s were always popular; beautifully preserved Rolls-Royce Shadows sold well; and original Minis from the early 60s to the late 90s found favour, too. Smart, low-mileage German cars – Porsche 944s, VW Golf GTis and Sciroccos of various flavours, along with BMW 3- and 5-Series models – also attracted competitive bidding through the year. But overall, huge diversity summarised the lots being offered.

And, proving that MPC’s solid formula of holding all its sales at its own 30,000sq ft premises, just shy of 70% of cars were sold, with 256 out of 367 finding successful bids; above average for the industry, and an exceptional result, given that MPC is still realising its full potential. A majority of winning bids were at or over their estimates, too, with 59% of all sales falling into this category.

While MPC will be holding an online auction, starting later this month (January 30^th to February 6^th) bidding patterns have proved the enduring popularity of physical auctions. In total, over 58% of all bids came from within the sale room or over the ‘phone at MPC’s four auctions, with 34% from online buyers. Commission bids accounted for 7% of sales.

“We’re genuinely humbled by the level of support we’ve received from buyers and sellers alike in 2021,” said Sam Grange-Bailey, MPC’s Sales Director. “While we have collectively around 141 years of experience in the classic car industry within our small, customer-focused team, building up the business from being completely unknown to an established player in the course of a year is remarkable. But setting high standards from the start, with an open and honest approach to all our customer dealings, has been crucial to MPC’s success. We’d like to say a big thank you to all the buyers and sellers who’ve supported us in the last year, and look forward to an even busier 2022.”

Manor Park Classics’ 2022 sales are listed below: