Old nails under the hammer

The Market is a classic car auctioneer with a difference. Colin Goodwin pays a visit

- Colin Goodwin

No Twitter, no Instagram and no Facebook. Minimum screen time. That’s the Goodwin way. Obviously I can’t avoid looking at a laptop screen, because there’s no way I’m going to go back to using a typewriter; and I can’t not look at online classic car auctions on my phone, because I’m addicted. My day starts with a quick peek and ends with a look at what’s going under the hammer in the evening.

It started with Collecting Cars, but I’ve moved to The Market, because it doesn’t do personalised number plates and Collecting Cars has too many Porsches and BMWs on it. The Market, I’ve found, has a more eclectic selection of cars.

It also has a premises at which you can view some of the cars, so if my enthusiasm turned from voyeuristic to actually wanting to make a bid, I could visit headquarters in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and kick some tyres.

The Market was founded five years ago and since last April has been owned by Bonhams. It lists its cars with a comprehensive suite of photographs taken by a professional snapper, plus a thorough description of the car written by a motoring journalist. In theory, whether the car is at the HQ or at its owner’s home, you will have a very good idea of what nick the object of your desire is in.

Apparently, 80% of winning bidders haven’t seen the car that they’ve bought. I’m not sure, after a lifetime of buying cars, that I could do that. But as an experiment, we’re at The Market’s showroom to have a look at what’s currently on offer and see if the written description and photo gallery really are accurate representations of the cars for sale.