The final two Facels came up at Artcurial’s auction in Paris this afternoon, Friday, and made for interesting reading. One easily made its estimate, the other just fell short by about €10,000 – so might have sold.

As I mentioned, the sale started late and included many desirable motor cars, among these a Ferrari Dino 246 which used to be cheaper than a Facel 11 a few years ago. This one made around a relatively low £212,000 in spite of being quite a rare early car in yellow.

The two Facels came up together, one after the other. The first was an ex-Maurice Trintignant Facel FV3B, a model that was never imported into Great Britain. It was in good condition and estimated at €125-€185,000. As I now realise is usual with Artcurial sales, the price rose rapidly from its starting price at €85,000 and reached €170,000 which is about £127,000 and easily above low estimate. It  was about €15,000 short of top estimate, so not a bad price.

Next up came the Excellence and like the other two Excellences auctioned this week, was originally owned by a woman – in this case, English – in Monaco. It has only had four owners, has been restored, and it’s a manual, so quite rare.

This one was estimated at €170,000 to €210,000 – less than the Bonhams car at €200,000 to €300,000 – and it went from €120,000 to €160,000/approx £119,000 where it stopped, so ten thou short of its estimate. That’s only €40,000 more than the barn find auctioned by the same company earlier in the day, which again makes that car look expensive.

So that’s the last two Facels disposed of – or not – in Retromobile week. Check back next week to see an appraisal of those prices and the general state of the market. Remember, once again, that all these cars were left hand drive, and only one of them, the Facel 11, had been to the UK.