Hagerty reviews the most influential auction sales of 2021 - report 08.01.2022: £310.8m of classic and collector cars sold at auction in 2021 £15.5m paid for 1995 McLaren F1 at Pebble Beach Ex-Lewis Hamilton F1 car sells at British Grand Prix for £4.7m 1998 Subaru Impreza STi 22b breaks records

    £310.8m of classic and collector cars sold at auction in 2021

    £15.5m paid for 1995 McLaren F1 at Pebble Beach

    Ex-Lewis Hamilton F1 car sells at British Grand Prix for £4.7m

    1998 Subaru Impreza STi 22b breaks records at £240,000

    Wrecked Jaguar sells for almost £100,000

    1988 Escort Ghia with royal connections achieves over £52,000

    Online bidder pays over £1m for a Ferrari F40

    Read the full Hagerty report here






Last year, Hagerty tracked more than 12,500 UK and European auction results, over double those observed in 2020. The numbers were huge: a total of £310.8 million in classic and collector vehicles sold, including 14 for over £1m, a significant increase from 10 last year.



Some of this increase was undoubtedly due to the expansion of Hagerty’s valuation operations, now called Automotive Intelligence, that tracks auctions, insured values and other data sources all around the world. But the increase is also a result of continued confidence in the market after the brief pause in early 2020. The specialist vehicle market seems to be moving onwards at a rate almost entirely unconnected to the pandemic.



Throughout this year of increased sales, it is inevitable that certain vehicles stand out. These are sometimes the most valuable, the rarest or those that indicate an emerging trend in the market, but others are notable just because they are really interesting cars. Here is Hagerty’s selection of 2021’s most influential global classic vehicle sales.



One royal owner: 1981 Ford Escort 1.6 Ghia, £52,640


Hagerty’s selection of 2021’s most influential global classic vehicle sales.


Hagerty has tracked examples of the third-generation Ford Escort selling for more than £50,000 but they have been low-mileage examples of sporting models such as the RS Turbo and RS1600i. So, what made a slightly tired, 83,000-mile, 1.6 Ghia example, offered by Reeman Dansie, so sought-after?


In May 1981 it was given as an engagement present by Prince Charles to the then-Lady Diana Spencer. This sale, in a specialist royal auction, fetched around ten times what Hagerty expects a very good example to reach without its amazing history.





Hagerty, photo ReemanDansie