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Meet the Owner

Neil Atkinson - CEO of Bidding Classics

It all started with a copy of The AA Book of The Car and then I dismantled my first engine at age 9. A lifelong love of cars has followed, and I have owned quite a few; Mk 1 Escort, Minis, an Alfasud, five Subaru Imprezas, and an Evo VIII MR are some of the good ones.  But the one that sticks in my mind was a two-year-old Nissan R35 GTR I bought in 2012 for £45k.  I took it to tracks all around the UK as well as several trips to the Nurburgring and Spa. Fun times! But what was an eye-opener to me was selling it four years later for £41,500 – to a dealer. I had no idea that a modern car could be almost depreciation free.  So, I became an avid watcher of the classic and modern classic market – I bring all of this to the Bidding Classics – to list the right appreciating classics for your collection.

Sycamore Gappage

I’m not sure if the fury is worldwide, nationwide or just in the North East?  Last night someone felled the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian’s wall.

Here is how we want to remember it.  This is an iconic photo that has been taken thousands upon thousands of times.

Sycamore Gappage | Blog | Bidding Classics I'm not sure if the fury is worldwide, nationwide or just in the North East? Someone felled the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian's wall.

The reason this story of vandalism may have spread far and wide is that it featured in the 1999 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  As someone said, who’s going to tell Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman what has happened to their tree?

I doubt the perpetrators will go undetected or unpunished.  But it brings to my mind another act of vandalism: car scrappage schemes.

I have written about this before but in the UK wide scheme of 2009 here are a few of the future classics that were destroyed:

-BMW 2002
-Audi Quattro 20v
-Triumph Dolomite Sprint
-Various Jaguars (731 in total)
-Various Porsches
-Ford Capri 3000 Ghia
-Lancia Delta HF
Lancia Beta Spyder

and many many more.  392,227 in total.  The cars weren’t allowed to be used for spares – they had to be crushed to qualify.

Obviously no lessons have been learned and the scheme is being repeated now around the ULEZ expansion in London.

We must protect these cars for the future and not allow them to be destroyed by the state. 

It’s hard to see who would hand in a car worth tens of thousands of pounds in return for a £2,000 voucher against a new car.  But believe me they are out there!

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