NEC Auction: £8.5M+ Sale, 12 Records, and One Big Warning

What's going on here?

Iconic Auctioneers held their NEC sale this weekend. Over 300 cars went under the hammer across the two-day auction, so what happened?

Tell me more

We've analysed all 337 cars that were offered, here are the top 5 headlines:

• One of the Biggest Sales Of The Year: The sale saw over £8,500,000 of cars sold (inc. fees) making it the 3rd largest sale of the year in the UK. Topping the charts so far in 2025 was RM's London auction, followed by Bonhams' Goodwood Festival of Speed sale.

• What Didn't Sell Well: Four of the five worst performing cars vs their estimate were Jaguar's (see the 1976 XJ-S, 1983 XJ-S, 1975 XJ-S and 1973 XJ12). Interestingly, all of these cars (including the worst performing car of the whole sale) were in need of restoration. This further proves the market's lack of desire for cars in need of a lot of love, especially as softening values make it cheaper to buy a finished car than to restore one.

• What Sold Well: Despite four of the top five weakest performers being Jags it wasn't all doom and gloom for the marque. Catching all the headlines was Harry Metcalfe's XJC V12 which smashed through its pre-sale estimate of £60,000 - £80,000 when it sold including fees for £157,500 - that's more than twice the previous world record for the model. The reality was that wasn't the headline performer of the sale, it was the third best vs its estimate. In second place was another Jag, a 1961 Mk 2 2.4 selling for £24,750 (twice its top estimate). Best performing of the sale was the Camel Trophy Freelander. With an estimate of £8,000 - £10,000 it set a new world record at £52,875 - more than 20x what a non-Camel Trophy Freelander sells for.

• World Records Aplenty: Iconic set 12 new world record prices at their NEC sale. Beyond those listed above, new records were set for:

  • Capri Mk III 2.8 Brooklands

  • Lotus Europa

  • Morris Mini De-Luxe

  • Fiat Coupe 20v

  • Leyland Mini 1000

  • Ford Cortina Mk 1 1500

  • R230 SV12 Brabus

  • R129 300 SL

  • E21 316

  • Escort XR3

• Despite Budget Headwinds: The UK market was subdued in October, with many enthusiasts sitting tight ahead of the anticipated budget as sell-through rate was the lowest of any month this year. Despite this, Iconic's sale delivered a very commendable 77% sell-through rate, made even more impressive given only 11% of the catalogue was offered at 'No Reserve'.

Why should I care?

After a clear tightening of the wallet in October ahead of the upcoming UK budget, the Iconic NEC sale faced an uphill battle. Despite that STR was very strong and 12 world records set with one of the biggest catalogues of the year. The one lesson to takeaway? If you've got a car in need of significant recommissioning, the market isn't your friend right now.

You can see all the lots for the Iconic sale here and the Classic sale here.