Citywest sale/show April 2009
Cold April temperatures and a chilly breeze couldn't keep away the public and vendors alike at the recent Classic Car Sale/Show at the Citywest Hotel, Dublin. Ten o'clock saw vendors and trade stands setting up shop at the venue, adding to the already considerable number of display cars that had been installed the previous evening, and by the time the public started to pour through the gate around noon there were well in excess of 200 exciting classic, prestige and performance vehicles on site, all for sale for the right price. As well as displays from leading classic car dealers such as Robert Hughes Automobiles, O'Shea Classic Cars and Prestige Classic Cars there was a very solid entry of private vendors, representing a huge range of vehicles from seventies Ferraris to forties Fiats. A selection of classic American muscle cars proved a great crowd-pleaser as always, as did exotic fare such as Porsche 911s, a motorbike-engined Westfield, Mercedes and Jaguar convertibles and even a Dodge Viper.
On the ‘bread and butter' side of the market there were certainly some standout machines present including a stunning Opel Kadett C Coupe, a sporty Fiat 128, some attractive VW Beetles, a couple of fine classic Volvos and even an immaculate Renault 12 TL; when was the last time you saw one of those! Out of a very limited production run there were also no less than two BMW 2002 convertibles on-site. Despite the much-vaunted economic climate of present times there were good deals made on the day, the most-talked-about of these being the 1929 Chevrolet sedan. A solid, complete car with fresh paint and good cosmetics, it caused a bit of a stir when a price of €10,000 went up on the windscreen, a very good price for a presentable, Gordon Bennett International-eligible car. Unsurprisingly, a ‘sold' sign had been added to the windscreen by lunchtime. With both the general public and private vendors happy with the event as they left that evening, and traders reporting brisk follow-up trade following the show, the first ClassicCarSales.ie event of 2009 certainly bodes well for the coming year, and all eyes are now on the upcoming sales events including the all-new AOVC Classic Show in Ballymena, NI and a new event at the Corrin Mart complex in Co. Cork in July.
