We are very excited to announce that we have been entrusted with the sale of the ‘Ecclestone Grand Prix Collection’. This collection is not just the most valuable Grand Prix and Formula 1 car collection in the world, it is regarded as the most important race car collection.
The collection has been assembled by Bernie (the godfather of Formula 1) over the last 50 years. It spans 70 years of Grand Prix and Formula 1 racing and boasts many Grand Prix and Championship winning cars within the collection.
There are so many highlights it’s hard to know which of the 69 cars we should pick out. Within the Ferraris there is the Alberto Ascari Italian Grand Prix winning 375 F1, the Ferrari Thin Wall Special, which was the first Ferrari to beat Alfa Romeo, the very first 312 F1, which is a multiple Grand Prix winning car and considered by Ferrari to be the most original surviving Formula 1 car of that era, plus Championship winning cars from the likes of Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda and Mike Hawthorn whose 246 F1 was incredibly campaigned by the Works team over three seasons, raced by all the great Works drivers of the period and was the last front-engined car to ever achieve a podium finish.
Bernie’s Brabhams have barely ever been seen as he has retained ownership of them since their final races. Included within the collection are championship winning cars from Nelson Piquet, one of which was used for testing with Ayrton Senna at the end of the 1983 Formula 1 season. Unique and iconic cars such as the BT44B and BT45C, both considered within the best designs of Formula 1 history and of course, the famous BT46B ‘fan car’ in which Niki Lauda won the Swedish Grand Prix by over half a minute and which Bernie subsequently withdrew from racing following the conclusion of the race.
Other highlights within the collection include an ex-Works Maserati 250F, the monstrous 16-cylinder Mark II BRM and the famed Vanwall VW10, which in the hands of Stirling Moss achieved multiple Grand Prix victories in the 1958 Formula 1 Championship season and clinched the first ever Constructors’ Championship for Vanwall. In doing so it was also the first ever British car to win a Formula 1 race, the Championship and opened the floodgates for British based teams ever since.
“I feel very privileged that Bernie has entrusted the sale of his cars to my Tom Hartley Jnr business. Formula 1 cars are cars that I know particularly well, they are not just cars that I have a great personal interest in, but we at Tom Hartley Jnr actively buy and sell them, too. However, there has never been a collection like this one offered for sale, and no one in the world has a race car collection that comes close to Bernie’s. This a great opportunity for a discerning collector to acquire cars that have never before been offered for sale, and it would be great to see them back on the track again.” – Tom Hartley Jnr
Watch the official trailer for The Ecclestone Grand Prix Collection below.