It’s easy to forget what you might have stored in a cluttered garage, but a rare classic car buried under a pile of rubbish at a family member’s property would be a shock for anyone.
And that’s exactly what happened in this particular case after someone found a 1960 AC Greyhound stored in their late father-in-law’s garage having stood there for some 45 years.
After the stack of boxes, dust sheets, deckchairs and even on old bicycle were removed from the vintage British motor, the car was lovingly restored. Next month, it will be offered to the highest bidder at auction, with experts predicting it could sell for as much as £70,000.
The car was uncovered in the vendor’s late father-in-law’s estate, with the classic believed to have been kept in the garage since 1978, gathering over four decades of dust since.
The AC is one of just 83 examples of AC’s pretty, Bristol-engined 2+2 Greyhound coupe, which was produced by the British manufacturer – AC Cars – between 1959 and 1963 at the Thames Ditton factory in Surrey.
It is one of the earliest models, purchased new in 1960 and used as a daily driver by the vendor’s father-in-law, including taking it racing where he pitted it against Aston Martins in club level events at circuits around the UK.
Having bought a new car in 1978, the AC was moved to the garage – the location where it was to remain under an increasing quantity of cardboard and other rubbish in the building.
After dislodging it from its garage slumber, the vendor took it upon himself to sympathetically restore the machine, carrying out much of the work to get it back to its glorious best.
Most of the work was cosmetic, with the AC having covered just 43,625 miles in the 18 years it was used before being put into storage.
Yet the vendor says they sourced as many original replacements parts as possible where needed – and there are some substantial receipts for specialist work carried out on the 62-year-old motor.
Registration ‘150 SPF’ was originally finished in AC ‘Rosso Chiarro’, however, small volume manufacturers often didn’t use specific palettes, meaning the exact colour code was not available.
The refurbished paintwork has been finished as close as possible to the original shade and now benefits from several coats of ‘Put your Sunglasses on Red’, which ‘retains a deep shine and looks fabulous’, according to the auction house that will offer the Greyhound to the highest bidder at the end of next month.
It will go the block at Silverstone Auctions’ sale at the Supercar Fest event at Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire on Saturday 28 May.
Harry Fox-Edwards of Silverstone Auctions, said: ‘The restoration was completed in early 2022 and we understand from our vendor that ‘the engine is running well and the car is a delight to drive’.
‘This has got to be one of, if not the finest example of a Greyhound to come to market recently and with prices of the Ace and Aceca having soared in recent years, we can’t help feeling that the Greyhound is somewhat undervalued by comparison.
‘With the striking looks of a DB4, 75 per cent of the performance, 10 times rarer, yet only 20 per cent of the cost, it looks remarkable value at today’s guide price.’
According to the Hagerty Price Guide, an ‘excellent’ condition example of the 1960 AC Greyhound 2+2 is valued at £79,400. However, a ‘concours’ car (one that’s completely original, in museum condition and with low mileage) is worth up to £97,300.
Silverstone Auctions has placed an estimate of £60,000 to £70,000 on the car’s roof – which certainly is better than the cardboard boxes and sheets that have covered it for the last half a century or so.
The Greyhound is a four-seat GT coupe model with a svelte alloy body not dissimilar to Aston Martin’s DB4 – a car launched around the same period.
While most cars of this generation had live rear axles, leaf spring suspension, and four-wheel drum brakes, the Greyhound offered a more modern approach with fully independent front and rear suspension on coil springs, rack and pinion steering and disc brakes on the front.
The 83 Greyhound customers were offered a choice of four straight-six-cylinder engines.
This one features the 2.0-litre BMW-derived Bristol powerplant, boasting 125bhp of peak power. This was the one purists rightfully preferred, with the smooth and raspy engine seen as the perfect match for the Greyhound’s grand-touring style.
The engine in this particular car has been tuned, with invoices within the history file including one for £21,000 from historic racing specialist Ian Nuttall for a full motor rebuild and conversion to run on unleaded fuel.
There are photos with the car covering various aspects of the restoration.
The original bumpers have been re-chromed and are ready to be fitted but are currently not fitted to the vehicle because the vendor ‘prefers the smoother bumperless styling’, says Silverstone Auctions.
The car’s interior appears to have been refitted and the seating, headlining, dashboard, steering wheel and gear lever display a light patination from use by 150 SPF’s long-term owner. Only the bright red carpets are brand new.
As well as matching engine and chassis numbers, the car has full historical documentation including old tax discs, various invoices, its original tool kit in the spare wheel well and even the original owners handbooks and manuals from when it was bought new until it was parked up in 1978.
