A Gentleman's Private Collection

But what’s really got people buzzing is the fact that the vendor doesn’t want to be named … and even other collectors don’t know – or aren’t letting on that they know – his (or her) identity.

Bonhams & Goodman says the cars are up for auction because the owner recently suffered a health scare and has decided to “rationalise” the collection and keep a few favourites.

According to the auctioneers, the collection “… is not known to the general public, car clubs or trade”, and most of the cars in the auction are unreserved.

“When our car department first received the enquiry they were stunned,” Bonhams & Goodman’s chief executive office, Tim Goodman said. “We have managed some very substantial cars sales – the Lindsay Fox collection, the John Laws collection and the MG Rover clearance auction, but this is without a doubt the largest single vendor car auction to have ever occurred in the country. The collection kept unfolding. It took a team of five specialists a week to sight all of the vehicles.”

The cars have been collected in 12 countries over 30 years, Goodman says, and many haven’t been driven since they landed here, and have been stored under covers since then. The owner has kept the original paperwork for most of them, too – which streamlines the paperwork for overseas buyers, especially from the UK and US, who want to ship cars back to their countries of origin.