Van from beloved UK TV show 'Dad's Army' tops 100K at auction

Among the highlights of the auction was the sale of the 1935 Ford BB Box Van that featured as Lance Cpl Jones’s butcher’s van in the classic television series Dad’s Army. After a fierce bidding war, the van was sold to the Dad’s Army Museum in Thetford, England, for £63,100 ($101,000) – more than double its top estimate. The sale means the van will now return to Thetford – the town that served as the setting for the television series’ fictional town of Walmington-on-Sea.

Corinne Fulford, museum manager, said: “We are so pleased to be able to say this iconic piece of memorabilia is coming home to Norfolk and will remain publicly accessible. There are very few pieces of original 'Dad’s Army' memorabilia left, and this is one of the most instantly recognizable.”

The van was part of the Patrick Collection: Part III, the third installment of cars from a private museum in Birmingham. The collection was 100 per cent sold, grossing £1 million. Leading the way was a 1931 Invicta 4½-litre S-Type Low-Chassis Tourer, which made £466,300, followed by a 1938 SS100 Jaguar 3½-litre Roadster, which realized £250,140. A unique taxi specially commissioned by the Patrick Collection to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 doubled its presale estimate to sell for £24,725, while an unusual Rolls-Royce-engined 1950 Land Rover Prototype sold for nearly six times its pre-sale estimate, realizing £47,150.

The Mercedes-Benz marque also featured prominently at the auction with a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster earning £427,100.

In the automobilia section a collection of Formula 1 racing memorabilia from world champions Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel made £48,600, with the top-selling lot, a signed Sebastian Vettel racing suit from this year’s Australian Grand Prix, knocked down £13,750.

Two rare and historically important folios of Volkswagen ‘Beetle’ blueprints rescued from the bomb-damaged German factory and considered instrumental in reviving post-war production of the car sold for more than four times their pre-sale estimate at £13,750.

#   #   #