Mathewsons sold a 1987 Rover 213S at its 21 March sale for a whopping £7500 – a record sum for the model at auction.
According to auction records, the previous highest price achieved at auction for a 213 was the £2240 that Brightwells achieved in 2021 but the car that the North Yorkshire auctioneer sold had covered only 1760 miles from new and was still wearing the protective factory-applied plastic covers on the seats during the sale.
Derek Mathewson told CCW: ‘It surprised all of us but none of us really knew what to expect. It was an unknown quantity and there was nothing to compare it to. We’re highly delighted with what it achieved but as they say, find another one like it.
‘There are guys out there who live and breathe this sort of thing and that was reflected in the price. It’s a unique car, but having said that, those sort of quotes have a habit of coming back to bite you. You say that this has to be the lowest-mileage one out there and someone rings up a fortnight later and says that they have one with even fewer miles. But in this case it’s unlikely – I imagine that it’s probably going to be the lowest-mileage, most original Rover out there’.
