WINNING BID

Lockdown may have restricted many of our movements this year, but it didn't stop the UK’s classic car auctions from doing a roaring trade. So, with hypothetical budgets of £5000, £15,000 and £30,000, we tasked four members of the CCB team with finding the classics they would love to have taken home. Here’s what they came up with.

£5000: SUZUKI SAMURAI

YOU COULD’VE HAD: 1994, ACA JUNE 27-27, £4860

If like me, you’re keen on Suzuki’s back-to-basics new Jimny but can’t stretch to the £20,000-plus you’ll need to get one, its ancestors start to look increasingly appealing. The Samurai (or SJ) has long been a popular choice for off-roading owing to its lightweight, tough body-on-chassis construction, durability and fantastic approach and departure angles. Unfortunately this popularity with the 4x4 community means most have been lifted, fitted with myriad green-laning paraphernalia and seen a few ditches. What’s more, plentiful exposure to water and mud means the Japanese metalwork – hardly famous for its anti-corrosive properties in any case – is rapidly returning to nature.

An unmodified, largely rust-free example, then, is a rare and desirable classic and just such a car was in Anglia Car Auctions’ June sale. Originally purchased in Germany before being imported in 2002, this 1994 soft-top Samurai has just 56,000 miles on the clock. There’s a pleasing lack of lift kits or knobbly tyres externally and the interior is clean, with no signs of a river crossing gone wrong. Almost £5000 might sound strong, but an unmolested Samurai is