Going once, going twice, sold! When that auction hammer falls, there’s only one winner. No second chances, no second place.

The recent Bingo (BH Auction) live auto auction held at City Circuit Tokyo Bay – a karting and event centre in Koto-Ku, Tokyo – was full of surprises and rare machines.

City Circuit is a great venue with ample space, a sizeable track, and a marquee hall that comfortably seats a few hundred people. With a sliver of the Tokyo skyline as the backdrop and free pizza on offer, the sun blazed down on a collection of automotive gems.

Just a stone’s throw from Daikoku PA – the world’s greatest car-spotting haven – City Circuit was the perfect stage for Bingo’s eclectic 2024 summer auction. From classic Mini Coopers to a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI RS, the catalogue was as diverse as it was impressive.

Anyone could view the cars a few hours before the auction, but I can only assume the extreme heat kept everyone away. That left me and a handful of other photographers to have the place to ourselves.

Many of the cars up for auction were low-mileage examples, as you would expect at an auction of this calibre. The pristine Evo VI RS had just 3,000km on its odometer, while a 2004 Ferrari Challenge Stradale with only 379km driven since leaving the Maranello factory 20 years ago seemed almost criminally under driven.

Two Nissan GT-Rs – one BNR32 Skyline and one R35 – each with around 2,000km of travel history, and a Porsche 356 A Speedster with a mere 1,821km on its clock also stood out. I at least hope these cars saw some joy on the road rather than spending their lives in a garage.

Most of the other cars being auctioned had odometer readings between 40,000km and 80,000km – proof they had been driven.

One car, however, had no odometer reading at all….

It was listed with a VIN and several key points: “Hoshino Impul Silvia, raced in JSS (Japanese Supersports Sedan), vintage Impul wheels, engine starts.” The sales sheet further described the car as the creation of Kazuyoshi Hoshino – a Nismo works driver and the founder of Impul.

Yet, as soon as the S12 racer, adorned with the same yellow lightning strike livery as seen on the famous Silvia Super Silhouette – which Hoshino-san also drove – was carefully rolled onto the auction floor, it was swiftly rolled back off. Not a single bid was placed. That was surprise number one.

The auction continued, but my interest was on the next highlight: a 1987 Ferrari Testarossa with a Koenig Specials makeover.

Although it had lost its iconic side strakes in the conversion, the aggressive stance and twin turbos more than made up for it.

This Testarossa had undergone an engine overhaul by Nakamura Engineering, a Ferrari specialist based in Nara prefecture. As the staff fired up its 4.9-litre flat-12, the car’s true value became clear. It’s not only drop-dead gorgeous but a mechanical powerhouse.

As bidding commenced, hands shot up across the crowd. After a brief but intense five minutes, the car sold for ¥46,090,000 (approximately USD$315,000). Surprise number two: that’s a considerably larger sum than examples sold at auction just a few years ago.

Would you remortgage your house and sell your vital organs for a slice of ’80s excess? I wish I could go back in time and tell my 10-year-old self to work harder and save more for moments like these.

Toby Thyer
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