Ecclestone Grand Prix Collection
Barney’s precious Barabham vehicle
After Jack Brabham retired, Bernie Ecclestone bought Brabham and sold many valuable machines that had never been on the market before, including the Brabham BT46B fan car.
Tom Hartley Jr. has been running the historic car business in the UK for over 25 years. Based out of a private showroom in Leicestershire, England, he has a track record of trading cars worth $350 million in 2024 alone. This time, Tom Hartley Jr. will be handling the sale of Bernie Ecclestone’s extensive collection of F1 cars.
Now 94 years old, Ecclestone has been the commercial rights owner of F1 for decades and is the man who led the F1 Grand Prix to its current commercial success. His collection of 69 historic Grand Prix and F1 cars is undoubtedly one of the best in the world not only in number but also in quality and condition.
Some of Ecclestone’s 69 F1 cars have been stored unseen for over half a century, and many have not been shown to the public since they were purchased. Highlights include the Ferraris driven by legendary world champions such as Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher in F1 Grand Prix races, as well as the Brabhams that Ecclestone himself has worked on.
One car that is likely to attract the most attention is the Brabham BT46B, the “fan car” that won the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix with overwhelming speed, only to be banned after just one race. There will likely be a lot of interest in how much this BT46B, the car that Niki Lauda drove to victory by a massive margin of over 30 seconds, will be worth.
I want to decide my destination while I’m still alive.
The collection of F1 cars that Ecclestone will organize during his lifetime will be so valuable that Tom Hartley Jr., who has bought and sold many valuable historic cars, has described it as “the history of F1 itself.”
Ecclestone explained why he was selling his valuable collection:
“I have been collecting racing cars for over 50 years and have always purchased only the best vehicles. While many other collectors choose sports cars, my passion has always been Grand Prix and Formula 1 cars. I love all the cars I own, but there comes a time when I have to think about what will happen when I am no longer with this world. After collecting and owning them for so long, I want to know where they go and I don’t want my wife to have to deal with the hassle of dealing with them when I am gone.”
“Tom (Hartley Jr.) is handling the sale because he knows cars better than anyone and can guarantee transparency in the business. Having collected some of the finest original F1 cars in the world, I am determined to find a new home for them that will treat them as I have and care for them as priceless works of art.”
Tom Hartley Jr., who is in charge of selling the Ecclestone Grand Prix Collection, explains its rarity as follows:
“This is Formula 1 history itself. It is arguably the most valuable collection of racing cars in the world. Nothing like this has ever been offered for sale before, and it is unlikely that anything like it will ever come up for sale again. These Grand Prix cars, dating from the early 1960s to the late 1970s, are works of art that would not look out of place in a museum.”
“This collection spans 70 years of Grand Prix and F1 racing, including the Ferraris that Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher won world championships with, all of the Brabham cars that Bernie (Ecclestone) was involved in, including the ‘fan car’, and the Vanwall VW10 that the great Stirling Moss won multiple F1 Grand Prix with and that Vanwall won the first-ever F1 Constructors’ World Championship in 1958.”
“We are incredibly honoured that Bernie has entrusted his prized collection to Tom Hartley Jr. We are confident that no one in the world has a race car collection quite like Bernie’s, and this represents an incredible opportunity for the discerning collector to acquire a Formula 1 car that has never before been offered for sale.”
