AN ECLECTIC mix of cars old and new – including a car driven by Princess Diana – raised £4m in auction at Blenheim Palace.

Scores of cars went under the hammer at the Coys auction at the Woodstock stately home on Saturday – including a 1994 Audi Cabriolet driven by the late Princess of Wales – which raised £32,000.

Other cars sold at the auction included a 1926 Bugatti Type 37 which exceeded its estimates and sold for £650,000.

Auction director Guy Newton was pleased with how the annual auction unfolded.

He said: “We’ve been coming to Blenheim for 12 years now and it’s always really nice here. The majority of cars sold within or above their estimate.

“It was another successful day and the weather held off. Now we’re off to our next sale in Germany near Düsseldorf.”

The auction’s most eye-grabbing sale was the Audi which had been loaned to Princess Diana.

The vehicle’s owner had purchased it in 2004 and used it as an everyday family car before putting it into storage in 2009. It was only last year that they discovered it belonged to the late Princess of Wales.

The car, which sold for £32,000, has been captured in numerous press images with the Princess.

Elsewhere, the Bugatti, formerly owned by world speed record holder Malcolm Campbell, picked up £50,000 more than it’s top estimate of £600,000.

Car enthusiast Anthony Brindley and his wife Zoranna Brindley, of Kensington, London, were looking to see if anything caught their eye.

Mr Brindley, 58, a regular at such events, said: “I haven’t been to one at Blenheim Palace before. It’s nice but a bit of sun would have helped.

“I do enjoy going to these because you get to go to nice places like this. I’m interested in all cars really – old and new.”

Mrs Brindley added: “I’ve started to like them more and more. You do get carried away. I saw a Ferrari in there and thought ‘should we get it?’

“You can get carried away at an auction.”

Minna Miettinen, from Reading, was touring the grounds of Blenheim Palace with her partner and her mum, visiting from Finland.

She said: “We just came over to look at the palace and thought we’d have a look.

“A lot of the old cars are really good and interesting to see.

“You don’t often get the opportunity to look at Ferraris and Lamborghinis like these.

“I’ve seen a Ferrari from 1978 – the year I was born – and it’s nice to see how cars were back then.”