Motor sport legend Dave Wignall puts lifetime collection up for auction

Just a taste of Dave Wignall’s enormous motor sport collection. Photos: Supplied.

Canberra motor sport legend Dave Wignall concedes putting his collection of car memorabilia, meticulously maintained for over two decades, up for sale was one of the toughest decisions he has made in his life, but in the end he had little option.

Dave is battling terminal liver cancer, and he didn’t want to leave the burden of organising the sale of more than 500 items to his wife of 50 years, Eileen, and their three daughters. “I’ll be very sad when it goes. I don’t go through it each day, but I always know it’s there,” he says.

It is not just any collection of car paraphernalia. CEO of Allbids auctions Rob Evans, who has been given the task of selling the collection, believes it is one of the largest of its type to ever hit the market in Australia. And each item is in mint condition.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before in Canberra. It is magnificently organised. People interested in motor sport will be blown away,” he says.

Dave’s love affair with collecting car memorabilia started around 25 years ago when he retired from competitive motor racing. In his heyday, Dave was one of the biggest names in Canberra sport, well before the Raiders, Brumbies, Cannons and Capitals.

He was the Australian Speedway Sedan Car champion in 1973-74 at a time where the dirt track speedway at Tralee was one of the biggest sporting attractions in Canberra. He was in demand and paid to race on tracks across Australia and New Zealand.

This collection, which takes up three garages at Dave’s Ainslie home, exists because of a true passion for the sport. It includes hundreds of die-cast racing models, Peter Brock memorabilia, oil bottles, and bowsers; in fact, if it was anything associated with motor sport, it’s there.

Dave, who will be 74 years of age in September, says he agonised long and hard before deciding to sell it. “I’ve been in denial for the past 12 months but I realised that I needed to do something about it,” he says.

This is such a unique collection that when Dave approached Rob Evans six months ago the Allbids boss had to be absolutely certain that Dave wanted to go ahead. “I asked Dave if he was really sure that he could part with this incredible collection,” Rob says. “I needed to be absolutely sure. He assured me he was and the online auction is now underway.”

Rob says that since the collection went online, so many people who have seen the contents have said how well they remember Dave Wignall. He was such a motor racing legend.

To view the collection go to Allbids.com. The auction closes 28 May.

Original Article published by Tim Gavel on The RiotACT.