Kremer 917

1981 Porsche 917 K-81

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Porsche’s 917 is one of the most legendary race cars of all time. It was produced in quite a few variations after its 1969 introduction, including the quite famous 917K and the ultimate evolution: the 917/30.

Porsche stopped racing the 917 after the 1973 Can-Am season and moved on to the 936 for 1975. However, in 1981, Le Mans changed their rules and it sort of opened the door for the 917 to return to the 24 Hour. Porsche themselves didn’t have much interest, but Kremer Racing did. With the support of Porsche, they built a new 917 to Group 6 specifications and dubbed it the 917 K-81.

It’s a Kremer aluminum spaceframe chassis underneath similar to that of a Porsche-built 917, and it is powered by a 5.0-liter flat-12. The competition for this chassis consists of:

  • 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans – 38th, DNF (with Bob Wollek, Xavier Lapeyre, & Guy Chasseuil)
  • 1981 1000km Brand Hatch – 26th, DNF (Wollek & Henri Pescarolo)

Not super successful, and after Brands Hatch, that was it for the 917. The current owner acquired this car in 2011 and used it at various track days. The 5.0-liter engine was rebuilt recently, and the whole package has an estimate of $3,800,000-$5,500,000. Click here for more info.

British-Bodied Delage

1938 Delage D6-70 Cabriolet by Coachcraft

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 2024

Photo – Osenat

The D6 was, perhaps, the most successful model Delage ever had. The launch model, the D6-11, went on sale in 1932. Eight more variants would be produced before production wrapped… in 1953. This car is a D6-70 chassis, a model that was only offered in 1937 and 1938.

Originally, it would’ve been powered by a 2.7-liter inline-six rated at 78 horsepower. However, this car was purchased by its current owner in 1985 as a project, and part of completing that project was upgrading the drivetrain to D6 Olympic specification, which resulted in the inline-six jumping to 3.0 liters and sporting three carburetors – a setup rated at 100 horsepower during D6 Olympic production from 1948 to 1949.

This car was one of few delivered new to the U.K., where it was bodied by Coachcraft. While it’s been parked since 2020, the car was used heavily under current ownership, being driven to lands as far away as Syria. Now it has an estimate of $43,500-$65,000. Click here for more info.

1918 Rochet-Schneider

1918 Rochet-Schneider 16500 Coupe-Chauffeur by Billeter and Cartier

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 2024

Photo – Osenat

Rochet-Schneider was a French manufacturer that came into being when Edouard Rochet’s car company was joined by Theophile Schneider in 1905/1906. The company soldiered on until 1932, with its later years mostly focused on commercial vehicles (though passenger cars were still available).

This car carries the preposterous model name of “16500.” It is powered by a hefty 40-horsepower inline-four that is mated to a four-speed manual transmission. It is apparently capable of 55 mph.

It has been restored and sports town car bodywork by Billeter & Cartier of Lyon. It has an estimate of $55,000-$87,000. Click here for more info.

Chapron-Bodied Delahaye

1940 Delahaye 135MS Roadster Grand Luxe by Chapron

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 2024

Photo – Osenat

The MS variant of Delahaye’s 135 model line was the sportiest, and production spanned both sides of WWII. It would eventually give way to the 235 of 1951, and that car was really just an updated 135 underneath.

This particular car was delivered to Henri Chapron in mid 1939. The intent was to build the body and display it at the Paris Motor Show, but Germany came calling, so the car was sent to America to be displayed at the 1940 New York World’s Fair. Since they couldn’t take it back to France, it was sold new in the U.S., remaining there until the current owner bought it in 2005.

All 135MS examples were powered by a 3.6-liter inline-six, and this triple-carbureted version made about 145 horsepower when new. It now has an estimate of $325,000-$550,000. More info can be found here.

280SE 3.5 Cabriolet

1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | March 2024

Photo – Bring a Trailer

This is among the finest classic Mercedes-Benz products you can buy. It’s also among the classiest. The W111 chassis was designed by Friedrich Geiger and is among three generation of Benzes that fall under the “fintail” category, even though these late coupe/cabriolet variants don’t really have tail fins.

The two-doors came a few years after the sedans and initially launched as the 220SE in 1961. A displacement increase in 1965 brought the 250SE to market, followed by the 2.8-liter 280SE in 1967. All of these cars had straight-six engines. Then, in 1969, Mercedes launched the unnecessarily confusingly named 280SE 3.5, which had a 3.5-liter V8 that made 197 horsepower.

Coupes and convertibles were offered with the V8, and just 1,232 examples of the cabriolet were sold. They have been six-figure cars for some time and continue to creep up. This silver-over-blue example has a little time left to bid, and you can do so here.

TVR 280S

1989 TVR S1 280S

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | March 2024

Photo – Brightwells

The TVR S Series was produced from 1987 through 1994 and was kind of the gap car between the company’s wedges and their “modern” line of cars that consisted of the Griffith, Chimaera, Cerbera, and Tuscan.

The first S car was the S1, or the 280S. It is powered by a 2.8-liter Ford Cologne V6 that made 160 horsepower. The car could hit 60 in eight seconds on its way to a 128-mph top end.

This was the first new TVR product under director Peter Wheeler, and about 605 S1 cars were built before it gave way to the S2, etc. This one has been repainted blue and has an estimate of $7,700-$10,000. More info can be found here.

Morgan Grand Prix

1919 Morgan Grand Prix

Offered by Aguttes | Paris, France | March 2024

Photo – Aguttes

H.F.S. Morgan had his own automobile dealership and service center by 1904 and ended up building himself his own car five years later. The next year, he was producing them for sale, and the Morgan Motor Company was born.

He used his cars early on in competition settings, including the 1913 Cyclecar Grand Prix, in which a Morgan won. The car that won was the basis for the company’s Grand Prix model that followed, which is what is shown here. It has a Motosacoche Acacias Geneve engine of 1.1 liters in capacity (a V-twin). This car has one of two known remaining engines of the type.

The Grand Prix model was offered from 1913 through 1926. And the three-wheeled design it pioneered and started to perfect would be the basis for three-wheeled Morgans for decades to come. This TT model is pretty stripped down, and it has an estimate of $65,000-$100,000. More info can be found here.

Koenigsegg Agera RSR

2016 Koenigsegg Agera RSR

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Dubai, U.A.E. | March 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Koenigsegg Agera was produced between 2010 and 2018. An R model was offered during that time, as was an S and RS. The RS was sold between 2015 and 2018 and broke the record for the world’s fastest production car with a top speed of 278 mph. Just 27 examples of the RS were produced.

It is powered by a twin-turbocharged 5.0-liter V8 that made 1,160 horsepower. Three examples of the RSR were produced as part of the run of 27 RS cars – all of them for the Japanese market. Differences from the RS include a top-mounted rear wing and a shorter intake scoop for the targa top.

This, the second of the three RSRs, has about 625 miles on it and carries an estimate of $2,800,000-$3,400,000. More can be found here.

Aston Martin Valkyrie

2023 Aston Martin Valkyrie Coupe

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Dubai, U.A.E. | March 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Valkyrie is one of these new-era supercars with complicated Formula One-style hybrid powertrains that languish in a development period for years before finally coming to market long after everyone’s initial excitement has worn off. The Valkyrie name was chosen after a bunch of other code names were used following the car’s 2016 (!) introduction.

Or maybe it was more of a tease than in introduction. Anyway, production didn’t commence until late 2021. They said they will only build 150 of these with a retail price of about $3,500,000 when new.

Power comes from a 6.5-liter V12 that has been tweaked by Cosworth to produce around 1,000 horsepower. Additionally, it has an electric boost system that can add another 160 horsepower. Aston has since added a track-only variant as well as an open-top Spider.

The estimate on this one is $2,900,000-$3,300,000. Click here for more info.

Hennessey Venom F5 Roadster

2023 Hennessey Venom F5 Roadster

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | March 2023

Photo – Bring a Trailer

Well here is a wild top-tier boutique supercar. Hennessey Special Vehicles is an offshoot of the Viper tuning company and they’ve made two supercars since 2010: the Lotus-based Venom GT and the Venom F5, the latter of which is not a stretched Exige but its own thing. It went on sale in 2020, with a roadster arriving for 2022. Production of that targa-top variant is limited to 30 examples. This is the second. We’ll see if they actually end up building all 30.

Power is provided by a twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V8 that was developed in-house and based on Chevy’s LS series of engines. It is rated at 1,817 horsepower. The coupe variant has a claimed top speed of 301 mph. Which is insane.

This car has under 600 miles, and bidding is over $1.7 million as of this writing. The auction ends today, and you can watch it wind down here.