Monthly Archives: November 2011

Bonhams Harrogate Highlights

Posted on by
Reply

Bonhams recent motorcycle and car auction at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate, U.K. featured a few interesting sales. Unfortunately, three of our featured vehicles here on the site did not sell: the Triumph 1800 Roadster, Bristol Beaufighter and the Brough Superior SS100.

Some of the highlights include a 1963 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. The 40 Series of the Land Cruiser range were made from 1960 until 1984 (and even longer in Brazil. These cars – er, uh, Jeeps – are much beloved by the off-road community. This particular model looks brand new and was owned by the Rover Car Co as an “evaluation” vehicle. It sold for about $26,000. Bonhams has these pictures locked, but I’ll do what I can for the other cars.

At most British auctions, there is a large selection of British cars. Two that I’d like to focus on are a 1946 Hillman Minx Drophead Coupe and this 1934 BSA Scout Roadster.

This isn’t the exact car – the exact car had striking red brakes and wheel caps. BSA, Birmingham Small Arms Company, is known primarily as a motorcycle manufacturer but they built cars from 1909 until 1926 and again from 1929 until 1940. Some of these cars where sporty three-wheelers but they built a number of four-wheeled variants as well. This 8.9 horsepower Scout uses a 1,075cc engine that was rebuilt about three years ago. It sold for about $12,000.

The Hillman Minx was produced from the early 1930s through 1970. The immediate postwar Minx (the example sold at Bonhams a 1946) did not differ much from the pre-war Minx. The model is commonplace but the Drophead Coupe body style is quite rare. A driver in nice black paint sold for about $5,700.

There were two interesting old trucks that passed across the block at this sale: a 1925 Autocar 27KS 5-Ton Truck in original running condition sold for about $10,000. And a 1927 International SF24 1.5-Ton Flat-Bed Truck in restored-as-necessary condition with an engine rebuild at some point brought about the same price.

Check out the complete results here (with pictures!).

Tucker Torpedo

Posted on by
1

1948 Tucker Sedan

Offered by Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale, Arizona, January 15-22, 2012

This Tucker – one of 51 produced by Preston Tucker’s forward-thinking company in 1948 – is offered from the collection of noted Scottsdale-area car collector Ron Pratte – who is a fixture at Barrett-Jackson each January. While the pictured car may or may not be the car offered – it looks exactly like it in beautiful Waltz Blue.

Tuckers utilize a 166 horsepower flat-6 produced by aircraft engine manufacturer Air Cooled Motors. To secure the supply, Tucker bought the company and cancelled their contracts to make them exclusive to Tucker. The engine is mounted in the rear (and it’s rear-wheel drive). It also features one exhaust pipe for each cylinder – which is certainly interesting.

The car features a number of innovative features such as the directional headlight – or “Cyclops Eye” – that turns with steering angles of more than 10 degrees. It has a padded dashboard (hey, in a pre-airbag world, it’s better than nothing). The windshield is shatter-proof pop-out glass and the car was one of the first to feature seat belts.

There were only 51 Tuckers built (50 production models and 1 prototype), yet they still manage to pop up for sale every now and then. Look for this to bag about $1 million. More info is available here and here for more about the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction.

Update: Sold $2,915,000.

1954 Allard K3 Roadster

Posted on by
1

1954 Allard K3 Roadster

Offered by RM Auctions, Phoenix, Arizona, January 19-20, 2012

The sleek, simplistic style of this 1954 Allard K3 calls back to Sydney Allard’s early trials cars that were built with little more than speed in mind. By 1954, however, style, comfort – as well as speed – were all combined to create this wonderful little American-British car. The cars were built in Clapham, London using a Cadillac V-8 making 325 horsepower. This car has a complete ownership history from new.

Only 63 were made, making this a rare alternative to just about any Triumph, Healey or Jaguar you’ll see at British car gatherings. RM doesn’t have it’s estimates on line just yet, but the last K3 that sold at auction as by Gooding & Co in 2009 and it went for $132,000. I would expect anything between $75,000 and $125,000. This car was for sale recently with a sticker of $125,000.

Update: Sold $57,750.

Jaguar XKR Silverstone

Posted on by
Reply

2000 Jaguar XKR Silverstone

Offered by Coys, Essen, Germany, November 30, 2011

The Jaguar XK introduced in 1996 was a major design leap forward for Jaguar. These cars still look fresh today and this limited edition Silverstone edition stands out above the rest. It’s striking Platinum paint with silver “Detroit” wheels and seemingly colorless front lights really make it look like a bullet.

This car features a 4.0 liter V8 making 370 horsepower. It has special Brembo brakes and a custom Silverstone-only interior. This is one of 25 Silverstones delivered to Germany and one of only 563 Silverstones built.

This is a late-model collectible that may never be worth it’s weight in gold, but it has low miles and is very clean and will draw glances wherever it goes. Coys expects it to sell for between $51,000 and $58,000 – which is significantly more than any run-of-the-mill used XKR.

More info on this car can be found here with more info on Coys sale at the Essen Motor Show at their website.

1967 Maserati Quattroporte

Posted on by
1

1967 Maserati Quattroporte

Offered by Bonhams at Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands, December 1, 2011

Bonhams December 1st sale at Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands has a number of very interesting cars including a very rare Arab as well as the most unusual Lanchester I have ever seen. But their pictures remain hard to come by, so I present this, a 1967 Maserati Quattroporte. Four-door Italian elegance. The one offered by Bonhams is red.

This was the first generation of the Quattroporte (“four doors” in Italian). The modern version is one of the best performing luxury sedans in the world and, in its day, this car was no different. This car features the 4.2-liter V8 making 256 horsepower allowing it to hit a top speed of 143 mph (according to Maserati, Car & Driver was able to get it comfortably to 120) – which, either way, is pretty quick for a full-size sedan in 1967.

The car was bodied by Frua and just 776 examples were produced. The interior of the car for sale is gorgeous tan leather with red striping. It underwent mechanical “refurbishment” a few years ago and still looks great. Pre-sale estimates range from about $70,000-$85,000.

More info (and pictures) here, with more sale information here.

Update: Sold $80,000.

Bonhams at Petersen Automotive Museum – Results

Posted on by
Reply

Bonham’s November 12th, 2011 auction at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles sold a few interesting cars that we’ll talk about here. One that did not sell was the 1906 Holsman Model G-10 High-Wheel Runabout we featured here a few weeks ago.

On the upper-end of things was a 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine that was once owned by Elvis Presley. It’s Elvis-association brought in $172,000 – which is a lot, but then again, this is a lot of Cadillac. This result would appear to show that, in this case, Elvis’ name is worth approximately $100,000.

On the interesting side was this 1981 Phillips Berlina T-Top:

Neo-classics were all the rage in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There were quite a number of companies sprouting up in the U.S. that sol old-style cars on modern running gear. Every one of them looks like something Cruella de Vil would drive. This particular car from the Phillips Motor Car Company is built upon a C3 Corvette chassis and uses the donor car’s L82 V8. Chances are you could find numersou Excaliburs or Zimmers for sale at any one time, but this Florida-built Phillips is much rarer. It sold for $10,350.

The next car was featured in the the Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise movie Minority Report. It’s a 2004 Lexus that is fairly memorable from it’s role in the film (if you happened to see it). The car was featured prominently in the movie ads and at least one Lexus campaign if I recall correctly.

It doesn’t have much in the way of an interior – just a driver’s seat, a steering wheel, and some video screens. In the movie it was run on fuel cells (as that was the world-saving technology being touted as “the future” in 2004). Whether it runs or not in real life is another story. This car would work best as a pretty sculpture that sits in the middle of your collection. It brought $101,790.

Going back more than a hundred years we find this wonderful 1902 Autocar Type VIII Rear-Entrance Tonneau:

This car is a driver and is eligible for the London-to-Brighton Run. It’s attractive rear-entrance tonneau bodywork is a kind of marvel. Like three-door coupes today with their hidden rear-doors, this was an early attempt to build a somewhat sporty-looking two-seater with extra hidden seating and space behind the driver. Autocar traces its roots back to 1897 but they built their last “car” in 1911. They are still in business today, making large “vocational” trucks – thus making them, off the top of my head, America’s oldest vehicle manufacturer that’s still operating today. This car sold for $64,350.

Finally, we come to this 1951 Studebaker Land Cruiser Sedan.

It’s not remarkable – Studebaker made a good number of these – but it’s fresh (2007) restoration really looks good. It has a 120 horsepower V-8 and Studebaker’s stand-out “Bullet Nose” design. There’s just something about this car that struck me as intriguing. Do you agree or am I crazy?

For complete results, click here. Individual car pages are linked above.

’68 Z28

Posted on by
Reply

1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Offered by Mecum | Kansas City, Missouri | December 3, 2012

This matching numbers Z28 is one of 7,199 sold in 1968, the second year for Camaro production. This car sports a fresh restoration and the 4.9 liter V8 down rated to 290 horsepower (it was actually more like 350).

This is a one-owner car in attractive Grotto Blue. F-Body Camaros are the best-looking and most desirable and this Z28 has its original interior, original body panels and other original parts under the hood. Other than a respray, I’m wondering what is meant by “Ground-Up Restoration” when everything else is listed as original. In any case, it’s a great looking car.

No pre-sale estimate was given, but based on Z28 results from the past few years (not taking into consideration condition, originality, etc.), I’d estimate this somewhere between $55,000-$70,000.

You can find out more about this car here and more about Mecum’s Kansas City auction here.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $65,000.

1953 Nash-Healey

Posted on by
1

1953 Nash-Healey Roadster

Offered by RM Auctions, Phoenix, AZ, January 18-20, 2012

The Nash-Healey was re-designed for 1952 after just one brief year with it’s original design. The restyle is the classic design you see here with the Nash grille and inboard headlights – all courtesy of Pininfarina. The 4.1 liter Nash inline six produces 140 horsepower – enough to make it true to its claim of “America’s first post-war sports car.” The powertrain was sent to Healey in England for installation into a chassis and then onto Pininfarina in Italy to have this attractive body fitted. The European-American collaboration to produce a good-looking and well-performing sports car is a formula that would continue for years to come.

All of this shipping made the car rather expensive at $5,908 compared to the then brand-new Corvette which sold for $3,513. The car is offered by RM without reserve and without a current pre-auction estimate but if I had to guess I’d put it between $75,000 and $110,000… although Gooding & Co. sold one last year in Arizona for $143,000. Anything is possible in Arizona in January.

See more on this lot here and more on the sale here.

Update: Sold $71,500.

Brough Superior SS100

Posted on by
1

1928 Brough Superior SS100

Offered by Bonhams, Yorkshire, November 16, 2011

The bike shown above is not the same bike offered by Bonhams at their Yorkshire auction (Bonhams keeps their photos to themselves). But, the bike shown above was actually owned by T.E. Lawrence (of Lawrence of Arabia fame). Lawrence was actually killed while riding an SS100 (sans helmet).

The bike offered by Bonhams is an early example – the SS100 entered production in 1924 and was produced until the war broke out and the company shut down production in 1940. Of all models, Brough Superior produced a little over 3,000 bikes, a third of which still exist today. The motorcycles were built to exacting standards – the highest standard for motorcycles built before or since. They were tested before being delivered and if they didn’t perform exactly to George Brough’s standards they were re-built until perfect. They were, and are, considered “The Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles.”

This model features the early 998cc JAP V-Twin engine producing 45 horsepower @5000 rpm (later models had Matchless engines). The ‘100’ in SS100 meant that they were capable of 100 mph.

They were expensive when new and they remain so today. The example offered by Bonhams is expected to sell for between €190,000 and €210,000 (or $250,000-$285,000). You can read the entire lot description here and about the sale here.

Update: Not Sold.

Bristol Beaufighter

Posted on by
1

1988 Bristol Beaufighter Convertible

Offered by Bonhams | Harrogate, U.K. | November 16, 2011

Again, as this is a Bonhams lot, not the actual picture. This is a random Beaufighter that looks to be in better condition than the one coming up for auction, which is a sort of sea green.

Bristol is as English as English car firms come. They haven’t published production figures since the early 80s and even then it was a tick over 100 cars per year. Production as been suspended as of early 2011 – but there was a time when people were buying these cars – and that’s when they would be built.

The Beaufighter was a slightly re-styled 412, a model introduced in 1975. It featured an updated engine, in this case a turbocharged 5.9 liter Chrysler V8 making the car capable of 150 mph. The body was by Zagato, as was the 412, the main difference being the four headlights on the Beaufighter versus two headlights on the 412. Production ceased in 1993 after 11 years.

The original price of this car was £40,000 in 1988, a far cry from the pre-sale estimate of £6,000-£8,000. The fact that this car has been in storage for 10 years is not helping its value. Bristol cars are rare enough as it is, so they don’t come up for auction that often. Bonhams sold a red Beaufighter similar to the one pictured above for £12,000 back in 2009 and that car was in much better condition. Then again, there are Beaufighter for sale in private hands that are asking almost as much as their price when new. Compared to that, this car is a bargain, but who knows what sort of maintenance and repair costs lay in wait.

Check out the auction lot here. And more about the auction here.

Update: Not Sold.