Monthly Archives: April 2014

Vickers Valentine

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1942 Vickers-Armstrongs Infantry Tank Mk III, Valentine Mk V

Offered by Auctions America | Portola Valley, California | July 11-12, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

The Mark III Infantry Tank was called the Valentine in the U.K. during World War 2. They were built by Vickers-Armstrongs, among other manufacturers. It was a big, strong tank that was fairly reliable too. It’s powered by a 138 horsepower GMC straight-six. The top speed was 15 mph. This is one of many tanks I’m hoping to feature over the coming weeks. Between 1940 and 1945, 8,275 of these were built. In original condition, this should sell for between $100,000-$150,000. Click here to read more and here for more from this awesome sale.

Update: Sold $109,250.

Daimler Ferret

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ca.1960 Daimler Ferret FV701

Offered by Auctions America | Portola Valley, California | July 11-12, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

The Ferret was an armored car built by Daimler in the U.K. for reconnaissance purposes. They were built between 1952 and 1971. The engine is a straight-six making 129 horsepower which can push it to 58 mph. These were used in almost every Commonwealth country up to and into the early-1990s. In total, 4,409 were built and they have become an attainable military vehicle for many collectors. This one should sell for between $25,000-$35,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $54,050.

Churchill Toad

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ca.1951 Vauxhall Churchill FV3901 Toad

Offered by Auctions America | Portola Valley, California | July 11-12, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

The Churchill tank was used by British forces during WWII. They were built between 1941 and 1952 and they were pretty much obsolete by the time the war ended, making them a great candidate for modification for other service. One such modification was that to a “Toad” – a minesweeper. The engine is a 21.2-liter flat-12 making 350 horsepower. The flail (that chains that pound the ground to detonate mines) has its own engine, another V-12. It will do a whopping 12 mph.

They converted 42 Churchills into Toads in the early 1950s. The one you see here has been fantastically restored and is the only one left in the world. And it is fully functional. This is one of the stars of the show. It should sell for between $400,000-$500,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $80,500

Scud Missile Launcher

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ca.1959 ChKZ 8U218 TEL 8K11 Scud A

Offered by Auctions America | Portola Valley, California | July 11-12, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

No, I did not just slam my fingers on my keyboard to name this. This is an accurate vehicle name as I can provide. It was built by ChKZ (Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant) in St. Petersburg, Russia. This particular model of TEL (transporter, erector, launcher) was built between 1958 and 1962. The missile is a Scud A – a Soviet ballistic missile and one of the scarier parts of the Cold War.

The vehicle is powered by a 520 horsepower 12-cylinder engine. Top speed is 23 mph. This is a really cool piece of Cold War history. It can be yours for between $300,000-$350,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $345,000.

Maserati 450S Prototype

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1956 Maserati 450S Prototype by Fantuzzi

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 10, 2014

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

The Maserati 450S was an evolution of the Maserati 350S. The chassis was lengthened to house the new monster V-8. The car was a racing success in the latter half of the 50s and would give way to the legendary Birdcage Maseratis.

The engine is a 5.7-liter V-8 making a whopping 520 horsepower. Good Lord. This thing must fly. The car you see here is the prototype version of the 450S. It’s the first one – and it was originally a 350S. It’s competition history as a 350S includes:

  • 1956 Mille Miglia – DNF (with Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson)

The car was more or less totaled in that race when Moss lost his brakes and blasted through a barrier and into a tree. So Maserati turned this into a test mule for the forthcoming 450S. This car’s race history as a 450S, you’ll have to read on RM’s site. This car has had three owner’s since it left Maserati and has been meticulously restored. It will fetch between $5,500,000-$7,500,000. Click here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $4,816,350.

Aston Martin Atom

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1939 Aston Martin Atom

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | June 27, 2014

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Aston Martin built their first car in 1915. The built sporty open cars in the 1920s and 30s, but the company we know that builds luxurious tourers didn’t take off until the 1950s. But there was one landmark car that kind of signaled the direction the company would take once David Brown took over after World War II. This is that car.

In fact, this is the car that caused David Brown to buy Aston Martin once he had the chance to drive it. What you see here is a one-off concept car – one of the first fully-functional concept cars ever built. It has an aerodynamic aluminium body and a tubular spaceframe chassis. It looks like a fastback coupe, but it actually has four doors.

It was driven over 100,000 miles by the then-owner of Aston: Gordon Sutherland. But the war broke out and it couldn’t be put into production. The engine was swapped out in 1945 for the new 2.0-liter straight-four that can also be found in the DB1. It makes 90 horsepower.

This car has only had a few owners in its life and has only changed owners once in the last 49 years. It has been maintained (meaning, presumably, never restored) over the years and used a lot – the odometer shows over 250,000 miles. This is a one-of-one car – the rarest Aston Martin there is. Bonhams isn’t listing a pre-sale estimate just yet, but they expect “many hundreds of thousands” of dollars. Perhaps more. You can read more here.

Update: Not sold.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C

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1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C by Scaglietti

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 10, 2014

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

The Ferrari 275 line has skyrocketed in value over the past 10-15 years. They’ve gone from sub-million dollar cars to cars pushing the $10 million mark. RM sold an example last year for $25 million. The 275 was new for 1964 and the limited-edition GTB/C was a 1966-only model.

1965 was Ferrari’s first racing season with the 275, the replacement for the long-successful 250 series. The 275 GT Berlinetta Competizione was Ferrari’s way of building off of 1965’s success. This lightweight model used a 275 horsepower 3.3-liter V-12. Ferrari homologated the model for road/competition use. Only 12 were built.

This racing special was used as a road car for three years before its third owner campaigned it in some hill climbs. What’s great about this wonderfully preserved racing car is that it was never seriously flogged on track. It’s only one of 12 – and it should sell for between $5,900,000-$6,850,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM’s Monaco sale.

Update: Sold $7,860,283.

A Tiny Hupmobile

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1909 Hupmobile Model 20 Two-Passenger Runabout

Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Houston, Texas | May 3, 2014

Photo - Worldwide Auctioneers

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

Hupmobile was an American automobile marque produced by the Hupp Motor Company in Detroit from 1909 through 1940. That means the car you see here is from their first year of manufacture.

As you can see, this car is very light and very small. It covered the essentials of motoring in 1909 but today it’s cute and would make a great little car to putt around town in. The engine is a 16.9 horsepower 2.0-liter straight-four. I’m guessing the “20” in Model 20 comes from the displacement. This thing cost $750 when new and about 1,600 were built in 1909 alone. More body styles would be added the following year and the Model 20 would last until 1915.

This car has been restored to a condition that is about as fantastic as you will find a launch-year Hupmobile. It is well-equipped and is described as running and driving very well. It should sell for between $60,000-$80,000. And boy do I love the white tires with the white body! Read more here and see more from Worldwide’s Houston Classic here.

Update: Sold $66,000.

March 2014 Auction Highlights Part II

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Here we are with our second March 2014 auction recap. The first part was all Amelia Island stuff (mostly). Now we have a couple more sales, first of which is Auctions America’s Ft. Lauderdale sale. Our featured car from this sale was a Heritage Edition Ford GT which brought an impressive $412,500. The top sale was this 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 for $825,000. It was the 23rd Cobra built.

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

Interesting cars were easily topped by this 1973 Intermeccanica Squire SS 100. It’s an SS 100 replica powered by a Ford straight-six. Only about 50 were built. This one sold for $13,475. Check out full results here.

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

The other half of this post covers Osenat’s March sale. Our two feature cars (the Rene Bonnet Le Mans and the 1902 Ache Freres) both failed to sell. The top sale was this 1971 Porsche 911 2.4S for $109,710.

Photo - Osenat

Photo – Osenat

Interesting sales were topped by this 1966 Innocenti 1100S for only $9,600. Check out full results here.

Photo - Osenat

Photo – Osenat

Healey Silverstone

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1950 Healey Silverstone

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Silverstone, U.K. | July 26, 2014

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Ever write or say a word so many times that it no longer seems like a real word? That’s how I feel about “Silverstone” right about now. Donald Healey founded one of the first post-War automobile manufacturers, building his first car in 1945.

The Silverstone was named for the legendary circuit which hosted its first Grand Prix in 1948, just one year prior to this car’s introduction. It was only built for 1949 and 1950. The aluminium body was light and resembled an open-wheel car of the period, despite being perfectly suited for road use. The engine is a 2.5-liter Riley straight-four making 104 horsepower. One of the coolest things about this car is that the spare tire is housed in such a way that it is the rear bumper.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

This is a 1950 model, so it has a wider, more comfortable cockpit (these wider cars are referred to as the E-Type model and has nothing to do with Jaguar). The cars were very successful in racing – sometimes even with Donald Healey himself at the wheel (he won the 1949 Alpine Rally in one of these cars). Only 105 were hand-built by the Donald Healey Motor Company, making them very rare today. This one is coming off a very nice nut-and-bolt restoration and should sell for between $265,000-$300,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Silverstone’s sale.

Update: Sold $357,420.