Monthly Archives: January 2015

Lancia Belna

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1934 Lancia Belna Eclipse by Pourtout

Offered by RM Auctions | Paris, France | February 4, 2015

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

The Lancia Belna was actually built at Lancia’s first non-Italian plant in France. They opened that factory in 1931. They began producing the Lancia Augusta there in 1934, but all French-built Augustas were called “Belna” (which, strangely, translates from Hungarian to “gut”).

French coachbuilder Marcel Pourtout got his hands on a few bare chassis Belnas and built a really lovely design. This “Eclipse” car features a retractable hardtop that was designed by automotive designer and French resistance fighter Georges Paulin. The Belna is powered by a 35 horsepower 1.2-liter V-4. And it has the best tires you could get on a car from the 1930s. I don’t know what it is about those chunky treads, but they just spell awesome.

Only about 3,000 Belnas were made before production stopped in 1938. Only about 500 of those left the French factory as bare chassis and only two Pourtout Eclipse Belnas are known to exist. This is the only assembled, road-worthy example. It’s gorgeous and can be yours for between $360,000-$450,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Paris.

Update: Sold $243,656.

Excelsior Albert I

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1927 Excelsior Albert I Court Cabriolet by Snutsel & Fils

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 5, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Arthus de Coninck established his company, the automaker Excelsior, in Brussels, Belgium in 1903. Car production began the following year and they began building very fine cars shortly thereafter. In fact, the Belgian ruling family were Excelsior customers for a number of years. But cars favored by royalty are hard to sell when the world economy turns, and the company sold out to Imperia in 1929 with the marque being retired in 1932.

The Albert I was one of the finest cars built in the era and the high point for Excelsior. It uses a 5.3-liter straight-six making 130 horsepower. The body is aluminium and was done by a local coachbulder in Brussels, Snutsel & Fils.

This example was ordered new by the Romanian ambassador to Great Britain but ended up going to South Africa instead where it spent a majority of its life up until 2004. The restoration began in Belgium in 2004 and was completed in 2013. What a fantastic opportunity to acquire a rare and incredible automobile. It can be yours for between $420,000-$480,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams in Paris.

Update: Not sold.

STP Turbine Indy Car

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1968 Lotus 56

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 17, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

In 1967, Andy Granatelli entered the turbine-powered STP-Paxton Turbocar in the Indianapolis 500. The car nearly won the race at the hands of Parnelli Jones but a transmission bearing failure with eight laps to go ruined those plans.

Team Lotus took note of this impressive performance and they designed the Lotus 56 around a modified version of the Pratt & Whitney ST6B used in the Turbocar. The STN 6/76 made 500 horsepower in the 56. This car also has four-wheel drive.

So it dominated qualifying, with Joe Leonard taking the pole in one of three 56s entered for the race (a fourth was built, but was destroyed in Mike Spence’s fatal crash in testing). This car was raced by Graham Hill in the ’68 500. He crashed in turn two on lap 110, resulting in a 19th place finish. None of the 56s finished the race, but Joe Leonard was leading with nine laps to go when his fuel pump broke.

This car was owned by Richard Petty for many years and it has been restored to working, race-day condition. For the past year, it’s been on display on at the Speedway Museum in Indy. It’s an awesome piece of machinery and Indianapolis 500 history. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Barrett-Jackson’s lineup.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $1,200,000.

Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2016.

Iso Grifo A3/C

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1965 Iso Grifo A3/C Stradale

Offered by RM Auctions | Paris, France | February 4, 2015

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Does this look like a Bizzarrini to you? It is. Kind of. Let’s start at the beginning: Giotto Bizzarrini left Ferrari after designing cars like the 250 GTO. He teamed up with Renzo Rivolta to design a followup to the Iso Rivolta GT. The car he came up with was the Iso Grifo A3/C. But at the same time, Rivolta was working with Bertone, who came up with the Grifo A3/L – which would become the Iso Grifo road car.

But Bizzarrini was designing his Grifo as a race car. And when Mr. Rivolta was trying to sell Grifo road cars, Bizzarrini was trying to drum up support for the race cars, which didn’t sit well with Rivolta. So they split. And Bizzarrini took his design and sold some as the Bizzarrini 5300 GT.

The car you see here was actually sold as an Iso Grifo A3/C in 1965. A few years later, after the two Italian men had parted ways, this car returned to Bizzarrini for updates and it was rebuilt to look more like a Bizzarrini 5300 GT (and given Bizzarrini badging). The engine is a 5.4-liter V-8 from a Corvette making more than 350 horsepower. It is mounted behind the driver, making this one of the first mid-engined cars.

Bizzarrini managed the construction of A3/Cs at Piero Drogo’s Carrozzeria Sports Cars where the early cars had riveted bodies. This is one of 20 riveted-aluminium cars. Combined production of the Iso A3/C and the Bizzarrini 5300 GT totaled to something between 100 and 150 cars, with Bizzarrinis making up the majority of them. This car was restored in 2010 and should sell for between $1,250,000-$1,850,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Paris.

Update: Sold $1,186,220.

International Scout II

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1979 International Scout II Rallye

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 23, 2015

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

Jeeps kind of had the market cornered with off-road utility vehicles after the war until International Harvester threw their hat into the ring in 1960 with the Scout. The original Scout model was the Scout 80 and there would be numerous other versions produced until the model range went away after 1980, which makes this Scout II a very late example.

The Scout II was a four-wheel drive SUV produced between 1971 and 1980. They were all two-doors and could be had as a wagon or pickup. These were the days when SUVs were somewhat crude and entirely functional – none of that front-wheel drive Honda CRV cute-ute business we have today.

The catalog description is bit vague here, saying that it as a V-8, but it doesn’t specify if it is a 4.4-liter or 5.0-liter. It does have the Rallye package and the hardtop is removable. These are really interesting, cool trucks and the forefathers of the modern SUV. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Mecum’s lineup.

Update: Sold $14,750.

’71 Hemi Charger

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1971 Dodge Charger R/T Hemi

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 23, 2015

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

This Charger is from the first year of production of the third generation body style, which would be built through 1974. It was the last “real” two-door Charger that wasn’t badge-engineered and that was a capable of anything resembling performance.

What makes this car even better is that it has a Hemi. 1971 was the final year for the 426 Hemi – the 425 horsepower 7.0-liter monster V-8. This is the highest-optioned Charger known to exist from this year – it is one of very few cars with a powered sunroof and is one of only 63 built in ’71 with a Hemi.

The original base price of a 1971 Charger was almost doubled when the finally option tally was finished. The High Impact Hemi Orange is set off by the R/T package of graphics. The car is correct and has 35,638 original miles on it. It has everything and Mecum actually has an estimate on it: $450,000-$550,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Mecum.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $375,000.

Lancia 037 Stradale

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1982 Lanica 037 Stradale

Offered by RM Auctions | Paris, France | February 4, 2015

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Here’s another wonderful homologation special brought to you by the legendary Group B Rally regulations. Group B has been responsible for some pretty epic road cars from the 1980s. This is one of the coolest.

When Lancia threw its hat into the almost-anything-goes-as-long-as-you-build-a-road-version ring, they called in Dallara, Abarth, and Pininfarina for assitance. The body is made out of Kevlar reinforced fiberglass and it looks sort of like a badass version of the rust bucket Lancia Montecarlo.

The engine is a version of the one found in the Fiat-Abarth 131 – it’s a supercharged 2.0-liter straight-four making 205 horsepower. It is mid-engined and its on-track success was legitimate: Lancia won the 1983 World Rally Championship constructors’ title with the 037. It’s one of the last great RWD rally cars.

Only 207 road versions were built, with this one being #45. It’s being sold by its original owner with less than 14,000km on the clock. While the power output might not be extreme, this is one of the coolest, rarest cars from the 1980s that you can buy. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Paris.

Update: Sold $384,720.

Perana Z-One

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2012 Perana Z-One

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 10-18, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

The Perana Z-One debuted at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show in concept guise. The car was style by Zagato – which is what the “Z” stands for. Perana is a South African company, formally known as the Perana Performance Group.

This car uses a 6.2-liter Corvette V-8 making 436 horsepower, although the owners can upgrade to an LS7 for up to 630 horsepower. These cars have a confusing history – originally, only 10 pre-production coupes were built with the lofty goal of 999 cars to be built per year. Instead, AC Cars acquired the rights to the car to build it as the AC 378 GT Zagato, with production beginning in 2012.

I don’t know how many cars, if any, AC has sold, but Perana has sold a few after that 2012 rights sale. So how many have been built and by which manufacturer? I’m not sure. Is it still in production? Probably not, but there are two of them at this year’s Barrett-Jackson sale. They were supposed to cost up to $150,000 for a high-horsepower version. This one likely won’t top $100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $73,700.

Cadillac Model B

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1904 Cadillac Model B Runabout

Offered by Coys |  Maastricht, Netherlands | January 10, 2015

Photo - Coys

Photo – Coys

This Lithuanian collection has a fairly impressive amount of old Cadillacs and Lincolns. And those two marques pretty much make up the entire collection. This is the earliest car in the sale and it’s a rare Cadillac Model B.

1904 was the second year of Cadillac production and two models were offered, the A and the B, both in a variety of body styles. The Model B was only available for 1904 and 1905 only. It uses a rear-mounted 1.6-liter single-cylinder making eight-ish horsepower. Prices were $900 – except for this Runabout, which came in at $800. The difference between the A and B was slight – this car’s slightly longer wheelbase is one giveaway.

Cadillac production for 1904 totaled 2,319 split between the A and B, making this very nice Model B quite rare. It should sell for between $75,000-$90,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Coys’ lineup.

Update: Sold $54,440.

Ferrari 641/2

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1990 Ferrari 641/2

Offered by Gooding & Company | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 16, 2015

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

The 1990 Formula One season was packed with legendary drivers: Senna, Prost, Piquet, and Nigel Mansell, who drove this very Ferrari. The 641 was a development of the 640, which was used the season prior.

It’s  powered by a 3.5-liter V-12 making an estimated 685 horsepower at an ear-splitting 13,000 RPM. The racing history for this chassis includes:

  • 1990 German Grand Prix – 19th, DNF (all races with Mansell)
  • 1990 Portuguese Grand Prix – 1st
  • 1990 Spanish Grand Prix – 2nd
  • 1990 Japanese Grand Prix (site of the infamous Senna/Prost debacle) – 14th, DNF
  • 1990 Australian Grand Prix – 2nd

So this is a race winning Formula One car that had three podiums in five races and was raced by one of the sports legendary champions. It was used in the second-half of the season, presumably hence the “/2” (indicating updates on the car). This is one of seven or eight 641 chassis built and a handful are in private hands. It would be a most fun track day car, if you have the means. It should sell for between $800,000-$1,100,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Gooding’s lineup.

Update: Sold $990,000.