1982 Phillips Berlina
Offered by Mecum | Kansas City, Missouri | December 1-3, 2016
Hello neo-classic fans! The 1980s were a weird time: people rolled up the sleeves on their white sport coats, wore huge glasses with big hair, and wanted to drive modern cars that looked like they were built in the 1930s. These weren’t replicas, but luxury cars with classic looks.
Charles W. Phillips decided to build just such a car. From 1980 through 1983, the Phillips Motor Car Corporation of Pompano Beach, Florida, built the Berlina Coupe in limited numbers. It’s not a kit car, but was sold as a fully-built automobile, even though it is based on a stretched C3 Corvette chassis. The body is fiberglass and made to evoke the pre-war Mercedes-Benz 540K.
This car is powered by a 5.7-liter Chevrolet V-8 making 200 horsepower (Corvettes weren’t all that sporty in 1980). Top speed was about 110 mph. It has leather interior and is decked out with about all the features you could hope for in 1982. They’re certainly striking and less than 90 were ever made. The cost when new was about $85,000 – but it will bring less than that at auction. Read more about it here and see more from this sale here.
Update: Sold $17,500.