Monthly Archives: December 2016

SWB California Spider

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1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider

Offered by Bonhams | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 19, 2017

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The California Spider is one of the most sought-after road-going Ferraris. Prices have stair-stepped up in recent years from $4 million to $11 million and on up to the $15-$17 million range. The 250 series has a long and varied model history, but the GT cars started in 1954 and the long-wheelbase California Spider was built between 1957 and 1959.

The short-wheelbase version debuted in 1960 and was built through 1961. It is powered by a 3.0-liter SOHC V-12 making 280 horsepower. In addition to a shorter wheelbase, the cars also sported revised suspensions, brakes, and engine internals. Visually, the SWB cars did not depart much from the LWB version, but they are a little more aggressive-looking. The car you see here lacks a chromed front bumper, as it was removed by the owner of the car in the late 1960s.

Prior to being exported to America in 1968 this car was used in an Italian film. The current owner has had it since 2006 and stands to make quite a nice profit off of it at auction. Only 56 SWB California Spiders were built and they are usually the more expensive version of the ultimate drop-top 250 GT. Look for a price in excess of $10 million in January. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

The Cobras Rs

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The Ford Mustang Cobra Rs

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 6-15, 2017

1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

The first Mustang Cobra was produced by Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) in 1993. It was mostly a power upgrade and other mechanical bits that made the car faster. The early Cobras looked similar to the GT, and in 1993 they also built a very limited edition Cobra R, the “R” standing for “race.”

The engine was a 5.0-liter V-8 making 235 horsepower, same as in the standard Cobra. Top speed was 140 mph. But this had a laundry list of other items that made the car lighter, faster, and more robust. Only 107 of these were built, making it quite rare in Mustangland. This one has 1,400 original miles and the original window sticker. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $60,000.

1995 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

The fourth generation Mustang went on sale for the 1994 model year. The second-generation Cobra was built for 1994 and 1995 and they looked meaner than the standard GT. The Cobra R was again produced, this time for 1995 only and 250 would be made (and you had to have a valid racing license to buy one).

The engine is a 5.8-liter V-8 making an even 300 horsepower. The idea here was to essentially homologate the car for use in endurance racing. But with that bulging hood and lowered stance, this thing looks destined for the drag strip. The as-new price was $37,599 in 1995 making it, easily, the most expensive Mustang built to that point. This example has 1,900 original miles and you can find out more about it here.

Update: Sold $35,000.

2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

Unlike the previous Cobra Rs, the 2000 (and most recent example) was more of a departure, styling-wise, from the standard Mustang. This version had an aggressive body kit featuring a lip spoiler and a borderline-ridiculous rear wing. It even has side exhaust – when’s the last time you saw that on a production car costing less than 60 grand?

The powerplant beneath the hood here is a 385 horsepower, 5.4-liter V-8. Top speed was an impressive 177 mph and it was meant to be more of a track car than it was probably ever used for. Only 300 were made and when they came out, sporting something like an $55,000 MSRP, there was a dealership here in town that had three of them. I seem to recall them going for about $85,000 a pop. You can find out more about this 1,600 mile example here and see more from Mecum here.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $50,000.

Hennessey Venom GT

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2012 Hennessey Venom GT Spyder

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 14-22, 2017

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Supercar time! Hennessey Performance Engineering of Houston, Texas, has long been known as the premier tuner of Dodge Vipers. In 2011 they decided to start “building” cars under their own name. We say “building” because this thing looks an awful lot like a Lotus Exige, doesn’t it? That’s because Hennessey takes an Exige, stretches the chassis just long enough to shoehorn a V-8 behind the driver, and then calls it their own thing. Whether you buy that or not is up to you (we think it’s like taking a shortcut to creating a supercar). For the record, the DMV does not buy it and all of these are road-registered as Lotus Exiges.

But what you can’t ignore is what that means performance-wise. A 7.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 making 1,244 horsepower is enough to scoot anything to 200 mph. But Hennessey wanted to have the World’s Fastest Production Car. Unfortunately, Guinness says you have to build 30 examples to qualify as a “production car.” Hennessey has only built 16. Top speed for this open top variant is still an impressive insane 265 mph. Sixty arrives in about 2.7 seconds. It’s pretty quick and is technically the fastest street-legal convertible ever built.

This car was built (and is currently owned by) Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. He ordered a Venom GT but asked Hennessey to chop the top off, and thus the Spyder version was born. Hennessey said they would only build five such cars. No word on if they ever did. The original price here was about $1,250,000. This car is selling at no reserve and is being sold for charity, so expect an inflated hammer price. No matter what you’re take is one these “cheater supercars,” you have to admit they’re still pretty cool. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $800,000.

Delahaye Charabanc

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1911 Delahaye Type 413a Charabanc

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 7, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Émile Delahaye’s automotive concern was founded in 1894 in Tours, France. The company is primarily known for their beautiful, windswept, coachbuilt beauties of the 1930s. But the company built more than just luxury cars, in fact in the early 1900s they began building heavy commercial vehicles and fire trucks.

This, the Type 413a, was originally built as a fire truck and and was used in southeast France. It didn’t last long, as newer, better equipment quickly came along. So the fire truck made its way to a museum where it stayed until 1973. It was purchased out of the museum by collector Michael Banfield, the liquidation of whose collection we featured prominently here on the site.

The present owner acquired it at that sale and replaced the fire engine with this 12-seat Charabanc body. The engine is a 3.0-liter straight-four and the restoration is fresh, having been completed earlier this year. While the loss of an original 100-year-old fire engine isn’t great news, the new body this car carries makes it more functional and likely to survive another 100 years. It’s very cool and reminiscent of those Stanley Mountain Wagons. It should bring between $75,000-$99,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $78,276.

Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s, Hershey 2018.

Update: Sold, Bonhams Quail 2019, $86,800.

1924 Stanley

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1924 Stanley 750B 20HP Tourer

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 7, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Stanley Steamer is one of the legendary early American automobiles. Twin brothers Francis and Freeland Stanley started building steam cars in the late 1800s. In those days, it was steam vs. gasoline vs. electrics. Gasoline-powered cars won out and by the end of WWI, steam cars were antiquated and just not as user-friendly as their internal combustion counterparts.

But Stanley soldiered on for as long as they could, with their final cars being sold during the 1927 model year. This car is powered by a 20 horsepower, twin-cylinder steam engine. The restoration you see above was actually carried out in the 1960s and it was exported to the U.K. only in 2012.

A couple of things about this car, first: my records indicate that the 1924 Stanley was actually the Series 740, not 750. Second, it is stated in the lot description that, according to the vendor, only four Stanleys were produced after this car but their whereabouts are unknown, which isn’t exactly true as we featured one right here. But this car is definitely one of the final Stanleys, as the company may have not built any cars in 1926 or 1927. And regardless, the car is wonderful and the last of its kind – something you’d expect to see in the 20s, but not today. It should bring between $62,000-$75,000 – and at either price it is a bargain. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Bristol 407

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1962 Bristol 407

Offered by H&H Classics | Chateau Impney, U.K. | December 7, 2016

Photo - H&H Classics

Photo – H&H Classics

Bristol Cars – which is back with new models after a five year hiatus spent restoring and selling their old cars – was founded in 1945 as an offshoot of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. They weren’t exactly super creative when it came to model names, but I guess that’s just the way it was with some British sports car makers after WWII. The 407 followed in a line of models that began with the 400.

The 407 was the first Bristol built after the automotive arm officially split from the airplane company. It was also the first model for which Bristol looked to an outside company for an engine. In this case, it was Chrysler (and it would remain Chrysler through 2011). The 407 is powered by a 250 horsepower 5.1-liter V-8 capable of propelling the car to speeds over 125 mph. Sixty arrived in 9.2 seconds.

While never completely restored, the engine has been replaced for a correct (but not original) unit, the interior was redone in 2010, and the paint is relatively fresh. Showing 63,000 miles, this 407 is one of just 88 built between 1961 and 1963 and one of about 20 that remain on the roads today. When new it cost a not-cheap £5,141 and it should sell at this auction for between $41,000-$47,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of H&H’s lineup.

Update: Sold $38,047

November 2016 Auction Highlights, Part II

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We’ll start it off with H&H Classics’ Donington Park sale. We didn’t get to feature anything, but this 1973 BMW 3.0 CSi was the top sale at $60,880. Click here for complete results.

Photo - H&H Classics

Photo – H&H Classics

Next up, Mecum in Anaheim, California. The top sale was a car perfectly at home in Los Angeles, a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder that brought $1,475,000.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

The Studebaker Stake Bed pickup truck we featured sold for $14,000. Click here for more results.

Hopping back across the Atlantic, we have Brightwells’ Classic & Vintage Cars sale for November. The top sale was this 2002 Ferrari 360 Modena for $80,836. The Middlebridge Scimitar was featured brought $6,218. All the results can be found here.

Photo - Brightwells

Photo – Brightwells

Another Ferrari top sale was this 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C Alloy for $3,655,120 at RM Sotheby’s Duemila Route sale in Milan, Italy.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Porsche 959 sold for $1,078,560 and the Alfa Romeo 6C blew past its estimate selling for $167,776. The Alpine A110 went for $119,840 and the Innocenti Mini $15,579. Go here to see all of the results of this insane sale.

To keep with the Italian exotic theme, Historics at Brooklands had this 1990 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary sell as the top sale for $296,320.

Photo - Historics at Brooklands

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

We featured a number of cars from this sale, including a slew of microcars. The Tourette Supreme was the most expensive at $38,938. The Bamby and the Berkeley were downright cheap, bringing $5,006 and $5,284 respectively. The Zagato Zele fell somewhere in between at $16,687.

There were also some sports cars like the TVR Cerbera which was hammered for $28,508. The oddball Carver sold for $36,852 and, going back in time, one of the first Dellow cars built sold for $20,859. Click here for complete results.

1905 Daimler Tourer

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1905 Daimler 30/40HP Tourer

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 7, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

This Daimler is one of the British Daimlers – you can tell that because the original Daimler Company (the German one) stopped building passenger cars under the Daimler marque by 1905 as the Mercedes had already been introduced. This car was delivered new to an British Countess in 1905.

Luckily for the Countess, just introduced by Daimler was this 30/40HP model that sported a 7.2-liter straight-four. These were powerful, fast cars that were popular among early hill climbers and time trialers. Originally bodied by Rothschild et Fils of Paris as a landaulette, the body you see here was fitted in the 1970s.

Unfortunately the original body was lost after the car was left to sit unprotected in the elements for about five years during WWII. Luckily, the lamps and wooden wheels were preserved. Ownership of this car has bounced all over the world, from the U.K. to Hawaii to Japan and back. It’s a good driver with good power and would make a usable Edwardian tourer. It should bring between $68,000-$80,000 at auction. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $72,618.

An F1 Car for the Street

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2009 Lola F1R

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 7, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

So wait, in what world is this car street legal? The U.K., that’s what world. A little background: Lola Cars was one of the most famous constructors of race cars between 1958 and 2012. They didn’t technically build or sell this car, but it’s based on their stuff and was built by their employees.

To explain: someone (presumably with a lot of disposable income) bet the engineers at Lola that they couldn’t build a street-legal Formula One car. Race car designers aren’t people that like to say “No” to a technical challenge, so they actually ended up doing it.

It started with a Lola chassis from 1996 or 1997 and most of the body panels that came with it. The engine is a turbocharged 2.0-liter Cosworth straight-four making 370 horsepower that is driven via a five-speed manual transmission. It has lights, an increased ride height, parking brake and “fenders” over the open wheels.

The car is essentially brand new, having covered only 25 miles since its completion – probably because, as cool as it is, it is probably a little terrifying to ride between two tractor trailers while in this thing. This one-off supercar should bring between $68,000-$110,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Update II: Sold, Silverstone Auctions, July 2018, $69,277.