Monthly Archives: December 2017

Citroen Xenia Concept

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1980 Citroen Xenia Concept

Offered by Leclere | Aulnay sous Bois, France | December 10, 2017

Photo – Leclere

Leclere has been tasked with unloading some extras from Citroen’s private collection. Among the many cars are more than a few concepts, including this 1980 Xenia. First shown at the 1981 Frankfurt Motor Show, this wagonoid design study was what wagons were supposed to look like in the year 2000. Apparently Citroen didn’t see the SUV craze coming.

Presumably unpowered (but hey, it has solar panels to run the air conditioning!), this would make an interesting piece in any collection. It should bring between $17,500-$29,500. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $8,616.

Citroen Tubyk Concept

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2010 Citroen Tubyk Concept

Offered by Leclere | Aulnay sous Bois, France | December 10, 2017

Photo – Leclere

No, this is not a panda with wheels. Instead, it is a modern take on Citroen’s TUB light van of 1939-1941. The TUB was the first van ever to feature a sliding side door. This concept van debuted at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. It’s full-on French weird in that they-just-might-build-it kind of way.

This one isn’t powered but it should bring between $23,500-$35,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of the Citroen’s on offer.

Update: Sold $43,747.

Update: Sold, Aguttes July 2017, $7,156.

Sbarro Berlingo Flanerie

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1999 Citroen Berlingo Flanerie by Sbarro

Offered by Leclere | Aulnay sous Bois, France | December 10, 2017

Photo – Leclere

The Berlingo is a van built sold by Citroen. The first generation was introduced in 1996. Switzerland-based Sbarro got their hands on this one and made it wacky. In all, they did at least three takes on the Berlingo. This one has four rows of seats and looks like an amusement park vehicle, like something that would be used in Jurassic Park.

This is the only one like it and it is currently missing running gear. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a Berlingo power unit and pop it back under hood. This should bring between $10,500-$13,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $12,593.

Bizzarrini 1900 GT Europa

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1968 Bizzarrini 1900 GT Europa

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Paris, France | February 7, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Giotto Bizzarrini founded his company in Livorno, Italy, in 1964 after getting canned by Enzo Ferrari and after having worked at ATS and Iso. Bizzarrini S.p.A. built some race cars and their first road car was based on the Iso Grifo A3C and it was called the 5300 GT Strada.

It was a stunning road car and sold in small numbers and would ultimately be their most successful model. Meanwhile, Bizzarrini was working on a version of the 5300 GT for General Motors’ Opel division. It was a lighter model with a smaller engine. He liked it enough that he ended up building the car himself, and he called it the 1900 GT Europa.

It’s powered by a 1.9-liter Opel straight-four that makes 110 horsepower (a few cars had a 1.5-liter Fiat unit). With a fiberglass body, these cars are extremely light, making them good performers. Only 17 left the factory between 1966 and 1969, though a few more may have been assembled after the company closed down using spare parts.

Bizzarrinis rarely come up for sale, and the Europa model comes up for sale even less often. This one should bring between $300,000-$350,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Paris.

Update: Sold $260,667.

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

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1970 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 5-14, 2018

Photo – Mecum

Chevrolet just announced their newest Corvette halo model: the C7 ZR1. It’s a 750 horsepower beast that traces its name back to this car. The original ZR1 was a special option introduced on the Corvette in 1970. It was a $1,200 special engine option that also brought a heavy duty transmission, brakes, and suspension. It also blacked out convenience options such as power windows and air conditioning, making it a task-focused performance car.

Offered as a coupe or convertible, the ZR1 was available from 1970 through 1972 and even spawned a ZR2 variant. The engine is a 370 horsepower, 5.7-liter V-8, which might sound kind of wimpy compared to the 430 horsepower from some of the mid-1960s Stingrays, but you have to remember that emissions standards were beginning to squeeze the juice out of these motors.

Only 25 ZR1 coupes were built in 1970 out of a total three year model run of 53 cars. These don’t command the same money as a C3 L88, but they’re still some of the priciest Corvettes from this year. This one is all-original and shows just 16,000 miles. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $130,000.

The Oldest Alfa Romeo

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1921 Alfa Romeo G1

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Phoenix, Arizona | January 18-19, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Alfa Romeo traces its roots back to the Italian Darracq company that was founded in 1906. That company became Societa Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, or A.L.F.A., in 1910. During the First World War, Nicola Romeo became the director of A.L.F.A. and after the war he changed the name of the company to Alfa Romeo.

The new company’s first model was designed by longtime Alfa designer Giuseppe Merosi. Introduced in 1921, the G1 as it was called, was built in limited numbers through 1923 before being replaced by the more popular RL. It should also be noted that there were a few A.L.F.A.-branded G1s that made it out of the factory before the branding switched.

The G1 is powered by a 6.3-liter straight-six making 70 horsepower, quite a decent amount for its day. This car sports a racer’s body, having been most recently restored in 2000. It’s early years were spent on a farm in Australia before being rescued in the 1960s and it’s remained in the collection of New Zealand’s Alfa importer for some time.

Only 52 examples of the G1 were ever built and this is the only one known to exist, making it the oldest Alfa Romeo-branded automobile in the world. It should bring more than a million dollars when it goes under the hammer in January. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $445,000.

Ruf BTR

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1984 Ruf BTR

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 5-14, 2018

Photo – Mecum

The BTR was Ruf Automobile’s first big time model. Ruf, of course, is interesting because they are their own manufacturer as they get Porsche chassis/bodies before a VIN tag is applied and tune them, before selling them under their own name. This car began life as a Porsche 911 (930) Turbo.

The BTR was available between 1983 and 1989. They built between 20-30 original cars, and converted (or upgraded) a few 930 Turbos after that to BTR specification. That specification is a turbocharged 3.4-liter flat-6 making 374 horsepower, which is 40-ish more horsepower than you would’ve had if you’d stuck with the Porsche.

When introduced this was among the fastest cars in the world, with a top speed approaching 190 mph. This car sports 35,000 miles and it’s a very rare opportunity to acquire one. A few Rufs have come up for sale recently, but this is a classic. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $160,000.

November 2017 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

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We’re starting this post off with a fascinating liquidation sale brought to us by Bonhams. They auctioned off the Lindley Bothwell collection of historic motorcars. The top sale, as predicted everywhere, was the unbelievable Peugeot Grand Prix car for $7,260,000. The other million dollar cars we featured were the Mercedes-Simplex for $1,072,500 and the Benz racer for $1,870,000.

Of the cars we featured, the only one that was remotely affordable was the Crestmobile that sold for $39,600. As far as interesting sales, this 1910 Pope-Hartford Model W 50HP Racer takes the cake, selling for $264,000.

Photo – Bonhams

The rest of our feature cars all sold. The twin-cylinder Packard sold for $423,500, the Austro-Daimler $176,000, and the Clement-Panhard $60,500. Click here for complete results, including quite a number of model trains and even some horse-drawn streetcars.

Half a world away, H&H Classics held their final automobile sale of the year. The biggest sale went to this 1963 Jaguar E-Type Series I 3.8 Coupe for $240,442. The Austin Prototype we featured failed to find a new home. Click here for complete results.

Photo – H&H Classics

Next up, Osenat’s final automotive sale of 2017. There were a few cars worthy of being featured from this sale, but we ran out of time. Blame Lindley Bothwell. The top sale was this 1972 Dino 246 GT for $297,145. Click here for more results.

Photo – Osenat

Sotheby’s sold one of Michael Schumacher’s F1 cars, specifically this 2001 Ferrari F2001, at a Contemporary Art Auction in New York. Kind of weird as F1 cars are more functional than they are art. Anyway, it brought an impressive $7,504,000.

Photo – Sotheby’s

Finally, Mecum in Kansas City. The top sale here was this 2005 Ford GT for $265,000.

Photo – Mecum

The Stellite we featured a while back sold again, this time for $3,750. My personal offer of $4,000 still stands. Email me and I’ll buy it. Click here for the rest of their results.

1957 Dodge D100

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1957 Dodge D100 Pickup

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 5-13, 2018

Photo – Mecum

The 1957 Dodge pickups are great-looking trucks, especially the ultra-rare D100 Sweptside. As discussed in that post, the D100 was actually part of the C Series of pickups that Dodge offered between 1954 and 1960. The D100 was the 1/2 ton model.

In 1957, the engine was either a six or eight and this truck has the 5.2-liter Red Ram V-8 making 204 horsepower. And it. Is. Clean. This is a great color scheme for a truck, very 1957. The 1950s offered some pretty pickups, and this is no exception. See more here.

Update: Sold $55,000.

Six Collectible Pickups

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Five Classic American Pickup Trucks (and one Canadian)

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 5-13, 2018

1939 Chevrolet Master Pickup

Photo – Mecum

The Chevrolet Master was produced between 1933 and 1942. After the war their model names would change, but the pickup truck had been part of their lineup for some time prior to that. Their pickups from this era shared the same basic design as their passenger cars as they were all offered as part of the same model line.

This truck is powered by Chevy’s 3.4-liter straight-six, likely producing 85 horsepower. The dark green shortbed example you see here was restored about 1,500 miles ago and it has a wooden bed. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $30,000.

1939 Plymouth Model PT81 1/2 Ton Pickup

Photo – Mecum

Yes, Plymouth built pickup trucks (other than the Scamp and Arrow). Before WWII started, they built some beautiful pickups. They built the Model PT line of trucks between 1937 and 1941, with the 1939 model dubbed “PT81.”

This truck is powered by a 3.3-liter straight-six. It’s well optioned and wonderfully restored. PT Plymouth pickups aren’t that easy to come by and they’re some of the prettiest trucks you can get. You can see more about this one here.

Update: Sold $36,300.

1941 Ford 1/2 Ton Pickup

Photo – Mecum

Mecum finds some great old pickups for their sales. The 1941 Ford was introduced, obviously, in 1941 and was the same model they picked up after the war ended, producing it through 1948. But, their 1941 Pickup used the leftover styling from 1940. So this truck was part of the newer line of cars (with a new-for-’41 color, Lockhaven Green), but still looks like an older one.

The engine here is an 85 horsepower, 3.6-liter Flathead V-8. This example had a frame-off restoration that took it back to as-new condition… likely better-than-new. Ford pickups never go out of style, and this is a great one. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $32,000.

Update: Sold, Mecum Indy 2018, $37,400.

1957 Dodge D100 Pickup

Photo – Mecum

The 1957 Dodge pickups are great-looking trucks, especially the ultra-rare D100 Sweptside. As discussed in that post, the D100 was actually part of the C Series of pickups that Dodge offered between 1954 and 1960. The D100 was the 1/2 ton model.

In 1957, the engine was either a six or eight and this truck has the 5.2-liter Red Ram V-8 making 204 horsepower. And it. Is. Clean. This is a great color scheme for a truck, very 1957. The 1950s offered some pretty pickups, and this is no exception. See more here.

Update: Sold $55,000.

1959 Mercury M100 Pickup

Photo – Mecum

Yes, even Mercury got in on the pickup game after WWII. The Mercury M-Series was offered between 1946 and 1968. Sold primarily in Canada, these trucks more or less mirrored Ford’s American offerings with slightly different exterior styling.

This third generation truck is the Canadian equivalent of the Ford F100, meaning it’s the 1/2 ton model. Two engines were offered in 1959, a 3.7-liter straight-six or a 4.8-liter V-8, and this truck is equipped with the former. It’s a step-side pickup that presents well enough. This is an interesting truck and a rarity in the U.S. Click here for more.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $16,000.

1972 International 1210 Pickup

Photo – Mecum

International Harvester, now a company that builds tractors and semis, used to build passenger vehicles. The final examples rolled off the line in 1980, and those were SUVs. True pickup production ended in 1975 when they built their final example of the D-Series Light Line pickup rolled off the line. These trucks were built between 1969 and 1975.

This Model 1210 was the 3/4 ton model and it’s powered by a 6.4-liter V-8. It’s got 4-wheel drive and this example appears to be a survivor. International-branded pickups don’t get the credit they deserve in collector circles as everyone wants a Ford, Chevy or Dodge. These were the workhorse trucks. IHC would be doing good business today if they had remained in the market, but instead you’ll have to settle for a time capsule like this one. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $26,400.