Monthly Archives: March 2018

Three Cars from the Jaguar Land Rover Collection

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Three Cars from the Jaguar Land Rover Collection

Offered by Brightwells | Bicester, U.K. | March 21, 2018

1974 Rover P6 3500 Estoura

Photo – Brightwells

Jaguar Land Rover bought the entire 453 car James Hull collection in 2014. Many of those cars were Jaguars, but they had a bunch of other oddballs and are selling a good number of them. We’ll show you three, starting with this Rover P6 Estoura.

The Rover P6 3500 was produced between 1968 and 1977. They’re powered by a 3.5-liter V-8 making 146 horsepower. The cars were four-door sedans and if you wanted a wagon, you had to go to an outside company. Enter FLM Panelcraft, who turned 150 P6 3500 sedans into Estoura estates. It is said that this is one of the finest of this model in existence and you can read more here.

Update: Sold $13,578.

1960 Vauxhall Velox Friary Estate

Photo – Brightwells

This looks like Britain’s idea of a big American wagon. Which it kind of is as it was built by Vauxhall, then a division of General Motors. Well, actually GM didn’t build it as the Velox PA, which was produced between 1957 and 1962, was only offered from the factory as a four-door sedan.

But estate cars were popular and if the factory wouldn’t build them, someone else would. In this case, it was Friary of Basingstoke and the result is beautiful, in a 1960s wagon kind of way. This car is powered by a 2.3-liter straight-six making 83 horsepower. This example was restored at some point.

The Queen had one – and now you can too. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $12,729

1977 Princess 2200 HL

Photo – Brightwells

Brightwells dubbed this sale “affordable classics” and that’s exactly what we have here. Princess was a marque produced by British Leyland from 1975 to 1981 (and for an extra year in New Zealand). It was not an Austin, nor a Morris (though it was produced by the Austin-Morris Division) but was a separate brand entirely.

This is a first generation Princess (of two) and it sports the larger of the two engines offered during its 1975-1978 model run. It’s a 2.2-liter straight-six making 110 horsepower. Two trims were offered, with this being the lesser of them. It’s a super 1970s car if you want a throwback to what is largely considered a sad era for British motorcars. But Princess-branded cars are getting harder to find. Click here for more info on this one.

Update: Sold $3,111.

Rover P6 Estoura

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1974 Rover P6 3500 Estoura

Offered by Brightwells | Bicester, U.K. | March 21, 2018

Photo – Brightwells

Jaguar Land Rover bought the entire 453 car James Hull collection in 2014. Many of those cars were Jaguars, but they had a bunch of other oddballs and are selling a good number of them. We’ll show you three, starting with this Rover P6 Estoura.

The Rover P6 3500 was produced between 1968 and 1977. They’re powered by a 3.5-liter V-8 making 146 horsepower. The cars were four-door sedans and if you wanted a wagon, you had to go to an outside company. Enter FLM Panelcraft, who turned 150 P6 3500 sedans into Estoura estates. It is said that this is one of the finest of this model in existence and you can read more here.

Update: Sold $13,578.

Vauxhall Velox Estate

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1960 Vauxhall Velox Friary Estate

Offered by Brightwells | Bicester, U.K. | March 21, 2018

Photo – Brightwells

This looks like Britain’s idea of a big American wagon. Which it kind of is as it was built by Vauxhall, then a division of General Motors. Well, actually GM didn’t build it as the Velox PA, which was produced between 1957 and 1962, was only offered from the factory as a four-door sedan.

But estate cars were popular and if the factory wouldn’t build them, someone else would. In this case, it was Friary of Basingstoke and the result is beautiful, in a 1960s wagon kind of way. This car is powered by a 2.3-liter straight-six making 83 horsepower. This example was restored at some point.

The Queen had one – and now you can too. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $12,729

Princess 2200

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1977 Princess 2200 HL

Offered by Brightwells | Bicester, U.K. | March 21, 2018

Photo – Brightwells

Brightwells dubbed this sale “affordable classics” and that’s exactly what we have here. Princess was a marque produced by British Leyland from 1975 to 1981 (and for an extra year in New Zealand). It was not an Austin, nor a Morris (though it was produced by the Austin-Morris Division) but was a separate brand entirely.

This is a first generation Princess (of two) and it sports the larger of the two engines offered during its 1975-1978 model run. It’s a 2.2-liter straight-six making 110 horsepower. Two trims were offered, with this being the lesser of them. It’s a super 1970s car if you want a throwback to what is largely considered a sad era for British motorcars. But Princess-branded cars are getting harder to find. Click here for more info on this one.

Update: Sold $3,111.

White M3 Half-Track

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1944 White M3

Offered by H&H Classics | Duxford, U.K. | March 21, 2018

Photo – H&H Classics

We. Love. Half-tracks. And based on the historical page visits on this website, so do you. This is an M3, produced by White, and it was developed from the M2 Half Track, which was based in principle on the Citroen Kegresse.

M3s were built by White, Autocar, and Diamond T between 1940 and 1945. It’s powered by a 3.7-liter straight-six making 147 horsepower. Even with the tracks, these were capable of 45 mph on the road and were very popular among the Allied forces.

About 41,000 of these were built between the three different manufacturers. It’s very similar to the M5 half-track built by International Harvester, which was built because the three manufacturers of the M3 couldn’t keep pace with demand. This one has been decently restored and should bring between $55,000-$83,500. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Tesla Roadster

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2010 Tesla Roadster

Offered by Mecum | Kansas City, Missouri | March 16-17, 2018

Photo – Mecum

There is no more polarizing automaker right now than Tesla. While their current products and leadership seem to divide people into the groups of Skeptics, Fanboys, or complete indifference, I think we can all agree that the original Tesla, the Roadster, is still a pretty cool car.

The Roadster was produced between 2008 and 2012 and was based on the rolling chassis of a Lotus Elise (much like the Hennessey Venom GT). Instead of fitting it with a small four-cylinder engine, Telsa used their own electric motor which offered a maximum horsepower of 248. The Sport model, which was released in 2009, made 288 horsepower. The base model could hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and topped out at 125 mph.

Only about 2,450 of these were built – and so far there is only one of them floating around in space. This is a well-enjoyed model, showing 41,235 miles. It comes with two different tops and charging cables. If electric cars continue become more and more widespread and adopted, then this car will stand as sort of the first of the modern electric road cars as it more or less launched Tesla, the company leading the electric car charge.

When new, this car cost a little over $100,000 and it probably hasn’t depreciated all that much (if it hasn’t appreciated by this point) due to the draw Tesla cars have right now. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $55,000.

Amilcar CGSS

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1927 Amilcar CGSS Voiturette

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | March 18, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Amilcar was a French automobile brand that built cars between 1921 and 1939. They were good – as you can see – at building sporty little roadsters. Toward the end of their existence, they also offered a forward-thinking model aimed for more mass-market consumption. But financial difficulties and the war prevented it from being a success.

Ah, but the CGS Type S (or CGSS). It’s a fantastic example of pre-war French sportiness. It may not have the desirability or pedigree of a Bugatti, but these are awfully sharp looking cars, aren’t they? The CGS was introduced in 1923 and the CGSS, which was lower and more powerful, was produced between 1926 and 1929. It’s powered by a 40 horsepower 1.1-liter straight-four.

This car came to the U.S. in the 1990s and was professionally restored between 2002 and 2005. It returned to Europe in 2012 and hasn’t been used much since. The color scheme here is fantastic and the car looks great. Only about 4,700 examples of the CGS and CGSS were built. This one should sell for between $55,000-$82,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Bonhams’ Goodwood lineup.

Update: Sold $95,756.

LaFayette Coupe

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1924 LaFayette Model 134 Coupe

Offered by H&H Classics | Duxford, U.K. | March 21, 2018

Photo – H&H Classics

LaFayette has an interesting history. Founded secretly by Charles Nash and staffed with ex-Cadillac designers and engineers, the first LaFayettes hit the market in 1921. It was a full-on luxury car aimed squarely at Cadillac. At first, it was a completely separate endeavor from Nash Motors.

After a slow start, LaFayette was reorganized and moved from Indianapolis to Milwaukee with Nash Motors as the largest shareholder, effectively making it a Nash subsidiary at last in 1923. Later that year Nash introduced the Ajax at the low end of the market and LaFayette became part of that division.

This car is powered by a 5.7-liter V-8 good for 100 horsepower. Seven body styles were offered in 1924, which was the final year for production as Nash sort of gave up on the venture. This four-door coupe (that’s right, LaFayette was almost 100 years ahead of the times) was a four-passenger car. The only two-passenger LaFayette was the Roadster. When new, this car cost a not-insignificant $6,300. Only 2,267 LaFayette motorcars were produced (with just 441 of those being produced in 1924) making this extremely rare. This car, which is selling in England, sports a claimed $200,000 restoration and is expected to bring between $35,000-$48,000. If you want to make a quick buck, buy this for even the upper end of that estimate, ship it to the U.S. and take it to auction at Hershey. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $63,614.

Cannon GT

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1964 Cannon GT Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | March 18, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Mike Cannon was originally from Australia but it was when he came to the U.K. that he got hooked on trials racing. He made quite a name for himself at it and ended up building a series of really basic trials cars – about 120 in total – that saw a fair amount of success on the off-road hillclimbs.

In the 1960s, Cannon decided to take his skills to the pavement and his goal was to beat the popular – and winning – Diva GT. He built a spaceframe chassis and coated it with fiberglass and aluminium skin. Underneath is a 1.1-liter Ford straight-four.

It is believed that only two of these were ever actually built. It kind of looks like a British Cheetah. It’s been pretty active on the historic racing circuit and is looking for a new wheelman (or woman) to keep it going. It should sell for between $34,000-$41,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $31,256.

March 2018 Auction Highlights

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We pick up where we left off last time, with the other half of Silverstone Auctions’ Race Retro sale. This was the “Classic Car” half and this 1997 Aston Martin V8 Vantage V550 that was purchased new by Elton John was the top sale at $306,412.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The one-and-only Aspira supercar we previously-featured sold here for $95,851. Click here for full results.

On to Historics at Brooklands at Ascot Racecourse. The Railton we featured failed to sell, but the top sale was this 1992 Porsche 911 RS that brought $386,596. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Brightwells held a Classic & Vintage Cars sale on March 7th. The only car we featured, the Daimler DS420 Landaulette, sold for $13,852. The top sale was this 1975 Aston Martin V8 Series 3 for $76,190. Click here for more from Brightwells.

Photo – Brightwells

Onward to Amelia Island! We’ll start with Bonhams where two of our feature cars failed to sell: the 1899 Panhard and the Kurtis KK4000 Indy car. The overall top sale was this 2015 McLaren P1 for $1,710,000.

Photo – Bonhams

The 1912 Thomas Flyer sold for $196,000, the Kellison J4R $28,000, and the Lotus Mk VI $30,240. Click here for other results.

To finish off the first half of Amelia Island results, we have Gooding & Company. The cars with the largest estimates all failed to sell so the top seller ended up being this dusty fresh 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB Long Nose Alloy for $2,530,000 (which is still some pretty big money).

Photo – Gooding & Company

Another Ferrari, the 212 Europa we featured, brought some big money too: $1,600,000. The Lion-Peugeot handily exceeded its estimate, selling for $220,000. And Frank Kurtis’ 500S sold for $112,750. Click here for everything else.