A Pair of Benzes

1897 Benz 10HP Mylord-Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 5, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

Let’s start with the fact that this car is listed as a “circa 1897” in the catalog, which is interesting because it is powered by a 2.7-liter flat-twin. This 10 horsepower engine was first found in the Benz Dos-a-Dos of 1899. Earlier in this car’s life, before its late-1980s restoration, it was registered as an 1895. So who knows.

This Mylord-Coupe is one of three known examples. These early twin “contra-motor” Benzes are highly sought after for their increased power. The Dos-a-Dos was gone by 1902, giving way to more modern vehicles. This incredibly rare early car is expected to fetch between $500,000-$750,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.


1911 Benz 50HP Victoria by Demarest

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 5, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

And here we have a larger, “modern” Benz. The 50HP model was introduced in 1906 and was only available to American customers here and there. According to the auction catalog, it was almost a special-order occasion in order to get one stateside.

This particular car was sold new in the US and wears American coachwork from Demarest. Power is from a 7.4-liter inline-four good for, you guessed it, 50 horsepower. It was near the upper reaches of the Benz model line, but by 1911 it had effectively been replaced. This is likely one of the last 50HP models produced, and it cost $10,000 when new.

And it’s the only known survivor of the model. Its first owner perished on the Titanic, and the car was restored in 2014. The pre-sale estimate is $400,000-$500,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Sold for unknown amount.

Benz 50HP Victoria

1911 Benz 50HP Victoria by Demarest

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 5, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

And here we have a larger, “modern” Benz. The 50HP model was introduced in 1906 and was only available to American customers here and there. According to the auction catalog, it was almost a special-order occasion in order to get one stateside.

This particular car was sold new in the US and wears American coachwork from Demarest. Power is from a 7.4-liter inline-four good for, you guessed it, 50 horsepower. It was near the upper reaches of the Benz model line, but by 1911 it had effectively been replaced. This is likely one of the last 50HP models produced, and it cost $10,000 when new.

And it’s the only known survivor of the model. Its first owner perished on the Titanic, and the car was restored in 2014. The pre-sale estimate is $400,000-$500,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Sold for unknown amount.

Cadillac Model K

1907 Cadillac Model K Runabout

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Amelia Island, Florida | March 6-7, 2020

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Cadillac was founded in 1902, and by the 1930s they were known for their large V12 and V16-powered cars. But single-cylinders were an important part of their history. It was all they made until their first four went on sale in 1905. But at that time singles were still selling, so they stayed on through 1908.

The Model K was sold in 1906 and 1907, and in ’07 you could’ve had a $3,500 Runabout like this car, or a $3,700 Runabout with a Victoria top. Power is from a 1.6-liter single-cylinder that was advertised at 10 horsepower.

This one retains its original body and is said to be set up for touring. It should sell for between $60,000-$80,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $53,200.

Marcos 1500GT

1968 Marcos 1500GT

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 5, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

The Marcos GT remains the torchbearer for Marcos styling. They’ve more or less iterated upon this design since it was first launched in 1964 as the 1800. Part of the charm of that car was that it used a fiberglass body over a plywood chassis and a Volvo-sourced engine.

In 1966, Marcos placed a 1.5-liter Ford Kent inline-four under the hood and re-dubbed the car the 1500GT. Output was 85 horsepower. The car would continue to evolve and eventually lose its plywood chassis in favor of a steel one.

This is one of only 82 1500GTs built and one of only eight delivered new to the U.S. They’re a rare sight on either side of the pond, and this one should sell for somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000-$60,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $33,600.

Centenario Roadster

2017 Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4 Roadster

Offered by Gooding & Company | Amelia Island, Florida | March 6, 2020

Photo – Gooding & Company

Lamborghini launched the Centenario at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show to celebrate company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini’s 100th birthday. It’s based on the Aventador SV and shares that car’s carbon-fiber monocoque, although it uses more extreme aerodynamics. It’s also the first Lambo with rear-wheel steering.

The engine is also shared. It’s a 759 horsepower, 6.5-liter V12, which is more output than in the SV. The car will hit 60 in 2.8 seconds and tops out at 217 mph. This car is finished in a really nice two-tone blue with a lot of carbon fiber exterior accents.

Only 20 coupes and 20 roadsters were built. This roadster is expected to bring between $2,000,000-$2,500,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Renault Vanderbilt Racer

1907 Renault Type AI 35/45HP Vanderbilt Racer

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 5, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

The Renault AI was one of the company’s large luxury cars and was offered between 1905 and 1910. They were powered by large 7.5-liter inline-fours that made about 65 horsepower. The fact that this big power rating came from one of France’s more storied early competition car-builders is probably why this car exists.

Willie K. Vanderbilt, yes, of that family, was a gearhead who started competing in races in the US and Europe about as early as you could. Around 1906, he asked Renault to build him a run of race cars based on their AI engine. He bought 10 of them for $150,000 and all had different coachwork. He sold most of them and kept one for himself.

The cars were successful racing in America, and this is one of five Vanderbilt racers that have survived. It was discovered in 1946 and went to the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum in 1957. Most of the other survivors are locked away in collections. Bonhams won’t even give an estimate on this car, but it’s a pretty incredible, useable survivor. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $3,332,500.

Talbot-Lago T23

1938 Talbot-Lago T23 Cabriolet

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Amelia Island, Florida | March 6-7, 2020

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

When Anthony Lago bought out failing Talbot in 1936, he went about turning the company around. A big part of his plan were models like this, the T23. It was one of the first new models introduced, and it was downmarket from the later, extremely grand, models like the T26 and T150C.

Power is from a 4.0-liter inline-six good for 140 horsepower. Dubbed the “Baby Talbot,” the cars still wore fanciful bodies like this one, which was built by the factory but designed in partnership with Figoni.

It wears an older restoration and has a very nice-looking red and wood interior. The bigger Talbot-Lagos command big money. This Baby should bring between $300,000-$400,000… which is still a decent amount. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $250,000.

Benz Mylord-Coupe

1897 Benz 10HP Mylord-Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 5, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

Let’s start with the fact that this car is listed as a “circa 1897” in the catalog, which is interesting because it is powered by a 2.7-liter flat-twin. This 10 horsepower engine was first found in the Benz Dos-a-Dos of 1899. Earlier in this car’s life, before its late-1980s restoration, it was registered as an 1895. So who knows.

This Mylord-Coupe is one of three known examples. These early twin “contra-motor” Benzes are highly sought after for their increased power. The Dos-a-Dos was gone by 1902, giving way to more modern vehicles. This incredibly rare early car is expected to fetch between $500,000-$750,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

1918 Opel Phaeton

1918 Opel 14/38 PS Double Phaeton

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 5, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

Adam Opel set up shop in 1862 to make sewing machines. He stuck around through a switch to bicycle manufacturing in 1886, but died before the company built its first car in 1899. Early Opels don’t come up for sale that often, though there are some to be found at classic car dealerships all over Germany. You certainly don’t see them in the U.S. all too often.

This pre-GM 14/38 PS (General Motors took over in 1931) was a model produced between 1913 and 1924. It was a large luxury car that was revised over the years. In 1918, the 3.3-liter inline-four was rated at 38 horsepower.

This one retains its original body and was parked unused in Sweden from 1939 until 1998. It has since been restored and is now expected to fetch between $125,000-$175,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Sold, result not published. #Boooo

Italdesign Aztec

1988 Italdesign Aztec

Offered Online by Bring a Trailer

Photo – Bring a Trailer

The Aztec was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign as a celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary. It was shown as a prototype at the 1988 Turin Motor Show. Then the company decided to actually build road-going examples. They wanted to make 50 of them, but probably only 18 were actually completed.

It’s an almost-mythical car. They never come up for sale (at least publicly) and this is the first one to hit the auction block in more than a decade (though a quick search will show you zero auction results for the model at all). This one was once in the Shanghai Auto Museum, which seems like a place cars don’t escape from. But it was brought stateside by the Blackhawk Collection (who has a magical way to get some other classics out of China).

The Aztec is powered by a turbocharged 2.2-liter Audi inline-five that made 250 horsepower (if the stickers on the car are to be believed). That’s not exactly supercar territory, power-wise. But, those looks. That’s why this qualifies as a supercar. It looks like it drove off of a Star Wars set. It has a dual-canopy cockpit with gullwing and side-hinged doors. It’s straight out of bizarro land.

And it. Is. Amazing. This is a car I’ve wanted to see come to market for a long time (since I started this site almost a decade ago). And it’s the first one to hit the open market. What’s it worth? That’s the fun part. No one knows… there isn’t a big list of past sales to give us a clue. But if it isn’t a big money car, it deserves to be. Chances are you won’t see another one change hands for quite a while (unless the selling price here knocks it out of the park… then we’ll see a few of them).

Think about all of the wild stuff that came out of the 90s supercar madness. This is like the genesis of that. It’s a bummer this wasn’t a bigger success, then maybe they would’ve put the Nazca C2 into production as well. That could’ve led to even more fun in the 90s (Alfa Romeo Scighera anyone?).

The Aztec is among the wildest designs ever put into production, and it is the precursor to all of the low-run, high-end stuff we are awash in today. Check out more about this car here. But hurry, the auction ends Monday.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $165,000.