Monthly Archives: December 2021

Voisin C1

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1921 Voisin C1 Limousine

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 3, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

Aviation pioneer Gabriel Voisin tried his hand at automobile production beginning in 1919. As the name might suggest, the C1 was the company’s first product. It would remain in production for a few years before being succeeded to quite a few different models.

Like all early Voisins, the car is powered by a Knight sleeve-valve engine. In this case, a 3.9-liter inline-four. The car was first registered in 1921 and was upgraded by the factory in 1925 with C3 brakes.

The body is a limousine with a partition between the front and rear passengers. The car was commandeered by the Germans during WWII and was purchased by the current owner in 1961. This early Voisin carries an estimate of $100,000-$150,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $143,628.

McLaren Senna GTR

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2020 McLaren Senna GTR

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | December 2021

Photo – Bring a Trailer Auctions

The Senna is one of McLaren’s “Ultimate Series” cars and is the successor the the P1. It’s basically a track toy for the street, but to make sure you knew that it was intended for the street, McLaren released the track-only GTR variant in 2018 (though the production version would come two years later). Only 75 were to be made. This is car #28.

Power is from a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 rated at 814 horsepower in GTR spec. That’s 25 more than the base car. It’s got a racing gearbox, an adjustable dual-element rear wing, seating for two, and air conditioning. And there are shops that will apparently modify these into “road-legal” cars.

This auction has a few days left, but at the time of this writing, the bidding was already at $1.3 million. So the price is only going to go up. It must be that Gulf livery… Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $1,302,000.

Duesenberg J-448

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1931 Duesenberg Model J Tourster by Derham

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Phoenix, Arizona | January 27, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

It is known that eight Derham Toursters were built on the Duesenberg Model J chassis. This is the fourth that we have featured in the last decade. There have been three other Tourster-style rebodies up for sale in that time as well. So with this car coming to market, you could have had eight in your stable.

The Model J is powered by a 265-horsepower, 6.9-liter inline-eight. The Derham coachwork was styled by Gordon Buehrig, who described it as his favorite Model J. It’s essentially a five-passenger touring car with rear suicide doors and a secondary roll-down windscreen for the rear-seat passengers.

These are sought after cars, even among the Model J crowd. This one was once owned by Andy Granatelli and was restored by RM. It’s been in a private collection for the last 20 years. You can read more about it here and see more from this sale here.

Update: Sold $3,415,000.

American Austin

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1934 American Austin Coupe

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 6, 2022

Photo – Mecum

The American Austin. The original cute microcar. Okay, so it’s actually a license-built version of England’s Austin Seven, which was originally introduced in 1923. American Austin was set up in Delaware in 1929, with production beginning the following year in Butler, Pennsylvania. The company eventually went bankrupt, and production ceased in 1935. The company was reformed in 1938 as American Bantam, who would go on to design the original Jeep.

Three different types of coupes were sold by American Austin in 1934 (the company also offered pickups and vans). I have no idea which one this is, but prices ranged from $295 to $385 when new. Coachwork is from the Hayes Body Corporation, hence why the American versions were more stylish than their British counterparts. Power is from a 747cc inline-four good for 15 horsepower.

This one has four-wheel drum brakes and was restored in 2012. Check out more about it here and see more from Mecum here.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $20,000.

H6B Tourer by Spohn

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1927 Hispano-Suiza H6B Tourer by Spohn

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie | Gstaad, Switzerland | December 29, 2021

Photo Oldtimer Galerie

It’s been a while since a great, coachbuilt Hispano-Suiza has come across this desk. But this one is pretty stunning. It carries a body by Hermann Spohn, who was well known as the primary body constructor for Maybach. Well, this very body was lifted from a Maybach Zeppelin around 1930 and applied to this chassis in place of the original Convertible Victoria coachwork.

The H6B was the middle child of the H6 line, debuting in 1922 and being sold alongside the later H6C for a while as well. It’s powered by a 6.6-liter inline-six originally rated at 135 horsepower.

This particular car was in the U.S. for some time prior to 1990, and it returned to Europe in 2003. The current owner acquired it in 2018, and a restoration of some degree was carried out in the last two years. The pre-sale estimate is $380,000-$435,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Renault R24

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2004 Renault R24

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Paris, France | February 2, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The 2004 F1 season was dominated by Ferrari, but Renault’s R24 was a contender. It won the Monaco Grand Prix that year. And this livery is a nostalgic throwback to some good years of F1. It just screams “let’s watch Fernando Alonso tear it up.”

The R24 is powered by a screaming 3.0-liter V10 that made about 900 horsepower (it is unclear if this car still has an engine). This car was acquired by its first private owner in 2016, at which time it was repainted and fitted with the blue and yellow Mild Seven livery that was made famous by Renault’s two world championships in period (which would both come in the two yeas after this car ran). The competition history for this chassis includes:

  • 2004 Chinese Grand Prix – 4th (with Fernando Alonso)
  • 2004 Japanese Grand Prix – 5th (with Alonso)
  • 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix – 4th (with Alonso)

This car, being used so late in the season is likely, technically, an R24B. The only thing it needs to be perfect is a set of period-correct grooved tires. This Renault is from the team’s brink of greatness and looks the part of the later cars. Check out more about it here and see more from this sale here.

Update: Sold $292,104

Siata Daina Coupe

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1950 Siata Daina Berlinetta

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie | Gstaad, Switzerland | December 29, 2021

Photo – Oldtimer Galerie

Siata’s Daina model was introduced in 1950 and remained available through 1958, although most of them were produced before 1953 was out. Body styles were essentially limited to a coupe and convertible, with the “factory” styles being produced by Stabilimenti Farina. When Farina went out of business, Bertone took over. Other coachbuilders also bodied some cars.

This car carries Farina coachwork and is powered by a 1.4-liter Fiat inline-four. A more desirable version called the Gran Sport was also available, and information regarding production numbers is often contradictory. Somewhere between 50 and 200 Dainas were built.

This one was sold new in Italy, spending time with a few owners around Lake Como. A many-year restoration started in the 1980s, and the car was sold out of Italy (to Germany) for the first time around 2014. It relocated to Switzerland later on, and it now carries a pre-sale estimate of $195,000-$240,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Durkopp Touring

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1910 Durkopp 8/18PS Touring

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 3, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

Durkopp, now known as Durkopp Adler, is a Germany company specializing in sewing machines, which is actually where the company got its start. They later expanded to bicycles before ending up producing automobiles. Production cars appeared in 1906, and commercial vehicles were also sold. Passenger cars were phased out in 1927, and trucks in 1929. After that they retreated to sewing machines.

This car is powered by a 2.0-liter inline-four that made about 18 horsepower. The car is said to be original, and it is thought that the body was an early one produced by Karmann. It was sold new in Sweden and was placed into storage in the mid-1920s, remaining there for about 80 years.

The car was acquired by the current owner in 2013 and has spent time in a museum. It now carries a pre-sale estimate of $120,000-$150,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Sauber C5

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1976 Sauber C5

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie | Gstaad, Swizterland | December 29, 2021

Photo – Oldtimer Galerie

Peter Sauber founded his motorsports company in 1970. Everything started with sports cars and prototypes, like this. Things would eventually progress to the top of the sportscar mountain before the team entered Formula One in 1993.

This C5 was campaigned by the Francy Racing Team, which was apparently some kind of back door Sauber works team. It ran a few seasons in the European Interserie Championshop. Race highlights include:

  • 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans – 29th, DNF (with Eugen Strahl and Peter Bernhard)

The car had a few owners over the years and was used in the Le Mans Classic in the 2000s before being restored in 2020. It appears to have a 2.0-liter BMW inline-four under the rear bodywork and is most probably turbocharged. It now carries a pre-sale estimate of $210,000-$255,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Rauch & Lang Electric

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1918 Rauch & Lang B26 Brougham

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 6-16, 2022

Photo – Mecum

Mystery. Mecum’s catalog lists this as a 1918 Baker. But I don’t believe it. And here’s why: Baker Electric of Cleveland, Ohio, began producing electric vehicles in 1899, and in 1915 they merged with Rauch & Lang, one of their fiercest electric-car-making competitors. The Baker brand was phased out on passenger cars after 1916 (trucks soldiered on for a little bit afterward).

The Rauch & Lang brand continued on, selling nearly identical cars to the Baker through the late 1920s. The Baker-Raulang name (as the post-merger company was called) soldiered on in various fields and continues to exist as Linde Material Handling, a manufacturer of forklifts, among other things. This car is apparently being sold from that company, having never been titled.

I called it a Rauch & Lang because Baker didn’t exist in 1918, and the model name follows the same structure as other R&L cars. This is about as low-mile (3,211) of a 100-year-old electric car you are likely to find. You can see more about it here and see more from Mecum here.

Update: Sold $55,000.