Monthly Archives: January 2022

Duesenberg J-142

Posted on by
Reply

1929 Duesenberg Model J Convertible Coupe by Murphy

Offered by Mecum | Glendale, California | March 16-19, 2022

Photo – Mecum

Great colors! In the sea of Model Js that have been featured on this site, sometimes it’s something as simple as a great paint job that will set one of them apart. It also doesn’t hurt that this car wears sporty convertible coupe coachwork by Murphy, the most prolific of Model J body constructors. In all, 60 were fitted with this style by Murphy.

The 6.9-liter Lycoming inline-eight developed 265 horsepower when new. No word if this engine is original to this chassis, but honestly who cares. The car is ACD Club certified, and its first owner is known.

This car previously resided in the Blackhawk Collection and the Imperial Palace Collection. It’s also an AACA and CCCA award winner. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $2,365,000.

The King of Iraq’s 770K

Posted on by
Reply

1930 Mercedes-Benz 770K Four-Door Three-Position Cabriolet by Voll & Ruhrbeck

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | January/February 2022

Photo – Bring a Trailer Auctions

The first comment on this auction was to the effect of “This is BaT at a completely different level.” And they ain’t kidding. The 770K was not only extremely exclusive when new, but also ultra rare. And they trade hands (at least publicly) very infrequently. The W07, which was the first generation of the 770 range, went on sale in 1930, making this an early example, in terms of timing. It would be replaced by the W150 in 1938.

They were very expensive cars, intended for high-ranking government officials. The (second-generation) 770K is largely remembered for being the choice cars of Nazi officials. But this car was produced before the Nazis were even in power. And it was sold new to the King of Iraq, remaining in his family until the 1950s.

Power is from a supercharged 7.7-liter inline-eight that made 200 horsepower with the supercharger engaged. Mercedes built 205 examples of the 770 in total, with 117 being the first-gen style. This one was bodied by Voll & Ruhrbeck of Berlin as an imposing, intimidating car. Which was probably the desired effect considering the type of people who owned them.

The car has about 10 days left at auction by the time this posts, and bidding was up to $600,000 at the time of this writing. The cheaper of the two 770Ks we’ve featured in the past sold for $2.5 million, with the other one not selling at a bid of $7 million. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $2,555,555.

Brabham BT5

Posted on by
Reply

1962 Brabham BT5

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

Photo – Bonhams

Motor Racing Developments Ltd. is commonly known as Brabham, as that’s the name their vehicles carried. The marque competed in Formula One for 30 years and had their cars entered in a variety of other series, including Indy Car, Formula Two, and Can-Am.

This sports racing prototype is the first of two BT5s built. In fact, Brabham only built 14 sports prototypes in total. The other 12 were BT8s. This one is powered by a Lotus-Ford 1.6-liter inline-four. It won races in England in period with driver Frank Gardner and came to the U.S. in 1963, competing in SCCA events thereafter and winning a championship in ’64.

More recently, the car competed in historic events in Europe and the U.S. It has a pre-sale estimate of $170,000-$200,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $169,742.

Hispano-Suiza Tourer

Posted on by
Reply

1912 Hispano-Suiza 15/20HP Tourer

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

Photo – Bonhams

We’ve featured our fair share of Hispano-Suiza cars over the years, most of which are of the 1920s-1930s coachbuilt variety. And nearly all of those were Hispano’s high-end luxury offerings with big six- and 12-cylinder engines. But this is slightly different.

Prior to the H6B of 1919, many of the company’s cars were simply given model names to reflect their output (especially pre-1910). The 15/20HP came out in 1910 was produced through 1914. The 2.6-liter inline-four made 20 horsepower.

Pre-1920 Hispano-Suizas are rarely seen, and this Spanish-built example is said to have remained in Spain for most of its life. It has a pre-sale estimate of $68,000-$91,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $73,119.

Jawa A-700

Posted on by
Reply

1937 Jawa A-700

Silverstone Auctions | London, U.K. | March 5, 2022

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Jawa has primarily been known for their motorcycles since the company’s 1929 founding by Frantisek Janecek in Prague. They continued with bike production for decades, and continue to exist. For a brief time in the 1930s, the company experimented with four-wheel automobiles.

Only three models were ever offered, including the 750 (a very limited-run sports car), the 600 Minor (which is better known as its post-war successor, the Aero Minor), and this, the 700. It features a front-wheel-drive layout and is powered by a 684cc water-cooled two-stroke inline-twin. It was more or less a license-built copy of the DKW F2.

Only 1,002 were produced between 1934 and 1937, at which time it was replaced by the short-lived 600 Minor. It’s pretty amazing that this example exists at all, as Prague was sort of ground zero for “things not surviving WWII.” A restoration was completed sometime in the last two years. Only a handful of these exist, like very few. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $25,679.

Shadow DN9B

Posted on by
Reply

1979 Shadow-Cosworth DN9B

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

Photo – Bonhams

Shadow Racing Cars competed in Formula One between 1973 and 1980 after having established themselves in Cam-Am. Success was scarce, but the team did score a win in 1977 and had a number of podiums over the years.

The DN9 was first entered in 1978 and used there for nearly 3/4 of the season. It returned in 1979 and was eventually upgraded to “B” spec. It’s powered by a 3.0-liter Ford-Cosworth V8. No details on the specific competition history for this chassis, but apparently it was used in 1979 by Jan Lammers. Lammers had a best finish of 9th that season and only seven finishes out of a total of 15 races.

This car was used in historic series over the years, and it was restored somtime after 2003, with just a few hours on the engine since being rebuilt. It carries a pre-sale estimate of $230,000-$280,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold, price not disclosed. LAME, Bonhams. Lame.

Aston Virage Wagon

Posted on by
Reply

1993 Aston Martin Virage Shooting Brake

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

Photo – Bonhams

Aston Martin was not at a particularly strong point in their history when they introduced the Virage at the tail end of the 1980s. This was just as their former models, which dated back to the 60s, were being phased out. The Virage would spawn the Vantage and eventually be sold as the “V8” alongside early DB7s.

The factory body style was a four-seat coupe. But this “Shooting Brake” (c’mon, it’s got four doors. You can call it a wagon) is one of seven such cars built by the factory for customers who demanded a little more versatility out of their sports cars. There were a few three-door versions as well, but only seven apparently got the four-door treatment. This was the first, and it’s shorter in length than the later ones.

Another thing Aston did was offer the upcoming Vantage’s 6.3-liter V8 as an option. And this car has it. It was rated at 456 horsepower when new. The whole build is a pretty much custom deal, with a 12″ stretch and a manual gearbox conversion. Certainly not something you see everyday, this Virage wagon is expected to bring between $170,000-$290,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $169,742.

550 GTC

Posted on by
Reply

2003 Ferrari 550 GTC

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

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Ferrari turning their road-going cars into competitive race cars had kind of been a rare event since… well, the 1960s. Sure, they had “Challenge” race cars where 348s and F355s would compete against each other, but it’s not like they were taking them to Le Mans.

That sort of changed with the 550 Maranello. While Ferrari themselves weren’t outright building racing versions of the 550, some privateer teams were. The cars appeared in a few different classes/forms across a variety of series worldwide. We’ve already featured an ex-Le Mans GTLM version, and this is a GTC. The GTCs were “factory-built” in that Ferrari actually partnered with N-Technology to build two cars, both of which were constructed in 2003, after 550 Maranello road car production ceased. The other example is still owned by Ferrari.

Power is provided by a 5.5-liter V12. The competition history for this chassis included:

  • 2003 24 Hours of Spa – 27th, DNF (with Philipp Peter, Fabio Babini, and Boris Derichebourgh)

The following year it won the Italian Speed Hill Climb championship in the GTM category. The engine was rebuilt in 2016, and the current owner bought it the next year. It’s been restored to its Spa livery and now carries a pre-sale estimate of $2,300,000-$2,850,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

190E DTM

Posted on by
Reply

1991 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 DTM

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

Photo – Bonhams

The 190E Evolution is one of the coolest homologation road-car specials of all time. And the because of the stellar job it did… homologating… we have this. The actual real-deal DTM version of the 190E 2.5-16.

This car is one of two campaigned by Team Snobeck during the 1991 DTM season. For 1992 and 1993 it competed with a privateer driver in the Belgian Procar series. The current livery is a replica of an entirely different team’s, because “the owner of the car likes it.” If you don’t like it, buy it and change it.

The car retains a race version of the road car’s 2.5-liter, 16-valve Cosworth-developed inline-four. In race spec, output is around 335 horsepower. This car is not only one of the most badass touring cars ever built, but it’s just stunning in presentation. The pre-sale estimate is $340,000-$460,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $248,084.

Devin C

Posted on by
Reply

1959 Devin C

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

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Devin Enterprises of Southern California was one of America’s leading kit car companies of the 1950s. Various models were offered, including a couple of turn-key ones. In late 1961, they introduced the C, which used a Corvair-sourced engine.

In this car, which was a turn-key factory-built example, power comes from a Corvair flat-six, the size of which isn’t even mentioned in RM’s auction write-up. Apparently, back in the day, this car was used by the Granatelli brothers for supercharger testing at Bonneville. Pretty awesome. It also appeared at drag strips, setting a quarter-mile time of 12.44 seconds at 109 mph in period.

The current non-supercharged engine was installed during a 2010s restoration. RM estimates that about 21 Cs were built, with about 19 remaining. This one carries a pre-sale estimate of $70,000-$90,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $78,400.