Author Archives: classiccarweekly

Toyota TF102

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2002 Toyota TF102

Offered by Bonhams | Monaco | May 2024

Photo – Bonhams

Toyota announced they were heading to Formula One in 1999, but they didn’t appear on the grid until 2002. The TF102 was their first F1 car, and this is chassis #03. It was used as a test car for the team throughout the year, seeing seat time with both of their drivers: Mika Salo and Allan McNish. It was also driven by Stephane Sarrazin and Alan Briscoe.

The team was both a chassis constructor and an engine manufacturer, and this chassis retains a 835-horsepower, 3.0-liter Toyota V10 (though, some electronics are missing). The TF102 peaked early, earning Salo a 6th place finish in its debut in Australia. Salo would achieve a 6th-place finish two rounds later in Brazil, and it was all downhill after that.

Toyota left F1 after the 2009 season, never having won a race. This chassis was purchased by its current owner in 2020 and has a pre-sale estimate of $320,000-$430,000. Click here for more.

McLaren M23

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1973 McLaren-Cosworth M23

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Turns out former F1 champion Jody Scheckter has quite the collection of old F1 cars, including this, his McLaren M23. The M23 was a helluva car, appearing on the grid in races beginning in 1973 and ending in 1978. Could you imagine someone running a five-year-old F1 chassis in a race today?

This car is chassis M23-2, and it is powered by a Cosworth V8. In period, the 3.0-liter DFV made about 465 horsepower. The competition history for this chassis includes:

  • 1973 Spanish Grand Prix – 4th (with Peter Revson)
  • 1973 Belgian Grand Prix – 16th, DNF (with Revson)
  • 1973 Monaco Grand Prix – 5th (with Revson)
  • 1973 Swedish Grand Prix – 7th (with Revson)
  • 1973 British Grand Prix – 1st (with Revson)
  • 1973 Dutch Grand Prix – 4th (with Revson)
  • 1973 German Grand Prix – 9th (with Revson)
  • 1973 Austrian Grand Prix – 22nd, DNF (with Revson)
  • 1973 Canadian Grand Prix – 22nd, DNF (with Jody Scheckter)
  • 1973 United States Grand Prix – 18th, DNF (with Scheckter)
  • 1974 South African Grand Prix – 19th (with Dave Charlton)
  • 1975 South African Grand Prix – 14th (with Charlton)

It also competed in F5000 and Can-Am races through 1980! It remained part of McLaren’s collection before being traded into Scheckter’s. It now has an estimate of $1,860,000-$2,400,000. More info can be found here.

Morgan-Monotrace Torpedo

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1926 Morgan-Monotrace TMX Torpedo

Offered by Gooding & Company | April 2024

Photo – Gooding & Company

What do you call a motorcycle with four wheels? That’s not the start of a joke, but a description of what we’re dealing with here. It’s essentially a two-passenger motorcycle with… training wheels.

The Monotrace was designed by a German firm called Mauser but were built under license in France by Mecanicarm of St. Etienne between 1925 and 1928. The marque was Morgan-Monotrace, and the company was unrelated the Britain’s Morgan Motor Company.

The engine is a 520cc single. It’s got tandem seating and chain drive. Approximately 310 were built, and this one was in the Schlumpf reserve collection before coming to the Mullin museum. Very few of these exist, and this project-status example has a reserve of $10,000-$15,000. Click here for more info.

1902 Prunel

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1902 Prunel Model F

Offered by Gooding & Company | April 2024

Photo – Gooding & Company

Radiator as front bumper is always a good choice, isn’t it? Ste des Usines Prunel was founded outside of Paris in 1900 by a J. Prunel. The company initially marketed their cars under the Atlas marque for the first two years. Prunel didn’t appear on the cars until 1902, and they sort of faded away after 1907. The Phenix was built at the Prunel factory between 1912 through 1914.

This car was imported to the U.S. in 1962, at which time it was restored in New Jersey. It remained on display at the Briggs Cunningham Museum and the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum for decades before being acquired by the Mullin museum in 1990.

The engine is a single-cylinder unit, and it’s not running because it’s been on display for so long. Still, an estimate of $30,000-$50,000 for a car of this age, condition, and rarity seems like a bargain here, running or not. Click here for more info.

The Last Voisin

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1938 Voisin C30 Cabriolet by Dubos

Offered by Gooding & Company | April 2024

Photo – Gooding & Company

The C30 was the final Voisin road car. Sure, there was a post-war prototype, but this was the last real model from the company. Coupes and convertibles were offered, but only about 30 chassis were completed in total. The Mullin museum had a copy of each.

This one has cabriolet coachwork by Dubos. Earlier Voisins utilized Knight sleeve-valve engines, but by this late in the game, Voisin had switched to a more modern powerplant (but still American): a supercharged 3.5-liter Graham-Paige inline-six (interestingly, Gooding described the last C30 as have a 3.6-liter engine).

This car entered the museum in 2008 and has been on display since, so it’ll need some work if you want to use it. The estimate is $150,000-$250,000. More info can be found here.

Bedelia Cyclecar

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1913 Bedelia Type 8 Sport Torpedo

Offered by Gooding & Company | April 2024

Photo – Gooding & Company

Bedelia was a French marque that existed between 1910 and 1925. Prime time for cyclecars, which were light, low-powered cars that were cheap and efficient. They were a fad, really. And one that never came back. They were kind of like the proto-microcar.

Some of them featured tandem seating like this car. In today’s world, being positioned behind your passengers as the driver seems insane. The car features a V-twin engine turned to the side, unlike a Morgan of the same era.

This is another car that was acquired by the Mullin museum from as part of the Schlumpf reserve collection. It’s a project, but finding another one isn’t going to be easy (they’re out there, though). The estimate is $10,000-$20,000. More info can be found here.

Bugatti Wagon

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1927 Bugatti Type 40 Break de Chasse

Offered by Gooding & Company | April 2024

Photo – Gooding & Company

Bugatti’s Type 40 was produced from 1926 through 1930. In that time, just 796 examples were made, including this one, which originally wore sedan bodywork. The model was powered by a 1.5-liter inline-four.

But the story here is twofold. One, the bodywork. It was in the 1930s or ’40s when the car was rebodied with wooden rear coachwork. It bounced around France for a few years before story number two comes into play: ownership. In 1958 it was sold to American Bugatti collector John Shakespeare.

In 1964, Shakespeare made one of the worst decisions in the history of car collecting: he sold his entire collection to the Schlumpf brothers in France. The brothers, of course, assembled a massive hoard of cars, with a focus on Bugattis, at the expense of their hard-working employees, who eventually rioted and took control of the factory and collection. It now lives on as the national automotive museum of France. Everything in there, locked away forever, never to be enjoyed as they were meant to be: driven.

However, this car was part of the museum’s “reserve” collection. That is, “extras.” When you have the car collecting status that Peter Mullin did, sometimes you can escape some trapped cars, and he bought the entire Schlumpf reserve in 2008. He died recently, and Gooding is liquidating his museum. So, through some roundabout circumstances over 60 years, the car is resurfacing and may someday again be driven. The estimate is $100,000-$150,000. More info can be found here.

Marcos 2.5 Litre

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1972 Marcos 2.5 Litre

Offered by H&H Classics | Buxton, U.K. | April 2024

Photo – H&H Classics

The Marcos GT, the basic shape of which carried over long after the model went out of production in 1990, was first introduced in 1964 in 1800 GT form. By 1967 a smaller displacement 1600 GT version was introduced. Then, two years later, they made the available engine bigger, with the Marcos 2 Litre.

The 3 Litre model debuted in ’68 with a Ford V6. In 1971, Marcos produced 12 examples with a Triumph 2.5-liter inline-six and sold them as the 2.5 Litre. That’s what this is. A rare bird indeed. Output was rated at 150 horsepower. All of these engines were originally intended for the company’s new Mantis model. But they were leftover, thus the shoehorning into the GT.

This example was upgraded under current ownership and has just under 80,000 miles. The pre-sale estimate is $17,750-$20,250. Click here for more info.

MG Q-Type Racer

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1934 MG Q-Type Monoposto

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | April 2024

Photo – Bonhams

The Q-Type was a purpose-built race car developed and built by MG in 1934. Just eight were produced, and they used modified MG K3 chassis and N-Type axles. There were two-seat examples and single seaters, with the latter (like this one here) being used at places like Brooklands.

They were originally powered by a supercharged 746cc inline-four good for about 113 horsepower. At some point in this car’s life, it was transplanted with 6.1-liter de Havilland Gipsy Major inline-four aircraft engine. Come 2009, most of what remained of the car was its bare chassis. Somehow the original hood was sourced and a replica body was built. During the rebuild it is said to have been given a supercharged P-Type engine that could push the car to almost 150 mph.

Before WWII, this car did compete at Brooklands and Donington Park. Well, the chassis did. Even still, only eight of these were built, and this one has an estimate of $175,000-$225,000. More info can be found here.

Kremer 917

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1981 Porsche 917 K-81

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Porsche’s 917 is one of the most legendary race cars of all time. It was produced in quite a few variations after its 1969 introduction, including the quite famous 917K and the ultimate evolution: the 917/30.

Porsche stopped racing the 917 after the 1973 Can-Am season and moved on to the 936 for 1975. However, in 1981, Le Mans changed their rules and it sort of opened the door for the 917 to return to the 24 Hour. Porsche themselves didn’t have much interest, but Kremer Racing did. With the support of Porsche, they built a new 917 to Group 6 specifications and dubbed it the 917 K-81.

It’s a Kremer aluminum spaceframe chassis underneath similar to that of a Porsche-built 917, and it is powered by a 5.0-liter flat-12. The competition for this chassis consists of:

  • 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans – 38th, DNF (with Bob Wollek, Xavier Lapeyre, & Guy Chasseuil)
  • 1981 1000km Brand Hatch – 26th, DNF (Wollek & Henri Pescarolo)

Not super successful, and after Brands Hatch, that was it for the 917. The current owner acquired this car in 2011 and used it at various track days. The 5.0-liter engine was rebuilt recently, and the whole package has an estimate of $3,800,000-$5,500,000. Click here for more info.