Category Archives: Uncategorized

1912 Michigan

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1912 Michigan Four-40 Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 4-5, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Michigan Buggy Company of Kalamazoo has one of the more colorful histories of any short-lived pre-war auto manufacturer. They first car debuted in 1904, and it was a small single-cylinder buggy without reverse. Regular production of a more typical automobile started in 1911.

But it’s amazing they sold any cars at all. Most of the officers at the company were involved in some kind of fraud. In 1912, the company offered two models: the Four-33 and the Four-40, the latter of which is powered by an L-head Buda inline-four that made 40 horsepower. It wasn’t really a bad car either.

Michigan ceased production after 1913, and the factory was eventually bought by the United States Motor Car Company, and their Greyhound would be built there. The car shown here has been restored and now has an estimate of $50,000-$70,000. Click here for more info.

Stanley Semi-Racer

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1907 Stanley Model K Semi-Racer

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 4-5, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Stanley Motor Carriage Company remains a well-known entity today due to their Stanley Steamer motorcars. The Stanley Brothers designed an early steam car and sold the rights to Locomobile. From their they ventured out onto their own. Their first cars were sold in 1901, and six short years later came this.

The Model K was one of seven models offered in 1907. It was only sold in this Semi-Racer body style, which was kind of like a steam-powered sports car for the time. Only 26 examples of the Semi-Racer were built over a few years. Most of the surviving cars, including this one, are “assembled” cars using some Stanley parts and a lot of re-created parts.

It’s essentially a recreation with some authentic parts. But for cars that are 110-years-old, it’s kind of the only way some of them can still exist. In 1907, this would’ve been a 25-horsepower car. In 2023, it’s an $80,000-$100,000 car. Click here for more info.

Maserati Sebring

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1963 Maserati Sebring Series I Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 8, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

The Sebring replaced the 3500 GT as Maserati‘s 2+2 coupe in 1962, after debuting at that year’s Geneva International Motor Show. It featured muscular but sophisticated styling penned by Giovanni Michelotti at Vignale. Just 593 were produced, and all but one were coupes.

Of those, 350 or so were Series I cars, which were built until 1965. Most of those were powered by a fuel-injected 3.5-liter inline-six that was rated at 232 horsepower in 1963. Both 3.7- and 4.0-liter units would be offered later in the model’s run.

A restoration on this example was performed between 2018 and 2020. No estimate is yet available, but you can read more about it here.

Overland Model 82

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1915 Overland Model 82 Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 4-5, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Claude E. Cox founded Overland in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1903. The company spent a few years in Indianapolis before settling in Toledo in 1909, which was a year after it was purchased by John North Willys. Willys was able to increase Overland production significantly, and for most of the 1910s, they were America’s #2 o4 3 automaker.

Their 1915 catalog offered three models, the Model 81, 80, and 82. The Model 82 was the largest of the three and was powered by a 5.0-liter inline-six rated at 50 horsepower. It was only offered as a seven-passenger touring car.

This restored example has been under current ownership since 2017 and is a pretty nice example of what was a common, larger mid-priced car in 1915. It has an estimate of $20,000-$30,000. Click here for more info.

Curved-Dash Olds

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1904 Oldsmobile Model 6C Curved-Dash Runabout

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 4-5, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The CDO, or Curved-Dash Oldsmobile, was the first “mass-produced automobile.” That means it was built on an assembly line with interchangeable parts instead of being hand-built, with each car being slightly different. It went on sale in 1901 and would remain available through 1906, at which time it was woefully out of date. Oldsmobile didn’t even really advertise it that year.

In 1904, the CDO was sold as the Model 6C, and 2,500 were built that year alone (in all, about 19,000 CDOs would be built). Power is provided by a 1.6-liter horizontal single that was rated at seven horsepower.

They all had tiller steering, as this one does. And it retains a folding soft top. It’s got known history back to during WWII. Now it has an estimate of $45,000-$50,000. Click here for more info.

Matra-Simca Bagheera

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1979 Matra-Simca Bagheera X

Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Bicester, U.K. | September 23, 2023

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

Here is a forgotten sports car. Matra, who did not build many cars under their own name (but when they did, they were weird), teamed up with semi-established-but-fading automaker Simca to launch the Bagheera in 1973. The car was marketed as the Matra-Simca Bagheera until 1980, at which time Chrysler Europe failed and was taken over by PSA. It was then sold as the Talbot-Matra Bagheera in 1980.

Various sub-models were offered, including the 1977-1980 “X”. This specified a 1.4-liter inline-four that was good for 90 horsepower. Like all Bagheeras, and the follow-up Murena, the car features three-across bucket seating. Which is really weird.

Just 1,440 examples of the X (and Jubile, combined) were produced. It’s a right-hand-drive car (one of 57 converted aftermarket) and wasn’t initially registered until 1982. The car was restored between 2014 and 2020. It now has an estimate of $15,000-$21,000. Click here for more info.

1913 White Touring

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1913 White Model Forty Seven-Passenger Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 4-5, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The White Motor Car Company existed for 80 years – from 1900 through 1980. But passenger cars disappeared after 1918. In the early years, the company also dabbled in steam propulsion before going exclusively to gas-powered cars in 1912.

This car is from 1913, partially. The 1913 Model Forty was powered by a G.E.B. 40-horsepower inline-four. But this car actually has a G.E.C. engine from 1915, which made 45 horsepower.

The car would’ve retailed for about $3,500 when new, which means they didn’t sell many. But White cars were good, so its no surprise it’s still around. And it remains not cheap: the estimate is $70,000-$90,000. Click here for more info.

Quattroporte Evoluzione

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1999 Maserati Quattroporte Evoluzione

Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Bicester, U.K. | September 23, 2023

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

The Quattroporte nameplate has been around with Maserati since the early 1960s. Each generation looked completely unlike the last, and the Marcello Gandini-styled fourth generation went on sale in 1994. It was angular and boxy, which was Maserati’s styling theme for the ’90s.

Maserati was also not a major volume player during the decade, even though they had been recently taken over by Fiat prior to this car launching. In 1997, Ferrari took a 50% stake in Maserati and helped them freshen up, which is where the Quattroporte Evoluzione came from. Power is provided by a twin-turbocharged 3.2-liter V8 good for 330 horsepower. Two V6s were also offered.

Production ended in 2001, with just 2,400 examples built, and only 730 of those were Evoluzione cars. They are quite rare and have also aged very well. This right-hand-drive example has an estimate of $16,000-$22,000. More info can be found here.

LCC Rocket

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1996 Light Car Company Rocket

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | September 2023

Photo – Bring a Trailer

The Light Car Company was founded by Gordon Murray and Chris Craft in England in 1991. They built one model, and it was an amazing one: the Rocket. Production started in 1991, and most had been built by the mid-1990s. This one was started in 1996 but ended up as one of 10 completed by the Craft’s between 2006 and 2009. So it’s titled as a 1996 but wasn’t actually completed until the 2000s.

If you’ve always wanted to drive an open-wheel race car on the street (and didn’t manage to snag this thing), then this is a pretty good alternative. It has tandem seating for two, and the 1.2-liter Yamaha inline-four is mounted out back. That engine also can rev to over 11,000 rpm! For the full F1 experience of course.

Jay Leno has one of these – and there aren’t that many in the U.S. The car was also featured in one of the Gran Turismo games, where it was a hoot to drive hard. Only 50 were built in total, and they’ve become much more expensive than they used to be. This one has plenty of time left to bid, which you can do so here.

Gas-Powered 1902 Century

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1902 Century Tourist Dos-A-Dos

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 4-5, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Century Motor Vehicle Company was founded in 1900 in Syracuse, New York. It’s founders are a list of names of people lost to history, including: Charles Saul, Charles Listman, Charles Bridgman, Hiram Plumb, and William Van Wagoner. Way to not be a Charles, Hiram and William.

They offered two different electric runabouts in 1901, while their 1902 and 1903 catalog consisted of electric cars, steam cars, and one lone gasoline-powered model. No matter how you wanted to move, Century had you covered. The Tourist was only sold as a runabout like this, and it has a rear seat.

It’s powered by a single-cylinder engine that made seven horsepower. The cost was $750, and this one was sold new in Newport, Rhode Island. Somehow, it remained undiscovered until about five years ago. Restored, it now carries and estimate of $55,000-$70,000. Click here for more info.