Hemi Challenger R/T

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1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Hemi

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 16-21, 2017

Photo – Mecum

The Dodge Challenger was the platform mate to the Plymouth ‘Cuda. While they have similar characteristics, they have quite different styling. The Barracuda was more angular, more aggressive, while the Challenger was slightly curvier and carried a more luxurious stance. While there might be something slightly luxurious about its looks, this car was all performance underneath.

The first generation Challenger was built from 1970 through 1974, with 1970 being the peak year for the car. The R/T was only available for ’70 and ’71 and Mopar’s 7.0-liter 426 Hemi V-8 was only available those years as well. This 425 horsepower beast has an automatic transmission – one of only 150 Hemi automatic Challengers built in 1970.

Listed in the Chrysler registry, this well restored R/T Hemi is sort of a sleeper in copper paint. A lot of people like these cars in bright colors and the restrained look here does the car some good. It’s simply one of the best muscle cars, and while it won’t be expensive as the Convertible variant, it will still not be cheap. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $145,000.

Delahaye Torpedo

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1923 Delahaye Type 87 Torpedo

Offered by Coys | Essen, Germany | April 8, 2017

Photo – Coys

Known for their exotic coachbuilt cars of the 1930s and 40s, Delahaye cars date back to the 1890s and up until the 1930s, they resembled many other large, well-built cars. Take, for example, this Type 87 Torpedo. Looking at it in near-profile, it’s pretty hard to distinguish it from a Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes, or any number of large American touring cars also built in 1923.

The Type 87 was introduced at the 1921 Paris Auto Salon and was one of the first new Delahayes introduced after WWI. It’s powered by a 1.8-liter straight-four and it was sold in the 10CV class. This model was produced through 1926 and in total about 3,800 were built.

This particular example was discovered in the south of France in 1989. It has since undergone a complete restoration and is a solid driver, having participated in quite a few historic car driving events. It should bring between $48,500-$70,250. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Coys’ lineup.

Update: Sold, approximately $53,800.

1931 Oakland Sedan

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1931 Oakland Model 301 Custom Sedan

Offered by Mecum | Houston, Texas | April 6-8, 2017

Photo – Mecum

Edward Murphy and Alanson Brush got together in 1906 after one of Brush’s designs was rejected by Cadillac. They started building their own car in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1907. But before production really gained any steam, Brush left to found his own company and Murphy died. Enter William Durant who scooped up Oakland and added it to GM’s growing stable of brands.

Some early Oaklands were rather large, but the company was a mid-range GM brand, slotting in between Chevrolet and Buick. In 1926, Pontiac was introduced and it outsold the Oakland it was marketed alongside. 1931 was the final year for Oakland and the Model 301 was the only model produced that year. Six body styles were offered, with the Custom Sedan being the largest and most expensive. It’s powered by a 4.1-liter V-8 making 85 horsepower, so it’s no slouch. The car is also much larger than the picture above does justice as its 117″ wheelbase is five inches longer than that of a new Ford Explorer.

This car is in beautiful shape with two-tone green paint and gray interior. Pontiacs outsold Oaklands by a wide margin, making this car extremely rare – as are most Oaklands built in the final years of the marque. Click here for more info and here for more from Mecum.

Update: Sold $30,000.

Indra Spider

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1972 Intermeccanica Indra Spider

Offered by Coys | Essen, Germany | April 8, 2017

Photo – Coys

Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica was a tiny car manufacturer that only built original models from 1966 through 1974. It’s a relatively short amount of time (even though they’ve been building replicas since) and yet, we’ve featured quite the array of their vehicles.

The Indra was the final non-replica Intermeccanica built and it lasted from 1971 through 1974. It was offered as a Convertible or in the form of two slightly different Coupes. Most of them were powered by V-8s from Chevrolet. When GM pulled their support, the Indra went out of production.

This example, with funky bucktoothed rally-style lights, is one of just 60 convertible Indras produced – 125 were built in total. This one should bring between $80,000-$90,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Torino Talladega

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1969 Ford Torino Talladega

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Palm Beach, Florida | April 6-8, 2017

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

The 1969 Ford Torino was actually the last Torino produced as a sub series of the Ford Fairlane. It would become a model in its own right for 1970. So, I guess, this is technically a 1969 Ford Fairlane Torino Talladega. The Torino was the top trim for the Fairlane, above the 500. The Talladega was a limited edition fastback produced by Ford for 1969 only.

The point of the car, of which Ford only built in the first few weeks of 1969, was to homologate their new NASCAR racer. The sloping fastback was named for the high speed racetrack of the same name (that also opened in 1969). It is powered by a 335 horsepower 7.0-liter 428 Cobra Jet V-8.

This is a classic, super rare muscle car. It’s a factory racing special and while most would mistake it for just another 1960s sports coupe, it’s that big fastback that gives it away as something much more unique. Ford only built 750 of these and this was the second-to-last completed. Mercury had a version, too. Click here for more info and here for more from Barrett-Jackson in Palm Beach.

Update: Sold $41,800.

March 2017 Auction Highlights, Pt. III

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We’ll kick this one off with Bonhams’ Goodwood Members’ Meeting sale in March. The top sale was this 1961 Aston Martin DP214 Replica GT Competition Coupe that brought $683,409 – that’s some serious replica money.

Photo – Bonhams

Both of our feature cars sold, with the 1903 Gladiator bringing $175,291 and the super cool NSU Kettenkrad $64,108. For the rest of the results, check out Bonhams’ site here.

Osenat held two sales in March, the second of which saw this 1932 Chrysler Imperial Custom Convertible by de Villars take top sale honors at $350,245.

Photo – Osenat

Our two feature cars both sold, with the Salmson race car bringing the most: $168,636. At the other end of the spectrum was the Georges Irat Roadster which sold for $32,430. You can see the rest of the results here.

Mecum’s Kansas City sale held in March saw this 2005 Ford GT go to a new home as the top seller at $300,000.

Photo – Mecum

The Pontiac Tojan we featured from this sale brought $13,500. You can see more from Mecum in Kansas City here.

Leclere held a sale in Avignon in their native France. This one popped on my radar too late to feature anything, but a weak sell-through rate had this 1966 Ferrari 330 GTC go as the top seller for $838,800. Click here for full results. There were some interesting cars in this sale and we’ll be sure to feature more from their upcoming auctions.

Photo – Leclere Maison de Ventes

The final sale from March is the Imperial War Museum sale held by H&H Classics. The top sale was the long-ago featured Ferrari Nembo Spyder for $744,015. The Armstrong-Siddeley Special we featured sold for $28,777 and we’ll give Most Interesting to a similar car, this 1928 Armstrong-Siddeley 20HP Long Ascot Tourer that went for $22,811.

Photo – H&H Classics

And the Bitter CD we featured sold for a healthy $84,228. Click here to see the rest of the results from this sale.

The “Base” Diablo

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1991 Lamborghini Diablo

Offered by Auctions America | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | April 1, 2017

Photo – Auctions America

The Lamborghini Diablo kicked off the craziness that was the supercar world in the 1990s. Introduced in 1990, the car’s development goes back to 1985 when Lambo was under Mimran Brothers ownership. When Chrysler bought the company, they ensured the new car’s success and put it into production.

The original Diablo, of which this is a wonderful example, was rear-wheel drive and powered by a 5.7-liter V-12 making 485 horsepower. Top speed was 202 mph, the first Lamborghini to top 200. The body was designed by Marcello Gandini and it was clearly of a different generation than the lame duck Countach it replaced. This car sports the optional factory rear wing.

The Diablo VT brought four-wheel drive to the Diablo line in 1993 and the original RWD version was discontinued in 1996. In total, 873 were built making it the most popular of all Diablo variants. Recently serviced, this prime example from the dawn of modern supercars should sell for between $155,000-$165,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Porsche 959 Speedster

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1987 Porsche 959 Speedster

Offered by Coys | Essen, Germany | April 8, 2017

Photo – Coys

If we consider the dawn of the supercar to begin sometime between the Lamborghini Miura and the Ferrari 288 GTO, then the Porsche 959 is among the more grandfatherly supercars in existence. What most older supercars have in common is this: they were all hard tops. Drop top supercars didn’t gain much traction until the Lamborghini Diablo Roadster and the Ferrari F50.

The 959 was the most technologically advanced motorcar available for purchase when it debuted in 1986. It was the fastest car in the world too, topping out at 197 mph. It is powered by a 2.8-liter twin-turbo flat-6 making 444 horsepower. With a complex all-wheel drive setup and active suspension, this car was years ahead of its time.

So we come back to the elephant in the room. What’s with the drop top? Porsche never built one… so what is this? Well, Porsche sold one of the 337 959s to racing driver Jürgen Lässig who, well, had a slight incident in this car while racing down the Autobahn. He sold what was left of it to Auto Becker, a German used car company. They meticulously rebuilt the car but decided, since it wasn’t original anymore anyway, to make it into a convertible. It’s pretty crazy and pretty cool. Sure, it’ll never be as valuable as a traditional 959, but it is rarer… and sunshinier. Yes, that’s now a word. A removable hardtop is included as well.

This wonderful piece of someone’s imagination is estimated to bring between $1,300,000-$1,600,000 at auction. Click here for more info and here for more from Coys.

Update: Sold, approximately $1,450,000.

One of the First Riley Cars

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1905 Riley 9HP V-Twin

Offered by Brightwells | Bicester, U.K. | April 5, 2017

Photo – Brightwells

In 1896, William Riley Jr. bought and renamed the Bonnick Cycle Company and began building bicycles under his own name. In 1898, his 16-year-old son Percy built his first automobile, which is pretty incredible. William wanted no part of this, so Percy and two of this brothers started their own company in 1902. Four-wheeled vehicles first appeared in 1905, making this one of the first Riley cars ever built. The last Riley car was sold in 1969 and BMW owns the dormant marque today.

Powered by a nine horsepower, 1.0-liter V-twin, this early Riley is thought to have been sold new in New Zealand. It wasn’t until 2009 that it returned home to England. Its restoration was completed over a 30 year period (!) that ended in 2004.

Only three 1905, 9HP Rileys are known to exist and with the lack of records kept, this could be the earliest known survivor. It could even be the first Riley built. It does run and drive and is being sold with its own covered trailer included. It should bring between $57,000-$63,500. Click here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $47,196.

Bitter CD

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1979 Bitter CD

Offered by H&H Classics | Duxford, U.K. | March 29, 2017

Photo – H&H Classics

Erich Bitter’s German car company built its first car in 1973 and it was this, the CD. Since then, they’ve only built two other models and we featured one of them. The CD was a hatchback sports car built between 1973 and 1979. The car stems from an Opel concept car, the Coupe Diplomat, that was shown at the 1969 Frankfurt Auto Show. Opel didn’t put the car into production, but they encouraged race car driver Erich Bitter to build it instead.

As Opel was owned by General Motors in 1973, the CD is powered by a 5.4-liter Chevrolet V-8 making 227 horsepower. The original body was by Frua, but it sported some updates from Bitter when it was shown at the ’73 Frankfurt Motor Show. The design was again a success and Bitter took enough orders to start production.

Unfortunately, the fuel crisis of the 1970s ruined any plans this car had for success. In seven years of production, only 395 were built (against a target of 200 per year). This is one of 37 built in 1979 and it was used by Erich Bitter himself before he put it in his personal museum. The first real owner acquired it in 1990 and it shows just 42,000 miles. It should bring between $74,000-$86,000 despite the fact that the photo above makes it look as if this car is emerging from the sea. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $84,228.