Ferrari 312 PB

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1972 Ferrari 312 PB

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Cernobbio, Italy | May 20, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Big-time Ferrari prototype sports racers don’t change hands very often. At least not publicly. The 312 PB was a Group 6 prototype race car built and campaigned between 1971 and 1973. Fun fact, this car was technically called the 312 P, but Ferrari also had an older 312 P, so it’s been retroactively dubbed “PB.”

Another fun fact is that these cars took so much focus from Ferrari that their Formula One program had begun to suffer. So after the 1973 sports car season, they walked away from prototype racers to focus on F1 again. So this was sort of the last of the line for a while.

The car is powered by a 3.0-liter flat-12 that made 460 horsepower. It’s unclear how many were produced, but the catalog says this chassis, 0886, is one of six used as works racers during the 1972 season. Its competition history includes:

  • 1972 1,000km of Buenos Aires – 1st (with Ronnie Peterson and Tim Schenken)
  • 1972 12 Hours of Sebring – 2nd (with Peterson and Schenken)
  • 1972 1,000km of Monza – 3rd (with Peterson and Schenken)
  • 1972 1,000km Nurburgring – 1st (with Peterson and Schenken)

This car was then present at the Monterey Historics as early as 1975. Ferrari won the sports car manufacturer’s championship in ’72, with a huge helping hand from this chassis. It now carries a massive estimate of $15,500,000-$19,750,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $12,766,856.

Peugeot 190S

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1928 Peugeot 190S Convertible

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | May 6, 2023

Photo – Brightwells

The 190 was Peugeot’s smallest car while it was sold between 1928 and 1931. Okay, so maybe it was the second-smallest, as the 5CV was sold alongside it, and some 5CVs had a 50cc smaller engine.

The 190 was powered by a 695cc inline-four that made 14 horsepower. Compared to the 5CV, which was based on an early ’20s design, the 190 was much more modern. It was available as a two-door sedan or a convertible. It was one of the last Peugeots to feature a wood-framed body.

No history is listed in the catalog, but if this car runs, it could be a good deal for someone. Having a little runabout like this for an estimated $5,000-$6,000 could be quite fun. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $5,621.

Merak SS

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1980 Maserati Merak SS

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Northampton, England | May 20, 2023

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The Merak was sort of like the Bora’s baby brother. In fact, the whole front section (just about everything forward of the doors) is lifted directly from the Bora. The Merak has twin chrome bumpers up front if you want visual cues. It also has a vertical rear window, flying buttress C-pillars, and a vented engine cover.

But, perhaps, the biggest difference between the two cars is the cylinder count. Unlike the V8-powered Bora, the Merak is powered by a 3.0-liter V6, that in SS specification, made 217 horsepower.

They made about 1,000 SS cars between 1975 and 1983. Quite a few are in basket case territory today, but this one has had a “recent” mechanical overhaul and a cosmetic refresh. It has an estimate of $50,000-$55,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $48,194.

Tyrrell 020B

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1991 Tyrrell 020B

Offered by Bonhams | Brussels, Belgium | May 13, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Ken Tyrrell’s Formula One racing team had been around since the 1960s and entered the 1990s already struggling. The 1971 constructor’s champion was a far cry from the peak. Their 020 chassis was designed by Harvey Postlethwaite and George Ryton and debuted for the 1991 season.

For that year, the car had a Honda V10 powerplant. For 1992, they upgraded the 020 (including this chassis, 020-6), to 020B spec, which meant that it now used 3.5-liter Ilmor V10 that made 680 horsepower. The competition history for this car includes:

  • 1991 Canadian Grand Prix – 10th (with Satoru Nakajima)
  • 1991 Mexican Grand Prix – 12th (with Nakajima)
  • 1991 French Grand Prix – 22nd, DNF (with Nakajima)
  • 1991 British Grand Prix – 8th (with Nakajima)
  • 1991 German Grand Prix – 18th, DNF (with Nakajima)
  • 1991 Hungarian Grand Prix – 15th (with Nakajima)
  • 1991 Belgian Grand Prix – 23rd, DNF (with Nakajima)
  • 1991 Italian Grand Prix – 19th, DNF (with Stefano Modena)
  • 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix – 18th, DNF (with Modena)
  • 1991 Spanish Grand Prix – 16th (with Modena)
  • 1991 Japanese Grand Prix – 16th, DNF (with Nakajima)
  • 1991 Australian Grand Prix – 26th, DNF (with Nakajima)

For 1992, it was used as a spare car for seven races. It later entered private ownership – sans V10 – and is offered as a roller out its current collection, where it’s been since 2003. The estimate is $55,000-$77,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $67,054.

Mercedes 170H Convertible

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1938 Mercedes-Benz 170H Convertible Sedan

Offered by Bonhams | Brussels, Belgium | May 13, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Not a Volkswagen. But not all that different. Mercedes-Benz introduced the W23 130H in 1934. It was their smallest car to date. The related W28 170H debuted in 1936 and was produced as the rear-engined alternative to the front-engined 170 V.

The 170 models shared an engine: a 1.7-liter inline-four that was rated at about 37 horsepower. The 170H was produced until 1939, with just 1,507 built – only 250 of which were made in 1938. Low demand was due mostly to the fact that it cost more than the 170 V but had less room and was altogether a worse car.

The restoration on this convertible version was completed in 2020. These rear-engined Mercs are a rare sight, and this one is about as good as they come. The estimate is $66,000-$100,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $67,054.

Ferrari 500 TR Spider

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1956 Ferrari 500 TR Spider by Scaglietti

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Cernobbio, Italy | May 20, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Ferrari 500 TR was actually part of Ferrari’s Monza line of sports racing cars, and not part of the 250 Testa Rossa range (those had V12s). Produced for 1956, the 500 TR replaced the earlier 500 Mondial.

It shared the Mondial’s 2.0-liter Lampredi inline-four that revved to a pretty incredible 180 horsepower. It featured a coil-sprung suspension, which broke new ground for Ferrari, and a synchronized gearbox.

This example, which is the third of 17 built, was sold new to an Italian privateer, who took it road racing around Italy. It later spent time way up north, incurring damage at a race in Finland. The resulting repairs saw it gain a 500 TRC-style nose. An owner in the 1970s/80s used the car heavily in historic events.

It’s been with its current owner since 2011, and i’s now selling at no reserve. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $3,941,107.

Fittipaldi F6

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1979 Fittipaldi F6

Offered by Bonhams | Brussels, Belgium | May 13, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Imagine Max Verstappen, or Sebastian Vettel, or Michael Schumacher, three years out from an F1 world championship arriving on the grid with a team of their own. It would be insane. But it’s exactly what Emerson (and brother Wilson) Fittipaldi did in 1975.

Emerson Fittipaldi won the F1 driver’s championship for Lotus in 1972, and Wilson drove for Brabham for ’72 and ’73. They started working on Fittipaldi Automotive in 1974. The team appeared on the grid in 1975 with Wilson driving the only car (and Arturo Merzario running in one race). Emerson would be the team’s main driver from 1976-1980, and the team’s final season was 1982.

The F6 was used for the latter part of the 1979 season (and, strangely, one race toward the beginning of the year). Two chassis were built, with Emerson driving one of them in seven races and Alex Ribeiro failing to qualify for three races in the other. The engine at the time was a Ford-Cosworth DFV 3.0-liter V8.

This chassis is lacking all running gear and is set up as a static show car. Apparently it doesn’t even really roll, and the suspension is listed as “not correct.” Still, it’s an interesting part of F1’s small history of “owner/drivers.” It has an estimate of $55,000-$75,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $25,602.

Nissan R90CK

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1990 Nissan R90CK

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Le Mans, France | June 9, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

This is a pretty big deal car. Nissan’s Group C program got off the ground in 1983. In 1990, they launched a new series of cars starting with the R90C, which was based off of the previous R89C. The R90CK variant featured aerodynamic tweaks and revised styling. It was used during the 1990 World Sportscar Championship season and at the 24 Hours of Daytona in ’91 and ’92.

Six R90CK chassis were built, and this one carries number R90C/1. It’s powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter all-aluminum DOHC V8. In qualifying trim, output could hit 1,000 horsepower. Race trim usually dialed it back to under 800. But still. This car took pole at Le Mans in 1990, and its competition history includes:

  • 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans – 41st, DNF (with Mark Blundell, Julian Bailey, and Gianfranco Brancatelli)

It was retained by Nissan until 2000, spending some time on display at the Le Mans museum before private ownership came calling. The car is usable and has been present at various historic events over the last decade or so. Le Mans pole-winning cars don’t come around everday, nor do Group C legends. Click here to read more about this one.

Update: Sold $1,175,058.

300B by Boano

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1956 Chrysler 300B Coupe Speciale by Boano

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 18-19, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Chrysler had quite the Italian coachbuilding hookup in the 1950s. But this car really wasn’t their creation. It was built at the behest of Gianni Agnelli, of the family that owned Fiat. Why he chose a Chrysler 300B is beyond anyone, but he did. And this is the result.

It’s different but pretty similar to the other Chrysler Ghia specials of the era (Felice Boano had worked at Ghia before starting out on his own). Just 1,102 Chrysler 300Bs were built in 1955, and they were powered by a 5.8-liter FirePower V8 that made 355 horsepower.

This is one of two Boano-bodied cars on an American chassis with an American engine (this is the other). Agnelli did not take delivery of the car, as Fiat/Chrysler was still decades and decades away. It came to the U.S. in 1989 and was restored after its current owner bought it in 2018. Awards at Pebble and Villa d’Este followed. Now it’s for sale, and you can read more here.

Update: Sold $1,105,000.

Alain de Cadenet’s Duckhams LM

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1972 Duckhams-Ford-Cosworth LM72

Offered by Aguttes | Neuilly, France | April 27, 2023

Photo – Aguttes

This is a car with a great story. Alain de Cadenet was an English racing driver (and later pretty awesome TV presenter if you like old cars). He raced at Le Mans 15 times, including with cars of his own design. In 1971, he ran Le Mans in a Ferrari 512M. The next year he tried to buy a Ferrari 312 PB, which the company refused to sell to a privateer, as it was based on their F1 car and thus too extreme for an “amateur.”

So he thought of something else. De Cadenet owned a Brabham BT33 F1 car himself, a car which he entered in two 1971 F1 races for his friend and endurance racing co-driver, Chris Craft. So he asked Brabham if they could turn it into a full-bodied sports racing prototype. Bernie Ecclestone, who had just bought Brabham, pointed de Cadenet to a young designer named Gordon Murray.

Over the course of six weeks, Murray designed this. But it needed a new engine – so de Cadenet went to McLaren and bought Bruce McLaren‘s 1968 Belgian Grand Prix-winning Cosworth DFV (as one does). Then he convinced lubricant manufacturer Duckhams to sponsor the whole ordeal. And by June, they were on the grid at Le Sarthe. The competition history includes:

  • 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans – 12th (with Alain de Cadenet and Chris Craft)
  • 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans – 45th, DNF (with de Cadenet and Craft)
  • 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans – 26th, DNF (with Craft and John Nicholson)

For the ’73 race the car received longtail bodywork by Murray, and in 1974, with de Cadenet sidelined with an injury and the Duckhams sponsorship deal over, the car raced as a de Cadenet LM72. Which is pretty awesome, even if he didn’t get to drive it.

The car was restored in 2002 to how it competed in 1972, including with a 3.0-liter Cosworth V8. In period, it also competed in Interserie and Can-Am events. More recently, it’s been active at the Le Mans Classic. The estimate now is $1,600,000-$2,750,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.