A Long, Low Lanchester

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1915 Lanchester Sporting Forty Torpedo Tourer

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | November 4, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

The Lanchester Motor Company was founded by Frederick, George, and Frank Lanchester, a trio of brothers who built their first car in 1895. The company was acquired by BSA in 1930, and it wound up as part of Daimler, which came under the control of Jaguar in 1960. But by that time, the Lanchester marque had been discontinued for five years.

This car is very striking. Early Lanchesters were kind of funky looking, with the driver more or less sitting over the engine, no front hood, and an upright radiator directly in front of the passenger compartment, which was still rearward of the front axle. It was… awkward.

The Sporting Forty was introduced near the end of 1913. It had a more conventional layout, with the engine moved forward in the chassis. Imagine a company bragging about that today. It’s powered by a 5.5-liter inline-six. Just six were built before WWI broke out. In 1919, the “40” was re-introduced, but it was a somewhat different car.

This example was Lanchester’s demonstrator and is the only remaining Sporting Forty. A restoration was completed around 2004. Bonhams has an estimate of $200,000-$245,000 on it. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $256,286.

Thames Trader

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1961 Thames Trader Flatbed

Offered by H&H Classics | Duxford, U.K. | October 19, 2022

Photo – H&H Classics

Beginning in 1933, Ford of Britain sold commercial vehicles under the Fordson brand. In 1939, they changed the name to Fordson Thames, perhaps because their first factory was located on the River Thames in Dagenham. After 1957, they dropped the Fordson, making the brand just Thames until they reverted to Ford in 1965.

The Trader was the largest truck built by Thames, and it was in production the marque’s entire existence. The Trader has a pretty distinctive cab and front-end design. This one is powered by a gasoline inline-six.

This Mk I example features a rear flat bed after having previously been configured as a box van. Thames was a short-lived marque that produced vehicles meant to be used and discarded. It’s pretty great that one still exists in this condition. The estimate is $12,000-$14,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Frazer Nash Mille Miglia

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1952 Frazer Nash Mille Miglia

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | London, U.K. | November 5, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Frazer Nash built pre-war and post-war sports cars. They were also the U.K. distributor for BMW in the 1930s. This is a post-war sports car, obviously, as it’s from the early 1950s. The last Frazer Nash cars were built in 1957, which was about eight years before Archibald Frazer-Nash died.

In 1948, the company built a car called the Fast Tourer, which was also the name of a pre-war model. This morphed almost immediately into the Mille Miglia model, of which 11 were built through 1953. Power is provided by a 2.0-liter Bristol inline-six that made somewhere between 110 and 126 horsepower depending on the compression ratio.

This car was damaged in the 1960s or ’70s, spending a period in storage after that. A restoration that started in the late 1970s dragged on for decades, eventually being completed around 2005. You can read more about it here.

Update: Not sold.

McLaren MP4/9A

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1994 McLaren-Peugeot MP4/9A

Offered by Aguttes | Sochaux, France | October 23, 2022

Photo – Aguttes

McLaren’s MP4/9 was used for the 1994 season, which was the only season that McLaren partnered with Peugeot as their engine supplier. This was Peugeot’s first season as an F1 engine supplier, and things did not start out well.

Their 3.5-liter A4 V10 was unreliable. Both McLarens failed to finish the first two races. For race number three at San Marino, they upgraded to their “A6” spec V10, which was also a 3.5-liter unit. It made about 740 horsepower, and this chassis, number seven, still has it in there. The competition history for this chassis is confusingly listed, but it was driven in races and as a reserve car during the 1994 season by Mika Hakkinen and Martin Brundle.

It was later stored at McLaren for 26 years and is being sold from Peugeot-Citroen’s collection. The pre-sale estimate is $1,165,000-$1,450,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

MG ZT Wagon

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2002 MG ZT-T 190

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie Toffen | Toffen, Switzerland | October 15, 2022

Photo – Oldtimer Galerie

This car? Big fan. The ZT was one of the last MGs before they were resurrected by a Chinese company. The ZT was the big car, offered as a sedan or wagon. The car was based on the Rover 75, but looks a lot better. V8-powered models received rear-wheel drive.

The wagons were called “ZT-T”, and this particular example is a “190” – meaning it’s powered by a 2.5-liter V6 that was rated at 187 horsepower when new. A manual transmission was the only option on this model. Top speed was 137 mph.

ZT and ZT-T production was not huge. Over five model years, a combined total of 27,000 cars were built. Apparently, only 1,756 of those were 190 wagons. This one is expected to fetch $3,500-$4,500. I’ll take it. Click here for more info.

Rallye Raid Citroen ZX

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1995 Citroen ZX Rallye Raid Evo 5

Offered by Aguttes | Sochaux, France | October 23, 2022

Photo – Aguttes

A rally raid is a long-distance off-road race that lasts for days on end. Think the Paris-Dakar Rally, for starters. It’s something Europeans like to compete in. The French seemingly especially so. Citroen actually won the Rally Raid constructor’s championship from 1993-1997 before withdrawing from the sport. They won the Paris-Dakar rally five times in the 1990s.

The ZX was a small car built by Citroen between 1991 and 1998 as either a four-door sedan, a wagon, or a hatchback. This Rallye Raid Evo 5 has pretty much nothing in common with that car aside from the name. It’s a purpose-built off-road race car. The first ZX Rallye Raid debuted in 1990. They were powered by a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four mounted behind the driver and good for 330 horsepower.

The Evo 5 was built for the 1995 season and featured suspension refinements over earlier cars and also was outfitted with four (!) spare tires. This example is one of five Evo 5 examples produced, but it actually started out as a 1993 Evo 2. It’s competition history includes:

  • 1993 Rally Atlas – 4th (with Pierre Lartigue and Michel Perin), as Evo 2
  • 1993 Rallye de Pharoans – 1st (with Lartigue and Perin), as Evo 2
  • 1994 Paris-Dakar Rally – 2nd (with Hubert Auriol and Gilles Picard), as Evo 3
  • 1994 Rally Atlas – 1st (with Lartigue and Perin), as Evo 3

This was actually the prototype for the Evo 5, so it never competed as such, although the four Evo 5s that followed won every race they entered.

This is a pretty cool opportunity to acquire a type of car that rarely changes hands – and directly from the manufacturer. It has a pre-sale estimate of $195,000-$292,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $456,107.

Steyr 220 Cabriolet

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1939 Steyr 220 Cabriolet

Offered by Dorotheum | Salzburg, Austria | October 15, 2022

Photo – Dorotheum

Hard to believe a Steyr 220 has not come across this site yet. There have been a few that have popped up over the years, which can only mean that this site was asleep at the wheel. That or confident another would pop up soon. And here we are.

Steyr, which is mostly known for Steyr-Daimler-Puch products like the Pinzgauer, actually built road cars, including some fancier-looking ones like this. The 220 was the last in a line of 120/125/220 that stretched back to 1935. The 220 would be built from 1937 through 1941. It was the company’s most glamorous product – and their last passenger car.

Power is from a 2.3-liter inline-six that made 55 horsepower. Just 5,900 examples of the 220 were produced. Interestingly, a 220 with the same engine number sold on Bring a Trailer for $36,000 earlier this year. The car here has maroon wheels and fenders in lieu of body-color fenders and tan wheels, but it could be the same car. It has an estimate of $78,000-$110,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Renault Fregate

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1959 Renault Fregate Cabriolet by Chapron

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | October 16, 2022

Photo – Artcurial

Renault’s Fregate was a sedan offered between 1951 and 1960, but a few of them ended up as coachbuilt two-door cars, including this pretty cabriolet from Henri Chapron. Chapron actually designed three different variations of the Fregate. This is an example of the third.

Only three of these were built, and this is the only one left. It’s powered by a 2.1-liter inline-four that could be had in 75- or 80-horsepower form. This particular car was restored in the early 2000s.

The paint colors are great for a ’50s car, and are actually period Chapron colors, although this car was previously burgundy. The pre-sale estimate is $77,000-$116,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $82,291.

Turner 803

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1957 Turner 803

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Birmingham, U.K. | November 12-13, 2022

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Turner Sports Cars was founded by Jack Turner in Wolverhampton, England, in 1951. The company stuck around for 15 years, building turn-key and kit cars featuring fiberglass bodywork that could be paired with Austin, Triumph, and Ford mechanicals.

The 803, also known as the A30, was the first Turner product. It utilized a ladder frame and the engine, transmission, and suspension from an Austin A30. Most of these had 803cc Austin inline-fours, but this car got 948cc unit from the Austin A35. This car was actually the prototype for the Turner 950 Sports, which would duplicate its drivetrain setup when it went on sale shortly after this car was produced.

This car was restored in the 1990s and had a successful vintage racing career thereafter. It’s now got a pre-sale estimate of $23,000-$34,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $22,285.

Four-Wheel Leon Bollee

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1905 Leon Bollee 45/50HP Roi-des-Belges Tourer

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 4-15, 2022

Photo – Mecum

Leon Bollee was a pioneer in the automotive field, as was his father, Amedee. The most common vehicles associated with Leon Bollee are the three-wheeled voiturettes from the 19th century.

But, Leon Bollee Automobiles actually built cars through 1923 before being taken over by Morris, who soldiered on with a hyphenated marque until 1931. This car is the oldest four-wheeled Leon Bollee car known to the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain. That distinction leads one to believe that older four-wheeled cars could potentially exist elsewhere. Like in France. But who knows

It’s powered by an 8.3-liter inline-four rated at 50 horsepower. It’s got dual-chain drive and remained with the original owning family for 65 years. The restoration dates from the late 1980s/early 1990s. This is a big time early car, and you can read more about it here.

Update: Not sold.