Zink Z-8

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1969 Zink-Volkswagen Z-8 Daytona Prototype

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo – Gooding & Company

Ed Zink is most remembered for his Formula Vee open-wheel race cars, but in the 1960s, it was hard not to get caught up in prototype sports car racing, apparently. The Z-8 featured a space-frame chassis wrapped in fiberglass bodywork.

For power, project cheerleader and idea man Hugh Heishman (a Virginia Volkswagen dealer) turned to VW for their new Type 3E fuel-injected flat-four. The 1.9-liter unit is carbureted now and is estimated to make about 150 horsepower. The car was run in period, including:

  • 1969 24 Hours of Daytona – 18th, 3rd in class (with Bill Scott, Jim McDaniel, and Steve Pieper)
  • 1969 12 Hours of Sebring – 68th, DNF (with Scott, McDaniel, and Pieper)

It went SCCA racing in privateer hands after that, eventually being stored in a disassembled state. A restoration that completed in 2017 brought it to its current condition. Gooding estimates a price of $150,000-$200,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $75,000.

Curved Dash Olds

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1903 Oldsmobile Model R Runabout

Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 19, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

This is the car that revolutionized automobiles. Ransom E. Olds built his first Curved Dash prototypes in 1900, and customer deliveries started late the following year. For 1902 and 1903, the cars were officially dubbed the Model R, but many similar Oldsmobiles built through 1907 are widely collectively known as “Curved Dash Oldsmobiles” (CDO).

1903 was the company’s best up to that point, with 3,924 cars produced. The CDO was built on an assembly line using interchangeable parts instead of everything being a one-off crafted by hand. This put Oldsmobile in the #1 sales position in America, with Cadillac a distant second, nearly 1,500 units behind.

Power is from a single-cylinder engine displacing 1.6 liters and producing seven horsepower. The cars have a strong following and are used often by enthusiastic owners. The pre-sale estimate is $65,000-$80,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $30,240

Ferrari F300

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1998 Ferrari F300

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 18-20, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

This was Ferrari’s 1998 F1 contender. It was very similar to 1997’s F310B, which itself was an evolution of 1996’s F310. The main differences between 1998 and 1997 were a narrower track and redesigned sidepods.

Ferrari supplied their own 3.0-liter V10, which made about 805 horsepower in this application. The season’s drivers were Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine, and the competition history for this particular chassis, 187, includes:

  • 1998 Canadian Grand Prix – 1st (with Michael Schumacher)
  • 1998 French Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
  • 1998 British Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
  • 1998 Italian Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)

Not bad. Unfortunately, Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren was still too strong, and Schumacher ended up second in the World Championship. Ferrari also took second place in the constructors race. Ferrari sold this car late the following year to a private owner.

Race-winning cars from former world champions are hard to come by, especially with their engines intact. The price reflects it here: the estimate is $6,000,000-$8,000,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $6,220,000.

Delage D8-120 Grand Luxe

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1939 Delage D8-120 Cabriolet Grand Luxe by Chapron

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo – Gooding & Company

The D8-120 was the ultimate version of Delage’s grand eight-cylinder car. Introduced in 1937, the model was available through 1940, which marked the end of eight-cylinder Delages. Those eight cylinders displaced 4.3 liters, a slight increase over the earlier D8-100. Output was rated at 90 horsepower. Or 120. Depends who you ask.

This car features bodywork by Henri Chapron that is set off by swoopy lines and a bumper-less front end. Between the louvered hood, superbly placed bits of chrome, and kind of intense wheel covers, this car just has that look. The car wasn’t actually bodied until 1946, with the chassis having been intended for the canceled 1939 Paris Motor Show.

It spent time in Egypt before coming to the U.S. The car was restored in 1995 and repainted in these colors, the originals, in 1998. It now has an estimate of $800,000-$1,200,000, which seems like a steal from the sheer look of it. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $940,000.

Haynes Model 27

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1914 Haynes Model 27 Touring

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo – Gooding & Company

Elwood Haynes was a pioneer in the American automotive industry, having built one of the earliest cars in the country and having designed the first American car that could be mass produced. In 1904, he parted ways with the Apperson brothers and set out on his own.

The Haynes Automobile Company last until 1925, and in 1914, the company’s range consisted of three models. The Model 27 was the largest, powered by a 50-horsepower, 7.7-liter inline-six. Three body styles were offered, including this seven-passenger tourer, which is believed to be one of two Model 27 tourers to survive.

This example remained in the family of the original owner until the 1980s and remained in Iowa until 2007. It later won a preservation class award at Pebble Beach and is now being sold at no reserve with an estimate of $100,000-$130,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $112,000.

Duesenberg J-189

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1929 Duesenberg Model J Brougham by LaGrande

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 18-20, 2022

Photo – Mecum

There are a fair number of Model Js up for grabs in Monterey this year. We’ve featured a few of them in the last few weeks, and there are still more that we’ve featured in years past. More recently we talked about how closed cars are usually on the cheaper end of the entry into Model J ownership. But once again, this car doesn’t quite fit that bill.

It was originally bodied as a Weymann sedan but was sent back to Duesenberg in 1933 to get a factory (LaGrande) “blind quarter brougham” body put on. Still a sedan with a cloth roof, but no rear 3/4 windows at the back. The engine is a 6.9-liter inline-eight that was rated at 265 horsepower when new.

This car has known ownership history back to new and was restored in 1994. It has been in German ownership since 2007 and is now up for auction in California. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $1,100,000.

Update: Not sold, Mecum Indianapolis 2023, high bid of $850,000.

Update: Not sold, Mecum Kissimmee 2024, high bid of $675,000.

166 MM Berlinetta Le Mans

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1950 Ferrari 166 MM Berlinetta Le Mans by Touring

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo – Gooding & Company

Ferrari’s first cars were the 125 S and 159 S. After that, on the racing side, there was the 166 S and 166 MM. That makes this a very early, very valuable Ferrari. The 166 MM was built between 1948 and 1953, and it was a fairly high-volume model. Well, relatively anyway: 47 were built.

Of those, just five of those were Touring-bodied Berlinettas, which were introduced in 1950. Power is provided by a 2.0-liter V12 rated at about 170 horsepower. This is a car from 1950 with a five-speed. It meant business.

This model’s racing success was also serious. It was the only model to have ever won Le Mans, the Targa Florio, and the Mille Miglia. This car, confusingly serialed as 0066 M, was the last of the five built. It never took part in any of Europe’s grand races, but did take part in hillclimbs and road races in Europe before being imported to the U.S. in 1958.

It’s been with its current California-based owner since 2008 and it’s back at auction with an estimate of $5,500,000-$6,500,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Dort Model 5

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1916 Dort Model 5 Touring

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Broadway, U.K. | August 5, 2022

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Flint, Michigan’s Dort Motor Car Company was founded by Billy Durant and Dallas Dort in 1886. The company started out building carriages and at one point was the largest such builder in the country. Dort made a late switch to motorcars, and that’s mostly because Durant had founded General Motors in 1908 and remained as part owner of Dort until 1914.

Once he left Dort, the company was free to basically compete against him. So the first Dort cars rolled out for 1915. The first two years of production consisted of this: the Model 5 Touring. They sold 9,000 of them by the end of 1916. Power is from a 2.7-liter Lycoming inline-four rated at 17 horsepower.

The cars cost $695 when new, over $200 more than a Model T. The last Dorts were sold in 1924, and Dallas Dort died the following year. This car is one of two Dorts in the U.K. and has a pre-sale estimate of $12,000-$18,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $11,005.

Railton Cobham

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1936 Railton Cobham Deluxe

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | August 3, 2022

Photo – Brightwells

Here’s one you may not be familiar with. Railton was founded by Noel Macklin, who previously founded Invicta. He named his next company after Reid Railton, a British world speed record holder. The kind of weird part was, Macklin used American Hudson powertrains for his British-built cars (initially inline-eights).

The Cobham, of which this appears to be an early example, was the “small” Railton at this time of its introduction, with power from a 2.7-liter Hudson inline-six. An even smaller Railton would debut in 1938 and was based on Standard mechanicals instead of those from Hudson.

Just 81 examples of the Cobham were produced, either as a sedan or drophead coupe. This is one of about six that remain. It was repainted in 1993, receiving mechanical repairs and upgrades as needed over the years. The pre-sale estimate is $24,000-$30,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold. Offered for sale at half it’s lower estimate above.

Update: Sold Brightwells September 2022, $17,707.

Miller-Ford

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1935 Miller-Ford

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo – Gooding & Company

Few names are as synonymous with Indianapolis as Harry Miller. Maybe Andy Granatelli would be up there for people in the know. And Tony Hulman. Well, all three are in play here, but let’s start with this: legendary Indy car designed Harry Miller was approached by Preston Tucker to design an Indy car around a road car-based engine. This was the “junk formula” era.

Tucker then got his friend Edsel Ford to persuade his dad Henry to fund it. Henry ended up making his franchised dealers foot the bill, but the project went ahead. The result was a two-seater, front-wheel-drive chassis powered by a Ford flathead V8. The bodies were built by Emil Diedt, a famous Indy car name on its own.

Ten examples were produced, but just four qualified for the 1935 Indy 500. None finished due to a design flaw with the steering. Henry Ford scooped all of them up, apparently out of embarrassment/rage, and hid them away in Dearborn. They would slowly be sold off to private customers.

This car escaped not long after, and, just after WWII, was owned by a California-based race team owner who had a 4.4-liter Offenhauser inline-four put in it in place of the flathead. Output now is estimated to be 350 horsepower. In 1948, the car was purchased by team owner Andy Granatelli, who entered it in the 1948 race. So the known competition history for this car, chassis #5, consists of:

  • 1948 Indianapolis 500 – DNQ (with Granatelli)

He actually destroyed the car in practice and it was later rebuilt. In 1949, it was purchased by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman and remained with the IMS Museum until 1993. This is a hard car to come by, and it has an estimate of $750,000-$1,000,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $830,000.