1930 Tatra 12 Convertible

Offered by Dorotheum | Vosendorf, Austria | August 29, 2020

Photo – Dorotheum

The Tatra name first appeared in 1919 as the marque for cars built by an industrial company that built railroad cars and carriages. They had already produced some cars under the NW marque, but the new-and-improved post-WWI Tatras would lead to some impressive pre-and-post-war cars.

The 12 was introduced in 1926 as an evolution of the earlier 11. One big difference was that the 12 had four-wheel brakes. It’s powered by a 1.1-liter flat-twin making 14 horsepower. It was not a sporty machine. But that was not the intent. At this point, the company wanted to move cars people could afford.

This example has been in the same care since 1959 and is largely original aside from a repaint. Only 7,525 examples of the Tatra 12 were produced by the time it was replaced by the Tatra 57 in 1933. This one should sell for between $14,000-$21,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $20,436.

1956 GAZ 12

Offered by Coys | Maastricht, Netherlands | January 10, 2015

Photo – Coys

Here’s another obscure Soviet sedan. This one was built by GAZ, one of the more well-known old, Russian automotive factories. The car is sometimes called the ZIM-12, which is the name under which it was originally built, but when the namesake for ZIM fell out of favor, the Russians changed the name of the car.

It is powered by a 3.5-liter straight-six making 95 horsepower. The styling is eerily reminiscent of a 1948 Cadillac and 1947 Buick. I guess GM would’ve been really popular in Russia back in the day had they the opportunity to market their cars.

What’s interesting about the GAZ-12 is that it is the only executive, full-size car available for purchase by regular citizens – but it was priced exorbitantly, leaving it out of reach for most. But they still managed to sell 21,527 between 1950 and 1960. This one looks pretty nice and is expected to bring between $25,000-$35,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Coys.

Update: Sold $107,890.