The Bull Tractor Company was founded in 1912. The tractor you see here was built one year later – 101 years ago. The Bull was the best-selling tractor of 1914 and cost $395 when new. It was the first commercially-successful gas-powered tractor but Bull couldn’t sustain the progress and went belly-up in 1920.
Engine: Two-cylinder. 12 horsepower.
Production: 1913-1917.
Produced: 3,800+.
Update: Sold $81,000.
Photo – Mecum
This is our second chunk of tractors we’ve featured. I try to get a few of them in the mix as something different. We featured a Rumely Oilpull before. Here are the need-to-knows about this very nice old tractor:
Engine: 9.9-liter two-cylinder. 50 horsepower.
Production: 1928-1930.
Produced: 2,400.
Update: Sold $20,000.
Photo – Mecum
The Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company began in 1889 building traction steam engines. In 1911 they started building tractors under the Minneapolis name and in 1929 it merged with two other companies in Minneapolis to form Minneapolis-Moline.
Engine: 25 horsepower.
Production: 1919-1924.
Produced: ?
Update: Not sold, high bid of $50,000.
Photo – Mecum
Here is another rare Rumely Oilpull (I think tractors are cooler the older they get – they’re very raw machines). This tractor looks highly original.
Engine: 6.1-liter two-cylinder. 30 horsepower.
Production: 1924-1927.
Produced: 4,855.
Update: Sold $10,500.
Photo – Mecum
The Bull Tractor Company was founded in 1912. The tractor you see here was built one year later – 101 years ago. The Bull was the best-selling tractor of 1914 and cost $395 when new. It was the first commercially-successful gas-powered tractor but Bull couldn’t sustain the progress and went belly-up in 1920.
Engine: Two-cylinder. 12 horsepower.
Production: 1913-1917.
Produced: 3,800+.
Update: Sold $81,000.
Photo – Mecum
As you can read above, Minneapolis-Moline was founded in 1929 but the brand name was phased out in 1974 after having been acquired by the White Motor Company in the year in which the tractor you see here was built. Check out more cool tractors from Mecum here.
Engine: 3.4-liter four-cylinder. 44 horsepower.
Production: 1963.
Produced: 1,213. Only 1,100 were gas-powered. Only 22 of those were Orchard models.
Update: Sold $14,500.
So what’s weird about the name of this car? It was established independently of the Peugeot we all know today. In fact, Lion-Peugeot was founded in 1906 by Robert Peugeot – a member of the same family who had founded Peugeot years earlier.
In 1910, the brothers agreed to combine companies and produce cars at the same factory and by 1916, Lion-Peugeot ceased to exist (although Peugeot’s logo to this day is a lion). This car is powered by 2.0-liter V-4 making 10 horsepower.
This car was restored in the 1970s and has been a part of the French classic car scene for a long time. Only about 800 Type VDs were built and not many survive today. This is a rare car tied to the early days of a major worldwide automobile manufacturer. It should sell for between $55,000-$68,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams in Paris.
Update: Not sold.
I’ve literally been waiting months to feature this car. I saw it pop up in H&H’s catalog early on and have been excited about it since. Argyll was a Scottish marque that was founded in Glasgow in 1899 by Alex Govan.
Right around 1913 was when Argyll really hit their stride. Business was expanding – in fact, this car was sold new in Sydney, Australia. It didn’t re-arrive back into the U.K. until 2001. I’m not sure about the John Deere paint scheme, but I kind of like it. I also like the upright windshield and pillarless sides when the top is stowed back.
The engine is a 12 horsepower (presumably taxable) four-cylinder. The “artillery” look of the wheels is one of my favorite early wheel styles (yes, I have multiple categories for favorite wheel styles). This just looks like a fun, usable car from what was once Scotland’s largest automobile manufacturer. It is expected to sell for between $48,500-$56,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of H&H’s auction lineup.
Update: Sold $56,250.
I love it when fine examples of short-lived automobile manufacturers survive for 100 years. This Warne 8 cyclecar is 100 years old. The company, Pearsall-Warne Ltd, was founded in Letchworth in 1913. It only lasted through 1915.
Light cars were all the rage in that day. A lot of companies popped up and built cars of varying quality with varying success. Warne may not have had a lot of success, but they had quality down. The engine is an eight horsepower 1.0-liter V-twin from J.A.P. and the price was a crazy-low-sounding £99!
The car is simple, yes, but it does have a convertible top, lights and it is belt-driven (for weight reasons). I don’t know how many were made in total, but it is said the company built six of them a week. This is car #57. You can read more here and check out more from Coys here.
Update: Sold for about $10,800.
SA Nouvelle des Automobiles Philos was founded in Lyon, France, in 1912. In 1923 they were acquired by Jean Gras – another French automobile manufacturer. While Jean Gras soldiered on until 1930, 1923 was the end of the line for Philos. Early Philos cars used engines from Ballot.
This car, being from the second year of manufacture, uses an aforementioned Ballot engine: it’s a 1.1-liter straight-four. Later cars used engines of varying size from a variety of manufacturers. The design feature that set the Philos apart was its curved V-shaped radiator.
This car is offered in preserved, all-original condition. It is a very fine example of early French motoring. You can read more here and check out more from Coys here.
Update: Sold for about $16,100.
Henri Brasier joined the Georges Richard’s automobile company and the new Richard-Brasier company began to produce cars in 1902. That only lasted through 1905, when Richard left the company. So the company that started out with Georges Richard’s full name as the marque, gradually decreased until it was just “Brasier” left.
Brasier started building cars in late 1905/early 1906 and lasted through 1926, after which they were called Chaigneau-Brasier, until the company ultimately closed in 1930. This particular Brasier is a 1913 Sedan with coachwork by Marcel Guilloux of France (if you couldn’t tell where he was from based on his name). It uses a 3.2-liter four-cylinder making 16 horsepower.
The car was bought new by a gentleman in France who walled it up when the First World War broke out. The man perished in the war and the car wasn’t discovered again for 70 years, when the wall he built was demolished during a home redesign. It’s bounced around since, having appeared in a few movies along the way. It is entirely original – a great example of “time warp” condition that makes it perfect for high-class car shows all over the world. It runs well and everything works. It should sell for between $100,000-$130,000. Click here to read more and here for more from this sale.
Update: Not sold.
Update: Not sold, Bonhams Paris 2020.
How cool is this car? It’s a tandem-seat cyclecar. It seats two, the driver in front and the passenger directly behind him or her. This car is long, tall, and skinny and looks like it would tip over if a curve was taken too quickly, but with practically no weight (less than 500 lbs), it would probably stay on the ground just fine.
Francis A. Woods built his first prototype in 1910 but the Woods Mobilette Company of Harvey, Illinois didn’t begin production on this cyclecar until early 1914. Bonhams lists this as a “circa 1913” and 1914 is certainly “circa 1913.” The engine is a 12 horsepower, 1.1-liter L-head four-cylinder. It would do 40 mph and retailed for $380.
Cyclecars were a big thing in the Teens and this is one of the best of the hundreds of different marques produced in the United States. They were affordable and basic, but the Model T managed to undercut them all – and kill off the fad. Production ceased at the end of 1916. This is one of only a few examples of the Woods Mobilette still extant and it’s way cool. It is expected to sell for between $20,000-$30,000. For more info, click here. And for more from Bonhams “Preserving the Automobile” sale, click here.
Update: Sold $48,300.
Like many automotive manufacturers, Humber began as a bicycle company. Founded as such in 1868 by Thomas Humber, their first car didn’t appear until 1898, a three-wheeler. Four-wheelers appeared in 1901. “Humberette” was applied to light (single-cylinder) Humbers in 1903 and 1904 and then it went missing until after 1910.
The cyclecar fad was sweeping the U.K. in the early teens and Humber eagerly opted in, bringing the Humberette name back from the great beyond for their v-twin powered cyclecars, like the one you see here. This has a 996cc V-Twin making eight horsepower. Unlike most of its competition, this cyclecar has shaft drive, as Humber was not a fan of the much more common chain drive.
Humberette was not technically its own marque but the cars are often referred to as if they were. The Humberette name disappeared again at the start of WWI. The Humber name lasted until 1976, being killed during the Chrysler Europe fiasco. This car was restored at some point and has seen little use over the last quarter century in the hands of its current owner. The pre-sale estimate is $17,000-$22,000. For the complete description, click here and for more from Bonhams at the National Motor Museum, click here.
Update: Sold $36,809.
I’m just going to come right out and say it: this car looks downright scary. Not in a bad way – but in a baroque haunted house kind of way. It looks kind of a like a car constructed by a movie studio that some hapless family would stumble upon in the garage of an old castle and use to escape their ghostly tormentors.
But it isn’t. This is one of four “Colonial” chassis cars built by the Spanish firm. They named the car after their unofficial spokesman, King Alfonso XIII of Spain. His exploits in Hispano-Suiza cars helped them reach markets they would have otherwise been without. The engine is a sporty 3.6 liter four-cylinder making 64 horsepower.
This car was discovered in Spain in the mid-1980s wearing a touring body with the Double Berline body sitting nearby. It was not uncommon in the early days of motoring to order a large coachbuilt car with seasonal bodies. The “winter” body seen here is by Carrosserie Alin & Liautard and is, like the rest of the car, entirely original. The body had not been touched since the 1940s and is wonderfully preserved.
It’s a car of details – one that would truly need to be seen in person in order to be fully appreciated. Big cars this like rarely made it through the wars unscathed. To find one this original in such a fascinating bodystyle is truly unique. I just hope the new owner maintains the history that this car has acquired over the years. It has been mechanically freshened, but a restoration would be criminal.
The estimate on the car is $750,000-$1,000,000. This is a fascinating automobile. To read the full description, click here. To see the rest of RM’s Amelia Island lineup, click here.
Update: Not Sold.