Tag Archives: 1924

1924 La Buire

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1924 La Buire Type 12A Saloon by Hollingdrake

Offered by Bonhams | Chichester, U.K. | March 20, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

La Buire, of Lyon, was an automobile company founded in 1905 as an offshoot of an existing engineering company who had dabbled in steam-powered vehicles in the late 1800s. The car business went bankrupt by 1909 but was saved and re-introduced in 1911. This company lasted until 1930.

The Type 12A was built for 1924 and 1925. It uses a 2.8-liter straight-four making 14 horsepower. Though built in France, La Buire cars were available for sale in England by way of Hollingdrake, their official importer. 1924 may have been the final year that Hollingdrake bodied the La Buires they sold.

This example began a restoration in 2007 and the body and engine are complete, save for a starter that should be fitted. The car also needs an interior, but it should still bring between $27,000-$31,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $13,328.

The Big, Pre-Benz Mercedes

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1924 Mercedes 24/100/140 Custom Sport Touring by Fleetwood

Offered by Dragone Auctions | Westport, Connecticut | October 17, 2015

Photo - Dragone Auctions

Photo – Dragone Auctions

The 24/100/140 was the “big” Mercedes. Introduced in 1924, it was on sale for only two short years before the merger of Daimler and Benz – and the creation of Mercedes-Benz. The post-merger car was known as the Mercedes-Benz Type 630 through 1929. It was the long, fast, and heavy Mercedes – one of the peaks of 1920s German motoring.

The engine is a 6.2-liter straight-six that made 99 horsepower – but with the “Kompressor” (supercharger) engaged, power jumped up to 138. Strangely, this big German touring car doesn’t carry a European body. Instead, the new chassis and engine combo was shipped to Mercedes of North America in New York City. The new owner sent it to Fleetwood in Pennsylvania who was operating in its final year of independence in its founding city before being acquired and moved to Detroit.

The car was discovered in the 1970s and restored. Then it was hidden again. When it was pulled out of the garage recently, it showed that it had been well preserved since that restoration over 40 years ago. It’s been awakened and is ready to run. Only 377 of these were built after the Benz merger, so the number beforehand is likely much lower. This one should bring between $1,200,000-$1,400,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Five Cars from the 1920s

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1927 Whippet Model 96 Sedan

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 8-9, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

General Motors wasn’t the only American automaker expanding its brands in the 1920s. Willys-Overland was one of a number of other companies to get in on the game. Whippet was a marque introduced for the 1926 model year. It didn’t last long – it was gone after 1930 – but it did have an impact: boosting Willys into third place in the U.S.

The Model 96 was the smaller option in the Whippet line and was produced in every model year. It is powered by a 30 horsepower 2.2-liter straight-four. This car looks great. It was formerly part of the AACA Museum and has been used in Boardwalk Empire – which is something we’ve talked about in other posts. Interesting. Click here for more.

Update: Sold $23,100.

1929 Roosevelt Eight Sedan by Hayes

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 8-9, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

Roosevelt is a very rare American automobile make. It was built by Marmon and introduced in 1929 – great timing. It was a smaller version of the larger Marmons and was the first American car with a straight-eight engine to be offered for sale for less than $1,000. The engine is actually a 3.3-liter straight-eight, making 77 horsepower.

The Eight (Roosevelt’s only model) was offered in four body styles with the Sedan being the cheapest and least fanciful. Named for Teddy Roosevelt, this rare survivor would be an awesome addition to a collection. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $10,450.

1924 Oldsmobile Model 30-B Turtle Deck Speedster by Schutte

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 8-9, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

The 1924 Oldsmobile line consisted of a single model offered in a range of factory body styles and apparently coachbuilt ones as well. The engine is a 2.8-liter straight-six making 42 horsepower.

The story here is this awesome bod. The aluminium radiator looks like it was milled out of a solid block of metal. The solid metal wheels are amazing. The car only has a single door – on the passenger side of the car. It is full of special one-off features with an unusual body style from a smaller coachbuilder. It is thought that less than 10 Schutte-bodied cars exist and we’ve now featured two of them. Check out more on RM’s site.

Update: Sold $71,500.

1923 Wills Sainte Claire B-68 Gray Goose Special

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 8-9, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

Like Roosevelt, Wills Sainte Claire was another short-lived American automobile manufacturer of respectable quality. This car, which is all-original, is a 68-series car. The variations of the Model 68 were built from 1922 through 1926. 1927 was the only year it wasn’t built.

It was Wills Sainte Claire’s largest model, using a 4.4-liter V-8 making 67 horsepower. In 1924, the Model 68 was offered in a bunch of body styles with the most interesting being the Gray Goose Special seen here (which is essentially a four-door touring car). This one has known ownership history from new and has only been owned by two different families in that time. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $57,200.

1920 Rauch & Lang Electric Model C-45 Dual Drive Coach

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 8-9, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

Rauch & Lang traces its history back to Jacob Rauch, a blacksmith in Cleveland who opened his shop in 1853. Charles Lang was a real estate man from nearby and moved the company toward wagon building. In 1905, they turned to electric cars and became one of America’s premier electric car builders in the early days of automobiles.

They built cars through 1928 and this 1920 Model C-45 is how most of them looked. The company moved from Cleveland to Massachusetts in 1920 (after having merged with Baker Electric in 1917) and this car was the final example produced in Cleveland. It uses a three horsepower electric motor. This car can be driven from the left hand seat either in the front or rear, which is pretty interesting. Try that in your Buick. Click here to see more about this car.

Update: Sold $66,000.

New Carden

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1924 New Carden

Offered by H&H Classics | Chateau Impney, U.K. | July 11, 2015

Photo - H&H Classics

Photo – H&H Classics

Carden Engineering was founded in 1913 by Sir John Carden. They built a car called the Carden that was a light, seven horsepower cyclecar. The company took a break during the First World War (Carden is known for his work on tanks) and came back in 1919.

Carden designed a light car in 1922 which was built by Arnott & Harrison Ltd of London between 1922 and 1925 as the New Carden. It is powered by a 707cc twin-cylinder engine.

This particular car was last running in 2007 but is described as “highly original.” It is a former museum car and is one of only six known to exist. It’s very rare and very interesting. It also has one of our favorite 1920s design touches: solid metal wheels! Anyway, it should bring between $15,750-$19,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Flint Touring

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1924 Flint Model E Touring

Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Houston, Texas | April 25, 2015

Photo - Worldwide Auctioneers

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

The Flint was a motorcar sold by the Durant Motors Company for a few short years in the 1920s. Billy Durant’s story is an interesting one. After he was forced out at General Motors, he went out and founded his own General Motors, but called it Durant. It was to have a full line of automobiles, and included marques Durant, Star, Rugby, Locomobile, and Flint.

The Flint was an assembled car, built out of parts Durant could buy on the open market instead of designing one from the ground up. Actually, the design of this car came with a factory he bought, a former Willys factory. The cars were produced in Long Island City from 1923 through 1924 before production shifted to Elizabeth, New Jersey and Flint, Michigan until 1926. The Flint factory ceased production a year before the rest of production halted in 1927.

The Model E was the only car offered by Flint in 1923 and 1924. It uses a 65 horsepower straight-six Continental engine. This original tourer has been in long-term storage and will need a bit of freshening before being roadworthy. At any rate it should sell for between $40,000-$60,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Worldwide’s auction lineup.

Update: Sold $12,100.

Templar Touring

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1924 Templar 4-45 Five-Passenger Touring

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 12, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

This is a very good looking car. It may appear to be just another Jazz Age touring car, but there’s something about it that is drawing me in. Templar Motors Corporation was a Cleveland-based automobile company that built cars between 1917 and 1924. Templar built only three models and the 4-45 was the main one, being the only car offered between 1919 and 1923. 1924 was the final year and they tried to add a Six, but went bankrupt.

The car was billed as the “Super-Fine Small Car” and it uses a 3.2-liter straight-four putting out 43 horsepower. The engineering is what set this car apart – but it also made it very expensive for how small it was. $2,900 in 1921 for a convertible. You could have a car of similar size for less than a grand at the time.

It sort of priced itself out of business (and suffered a massive factory fire) and only about 6,000 cars in total were built. This is perhaps the nicest example there is of the few that are left. This one could bring between $40,000-$60,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $60,500.

Update II: Not sold, Bonhams, Greenwich 2016.

Alfa RL Limousine

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1924 Alfa Romeo RL Limousine de Ville by J. Farré

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 5, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The RL was Alfa Romeo’s first new sporty model designed after World War I. It went on sale in 1922 and lasted through 1927. It was available in a number of different variants and could be had as a bare chassis so coachbuilders could add their own personal touch.

Not many of these were exported outside of Italy when new, but this is perhaps the only one that was shipped as a bare chassis to Spain, where it was bodied by J. Farré in Barcelona before meeting its owner in Mallorca in 1926. The engine is a 2.9-liter straight-six making 56 horsepower.

This car is in original (but superb) condition and is being offered for sale for the first time outside of Spain in its life. No, it’s not black either… it’s a very nice, deep maroonish-brown. It does run and operate as if it were new. It should bring between $160,000-$210,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Albion Delivery Van

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1924 Albion Type 24 30CWT Delivery Van

Offered by Bonhams | Oxford, U.K. | December 7, 2014

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Albion is a rare Scottish-built automobile that was founded in 1899 by Thomas Blackwood Murray and Norman Osborne Fulton. In 1951 the company was acquired by Leyland but passenger car production had ceased in 1915. Commercial vehicles lasted until 1980.

The Albion Type 24 was built between 1924 and 1931 and was a mainstay of grocery delivery companies throughout the 1920s. The engine is a 3.9-liter straight-four. Albion vehicles were function-first: the cab is a bench seat with a steering wheel and brake and hardly any instruments. The rear compartment looks wonderful with its beautifully restored wood.

There’s a pretty good commercial vehicle collector community in the U.K. and this truck is well known in that arena. It’s a rare example of this kind of Albion and it can be yours for between $36,000-$44,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Bonhams’ lineup.

Update: Sold $55,919.

Update: Sold, H&H November 2021, $34,488

Mercedes 10/40/65

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1924 Mercedes 10/40/65PS Sport Phaeton

Offered by Bonhams | Stuttgart, Germany | July 12, 2014

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

This pretty Mercedes touring car was built by Mercedes – before the “hyphen Benz.” In fact, it was produced just two years before Daimler (Mercedes’ controlling company) merged with The House that Karl Built in 1926.

The confusing model nomenclature used by Mercedes with the three numbers separated by slashes is like that for good reason: these were the first production cars fitted with superchargers and the numbers reflected the horsepower during various driving stages. The first number is the nominal horsepower (which was and is an outdated way of estimating power – it’s what they used for steam engines), the second number is the engine during normal operating procedure, and the third is when the supercharger is engaged.

So this 2.6-liter straight-four put out 40 horsepower – 65 when the “Kompressor” was engaged. It was the more powerful of the two four-cylinder cars Mercedes was producing at the time. My favorite part of the catalog entry for this car is that this car is currently owned by a collector of mainly post-war Mercedes and this car “does not fit his collection.” Must be a nice problem to have.

Only 851 10/40/65s were built. And this one should sell for between $610,000-$890,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Cottin-Desgouttes Torpedo

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1924 Cottin-Desgouttes Type M Torpedo

Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 11, 2013

1924 Cottin-Desgouttes Type M Torpedo

Cottin-Desgouttes (sometimes written as Cottin & Desgouttes) was a French automobile manufacturer founded in Lyon in 1906. Pierre Desgoutte built cars under his own name in 1904 before being joined by a wealthy backer – Cyrille Cottin – two years later.

They built mainly luxury and sporty, racing cars. The company was doing well – and then the war came. Luckily, they found their niche was were able to weather World War One, coming out of it well-equipped and ready to resume production. But the wealth of pre-war France wasn’t quite the same immediately following the war, so the company introduced a cheaper model – this, the Type M.

It used a four-cylinder engine with 12 taxable horsepower. It was well-equipped and technically innovative. This car has a very sporty convertible torpedo body on it and has spent a long time in a museum – the last 15 years of which in storage. It was brought out and driven this year – so it does run and drive. It should sell for between $54,000-$81,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Bonhams’ auction lineup in Belgium.

Update: Sold $70,204.