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
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.
Paul Genestin started building his own cars in 1925 in Fourmies in the north of France. He got his start at the end of World War One rebuilding cars that were left behind by the Germans. I’ve honestly never seen one of these cars but this thing looks super sporty and I really like it.
The engine is a 1.8-liter straight-eight made by Vermerel and the torpedo body is by a little known French coachbuilder. Genestins are said to be sporty and a shorter wheelbase was offered for even better handling.
This is one of only a few Genestins still in existence and has spent a long time in museums. It would be an awesome addition to any collection and a welcome sight at car shows all over the globe. No pre-sale estimate is available but you can find out more here and more from the sale of the Karl Ritter Collection here.
Update: Sold for about $71,100.
Whoa. Every once in a while (and seemingly more and more often as of late) a car comes along that just shouldn’t exist. It’s so rare and it looks like something out of a black and white photograph that it just can’t be real. Cars like this only exist in private European collections. And only 60+ years ago.
But no, here it is. This car won Best in Show at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. This car was also displayed at the 1929 New York Auto Salon. A lot of people have seen it in person. We’ve actually featured another Mercedes-Benz 680 (here) if you want to read more about the evolution of the model.
Here’s some specs on this car. It uses a 6.8-liter straight-six with the pedal-controlled supercharger. That is: it made 120 horsepower when cruising around and 180 horsepower when you matted the throttle, engaging the “Kompressor.” It has top-of-the-line mechanicals for 1928.
But then there’s the body. It’s low slung and designed by one of the top coachbuilders of the era: Saoutchik of Paris. The interior is lizard skin. It was ordered by the wife of a wealthy American and by the time the car was completed, the couple was broke. It sat in a New York showroom before it was sold to a young Standard Oil executive. There’s a pretty cool story about it that I won’t reprint here, but you can read about it on RM’s website.
The car was parked in 1952. It was restored for the first time in 1980 and in 1986 it was placed in a museum where it remained until 2006 (the first time it left ownership of the original family). The current owner bought it in 2008 and had it fully restored – with brand new lizard skin interior.
Only 124 Type S Mercedes’ were built. Only three had short-windshield bodies from Saoutchik. Of those three, this is the only one left. In order to bid on this car, you have to tell the auction house prior to the sale. That’s a solid hint that it is expected to bring an insane amount of money. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Monterey.
Update: Sold $8,250,000.
Update II: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s Villa Erba 2017.
S/N: 35949
Mercedes became Mercedes-Benz in 1926 when Daimler and Benz merged. What is interesting about the 630K (okay, so there are many things) is that it was originally introduced in 1924 when Mercedes was just Mercedes. The model line was known as the 24/100/140 PS. When the companies merged, the name was changed to Type 630 (although 24/110/160 PS was still used on occasion). 1929 was the final year regardless of whatever you called it.
The model was more or less designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche when he arrived at Mercedes to replace the departing Paul Daimler. This model was a follow-up to the 6/25/40 PS model that Mercedes introduced in 1921 as the world’s first supercharged production car. Also: the slashes in the name denote the following: rated (or taxable) horsepower/horsepower without the supercharger/horsepower with the supercharger engaged. You can see that power in the new model was greatly improved. The engine in the 630K is a supercharged 6.3-liter straight-six making 138 horsepower with the supercharger active (and it was activated by flooring the gas pedal).
The “K” variant of the Type 630 was new for 1926 and it stands for “Kurz” and not “Kompressor” as one might think. “Kurz” translates to “short” – as in wheelbase. The K variant was available on other Mercedes-Benz models from 1926 through 1932. They had a 90 mph top speed and only 267 were built. Some had factory Sindelfingen coachwork while this one sports a Tourer body from Erdmann & Rossi. Other coachbuilders were involved as well.
This car was delivered new to Los Angeles with this body on it. It is presented in all-original condition and the color is apparently maroon (I guess). I personally find this car incredible and would love to own it, if I had the means. And means I would need: the pre-sale estimate is $280,000-$390,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams at Goodwood.
Update: Sold $1,220,606.
Photo – RM Auctions
We featured a Hispano-Suiza H6C fairly recently and while that car was certainly cool, it really can’t match this one for looks. Check out the rounded fenders, swooping lines and the soft cream color scheme. It’s beautiful.
The body is by Hibbard & Darrin, a company comprised of two Americans living in Paris. Four-door convertibles really need to make a comeback (I’m looking at you, Cadillac) as the style is really elegant and imposing, something often not found on modern cars. The sweeping fenders on this car were actually added in the late-1930s after the car had seen a few owners. The engine is a 160 horsepower 8.0-liter straight-six.
This car was one of very few Hispano-Suizas delivered new to the U.S. And it’s also one of only a few H6Cs that are still around. Luckily, it happens to be one of the best looking as well. It can be yours for between $400,000-$500,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Update: Sold $495,000.
Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island 2018.
Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s Arizona 2019.
Frank Ballou Stearns founded the F.B. Stearns company in 1899 to build cars under the Stearns name. Around this time, Charles Knight was developing his “Silent Knight” sleeve-valve engine and in 1911, Stearns became the first American automaker to use a Knight sleeve-valve engine in their cars. It was at this time that the Stearns name disappeared on the cars and was replaced by the Stearns-Knight moniker.
Stearns continued to run the company until 1925, when he sold it to John North Willys, who kept the company operating and separate from his WillysOverland mini-empire. Willys kept it open as long as he could, shutting it down in December of 1929 at the beginning of the Depression. This 1928 F-6-85 Roadster is one of two known Roadsters still extant with the 8.5-liter straight-six. The model was only offered from 1927-1929.
This car has known ownership from new and has recently undergone a five-year $300,000 restoration that concluded in 2000. It’s a big convertible, the sportiest of models offered from Stearns-Knight, a marque you don’t see very often. It should sell for between $125,000-$150,000. Click here for more info, and here for the rest of the Bonhams lineup.
Update: Sold $126,000.
Well check this out. This 1928 Mercedes-Benz S-Type Tourer has been in the same family for the last 84 years. That’s single-family ownership from new. And it has never been restored and has covered only 8,375 miles. This is an incredible car and an example of one of those cars that proves there is always something out there that will surprise you when it surfaces.
Mercedes-Benz introduced the S-Type in 1927. It featured a 6.8-liter straight-six with supercharger that was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Power was around 180 and the top speed was in excess of 100 mph. The big brothers of this car, the SS, SSK and SSKL are legendary for their performance.
This car was ordered by an Army Captain in early 1928. It was delivered to England as a bare chassis and bodied by Cadogan Motors Ltd. of London with this lightweight, four-seat, fabric open tourer-style body. It was road-registered up through 1937 and by the 1950s it was set on blocks in the custom-made garage built specifically for this car.
The original owner’s grandson acquired the car in 2012 and brought it back to life. It runs and drives and has been inspected by a Daimler-Benz Classic engineer. This was the first great car produced by Mercedes-Benz and everything is just as it was in 1928 (well, the tires are new and the transmission was replaced by the owner in the 1930s). You won’t find a car this rare and interesting that hasn’t been seen in 60 years anytime soon. Then again, who knows what else will drive out of the woodwork tomorrow.
The pre-sale estimate is $2,400,000-$3,200,000. For the complete lot description, click here. And for more from Bonhams at Goodwood, click here.
Update: Sold $4,544,000.
The Waldron Wayfarer – that’s right the, there was only one made, was built over a period of years ranging from 1928 until 1931 by Frederick Barnes Waldron in Lancashire, England. Waldron was a mechanical engineer by trade and designed the car from the ground up – designing and building his own engine during a time when many automobile manufacturers used engines from other, larger companies. His was a 1.3-liter straight-four.
The body was designed and built by St. Helen’s Carriage Works, a firm that specialized in commercial vehicles. Waldron drove the car approximately 20,000 miles by the end of the 1930s, when he dismantled the car.
In 1976, the car was acquired and re-assembled using Waldron’s original drawings and all of the original parts, including the body panels. In 2005 it was purchased at auction and used as reliable summer transportation in the English countryside. It has had another owner since and is being offered with an estimate between $13,000-$16,000 – not too steep considering it’s one of a kind. For the complete description, click here. And for more from Bonhams at the National Motor Museum, click here.
Update: Withdrawn.
Windhoff, which began producing motorcycles in Berlin in 1924, introduced their well-engineering Four in 1927. This bike featured a number of innovations that led to it being among the most expensive motorcycles of its day – not great news considering Germany’s pre-war economic woes. With an economy in ruins, the Windhoff Four was not long for this world. Company founder Hans Windhoff pulled the plug on the Four and returned to making light twins. This was not successful either and the firm folded in 1933.
The 764cc four-cylinder makes 22 horsepower. It’s so well engineered that I want to refer to it as the “German Brough Superior.” It’s certainly priced like it.
This particular motorcycle was sold at a Bonhams auction in 2008 for £100,500. The estimate for the current sale is £100,000-£130,000 or $160,000-$210,000. Not cheap, but you aren’t likely to find another one. For more information, click here and to see the entire lot list, click here.
Update: Did not sell.