Tag Archives: 1954

Swallow Doretti

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1954 Swallow Doretti

For Sale at Fantasy Junction | Emeryville, California via Gstaad, Switzerland

1954 Swallow Doretti

So what’s with the location above, you ask? The car is located in Switzerland, currently, but is being sold by Fantasy Junction in California. So if you swing by the dealership in Emeryville wanting to check this car out, they will just send you down the street… to Switzerland. No big deal.

The Doretti was the only model manufactured by Swallow – a subsidiary of Tube Investments Group. The name Swallow came from Swallow Coachbuilding Co Ltd – which is the same company that spawned off Jaguar. Jaguar sold off the coachbuilding aspect of their business in 1945. When Tube Investments took over, they put the Doretti into production.

Based on the Triumph TR2, the car uses the same 2.0-liter straight-four making 90 horsepower. The body is unmistakably 1950s-vintage British. Performance was good, the car capable of 100 mph and a 0-60 time of 12.3 seconds. It cost about £200 more than a TR2. Only 276 were built before Jaguar, who was a significantly larger player in the British auto industry at that time, complained that the car’s production was driving the cost of materials up, and Tube Investments being an automotive supplier, shut it down before their customers got mad (more or less). In a way Jaguar was responsible for this car’s birth and death. This one has been in the same ownership for over 30 years. It is for sale for $62,500. Click here for more info.

1954 Daus

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1954 Daus

Offered by RM Auctions | Madison, Georgia | February 15-16, 2013

This prototype was built by Otto Daus in Hamburg, Germany in 1954. Daus was the chief engineer for Tempo, the German three-wheeled truck manufacturer. This car uses a 197cc single-cylinder making 9.5 horsepower. It can do 46 mph and was never registered for the road in Germany when it was built and it never entered production. This is the only one. And you can read more about it here.

Update: Sold $32,200.

 

Mi-Val Mivalino

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1954 Mi-Val Tipo MO Mivalino

Offered by RM Auctions | Madison, Georgia | February 15-16, 2013

Photo – RM Auctions

If this Italian Mivalino looks a lot like a Messerschmitt KR-175, that’s because, essentially, it is. Metalmeccanica Italiana Valtrompio S.p.A. – or Mi-Val for short – was an Italian motorcycle manufacturer and in late 1953 they decided to build their own version of the Messerschmitt. They imported parts from Germany and threw their own engine in it and called it an original.

About 100 were built between 1954 and 1956 and about eight survive, this being the most original and complete, having covered less than 200 kilometers in its life. It was originally owned by an Italian family who also owned the oldest Ford dealership in Rome. The engine is a 171cc single-cylinder making 9 horsepower. It’ll do 55 mph and you can read more here.

Update: Sold $83,375.

Fiat 1100 by Bertone/Stanguellini

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1954 Fiat Stanguellini Bertone Berlinetta

Offered by Russo & Steele | Monterey, California | August 18, 2012

This car was supposed to be a Fiat 1100. But luckily it escaped that fate, being shipped to Bertone, the famous Italian design house and coachbuilder, before Fiat’s standard body could be installed. It was handed over to designer Franco Scaglione who was also working on the series of BAT concept cars for Alfa Romeo. There are some slight similarities, the one-off look being part of it.

The goal was to put these cars into limited production, but only a handful (four) were built. And if having the direct built-by-Bertone connection wasn’t enough, this car was then mechanically modified by Stanguellini, builder of tiny Italian race cars from the end of WWII through the mid-1960s. Horsepower from the 1.1-liter straight-four was bumped to 70.

This particular car was first shown at the 1954 New York Auto Show, where it was bought off the stand by Briggs Cunningham, for his wife – who didn’t like it. The next owner kept the car for 51 years, parting with it in 2006. It then underwent a four-year concours-quality restoration. It was shown at Pebble Beach in 2010, and at the Concorso Italiano in 2011, where it won Best in Show.

Since then, the car has spent time on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum, while also being “for sale” at Fantasy Junction in Emeryville, California. The asking price is/was $295,000 – and it has been there since at least November of 2011. So what will it bring at auction? Well, you’ve seen the asking price, it just depends what reserve the consignor has placed on the car and how realistic they think that $295,000 really is. Then again, it’s been for sale for almost nine months and hasn’t sold at that price, so we’ll see. For more information, click here. And for the rest of the Russo & Steele Monterey lineup, click here.

Update: Not sold.

Satecmo Eolia

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1954 Satecmo Eolia

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Silverstone, England | July 21, 2012

What, never heard of a the Satecmo Eolia? Satecmo was founded by Frenchman André George Claude. I don’t know a lot about the company, other than that they sold tuning parts for the Renault 4CV. Well, Claude was an amateur racer who was pretty picky and didn’t like any of the myriad of available sports cars of the era. So he decided to build his own using only French parts.

The engine was a four-cylinder from a Renault 4CV mounted in the rear. There are only two doors for the passengers, but there are actually two additional rear doors that open like passenger doors for engine access. Top speed was 104 mph. In 1960, the 4CV engine was replaced by an 850cc engine from the Renault Dauphine Gordini. Power was rated at 69 horsepower. The body is magnesium.

The name Eolia is derived from Eolias, a mythological god of wind. And this car was built to go through some wind with a sleek, rounded, Abarth-bubble-like silhouette with two massive fins at the rear:

It was completed in 1954 but was not registered for the first time until 1958 (which is why you might find this car listed as a 1958 in other places). Claude wanted to drive it at Le Mans, but was no invited (he did drive there in 1951 in a Satecmo-tuned 4CV). Without racing pedigree, Renault turned down Claude’s pitch that Renault put the Eolia into production. He held on to it until 1967 when it changed hands for the first time.

This is the only car like this ever built and it survives in remarkable condition with only 15,000km on the odometer. It is expected to sell for between $100,000-$130,000. For more information click here. For more from Silverstone’s Classic Sale, click here.

Update: Not sold.

DeSoto Adventurer II Concept Car

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1954 DeSoto Adventurer II Coupe

Offered by Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale, Arizona, January 15-22, 2012

The DeSoto Adventurer was a regular production model sold from 1956 through 1960. During it’s run, it was the best DeSoto you could buy. However, a few years prior to its introduction, Chrysler commissioned a series of beautiful concept cars, The DeSotos bore the Adventurer name (the Dodges were called Firearrows).

This is the Adventurer II – and it’s the only one. It has a sleek, jet-age body designed and built by Ghia in Italy. This car is an extension of the Ghia Supersonic cars that they built around the Fiat 8V – and the 1955 Ghia Gilda borrows a lot from the Adventurer II. It featured the Hemi engine of the day and was originally owned by King Mohammed V or Morocco.

This is another car coming from The Blackhawk Collection so you know it’s in fantastic shape and has been lovingly cared for. A few years ago Barrett-Jackson sold a Dodge Firearrow concept car for about $1 million. This car is far better looking and worth every penny of the Dodge, if not more. Fore more info, click here and more on the Barrett-Jackson auction here.

Update: Sold $1,430,000.

1954 Cramer Comet

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1954 Cramer Comet

Offered by Bonhams | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 19, 2012

Photo – Bonhams

If this car looks massive it’s because it is – in every way. At 5200 pounds it’s not exactly a Lotus. But under the hood there’s a whole lot of power: 1350 horses.

Conceived, designed and built by Omaha native Tom Cramer in the early 1950s, the Cramer Comet features a number of weird innovative design aspects. First is the chassis which is built out of nickel-steel refrigerator tubing. Then he popped in a 1350hp Allison V12 aircraft engine.

The body is styled after a number of standard 1950s designs. Oldsmobile, Buick, Lincoln, and Studebaker design cues can be seen in this car. What I found most interesting is that the windshield is actually the rear window from a DeSoto.

The interior of the car isn’t exactly glamorous but it’s certainly intriguing with the aero-theme continuing onto the dash.

Photo – Bonhams

It looks to have come straight out of a WWII-era aircraft with function trumping form. The dials on flat, plain-looking black metal. I wonder if it has an attitude-indicator. The car is one-of-a-kind and is being offered for sale from a private collection – the only other owner save for the Cramer family.

Pre-sale estimates range from $100,000-$150,000. Here’s your chance to own something completely unique that will blow a Bugatti Veyron away on a dyno. More info can be found here and the rest of Bonhams’ catalog here.

Update: Sold $122,500.

1954 Allard K3 Roadster

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1954 Allard K3 Roadster

Offered by RM Auctions, Phoenix, Arizona, January 19-20, 2012

The sleek, simplistic style of this 1954 Allard K3 calls back to Sydney Allard’s early trials cars that were built with little more than speed in mind. By 1954, however, style, comfort – as well as speed – were all combined to create this wonderful little American-British car. The cars were built in Clapham, London using a Cadillac V-8 making 325 horsepower. This car has a complete ownership history from new.

Only 63 were made, making this a rare alternative to just about any Triumph, Healey or Jaguar you’ll see at British car gatherings. RM doesn’t have it’s estimates on line just yet, but the last K3 that sold at auction as by Gooding & Co in 2009 and it went for $132,000. I would expect anything between $75,000 and $125,000. This car was for sale recently with a sticker of $125,000.

Update: Sold $57,750.