Tag Archives: 1958

Dodge Suburban Spectator

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1958 Dodge Suburban Spectator Wagon

Offered by Mecum | Los Angeles, California | February 16-17, 2018

Photo – Mecum

Dodge’s 1958 line included, in order of increasing luxury: the Coronet, the Royal,  and the Custom Royal. Their station wagon line was separate and the base wagon was the two-door Suburban – the only two-door wagon they offered in 1958.

It’s powered by a 5.7-liter Ram Fire V-8 good for 295 horsepower. Dodge built about 20,000 wagons in total for 1958, split between this and four other models. This one has been restored and, even though it’s a two-door car, it seats a clown car-like nine passengers. The pink and black color scheme is great. It would be impossible to buy this and not load up your family and trek them to the Grand Canyon. Click here for more info.

Update: Withdrawn.

Tojeiro-Climax Coupe

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1958 Tojeiro-Climax Coupe

Offered by H&H Classics | Epsom, U.K. | June 6, 2017

Photo – H&H Classics

Almost every car built by John Tojeiro is a one-off. If he built cars in a series, it was usually a short series. Born in Portugal, Tojeiro built cars in England in the 1950s and 60s. Just about all of them had a race-focused purpose, but some of them were street-legal too.

This diminutive Climax-powered Coupe was built when Tojeiro was asked to build a spaceframe chassis for a performance car by a client. The body was from Wakefield & Sons and the client put some 20,000 miles on it. The engine is a 1.1-liter Climax straight-four. Horsepower could be anything, as those Coventry-Climax engines were produced in so many varieties that I can’t pin this one down based on just displacement alone and who knows how it was tinkered with when the car was assembled.

The current owner acquired this car in 2009 and had it restored to as-new condition. It’s covered just 38,000 miles since its inception and is the only one like it. The pre-sale estimate is between $83,000-$96,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Talbot-Lago America

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1958 Talbot-Lago T14 America Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 9, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

Talbot-Lago presented their “Sport” model at the 1954 Paris Motor Show. Also called the T14, it would be produced in a few forms – all in limited numbers – through 1959. It was the final Talbot-Lago-branded automobile built.

The first run of cars were powered by a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, but it was lackluster and in 1957 Talbot-Lago decided they’d be better off buying an engine from another manufacturer to install in their cars. The resulting cars were called the T14 America and are powered by a BMW-sourced 2.5-liter V-8 making 138 horsepower.

In the three model years the America was offered (1957 through 1959), only a dozen were built. After the brand was taken over by Simca in 1959, they constructed a few more examples, all powered by Simca’s anemic 95 horsepower Ford-based motor.

This BMW-powered example was one of the last cars built before the Simca takeover. The restoration dates to the early 2000s and looks fantastic, with just over 5,500 miles since new. It should sell for between $470,000-$580,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Porsche Hunting Car

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1958 Porsche 597 Jagdwagen

Offered by Gooding & Company | Amelia Island, Florida | March 11, 2016

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

Jagdwagen is a German word that roughly means “hunting car” and it was a title applied to a handful of basic German machines built by the like of Isetta and Porsche, among others. After WWII, a couple of German companies vied for government contracts for military vehicles. Ultimately, DKW won out and the Porsche 597 was relegated to obscurity.

Powered by a 1.6-liter flat-four making 50 horsepower, it has four-wheel drive and is amphibious. While the car was intended to be used by the Army, most of the 597s built were for civilian use.

In fact, of the 71 total constructed, 49 were sold to the public, including this one that was bought new in California. The Prototype was built in 1953 and production lasted from 1955 through 1958, with this example being among the latter part of the production run. It is all-original – seat covers, top – everything. Jerry Seinfeld acquired it in 2010 and, thought to be one of 15 remaining, it should bring between $350,000-$425,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $330,000.

Dual-Ghia

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1958 Dual-Ghia Convertible

Offered by Russo & Steele | Monterey, California | August 13-15, 2015

Photo - Russo & Steele

Photo – Russo & Steele

You’re looking at one of the most beautiful American cars of all time (yes, even though the body is all Italian). Dual Motors of Detroit was founded by Eugene Casaroll. He bought the rights to the Ghia-designed 1955 Dodge Firebomb concept car and put it into production. He called it the Dual-Ghia. And it’s great.

Dual Motors shipped a Dodge chassis to Turin where Ghia would add this gorgeous body and then ship it back. Once home in Detroit, the cars were fitted with a 5.2-liter Dodge D-500 V-8 making 230 horsepower. The engine sounds fantastic and is throaty enough that if the sleek European body threw you off, the engine would definitely alert you to its inherit American-ness.

The cars were only built in 1957 and 1958 and they were the expensive favorites of celebrities like Frank Sinatra. Around 100 of these were built (some say 117) and 73 remain. They’re crazy rare but come up for sale at a startling rate for their rarity. But that’s not to say that trend will continue. So if you want one, get your hands on it ASAP. They sell in the $300,000-$400,000 range. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $412,500.

Raindrop Caddy

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1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Raindrop Prototype

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Fort Worth, Texas | May 2, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

The third generation Cadillac Eldorado was new for 1957. Back in these days, car manufacturers were making styling changes for every model year. It’s when Detroit was king and the money was a-flowin’. This car is a very special Cadillac – not only is it an Eldorado Biarritz, it is a GM factory prototype.

It started life as a 1958 Eldorado Biarritz, the top trim of Cadillac’s halo model. GM updated it with many upcoming 1959 features, including the over-the-top tail fins that made the ’59 Caddy so iconic. The interior is one-of-a-kind but the engine is a standard Series 62 335 horsepower 6.0-liter V-8.

It’s a boat, for sure, but it has a very special feature, dubbed “Raindrop.” The system uses a humidity sensor that detects water in top-down driving. When a few drops trip the sensor, the top of the trunk separates and slides away, allowing the roof to fold up and close automatically. Even the windows roll themselves up. It’s a fascinating piece of engineering.

This car was given to Harley Earl when he retired and he used the car around Florida in his later years. It was subsequently restored and is being offered with a pre-sale estimate of $600,000-$800,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of this sale’s lineup.

Update: Sold $324,500.

Westland Aristocrat

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1958 Westland Empire Aristocrat Prototype

Offered by Auctions America | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | March 29, 2015

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

There was a proliferation of fiberglass sports cars that went on sale in the 1950s. While many of them were American, this one is British. It was built by the Westland Motor Company of Hereford, England.

The frame was a  custom-built job, but other parts of the car were lifted from cars of the period. The back of the car looks like a Jag XK120 and the front screams “Bugeye Sprite.”

The engine in this is a 948cc straight-four. The car was found in Vermont in the late 1970s, sitting outside exposed to the weather. In 1981 it was finally put in a garage before a restoration was undertaken in 2003. It’s a mysterious one-off British sports prototype and it should sell for between $60,000-$80,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $34,000.

Borgward Rennsport

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1958 Borgward 1500 Rennsport

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

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The story of Carl F.W. Borgward is a really interesting (and heartbreaking) one. His companies definitely built some interesting cars but they were all closed down for financial reasons that may or may not have been valid.

The story of Borgward racing started as a racing project from a privateer team but morphed into a factory effort after the privateers took some victories. Borgward reworked the engine from the Hansa 1500 and dropped it into an ever-evolving chassis and went racing. The engine underwent development from it’s 1952 racing debut and by 1956 the 1.5-liter straight-four was putting out 150 horsepower, thanks to 16-valve fuel injection.

This particular car was constructed using spare parts left over from Borgward’s racing program, which was on the decline after 1956. The car was assembled in 2009 and completed in 2013. So it’s sort of new but uses all period parts and looks really cool. At any rate, reproduction or not, it should still command an impressive $300,000-$410,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Sold $256,698.

Grégoire Sport Cabriolet

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1958 Grégoire Sport Cabriolet by Chapron

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 6, 2015

Photo - Artcurial

Photo – Artcurial

Jean-Albert Grégoire founded Tracta in France in 1926. They built some beautiful, rare, front-wheel drive luxury cars up through 1934. The company may have closed before the war, but Grégoire showed off this highly-styled Sport Cabriolet in 1955 with a body by French coachbuilder Chapron.

It is powered by 2.2-liter supercharged flat-four making 120 horsepower. The car is, like Grégoire’s Tractas before it, front-wheel drive. It’s a rare, attractive car with 1950s engineering and a coachbuilt body from an era past.

Less than 10 of these were built and this one was owned by the same family for the first 50 years. It should sell for between $120,000-$155,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Artcurial in Paris.

Update: Sold $152,817.

GAZ BTR-40

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ca.1958 GAZ BTR-40

Offered by Auctions America | Portola Valley, California | July 11-12, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

The BTR-40 was a Soviet armored personnel carrier built by GAZ between 1950 and 1960. It was based on the GAZ-63 truck. This one has been restored and wears Israeli colors. The BTR-40 was in service until the 1980s in the USSR as well as China and they were poorly protected from all but the lightest artillery. And they weren’t amphibious.

The engine is an 80 horsepower six-cylinder and it has a top speed of 50 mph. About 8,500 were built. This one should sell for between $50,000-$60,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $58,650.