Porsche Twin-Grille Roadster

1962 Porsche 356B 1600S Twin-Grille Roadster

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | October 2023

Photo – Bring a Trailer

The Porsche 356 Speedster is a sought after collector car. It was eventually replaced by the Porsche 356 Convertible D. The Convertible D, in turn, was replaced by the 356B Roadster in 1960.

In 1962, Porsche introduced the T6 body style, which brought two engine lid grilles, a widened front trunk lid, and a fuel door that shifted to the right-front fender. The Roadster’s final year was 1962, which means the twin-grille roadster was only available for one year. And only 248 were built, all with coachwork by D’Ieteren Freres.

This example is powered by a 1.6-liter Super flat-four that was rated at 75 horsepower. It was refreshed 15-20 years ago and is now available on Bring a Trailer for the second time. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $295,000.

Ferrari 330 LM

1962 Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | November 2023

Photo – ClassicCarWeekly.net

You know your car is a big deal when one of the biggest auction houses in the world devotes an entire sale solely unto it. Sorry about the photo, I had to use my own since the preview images from RM Sotheby’s are… not great. The entire subsection of the site dedicated to this car leaves a lot to be desired. No real photos. No real info. But who needs to know anything when you’re buying a car to be the guy who bought that car.

Where to start. Just 36 examples of the 250 GTO were produced between 1962 and 1964. They are the most valuable cars in the world. Three or four of those cars were modified by the factory into 330 LM (or LMB) spec, which included replacing the factory 3.0-liter V12 with a 4.0-liter unit. Output jumped from 296 horsepower to 390.

This is one of those cars. And it is apparently the only one with the 4-liter engine. It has factory Scuderia Ferrari racing history, including:

  • 1962 1,000km Nurburgring – 2nd (with Willy Mairesse and Mike Parkes)
  • 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans – 43rd, DNF (with Parkes and Lorenzo Bandini)
  • 1965 Targa Florio – DNF (with Ferdinando Latteri and Ignazio Capuano)

The car came to the U.S. in the late 1960s and was purchased by its current owner, the founder of Escort Radar, the radar detector people, in 1985. He’s had it since and has displayed the car all over. The last time it changed hands was for like $500,000. It’s going to be a little more than that now. Read more about it here (kind of).

Update: Sold $51,705,000.

Facellia Coupe

1962 Facel Vega Facellia

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | July 10, 2023

Photo – Osenat

Most Facel Vega cars were boaty grand tourers meant for rocketing you from Nice to Monaco. With the Facellia, Facel Vega wanted to show they could do “sporty” too. It was supposed to be targeted at the Mercedes-Benz 190SL, Porsche 356B, and Alfa Giulietta.

Three body styles were offered: a cabriolet, a four-seater, and a 2+2 (the different between the last two, I think, being roofline). Power is from a 1.6-liter twin-cam inline-four that made 115 horsepower. That engine had serious problems, and warranty claims, in which Facel replaced broken engines, ate through all of their money.

The Facellia debuted at the 1959 Paris Motor Show, and a Series 2 came about in 1961. It was replaced by a Volvo-powered Facel III in 1963, but the financial issues pretty much spelled an end for the brand. Just 1,045 Facellias were made. Read more about this one here.

Thunderbird Sports Roadster

1962 Ford Thunderbird Sports Roadster

Offered by Mecum | Houston, Texas | April 14, 2023

Photo – Mecum

The Sports Roadster is the coolest of the Bullet Birds of 1961-1963. Actually, it’s probably the coolest Thunderbird they ever made. The Sports Roadster was introduced in 1962 and was a limited-production version of the standard Thunderbird convertible.

Changes included 48-spoke Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels and a fiberglass tonneau cover over the rear seats that made the car look like a two-seater. Just 1,427 were produced for 1962, and another 455 would be made in 1963

Power here is from a 6.4-liter (390ci) V8 that made 300 horsepower when new. Bullet Birds are among the best-looking of all Thunderbirds, and the Sports Roadster package just takes it up a notch. Black is a classy color for this car, especially over a red interior. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $44,000.

TR4

1962 Triumph TR4

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | March 2023

Photo – Bring a Trailer Auctions

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a TR4 on whitewalls. And I’m not sure what I’m supposed to think (probably that it’s bad?). But I also don’t think I’ve ever seen a TR4 finished in this kind of light blue. The whitewalls are working.

The TR4 was the logical successor to Triumph’s TR3, and it launched in 1961. Production continued on through 1965 before the revised TR4A took over. Power is from a 2.1-liter inline-four that was rated at 105 horsepower when new.

This one has obviously been redone and is fitted with a red interior, a black soft top, and front disc brakes. If I’ve done my math correctly, the bidding on it should end tomorrow. Check out more here.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $22,000.

3500 GTI Vignale

1962 Maserati 3500 GTI Spyder by Vignale

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Northamptonshire, U.K. | May 28, 2022

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The 3500 GT was Maserati’s big grand tourer of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Both 2+2 coupes and two-seat convertibles were offered, with styling by a select few Italian carrozzeria, including Vignale, who bodied this example and most of the model’s convertibles.

In 1960, Maserati introduced the GTI variant, making it Italy’s first fuel-injected production car. The 3.5-liter inline-six got Lucas fuel injection and a power bump to 232 horsepower. Because fuel injection was still relatively new, it could be somewhat troublesome, and more than a few GTI examples were converted back to Weber carburetors later in life. Not this one.

This car was delivered new in London, and from the 80s onward, it spent time in France and Italy before returning within the last decade to London with its current owner. Only 245 Vignale convertibles were built out of a total 3500 production run of 2,226 examples between 1957 and 1964. The pre-sale estimate here is $470,000-$550,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $523,210.

The First Brabham F1 Car

1962 Brabham-Climax BT3 F1

Offered by Bonhams | Monaco | May 13, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

Motor Racing Developments Ltd, aka Brabham, was an F1 team that competed between 1962 and 1992. That makes this car from their first season as a team. Jack Brabham drove for Cooper the few years before this, and his business partner Ron Tauranac designed this car for Brabham to drive in 1962.

Power is from a 1.5-liter Coventry-Climax V8 that made about 157 horsepower in 1962 spec. The competition history for this chassis (F1-1-62) includes:

  • 1962 German Grand Prix (Nurburgring) – 19th, DNF (with Jack Brabham)
  • 1962 U.S. Grand Prix (Watkins Glen) – 4th (with Brabham)
  • 1962 Mexican Grand Prix – 2nd (with Brabham)
  • 1962 South African Grand Prix – 4th (with Brabham)
  • 1963 Monaco Grand Prix – Did not start (with Brabham)
  • 1963 Belgian Grand Prix (Spa) – 15th, DNF (with Brabham)
  • 1963 Austrian Grand Prix – 1st (with Brabham)
  • 1963 Italian Grand Prix – 5th (with Brabham)
  • 1964 British Grand Prix – 17th, DNF (with Ian Raby)
  • 1964 Italian Grand Prix – DNQ (with Raby)
  • 1965 British Grand Prix – 11th (with Raby)

Imagine the same F1 chassis competing in four different seasons today. This car had many other non-championship races and wins (that Austrian GP race was a non-points race). This car spent decades in the Donington Collection before the current owner bought it in the 2000s. This is a pretty remarkable piece of racing history and has a pre-sale estimate of $590,000-$850,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $471,501.

Citroen Bijou

1962 Citroen Bijou

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 28, 2022

Photo – Osenat

The Bijou is a small French coupe built by Citroen in England for the British market. It’s actually a 2CV underneath, but the 2CV wasn’t selling well there, so they decided to give it a makeover.

But part of the problem is that it was still a 2CV. The 425cc flat-twin made 12 horsepower. It still had the wonky long-travel suspension. The body is plastic, which kept the weight down (way, or weigh, down). It was actually styled by the same guy who did the Lotus Elite. So you know, sporting cred. But it didn’t work.

Only 209 were built: all right-hand drive. Production also spanned from 1959 through 1964. So they were leaving the factory at quite a leisurely pace. Apparently about 40 are still road-registered in the U.K. This one should fetch between $10,000-$16,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $22,459.

Brabham BT5

1962 Brabham BT5

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 3, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

Motor Racing Developments Ltd. is commonly known as Brabham, as that’s the name their vehicles carried. The marque competed in Formula One for 30 years and had their cars entered in a variety of other series, including Indy Car, Formula Two, and Can-Am.

This sports racing prototype is the first of two BT5s built. In fact, Brabham only built 14 sports prototypes in total. The other 12 were BT8s. This one is powered by a Lotus-Ford 1.6-liter inline-four. It won races in England in period with driver Frank Gardner and came to the U.S. in 1963, competing in SCCA events thereafter and winning a championship in ’64.

More recently, the car competed in historic events in Europe and the U.S. It has a pre-sale estimate of $170,000-$200,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $169,742.

Martin Ford Special

1962 Martin Ford Special

Offered by H&H Classics | Buxton, U.K. | October 6, 2021

Photo – H&H Classics

I had the structure for this post all laid out, and then I went and read the H&H Classics catalog description. And it was pretty much the same thing I planned on writing, which was: the post-war sports car boom rode a pretty strong wave for about 15-20 years. Alongside established manufacturers, there were countless upstarts who were offering various forms of sports cars.

One such form was the kit car, or more appropriately at the time this was built, shells that could be bought and fitted to existing running gear. Basically, re-bodying a common car to make it into a sports car. In this case, Martin Plastics Maidstone Ltd offered their fiberglass shells beginning in 1953.

This particular one was purchased as a bare body in 1956 and was fitted to a 1939 Ford Prefect. The completed car was registered in 1962, hence the date listed. Power is from a 1.2-liter Ford inline-four, and the car was restored around 2016. About 500 Martin shells were sold, and only five are known to exist. This one is expected to go cheap with an estimate of $8,000-$11,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $8,010.