964 Turbo 3.6

1994 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | New York, New York | December 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Porsche’s 964-generation of the 911 went on sale in 1989 with the Carrera 4 coupe. It was only around through 1994, so it was relatively short-lived. But being a relatively modern, air-cooled version of the 911, prices have gone up. Way up.

The Turbo arrived in 1990 with a turbocharged version of the previous-generation’s 3.3-liter flat-six. Come 1993, Porsche had finally found the time to slap a turbo on the 964’s 3.6-liter flat-six, and thus the Turbo 3.6 was born. Produced for just two years, about 1,500 were built. Output was rated at 355 horsepower, which was almost 40 more than the 3.3 car.

The 3.6 was the hero car in the movie Bad Boys, and there were even more exclusive sub variants of the Turbo 3.6, but we’ll save those for another day. Remember how we said things have gotten expensive? The estimate for this sub-7,000-mile car is $525,000-$625,000. Click here for more info.

512TR Spider

1994 Ferrari 512TR Spider

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | London, U.K. | November 4, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The 512TR is one of the best Ferraris. And what are two things that can take an already-great Ferrari even better? Cutting the roof off and painting it blue. This checks a lot of boxes. The 512TR was the replacement for the Testarossa and looked similar but with some stylistic tweaks.

They built 2,261 512TRs and only three Spiders. Two of which were sold to the Ferrari importer in Singapore (who had previously helped Ferrari and the Brunei royal family get some Testarossa Spiders built by Pininfarina).

Power is from a 4.9-liter flat-12 that was rated at 422 horsepower. The TR has taken off in value recently, and the price for the Spider (of which this is the only one to come up for sale publicly I think?) has an intense estimate of $2,500,000-$3,300,000. Click here for more info.

300ZX V8 IMSA

1994 Nissan 300ZX V8 IMSA GTS

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | May 2023

Photo – Bring a Trailer Auctions

So this may be a purely purpose-built, tube-frame race car with composite bodywork, but it does have your standard Z32 road car tail panel, which is excellent. Nissan was around for the Group C era, and they eventually transitioned to the GTS class in IMSA.

Initially, they started campaigning second-generation 300ZX race cars with their twin-turbocharged V6s. But those became a little too dominant for IMSA’s liking (in 1994, a 300ZX won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring outright before winning their class at Le Mans). So for 1995, IMSA outlawed the twin-turbo V6.

And Nissan said “okay, we’ll raise you two cylinders.” The next season’s cars, including this one, were powered by a 4.5-liter V8. Two such chassis were so equipped, and the racing history for this one, #008, includes:

  • 1995 24 Hours of Daytona – 21st (with Steve Millen, Johnny O’Connell, and John Morton)
  • 1995 12 Hours of Sebring – 5th, 1st in class (with Millen, O’Connell, and Morton)

This is a pretty serious machine that I suspect would be terrifyingly fast at 50%. You can read more about it here.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $156,000.

McLaren MP4/9A

1994 McLaren-Peugeot MP4/9A

Offered by Aguttes | Sochaux, France | October 23, 2022

Photo – Aguttes

McLaren’s MP4/9 was used for the 1994 season, which was the only season that McLaren partnered with Peugeot as their engine supplier. This was Peugeot’s first season as an F1 engine supplier, and things did not start out well.

Their 3.5-liter A4 V10 was unreliable. Both McLarens failed to finish the first two races. For race number three at San Marino, they upgraded to their “A6” spec V10, which was also a 3.5-liter unit. It made about 740 horsepower, and this chassis, number seven, still has it in there. The competition history for this chassis is confusingly listed, but it was driven in races and as a reserve car during the 1994 season by Mika Hakkinen and Martin Brundle.

It was later stored at McLaren for 26 years and is being sold from Peugeot-Citroen’s collection. The pre-sale estimate is $1,165,000-$1,450,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

BACI Neoclassic

1994 BACI Roadster

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 15, 2022

Photo – Mecum

It’s been a while since we’ve featured an obscure neoclassic. So obscure, this one is, that even Mecum didn’t know what they were dealing with at first, labeling it an Excalibur. It’s a BACI, a roadster produced by the Besasie Automotive Company Inc. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Just 14 of these were built between 1993 and 1995, and they were based on the Ford Thunderbird of the era. This car is powered by a fuel-injected 5.0-liter V8 and features Bose audio, a power-retractable soft top, and air conditioning.

Parts of the styling are supposed to be reminiscent of the Mercedes-Benz Special Roadster. Maybe from the back? You can read more about this one here, and check out more angles via the photos.

Update: Sold $29,700.

Range Rover Limo

1994 Land Rover Range Rover LSE Limousine

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Birmingham, U.K. | November 9, 2019

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The first-generation Range Rover was in production from 1970 through 1994. An eternity, in other words. This example is from the last year of Range Rover Classic production, and it was purchased new by the Sultan of Brunei, who commissioned Townley Cross Country Vehicles Ltd. to convert it into a limousine for his brother, Prince Jefri.

The conversion cost a lot of money and took nine months to complete. Townley Cross Country Vehicles did a number of these – several hundred perhaps – for wealthy Middle Eastern clients. This thing is tricked out. It has what I’ll call a “red-ass interior” with two seats up front, and three captain’s chairs in the rear, one of which is facing sideways. It also has an entertainment center of sorts with two TVs with VCRs. Break out the VHS tapes!

Power is from a 4.3-liter V8 making 200 horsepower… which probably is not enough grunt to get this huge thing moving all that quickly. It is pretty cool, though, and has fairly low mileage. It is expected to bring between $23,000-$31,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $42,903.

Ferrari 412 T1

1994 Ferrari 412 T1

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | London, U.K. | October 24, 2019

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The 412 T1 was Ferrari’s Formula One car for the 1994 season. Mid-way through the season, the cars were heavily updated and were later dubbed 412 T1B. The 412 T2 would replace the car for 1995. Ferrari’s drivers for 1994 were Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi, the latter of whom would be replaced for two races by Nicola Larini after Alesi had a massive testing crash.

This car is powered by a 3.5-liter V12. It is the second of eight examples built, and it was primarily used as a testing car throughout the season. Its competition history includes:

  • 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix – 3rd (with Jean Alesi)
  • 1994 Italian Grand Prix – 2nd (with Gerhard Berger)

The car has had two private owners since Ferrari sold it into public hands in 2002. It is in running order and will cross the block in London late next month. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Lister Storm Road Car

1994 Lister Storm

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | May 19, 2018

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

!!!! Let’s start at the beginning: Brian Lister founded Lister Cars in 1954 and they built sports racing cars for the duration of the decade. Later they acted as a factory race team for other manufacturers and have been a long-time Jaguar modifier. But in the early 1990s they went berserk and decided to build a monster race car to take on the McLaren F1, Jaguar XJ220, and Ferrari F40 LM at Le Mans.

And then they had to homologate this monster by building some road cars.

And that’s what we have here. One of just four Lister Storm V-12 Road Cars ever built (only three exist today). Honestly this is a vehicle I never thought I would see trade hands publicly at auction. The race cars competed from 1995 through 1999 as a works entry and for a few years after that in privateer hands.

The road cars were only built in 1993 and 1994 and they were expensive. They also had the largest V-12 engine anyone had stuffed into a production car since the end of WWII. It’s a 7.0-liter V-12 based on the engine from a Jaguar XJR-9 Le Mans car. Power is rated at 546 horsepower (pretty stout for 1993). It was a world class supercar in its day and was the fastest four-seater in the world for over a decade (that’s right, it had four seats!). Top speed: 211 mph.

This three-owner example has just under 31,000 miles on it. It’s a true rarity. It’s one of those cars that they claimed to have built but no one ever really sees (unless you go to Wilton House supercar shows or Goodwood or somewhere on the regular). I’m giddy just writing about it. Great job Historics… now if you could just manage to bring an Isdera Commendatore or Mega Monte Carlo to auction you’d really win my heart.

This car is expected to sell for between $200,000-$225,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Sbarro SB2 Tornado

2005 Sbarro SB2 Tornado

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie Toffen | Toffen, Switzerland | April 29, 2017

Photo – Oldtimer Galerie Toffen

Franco Sbarro founded the car company that bears his name in 1971. Over the years they’ve alternated between building replicas of other cars and wild designs of their own. This car definitely falls under the latter category.

In 2004, Sbarro showed a car called the SB1 – a two-seat roadster based on a Ferrari 550 Maranello. The next year they showed this, the SB2 Tornado, again based on the 550 Maranello. In fact, it still has Ferrari badging around the car, though the catalog lists it as a “1994,” which was long before 550 production began.

It’s powered by the Ferrari 5.5-liter V-12 making 485 horsepower. This is the only example built and I have to say, it’s really not that bad looking. It looks sporty, racy, and like something Ferrari might have built themselves as a concept car. No estimate is available but you can read more about it here and see more from this sale here.

Footwork FA15

1994 Footwork-Ford FA15

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 6, 2014

Photo - Artcurial

Photo – Artcurial

Arrows Grand Prix International was formed in 1977 by Franco Ambrosio, Alan Rees, Jackie Oliver, Dave Wass, and Tony Southgate. “Arrows” was a play on the first letters of their last names. The made their race debut in 1978. In 1990, the team received a large investment from Japanese businessman Wataru Ohashi and his logistics company, Footwork Express.

For 1991, the team was actually renamed from Arrows to Footwork Arrows. They competed under the “Footwork” name from 1991 through mid-1996, so technically, even though the catalog description here lists this as an Arrows, it’s actually a Footwork car. The engine is a Ford-Cosworth 3.5-liter V8. The car was a relative backmarker and this example (of the two built) was campaigned by Gianni Morbidelli. The only finishes of this car are:

  • 1994 German Grand Prix – 5th
  • 1994 Belgian Grand Prix – 6th
  • 1994 Portuguese Grand Prix – 9th
  • 1994 European Grand Prix – 11th

The other 12 races were DNFs, although Christian Fittipaldi fared better in the sister car, enough to take Arrows to 9th in the constructor standings at the end of the year. At any rate, if you want an easy-to-use late-model F1 car for fun, this one will run you between $80,000-$150,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $209,119.