Benetton B195

1995 Benetton-Judd B195

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 3-4, 2023

Photo – Artcurial

Benetton’s first year in Formula One was 1986, and their last was 2001 before they became the Renault factory team. The team’s first year using Renault power was 1995, in which they campaigned the Rory Byrne/Ross Brawn-designed B195.

The car featured a 3.0-liter Renault V10 capable of up to 700 horsepower. This one now has a 3.5-liter Judd V10 in it. Drivers Michael Schumacher (in his last season before departing for Ferrari) and Johnny Herbert ran for the team, which won its first and only constructors championship this season. Schumacher also won his second title this season, with some of it spent behind this chassis (#02).

The catalog states that Schumacher won races in this chassis but doesn’t specifically state which ones. Oh well!. The Judd engine was installed prior to the current owner’s purchase, and it’s been gone over apparently. Artcurial estimates this car to sell in the range of $2,165,000-$3,250,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

De Tomaso Guara Barchetta

1995 De Tomaso Guara Barchetta

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | December 2022

Photo – Bring a Trailer Auctions

Alejandro de Tomaso had been designing and producing sports cars under his name since the 1960s. And the last car he put into production was the Guara in 1994. When production ceased 10 years later, only about 50 had been made across three body styles that included a coupe, spyder, and this, the barchetta.

The Barchetta had no windshield and no top. It looked eerily similar to the Maserati Barchetta race car of the early 90s. This isn’t all that surprising considering De Tomaso owned Maserati until 1993 and just repurposed the design for an exotic road car.

The Guara is powered by a 4.0-liter BMW V8 that made 279 horsepower. Later cars got supercharged Ford V8s (although not a shocking bump in power). This particular one looks to be still pretty much in the wrapper and is one of 10 barchettas built. You’re probably gonna want a full-face helmet to drive it – if you drive it. It doesn’t appear that any of its owners have thus far. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $230,000.

Rallye Raid Citroen ZX

1995 Citroen ZX Rallye Raid Evo 5

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

Photo – Aguttes

A rally raid is a long-distance off-road race that lasts for days on end. Think the Paris-Dakar Rally, for starters. It’s something Europeans like to compete in. The French seemingly especially so. Citroen actually won the Rally Raid constructor’s championship from 1993-1997 before withdrawing from the sport. They won the Paris-Dakar rally five times in the 1990s.

The ZX was a small car built by Citroen between 1991 and 1998 as either a four-door sedan, a wagon, or a hatchback. This Rallye Raid Evo 5 has pretty much nothing in common with that car aside from the name. It’s a purpose-built off-road race car. The first ZX Rallye Raid debuted in 1990. They were powered by a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four mounted behind the driver and good for 330 horsepower.

The Evo 5 was built for the 1995 season and featured suspension refinements over earlier cars and also was outfitted with four (!) spare tires. This example is one of five Evo 5 examples produced, but it actually started out as a 1993 Evo 2. It’s competition history includes:

  • 1993 Rally Atlas – 4th (with Pierre Lartigue and Michel Perin), as Evo 2
  • 1993 Rallye de Pharoans – 1st (with Lartigue and Perin), as Evo 2
  • 1994 Paris-Dakar Rally – 2nd (with Hubert Auriol and Gilles Picard), as Evo 3
  • 1994 Rally Atlas – 1st (with Lartigue and Perin), as Evo 3

This was actually the prototype for the Evo 5, so it never competed as such, although the four Evo 5s that followed won every race they entered.

This is a pretty cool opportunity to acquire a type of car that rarely changes hands – and directly from the manufacturer. It has a pre-sale estimate of $195,000-$292,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $456,107.

Autech Gavia Zagato

1995 Autech Gavia Zagato Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 10, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

The Autech Zagato Stelvio, which was based on an Infiniti M30, was produced in very limited numbers with just 104 built. And yet, it is relatively well known compared to this, the Stelvio’s successor, the Zagato-styled Gavia.

Autech was a tuning subsidiary of Nissan from 1986 to 2022, when it was merged with Nismo. The Gavia project started in 1993 and again was based on the Nissan Leopard, aka the Infiniti M30. Under the hood was the turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 from the 300ZX. Output was rated at 280 horsepower.

The car features the signature Zagato double-bubble roof. It only has Zagato badging on it, and this one was sold new in Japan. It is one of just 16 built. The pre-sale estimate is $35,000-$58,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $39,670.

1995 CART Champion Reynard

1995 Reynard-Cosworth 95I

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 13-21, 2022

Photo – Mecum

The 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series was the final season of CART before the IRL opened shop for 1996. Reynard was one of three chassis suppliers for the ’95 CART season, alongside Penske and Lola.

This chassis, no. 04, was campaigned by Team Green in lovely 1990s Player’s livery. Power is provided by a turbocharged 2.65-liter Cosworth XB V8. The competition history for this car includes:

  • 1995 Grand Prix of Miami – 1st (with Jacques Villeneuve)
  • 1995 Grand Prix of Cleveland – 1st (with Villeneuve)
  • 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series Championship – 1st (with Villeneuve)

This is an incredibly powerful, fast open-wheel race car from a glorious era of American open-wheel racing. And it gave a future F1 champ his lone Indy Car championship. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $250,000.

Chrysler Viper

1995 Chrysler Viper RT/10

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie | Toffen, Switzerland | March 26, 2022

Photo – Oldtimer Galerie

The original Dodge Viper was launched for the 1992 model year and it was a pretty wild revelation. The original RT/10 was produced through 1995 and included a lack of exterior door handles, traction control, and ABS. There were no airbags or A/C either, and the windows zipped in. It was not a luxury automobile. But it was fast. And loud.

The engine is an 8.0-liter V10 rated at 400 horsepower, which propelled the car to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds on the way to a 165-mph top end. These early Vipers had leg-scalding side pipes, three-spoke wheels, and an overwhelming sense of 90s-ness. They remain excellent.

But what make this one especially interesting is that it is not a “Dodge.” It’s a Chrysler Viper, which is the brand the cars were sold under for the European market. Brag about that at your next Viper Club meeting or show. Read more about this one here.

Castagna Vittoria

1995 Castagna Vittoria

Offered by Finarte | Online | June 14-28, 2021

Carrozzeria Castagna was an Italian coachbuilder whose roots dated back to the 1820s. During the 1920s and 30s, the company bodied many cars for companies like Isotta Fraschini, Mercedes-Benz, and Alfa Romeo.

The brand was revived in the mid-1990s, and they still exist. They re-debuted at the 1995 Geneva International Motor Show with this, the Vittoria. It’s essentially a re-bodied Alfa Romeo SZ. The front end actually kind of looks like it was ripped off a Nissan 240SX or something, while the rear looks like it was designed by someone who never met the designer of the front end.

The powerplant remains the same: a 207-horsepower, 3.0-liter V6. It’s the only one like it, and the pre-sale estimate is listed by Finarte as $235,000-$275,000. Which seems like… a lot. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

MG RV8

1995 MG RV8

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | May 8, 2021

Photo – Brightwells

As time went on, MG became more and more of a shadow of its former self. By the time the 1990s rolled around, there wasn’t much gas left in the tank. The MGB had ceased production in 1980. After that, the company only sold badge-engineered versions of cars like the Austin Metro.

MG had started building MGB bodies again in the late 1980s to serve the restoration market. Then the Mazda Miata launched and gave MG the idea that light two-seat sports cars were still viable. In late 1992, they launched the RV8, which was basically an MGB with a 3.9-liter Rover V8, a revised front end, a limited-slip differential, and a slightly tweaked suspension.

Please recall that the original MGB launched in 1962. The RV8 still has rear drum brakes. Between late 1992 and 1995, MG churned out 1,938 examples of the 190-horsepower roadster. Most of them went to Japan, including this one. I like this car because it is interesting. It’s a footnote in the history of British sports cars, but it’s also the last hurrah of the MG sports car. It should sell for between $25,000-$30,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $25,489.

Jaguar XJS Celebration

1995 Jaguar XJS Celebration Convertible

Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | April 17, 2021

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

The XJS was Jaguar’s follow-up to the E-Type. Introduced in 1975, variants of the car would remain in production through 1996. The final generation of the XJS launched in 1991, and two different engines were available: a 4.0-liter inline-six or a 5.3-liter V12.

This car, sadly, has the six, which was rated at 237 horsepower when new. I’ve always felt like if you’re going to buy one of these, you might as well get the overly-complicated and still-not-that-much-more-powerful V12. Bragging rights. So why are we featuring this car? Because it’s a wonderful shade of teal. That’s why.

The Celebration edition, I think, was to celebrate that Jaguar had saved on development costs by not completely redesigning this car after 20 years. They built 115,413 XJS cars in 21 years, which is pretty impressive. This one has about 10,000 original miles and should sell for between $34,800-$41,700. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $62,605.

Honda NSX

1995 Honda NSX

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | March 3, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

It’s always weird when manufacturers adorn cars with different branding based on where they are sold. The NSX is an Acura product in North America. But pretty much everywhere else in the world, it’s a Honda. And this Honda NSX is from the middle of the first generation. It was delivered new to France, so it’s left-hand drive, but it’s also 25 years old. That means you can bring it to the U.S.

The first-gen NSX is an appreciating classic. It’s one of the last wonderfully analog cars. In 1995, the NSX was still two years away from a displacement increase and a power bump, and the 3.0-liter V6 in this car was rated at 270 horsepower.

There are more desirable and interesting colors, but you can’t really go wrong with red on a two-door, mid-engine sports car. This 15,000-mile example should sell for between $67,000-$91,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $68,373.