Qvale Mangusta

2001 Qvale Mangusta

Offered by Mecum | Glendale, California | March 30, 2023

Photo – Mecum

The De Tomaso Bigua was a concept car that debuted in 1996 in conjunction with Qvale, which was started by Kjell Qvale, who was the West Coast distributor for Jaguar. His son Bruce started the car company to partner with De Tomaso.

But De Tomaso and Qvale broke off the partnership right before deliveries of the car were set to begin. By this point they had acquired the name De Tomaso Mangusta, but at the last second the cars were rebranded as the Qvale Mangusta.

Just 284 were produced between 2000 and 2002. They are powered by a 4.6-liter Ford V8 rated at 320 horsepower. They feature resin body panels styled by Marcello Gandini, four seats, and a retractable hardtop. You can read more about this one here.

Update: Withdrawn from auction.

McLaren MP4-16

2001 McLaren MP4-16

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Munich, Germany | November 26, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Adrian Newey (and team) designed a pretty stout car for the 2001 Formula One season. It wasn’t enough to best Ferrari, but it was enough to place second in the constructor’s championship. It was McLaren’s sixth-straight season with drivers David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen.

The period West livery has been replaced with “David” graphics, as Coulthard did well in this car. It’s competition history (for this, chassis MP4-16A-05) includes:

  • 2001 San Marino Grand Prix – 2nd (with David Coulthard)
  • 2001 Spanish Grand Prix – 5th (with Coulthard)
  • 2001 Austrian Grand Prix – 1st (with Coulthard)
  • 2001 Monaco Grand Prix – 5th (with Coulthard)
  • 2001 Canadian Grand Prix – 3rd (with Mika Hakkinen)
  • 2001 German Grand Prix – 12th, DNF (with Coulthard)

It was also used as a test car at various races. During the season, it was powered by a 3.0-liter Mercedes (Ilmor) V10 that made about 830 horsepower. Now it just has a dummy display engine in its place. No estimate is provided. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

MG ZT

2001 MG ZT160

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | December 4-9, 2021

Photo – Brightwells

Is this allowed to be my favorite MG? MG was sort of at the end of its rope when it introduced three new cars in 2001 after years of only producing a single sports car. The ZT was the largest of the three new models and was based on the Rover 75 that went on sale a few years earlier.

There were a couple of different ZT levels and quite a few engine choices. The 160 was the most basic, and it’s powered by a 2.5-liter V6 that, when paired with a five-speed manual gearbox, was rated at 187 horsepower. There was also a ZT-T version of the these, and that was the wagon. The ZT disappeared when MG Rover started failing 2005.

This one is front-wheel drive, and rear-driver V8 versions were also produced. Those are the best of the bunch. This three-owner example has 47,000 miles and is expected to bring between $4,000-$5,300. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $2,541.

VM180 Zagato

2001 TMI VM180 Zagato

Offered by Bingo/BH Auction | Online | October 25-31, 2021

Photo – Bingo/BH Auction

Guess the base car. If you said “2000-2007 Toyota MR2,” you are correct. This generation of the MR2 isn’t as beloved as earlier versions, but it was popular among the The Fast and the Furious crowd in the early 2000s. It even went Super GT racing.

In 2001, a Zagato-bodied version of the MR2 was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show. It featured the same mid-mounted 1.8-liter inline-four as the standard MR2, but was tuned slightly to make 155 horsepower (up from 138). The styling was by Zagato and is obviously much different than the standard car. It’s got some funky lighting front and rear in addition to some other, uh, not-so-subtle tweaks.

Only 100 were built. They were only sold in Japan through the Toyota Vista dealer network. And the cars were actually branded under the Toyota Modelista International brand, or TMI. It’s a weird one, and not one that pops up often. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Bowler Wildcat

2001 Bowler Wildcat 200

Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | September 25, 2021

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

The Bowler Wildcat is sort of a legendary off-roader, thanks in large part to its appearance on Top Gear in the early 2000s. The Wildcat is essentially a heavily modified Land Rover Defender. It was introduced in 1998 and remained available through 2007.

This example is the fourth Wildcat produced. It was used competitively, winning Baja-style rallies in 2006 in France and the U.K. It’s powered by a 5.0-liter V8 that was recently rebuilt and makes 334 horsepower.

It’s pretty much just a road-legal trophy truck. And a pretty cool one at that, especially if you remember its appearance on TV. This one is expected to sell for between $83,000-$94,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $75,517.

BMW Z8

2001 BMW Z8

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 14, 2021

Photo – Mecum

The Z8 was BMW’s retro-inspired halo car that was sold between 2000 and 2002, with a revised Alpina Roadster available for 2003. The car was styled after BMW’s legendary 507 (one of, if not the first, car this site featured was a 507).

Power is from a 4.9-liter V8 rated at 395 horsepower. It could hit 60 in 4.2 seconds and was limited to a 155-mph top end. This car retains its factory body-color hardtop and is one of 62 built finished in red over Crema leather. A total of 5,703 Z8s were produced. While they are sought after today, their $128,000 base price when new did not move them off of dealer lots quickly 20 years ago.

That said, good luck picking one up for under $150,000 today. They’ve aged pretty well and are certainly a future classic. Click here for more info on this one, and here for more from Mecum in Monterey.

Update: Sold $247,500.

Chrysler Prowler

2001 Chrysler Prowler Mulholland Edition

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 8, 2020

Photo – Mecum

Listen. The Prowler is cool. All of you old folks who hate that it “doesn’t have a V8” are missing the point. Go drive your hot rods that are quickly depreciating. The Prowler, with its 3.5-liter V6, was poster-worthy when it debuted for the 1997 model year.

Interestingly, the Plymouth brand was axed after the 2000 model year. So Chrysler picked up the torch, and “Chrysler Prowlers” were sold in 2001 and 2002. In all, 11,702 Prowlers were built, 3,170 of which were Chrysler-branded. The Mulholland Edition brought special Midnight Blue paint with a dark blue soft top. Only 1,278 cars were finished in this color.

That 3.5-liter V6 was good for 253 horsepower. Yes, it has an automatic transmission, but the car comes in at about 2,800 pounds. If you’re still not convinced of this car being cool, just look at it. This will never happen again. Chrysler had balls in the 90s and 2000s. They built some wild stuff. It just can’t happen anymore. Get ’em while you can, as my prediction for the last few years has been that these are going to take off big time in the next 15-20 years. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $27,500.

Wiesmann MF30

2001 Wiesmann MF30 Roadster

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie | Gstaad, Switzerland | December 29, 2019

Photo – Oldtimer Galerie

There have been a slew (three) of Wiesmanns being auctioned lately. And each of the three has been a different model. The MF30 was the company’s first product and was followed up by the MF3.

It’s powered by a 3.0-liter BMW inline-six good for 228 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque. It hit 60 mph in about five seconds and topped out at 143 mph.

This car is listed in the auction catalog as an MF3, which would’ve been powered by a 3.2-liter inline-six. The earlier MF30 was the 3.0-liter version, which is why I have it listed as such. There really aren’t many external differences between the two. No estimate is yet available, but you can see more here and see more from this sale here.

550 GTZ Barchetta

2001 Ferrari 550 GTZ Barchetta by Zagato

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 7, 2019

Photo – Bonhams

The Ferrari 550 Maranello was produced between 1996 and 2002. In 2000, the company launched the 550 Barchetta, a convertible version that marked Ferrari’s fun new business of chopping the top and jacking up the price for a limited-edition model. Only 448 Barchetta examples were built.

This one was later customized by coachbuilder Zagato. It was actually developed with Ferrari as a convertible variant of the 575 GTZ, which itself was a Zagato-modified version of the 550’s followup car, the 575M Maranello. Because the 575 Superamerica (the 575’s expensive drop-top version) had yet to enter production, they backtracked to the 550 Barchetta to built the drop-top 575 Zagato.

When new, this car cost $1 million. It’s powered by a 478 horsepower, 5.5-liter V12. They planned to build five, but only three were completed. And this is the only right-hand-drive example. The pre-sale estimate is $640,000-$900,000, and you can read more about it here. See more from Bonhams in London here.

Update: Sold $769,393.

Diablo VT 6.0 SE

2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0 SE

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. | November 30, 2019

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Diablo was introduced in 1990 and lasted for 11 years. It was facelifted in 1998, ditching the pop-up headlights of earlier cars. The VT 6.0 was introduced in 2000, and it had a revised look that appeared to be closer in line to what we now know would follow it (the Murcielago) than it was to the 1990 Diablo.

The 6.0-liter V12 was actually introduced in the 1999 Diablo GT and was a replacement for the embarrassingly-small 5.7-liter V12 that preceded it. In the 6.0 VT and 6.0 VT SE, it produced 549 horsepower.

The VT 6.0 was the final Diablo model, and for the very last run of cars, Lamborghini offered it in “SE” form – only 42 of which were built. This example has covered only 18 miles since new and is being offered as the “last new Diablo” – even though it has had two owners who never used it.

This 200+mph supercar is one of the most sought-after Diablos. That, coupled with its sadly low mileage, means it could sell for $550,000-$750,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM.

Update: Sold $525,000.