Alpine A210

Posted on June 19, 2015 by classiccarweekly

1966 Alpine A210

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | June 22, 2015

Photo – Artcurial

Alpine, the sports and racing car manufacturer, is best known for some of its road-going models, namely the A110. The company, which goes back to 1955, is now part of Renault and the marque is dormant.

Alpine also had a very long history of racing cars. New Alpine-branded racing cars have seen the track as recent as 2014. But if you go back to the 1960s, the company was intent on conquering the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They built a string of evolutionary racing cars for Le Mans, starting with the M63 in 1963.

This was the first A210 built (of seven total). There were at least three different engines used in this model. This car has had different engines over the years and is currently fitted with a 1.5-liter straight-four.

It’s race history includes:

1966 1000km Monza – 18th (with Jean Vinatier and Roger Delageneste)
1966 1000km Spa – 9th (with Delageneste and Jacques Patte)
1966 24 Hours of Le Mans – 32nd, DNF (with André de Cortanze and Jean-Pierre Hanrioud)
1967 24 Hours of Le Mans – 40th, DNF (with Philippe Vidal and Leo Cella)

This car is eligible (and has taken part in) many historic races, including the Le Mans Classic. It should sell for between $325,000-$550,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Artcurial.

Update: Sold $524,480.

Talbot Alpine Racer

Posted on November 19, 2014 by classiccarweekly

1934 Talbot AV105 Alpine Racer

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | November 30, 2014

Photo – Bonhams

Nothing like a lime green old race car, eh? This sporty Talbot is from the British Talbot and was a works race car. This is one of three Alpine Trial Talbots built for 1934. But this car had a bigger engine than the other two. It’s a 3.3-liter straight-six making 126 horsepower.

The 1934 Alpine Trial was the sixth such event run and it was a multi-day point-to-point race that ran through Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France. Imagine that scenery, blowing past at high speed! The three-car Alpine team shared overall top honors with the German Adler team.

This car went from the tour to Brooklands, where it competed in event after event, first averaging 85 mph over an hour run – later it would average over 107 mph. Subsequent runs would climb even higher – up to about 130 by the time racing at Brooklands ended. This was a serious speed machine in its day.

Bonhams has compiled an impressively immense history on this vehicle and you can read more about it here. It’s an incredible car and to the right person it will be worth a lot of money – as in between $1,300,000-$1,900,000. Check out more from Bonhams here.

Update: Sold $2,169,294.

Update: Sold, Bonhams Paris 2020 – $964,997.

Alpine M64

Posted on April 21, 2014 by classiccarweekly

1964 Alpine M64

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 10, 2014

Photo – RM Auctions

Here’s a rare car from a rare, but long-lived French manufacturer. Jean Redele’s Alpines first began appearing in 1955 and by 1970, Renault had a majority stake in the company. Models carrying the Alpine name continued to roll off the line through 1995.

But in the early days, Alpine stood for racing success. The M64 was an updated version of the M63 and both were aimed at conquering the sports car circuit. The M64 uses a 115 horsepower 1.2-liter straight-four. The competition history for this car includes:

1964 24 Hours of Le Mans – 17th, 1st in class (with Henry Morrogh and Roger Delageneste)
1964 12 Hours of Reims – 18th, 1st in class (with Morrogh and Delageneste)
1964 1000km Paris – 20th, 2nd in class (with Morrogh and Delageneste)
1965 24 Hours of Le Mans – 28th, DNF (with Roger Masson and Guy Verrier)
1965 12 Hours of Reims – 12th (with Verrier and Jacques Cheinisse)

This car left the active racing circuit after 1965 and was used by Alpine in the development of their A210 race car. The current owner bought the car in 1977 and has had the car restored, even though it still has the longtail from the A210 development period. It is one of only three M64s built and easily the most successful on track. It is being sold as “ready-to-race” and you can go racing for a cost between $200,000-$275,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM’s Monaco sale.

Update: Sold $431,545.

Update II: Sold, Artcurial Paris, October 2016, $408,575.

2014 Scottsdale Highlights III

Posted on January 25, 2014 by classiccarweekly

Next up from Scottsdale is Gooding & Company’s results. The top sale was our featured Ferrari 250 GT Series I Cabriolet for $6,160,000. The second-biggest sale was our featured BMW F1 GTR Longtail for $5,280,000. Interesting sales were topped by this 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter by Vignale for $1,787,500.

Another cool Ferrari was this 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Coupe Speciale by Pininfarina for $2,365,000.

Our featured Siata Daina sold for $247,500. The Cunningham C-3 brought $550,000. This super cool 1972 Alpine A110 1800 slipped under my radar and I didn’t get to feature it. It brought $302,500 anyway.

Other cool cars included this 1954 Arnolt-MG Cabriolet for $110,000.

This sale’s featured Duesenberg sold for $2,090,000. The Hispano-Suiza K6 sold for $621,500. And finally, this 1923 Citroen Type C2 TL Drophead Coupe sold for $59,400. Check out full results here.

And our final bit of coverage from Scottsdale is Russo & Steele’s sale. Our featured McKee Mk IV brought $260,000. The top sale was this 1966 Lamborghini 350GT for $742,630.

Cool cars have to be topped by this 1958 Plymouth Sport Suburban Wagon that sold for a strong $65,000. You can check out full results here.

August Auction Catch-Up

Posted on September 9, 2012 by classiccarweekly

There were quite a number of high-profile sales during August during Pebble Beach and whatnot. I think it’s important not to overlook any other sales that went down around the time that more or less got lost in the shuffle. Yeah, they were much smaller in nature, but here’s a rundown of three from our calendar. First, the most recent, H&H’s sale at Stoneleigh Park on August 28th didn’t yield any significant highlights, but you can check out full results here. H&H’s August 8th sale at Donnington Priory had a few highlights, among them, the top sale, $258,000 for a 1967 Aston Martin DB6.

1967 Aston Martin DB6

The other sale we are looking at is Silverstone’s August 25-26 “CarFest South/Pride & Joy” sale. Among the highlights was this 1976 Alpine A310 for $23,470.

Then there was this 1969 Lancia Fulvia Zagato for $18,800.

A couple of older cars included, from H&H, this 1949 Riley RMC 2.5-Litre Drophead Coupe, one of only 507 produced. It needs a little work but still managed $25,500.

1949 Riley RMC 2.5-Litre

And from Silverstone, this 1938 Morgan 4/4 looks awfully good but it is consigned as “may need some mechanical freshening.” It sold for $28,500.

1938 Morgan 4/4

The final car from H&H’s sale was this 1982/97 Mark Phillips Cobra. I think I might try and squeeze in every obscure Cobra replica marque that I can when I do an auction recap. This one brought $23,300.

1982/97 Mark Phillips Cobra Replica

Some newer cars, from the Silverstone sale, included the top seller, a 2006 Ultima GTR (below) for $63,000. And then a 1994 Marcos Mantara 400 (second below) for $16,700.

And finally, one of my all time favorites, a 1972 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV. This one looks near-immaculate in red. The price of $24,700 doesn’t really scare me as much as my bank account hopes it would.

1972 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV

For complete results from Silverstone, click here. And from H&H’s Donnington sale, here.

Artcurial Rétromobile Highlights

Posted on February 20, 2012 by classiccarweekly

The Artcurial auction at Rétromobile in Paris had a high sell-through rate with a variety of interesting cars. Unfortunately, we only had time to feature two of them. First was the 1938 Horch 853 Cabriolet that ended up selling for $520,732, slightly exceeding its pre-sale estimate. Our other feature car was the awe-inspiring 1913 Delaunay-Belleville that has been in the same family since new – almost 100 years. Artcurial provided a rather large range for the car’s estimate and it sold right in the middle for $600,834.

There were numerous really interesting cars (I keep mentioning that, don’t I?). Some were extravagantly priced while others were downright affordable, like this 1965 Renault 4 that was modified to a convertible shortly after purchase. Renault did produce a 4 convertible – called the Plein Air, but this car pre-dates that model. It sold for $16,690.

The next car was not, well, affordable. But it certainly is jaw-dropping. It’s a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet B with a 180 horsepower 5.4 liter straight-8. This particular car was once in the Rockefeller family and has an awesome paint scheme with black and silver with red highlights. It was the second top seller at $629,961.

A quartet of interesting pre-war cars from lesser-known manufacturers than Mercedes-Benz include this 1908 Lorraine Dietrich 12 HP Touring car. It sold for $72,831.

Even older is this London-to-Brighton eligible 1898 (or 1899) Decauville Voiturelle. It’s an early French car that appears to be quite rudimentary by today’s standards. But this was quite a vogue car back in 1898 when over 600 of them were sold. I’m sure they cost a lot less in the 19th century than the $106,212 it went for in Paris in 2012.

The 1912 Gobron-Brillie 12 CV Torpedo Skiff by Rothschild (below) had been on sale in St. Louis at Hyman Ltd. for $325,000. It’s the only one in existence and it could have been yours for $273,117. That’s about a $50,000 savings over buying it off the lot.

The cheapest car (by price) in the entire auction (including motorcycles and scooters) was this 1933 Rosengart LR4 Torpedo that missed its estimate and was sold for $6,828.

Slightly newer is this 1969 Alpine A110 1600 Coupe – a great looking car with racing pedigree. It sold for $84,970.

Cisitalia is best known for their 202 road car and even their monoposto race cars. But they also built about 15 of the 33 DF Voloradente model in the mid-1950s. This 1954 model brought $189,665.

Something I personally thought was really cool was this 1977 Fiat 131 Abarth Rally – a homologation rally car built for the street. 500 were built with a 140 horsepower 2.0-liter straight-4. It’s boxy, so you know it means business. Sale price: $71,314.

Top sale of the auction (which it as by nearly a factor of 10) was this 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder. It sold for $5,740,248. The average price for a LWB California Spyder over the past five or so years is about $3.4 million. Prices are rising.

Two other Italian gems were this aluminum-bodied 1967 Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada – one of only 72 alloy 5300 GTs. A very desirable car, selling for $447,608.

The other was this 1947 Fiat 1100 S MM by Rappi. It’s eligible for all kinds of historic events including the Mille Miglia. These cars are very rare and, although it only has 51 horsepower, they are apparently quite fun – and stylish. $166,905.

This auction also featured more than a dozen rare cars in their original condition. Multiple cars from Talbot-Lago, Hotchkiss, Panhard, Talbot, and Salmson. Most were sedans from the late 1940s and early 1950s. They all looked stately and dusty and ready to be freshened and brought back to life. Prices ranged from about $27,000-$90,000 for the cars as they were in various conditions. None of them were especially extravagant, but the one that keeps catching my eye as I look through the results was the last lot in the sale – this 1939 Hotchkiss 686 Chantilly Limousine. It is in need of a restoration – but imagine how good it would look all prettied up. It sold as is for $39,450.