Vanquish Zagato Speedster

2018 Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Speedster Storck Vintage

Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 10, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

That’s quite the name, isn’t it? There’s a lot to break down. First, the second-generation Vanquish was produced by Aston Martin by 2012 through 2018. It was replaced by the DBS Superleggera. Then there’s the Zagato aspect. Aston teamed with Zagato for a limited run of Vanquish models at the end of the the gen 2’s run.

There was a one-off Zagato Roadster during the first-generation’s run, but it never reached production. This time around, there were four Zagato models to choose from: coupe, convertible, shooting brake, and Speedster. Only 99 were built of each, except the Speedster. This is #25 of just 28 Speedsters.

Power is from a 5.9-liter V12 rated at 595 horsepower, which was good enough for a sprint to 60 of 3.5 seconds on the way to a 201-mph top end.

Storck Bicycle is a German bicycle company headed by designer Markus Storck. He collaborated with Aston for a limited run of seven Vanquish coupes, and he was brought back for three special Speedsters, including this, the Vintage. It added some special paint and trim touches – and a bit chunk of change to the final price when new.

The car is essentially brand new and is expected to sell for between $1,000,000-$1,500,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Bertone DB2/4 Drophead Coupe

1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 Drophead Coupe by Bertone

Offered by Gooding & Company | Online | January 18-22, 2021

Photo – Gooding & Company

The DB2/4 was the follow-up to Aston Martin’s earlier DB2 model. It was succeeded by the DB Mk III, and yeah, Aston’s early naming scheme didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Anyway, the DB2/4 was built in two series between 1953 and 1957. The base car was a 2+2 hatchback, but both fixed head and drophead coupes were also offered, some with fancy coachbuilt bodies.

This 1954 example is one of 565 Series I cars (out of a total run of 764 units). Of those 565, 102 were drophead coupes. Just two of those wear beautiful Bertone coachwork like this. It is recognizable as an Aston if you look at it, but it could easily be confused for something Italian.

Power is from a 2.6-liter inline-six making 125 horsepower. This car is good for 120 mph, and cars built shortly after this example began receiving the 140-horsepower 2.9-liter engine. Bonhams sold this car for over $800,000 in 2011, and now Gooding is offering it without an estimate. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $968,000.

June/July 2020 Auction Highlights

Auctions have been pretty few and far between for the last few months, and some traditional tent auctions have turned to offering cars online. One such sale was RM’s Essen sale, which was originally scheduled for late March and shifted to online-only in June. No-sales included the Puch G-Wagen.

The overall top sale was this brand-new 2020 Porsche 935 Martini that brought approximately $1,480,782.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Diablo SE30 we featured brought $259,136, the EuroBrun F1 car $99,952, and the Porsche 912 $61,699. Other sales included the Ginetta G33 for $27,147, the TVR Grantura for $19,743, the Glas 1300 GT for $17,892, the Glas S 1004 for $13,573, and the Neckar for $12,031.

Finally, on the affordable side of things, the Ginetta G20 could’ve been had for $10,180, the Panther Lima for $8,329, and the Arkley SS for a paltry $1,357. Click here for final results.

Mecum held a sale in North Carolina to liquidate a private collection. At least I think it was in North Carolina. There was some weird online bidding stuff too. Pretty confusing. At any rate, this 1969 Dodge Daytona was the top seller at $231,000.

Photo – Mecum

All of our feature cars sold (everything sold), including the Buick GSX for $140,800. The Grand Sport Corvettes brought $68,750 for the convertible and $74,250 for the coupe. Complete results are provided here.

Mecum’s annual Indianapolis sale got shifted to July this year. The overall top seller was the prototype Shelby GT350R we featured. It sold for an impressive $3,850,000. Big-money no-sales included the L88 Corvette convertible race car, the Diedt-Offy Indy car, the Chevelle LS6 convertible, and the Ferrari 275 GTB/4. The high bids for those cars are available at their respective links. Most Interesting is awarded to this 1924 Lincoln Model L Limousine for $24,750 because old Lincolns rock.

Photo – Mecum

Other no-sales included Richard Petty’s ’71 Road Runner, the Dodge Lil Red Express, the Hemi GTX, the ’53 Eldorado, and the obviously-cursed Brumos-Edition 911 GT3. The Kurtis 500H was withdrawn.

On a positive note, a lot of cars estimated to bring lesser amounts found new homes, including the Checker Marathon for $6,600, the Nash Rambler for $24,200, a previously-featured Erskine Panel Truck for $28,600, and the Zimmer Golden Spirit for $24,200. The Cougar Eliminator brought $104,500, the GT350 convertible $1,100,000, a previously-featured Shelby Series 1 prototype $115,500, and the Ferrari F512M $396,000. More results, yes there are more results, are available here.

Dorotheum’s scooter and microcar sale had some interesting vehicles on offer, including this 1963 Peel P50 that sold for $97,265.

Photo – Dorotheum

We featured five cars from this sale. Here’s how they fared:

Complete results are presented here.

Finally, Historics’ Windsorview Lakes sale, where the awesome Spyker LM85 we featured sold for $281,472. The top sale was this 1964 Aston Martin DB5 for $703,682.

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

Our two other feature cars both sold, with the Humber bringing $27,443 and the Brooke Double R $24,648. More results can be found here.

Spring 2020 Auction Highlights

Well, the world is a mess, and most auction houses have postponed or canceled more or less every scheduled auction that was scheduled to be held anytime in late March through… well I don’t even know yet. It’s mid-April as I begin typing this post, and the calendar has more or less cleared out through May and into June (Edit: it took until June to wrap this up).

But! There are still some results to cover, beginning with H&H Auctioneers’ late March sale, which was pretty much the last one to get in before everything went haywire. The top seller was this 1938 Lagonda LG6 Drophead Coupe that brought roughly $237,510 (this was the day that the markets tanked, so the exchange rate was at its lowest in a long time).

Photo – H&H Auctioneers

The Jensen CV8 we featured brought $46,980, and complete results are available here.

RM Sotheby’s shifted their entire Palm Beach sale to online-only, and the top sale ended up being this 1996 Porsche 911 GT2 for $891,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Intermeccanica Murena GT was withdrawn from the sale. More results can be found here.

H&H also had a sale in late April, even after things were shutting down. The top sale at this abbreviated sale was this 1967 Ford Mustang GT, and it sold for approximately $75,277.

Photo – H&H Auctioneers

The Austin sedan we featured sold for $10,949. More results are available here.

Osenat was one of the first houses to hold a mid-COVID (“mid” because it ain’t over yet) sale. The Panhard we featured didn’t sell, but the overall top seller was this 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S that sold for $950,518. Click here for additional results.

Photo – Osenat

Bonhams held an online sale at the end of May that included a Frazer Nash, an Allard L-Type, and a Lamborghini Urraco that we featured. Only the Lambo sold (for $75,178), and the top sale was for this 1966 Aston Martin DB6 that brought $184,400. Complete results are available here.

Photo – Bonhams

March 2020 Auction Highlights

March begins with Amelia Island, where Bonhams sold this 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport Roadster for $7,100,000.

Photo – Bonhams

The 1907 Renault Vanderbilt Racer was another big sale, bringing $3,332,500. Two old German cars sold, but the final sales prices were not listed, presumably because the new buyer is weird. They were the Opel Phaeton and the Demarest Benz. The other Benz failed to sell, as did a previously-featured Boyer and Knox.

The Volkswagen Kubelwagen sold for $58,240, and the Schwimmwagen $145,600. And the Marcos GT went for $33,600. Final results can be found here.

RM’s Amelia sale boringly saw this 2003 Ferrari Enzo sell for the most money (there were so many cool classics here, so a late model Ferrari is kind of a bummer). It sold for $2,782,500.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

All of our feature cars sold, led by two Duesenbergs. The Stationary Victoria sold for $1,325,000, and the Convertible Coupe brought $1,132,500. Cars that crossed the $100k mark included the Talbot-Lago at $250,000 and the Muntz Jet at $117,600.

The 1907 Cadillac sold for $53,200, the Nash-Healey brought $89,600, and the Offy-powered Indy car went for $95,200. A previously-featured Roamer also sold for $95,200. Click here for complete results.

Historics Auctioneers held a sale on March 7. The EJS-Climax we featured way back failed to sell here, as did the Bristol Brigand and the Panhard 24. The top sale was for this $404,519 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mk II.

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

The Mean Can-Am sold for $36,928, and more results can be found here.

Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island sale saw this 1914 Rolls-Royce 40/50HP Silver Ghost Torpedo Phaeton by Kellner lead the way at $2,205,000.

Photo – Gooding & Company

The Porsche 356B Super Coupe sold for $395,500, and the Lamborghini failed to sell. More results are provided here.

Aguttes’ March sale might just be the last one we get to recap for while, considering that most sales in late March and heading into April and May have been either canceled or postponed until later in the year. You know, pandemic and all.

The Facel Vega we featured sold for about $74,345, and the overall top sale was this 1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Coda Tronca for $750,825. The rest of the results are posted here.

Photo – Aguttes

February 2020 Auction Highlights

Before we dive back into February, we need to backtrack to Worldwide Auctioneers in Scottsdale. The top sale was this 1936 Auburn 852 SC Boattail Speedster for $880,000.

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

The Duesenberg we featured sold for $605,000, and a previously-featured Chrysler concept car brought $742,500. The Bertone Mantide failed to sell. More results can be found here.

Onward to February and RM Sotheby’s in Paris. Top sale here? Well, this 1958 BMW 507 Series II went for $2,162,108.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Hispano-Suiza and Gemballa Mirage failed to sell, but this previously-featured Isotta Fraschini sold for $267,386. Other sales included the Dyna-Veritas ($75,978) and the Spyker C8 ($267,386). Click here for final results.

Artcurial also had a sale during Retromobile, and the big Mercedes and Alfa Romeos we featured both failed to sell. Top sale territory was cornered by Ferrari, and this 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB sold for $2,753,831. The 126 C3 F1 car we featured brought $1,583,200.

Photo – Artcurial

The DB HBR4 sold for $190,176, the Rolland-Pilain $25,575, and the Serenissima $990,226. The ToJ did not sell. Click here for more results.

The results of Silverstone Auctions’ Race Retro sale included this 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that brought $918,184, more than anything else in the sale. The Countach we featured failed to sell, and more results are available here.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

And finally, for this round, we have Brightwells Leominster Classic & Vintage Cars sale. The TVR we featured failed to sell, and the overall top sale was this 1988 Porsche 911 Turbo for $109,611.

Photos – Brightwells

The Fordson pickup sold for $11,835. More results can be found here.

December 2019 Auction Highlights

Not a lot of action in December, but Mecum did wrap up a sale in Kansas City that saw this 2005 Ford GT sell for $247,500. Gotta love it when the consignor of this car couldn’t be bothered to provide halfway decent photos (these are extremely pixelated). Hopefully, the car fared better during that ownership than the pictures show.

Photo – Mecum

The Graham Series 97 we featured sold for $22,550. More results can be found here.

Bonhams’ Bond Street sale saw the Alfa Romeo we featured fail to sell, though the 550 GTZ Barchetta brought $769,393. The overall top sale was $3,167,224 for this 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Lightweight. Complete results can be found here.

Photo – Bonhams

Into 2020 we go with Mecum’s Kissimmee sale. No surprises here that the top sale was the Bullitt Mustang for $3,740,000. The Duesenberg we featured from this sale sold for $522,500. Not too far behind that was the Dodge Charger Daytona that sold for $346,500. I think we have to award Most Interesting to the 1968 Challenger 2 land-speed record streamliner that sold for $561,000.

Photo – Mecum

The Chrysler Prowler we featured sold for $27,500. The L88 Corvette did not sell. Complete results can be found here.

BH Auction had its first sale of 2020 in January, and the Lotus 88B we featured is still available. The top sale was this 1987 Ferrari F187 that sold for $1,717,578. More results are available here.

Photo – BH Auction

Finally, we have Bonhams in Scottsdale, where the top reported sale was a Ferrari we featured a while back, a 1951 212 Inter Cabriolet for $1,930,000. Leading the way among our feature cars was the 1901 Winton at $142,800. This 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider America brought $810,000 and is awarded Most Interesting, mostly because it’s beautiful in this color.

Photo – Bonhams

The other Winton brought $140,000, and the Boyer and a previously-featured Kurtis failed to sell. More results from this sale can be viewed here.

November 2019 Auction Highlights

We’re starting in November with Silverstone Auctions’ NEC Classic Show sale. This multi-day sale saw this 1965 Aston Martin DB5 bring the biggest bids. It sold for $799,889.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The Range Rover limo we featured sold for $42,903. Full results can be found here.

Onward to Osenat, where this 1975 Ferrari Dino 246 GT sold for $264,580. The Ballot sedan we featured brought a strong $79,374. Click here for more results.

Photo – Osenat

At Historics’ November sale, an AC Buckland we featured a few years back found a new home for $55,555. The overall top sale was $309,959 for this 1971 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman. More results are available here.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Next up is Brightwells’ Leominster Classic & Vintage sale. The top sale here was an interesting one. It’s a 2011 Morgan Plus Four SuperSports factory race car and the factory transporter, which is a late-80s/early-90s Ford-based RV. Oh, and the trailer. The whole package cost someone $69,861.

Photo – Brightwells

The TVR we featured didn’t sell, but the other five cars did, led by the Bedford pickup for $13,018. Everything else was really cheap, including the $10,848 Scimitar, the $7,232 Commer campervan, the $5,496 Morris pickup, and the $3,037 Rover Scout concept car. The rest of the results can be found here.

Finally, RM Sotheby’s held a sale in Abu Dhabi at the end of November. If you’re imagining a sale chock full of supercars, well, you’re right. In fact, the Pagani Zonda we featured ended up as the top sale at $6,812,500. Not far behind it was Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari F2002 at $6,643,750. The other feature cars that crossed the million-dollar mark were the Zagato Raptor at $1,086,250, the Koenigsegg Agera at $1,356,250, the Ferrari 126 C2 at $2,143,750, and the Ferrari FXX-K at $4,281,250.

We’ll award most interesting to 1999 Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster due to its 1990s poster car-ness. It sold for $169,625.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Other Lambo highlights include the “brand new” Diablo VT 6.0 SE that went for $525,000, as well as the Concept S, which failed to sell. Click here for complete results.

September 2019 Auction Highlights

We start in September with Worldwide Auctioneers’ Auburn sales results, which somehow were posted before their Pacific Grove sale. We’ll get to those later. But to start, the top seller here was a 1948 Tucker for $990,000.

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

The Epperly-Offy we featured sold for $385,000, and the Surlesmobile went for $30,800. The Gray-Dort was a steal at $6,600, and, not surprisingly, the 1904 Carter brought only $1,925. Full results can be found here.

Across town (or on the other side of the highway), was RM’s Auburn Fall sale. The top seller here was this 2005 Ford GT for $302,500.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Duesenberg concept car failed to sell, but the Harroun brought $33,000, the Auto Union $23,650, and a previously-featured Kissel $49,500. Click here for all of the results.

Next up, Brightwells Leominster Classic & Vintage sale. The Bristol 412 we featured sold for $17,258. The top sale was $259,565 paid for this 1960 Aston Martin DB4 project. More results can be found here.

Photo – Brightwells

Following up on Worldwide’s Pacific Grove sale, the Riker electric car and the Simplex failed to sell. The Stevens-Duryea brought $115,500. The top sale was a 1958 Porsche 356 1600 Speedster for $264,000, but they’ve taken the photos off of their website. 🙁

You can still read through the results here.

Finally, Bonhams at Beaulieu, where a previously-featured Trumbull cyclecar failed to sell for a second time. The top sale was this 1929 Bugatti Type 44 Tourer by Harrington. It brought $365,225.

Photo – Bonhams

Our other two feature cars both sold. The Miniature Velox brought $64,451, and the Healey Tickford sold for $21,483. Click here for complete results.

DB5 Shooting Brake

1965 Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake by Radford

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 15, 2019

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

There have been a few Aston Martin wagonserr, “shooting brakes” – over the years. They officially started with the DB5. The story is that company owner David Brown was annoyed that his hunting dog was destroying the front seats in his normal DB5, and he had nowhere to put his polo gear. I should’ve warned you that it was a very pretentious story.

The Shooting Brake versions of the DB5 share the same 282 horsepower, 4.0-liter inline-six as the coupes. But it has that extra bodywork and glass at the rear, courtesy of Radford, a British coachbuilder hired by Brown to build the bodies, as the Aston factory didn’t have the capacity to fill the special orders for these cars.

Only 12 examples of the DB5 Shooting Brake were built by the “factory” (i.e. by Radford). One for Brown, and 11 others for customers who saw Brown’s car and wanted their own. They are very hard to find today, and this example has been with three Swiss owners since new. It should bring between $1,000,000-$1,400,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $1,765,000.