February 2017 Auction Highlights

We pick up where we left off with the last post in Retromobile. We’ll start with Bonhams and a few no-sales: the MV Agusta pickup, Talbot-Lago, Stratos rally car, and Giannini. The top sale was this 1935 Aston Martin Ulster for $2,151,765.

Photo – Bonhams

Other big dollar cars included the Bugatti Brescia for $541,015 and the Maybach for $719,304. On the other end of the scale are the CAP-Fiat Scoiattolo that went for just $9,836 and the APAL Horizon for $31,969. The Tracta sold for $63,938. And the nearly 125-year-old Benz Victoria sold for a price that seems just too low for something this old: $30,739. Click here to view more results from Bonhams.

Artcurial held the “official” Retromobile sale and the Dino Prototype was the top seller at $4,653,824. The Ferrari 166 was second at $3,138,024. Most Interesting goes to this 1908 De Dion-Bouton Bi 15/18HP Double Phaeton that sold for $82,093.

Photo – Artcurial

Of the five Delahayes we featured, only the cheapest (the 135 by Dubos) ended up selling and it went for $126,297. The sell through rate overall was a little rough at this sale, but the Breguet Electric did manage to bring $44,204. Click here to see the rest of the cars that sold.

The Finest had a sale held during the Boca Raton Concours, and while we didn’t get to feature anything, this 2011 Porsche 911 Speedster was the top seller at $246,750. Click here for all of their results.

Photo – The Finest

Mecum’s Los Angeles sale was held in February and, surprise, surprise – a Ford GT was the top sale. This was a 2006 model that brought $305,000.

Photo – Mecum

The Nissan Pao we featured sold for $12,500. Click here for complete results.

Finally, Silverstone Auctions’ Race Retro Competition Car Sale, which was the first part of a doubleheader they have in February. The top sale (at the time of posting, there were a few cars yet to be listed) was this 1961 Emeryson-Climax Formula 1 car that sold for $217,277.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The Ginetta we featured failed to sell. Final results can be found here.

January 2017 Auction Highlights

We have a leftover from 2016 to start with, that being Bonhams’ December Sale. The top seller was this 1967 Aston Martin DB6 that brought $454,529.

Photo – Bonhams

A pair of our feature cars failed to sell: the Lola and the Stanley. The Métallurgique exceeded its estimate, bringing $46,475. The Delahaye went for $78,276 and the Daimler $72,618. Click here for complete results.

Moving into 2017, we start with Mecum in Kissimmee. The top sale was this 1969 Maserati Ghibli Spyder for $920,000.

Photo – Mecum

Now on to our feature cars, of which there were many. Of the three Mustang SVT Cobra Rs, only the 1995 sold, bringing $35,000. The other two did not. The Impala Z11 also failed to meet its reserve.

Previously-featured cars that also failed to sell here include this Packard and the Hupp Comet. Of the five Max Wedge Mopars, the ’63 330 brought $70,000 and the Belvedere $140,000. The ’64 440 failed to sell at that same price. The Polara 500 and Dart 330 will both remain a mystery as to what happened because they’ve yet to be updated, even though every other lot was. Full results can be found here.

Moving into the week of sales in Arizona, we have RM Sotheby’s where the Ferrari 365 GTS we featured sold for $3,602,500. It was only outsold by the top seller, the 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster by Sindelfingen for $6,600,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The brand new Isotta Fraschini sold for $434,500 and the Cord L-29 $236,500. Click here for all of the results.

Now we’ll move on to the big daddy of Scottsdale auctions, Barrett-Jackson. We featured quite a number of cars, but not the top-seller, which was this 1964 Aston Martin DB5 for $1,485,000.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

The Ghia Streamliner we featured at the last second failed to sell, but everything else did. Big dollar cars included the Chevrolet CERV-I (that we had previously featured) that sold for $1,320,000. Another previously featured car was the Ford EX Concept that brought $110,000 here. Steven Tyler’s Hennessey Venom GT went for charity at $800,000.

The Duesenberg from this sale sold for $880,000 and the Callaway brought $115,500. The Falcon F7 supercar went for $148,500, the Pontiac Kammback Concept brought $44,000, and the pair of Goggomobils sold for $12,100 each. Click here for complete results.

The last auction for this post is Gooding & Company’s Arizona results. The top price paid was $3,300,000 for this wonderful 1925 Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix. Look at it – what a car.

Photo – Gooding & Company

The top selling of our feature cars was the Ferrari Superfast for $2,915,000. The AMC AMX/3 was pretty far behind, but still brought strong money at $891,000. The outlandish Tempo Matador sold for $132,000 and the Fiat 1100 failed to meet its reserve. Find complete results here.

December 2016 Auction Highlights

First up in December is one of two Bonhams sales, this one is the Bond Street Sale where we featured two Zagato-bodied Aston Martins. The DB7 Zagato brought $390,262 but the V12 failed to sell. Bonhams published most of their results, but they appear to have skipped the top two sellers. The highest dollar price currently reported was $821,000 for this 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante “Prince of Wales”. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Bonhams

Mecum’s Kansas City sale was this month and the #1 sale was $130,000 for this 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/400 Coupe.

Photo – Mecum

The Phillips Berlina neo-classic we featured went for a reasonable $17,500. Click here for all results.

Remember those earthquakes in Italy over the past few months? Well the head of Fiat decided that Ferrari would build one more LaFerrari and then auction it off for charity to benefit the victims of those earthquakes. RM Sotheby’s sold the car in Daytona Beach this month and it brought $7,000,000.

The top sale at H&H Classics’ Chateau Impney sale was this 2012 Ferrari F430 Spider that brought $179,669.

Photo – H&H Classics

A previously-featured Phebus failed to sell and the Bristol 407 brought $38,047. Click here for complete results.

And finally, Brightwells’ Modern Classic Cars sale. We didn’t get to feature anything from it, but this 2007 Bentley Continental GT was the top sale at $35,529, which seems like a remarkably good deal. Click here for the rest of the results.

Photo – Brightwells

DB7 Zagato

2003 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Zagato

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 4, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

While the Aston Martin DB7 may be one of the most beautiful cars ever put into production, that doesn’t stop people from trying to improve upon it. Enter Aston Martin collaborators, Zagato. They hadn’t touched an Aston since the 1960s and they chose the DB7 as their next canvas.

The first thing they did was shorten the chassis. Then Zagato crafted a muscular and sporty body to wrap around it – including a double-bubble roof, Zagato’s signature styling touch. Power from the 6.0-liter V-12 was increased to 440 horsepower. Top speed is 186 mph, although this example probably never got there as it’s covered less than 600 miles since new.

Only 99 of these coupes were produced between 2002 and 2003. This one was sold to Latvia and is now up for sale. These tend to come up for sale less than the DB AR1, Zagato’s equally rare followup Aston. This car is expected to bring between $300,000-$350,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Sold $390,262.

V12 Zagato

2013 Aston Martin V12 Zagato

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 4, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Aston Martin decided to celebrate their 50th anniversary of working with famed Italian coachbuilder Zagato by building a limited run of very exclusive cars. The first collaboration 50 years ago was the legendary DB4 GT Zagato. This new car, the V12 Zagato which entered production in 2012, is based on the V12 Vantage that Aston Martin has been building since 2009.

Like the car it is based on, the V12 Zagato is powered by a 6.0-liter V-12 making 510 horsepower. Top speed is 190 mph and 60 arrives in about four seconds. The original intent was to limit production to 150 examples and the weird thing about it is that Aston wanted to take this super limited edition car to the race track. And they did, building two GT3 versions, both of which finished in the top ten at the 2011 24 Hours of the Nurburgring.

But the run of 150 was never meant to be. Only 61 of these were ever built, making them even more instantly collectible than they would’ve been had the run continued longer than the two model years for which they were actually constructed. This is a low mileage, one-owner car from Latvia and should bring between $620,000-$740,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

October 2016 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

First up, H&H Classics at the Imperial War Museum where the oddball Pulse GCRV sold for $23,192. The top seller was this 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 in beautiful “California Sage” for $234,655. The Milwaukee Steam car and Phebus Forecar both failed to sell. Check out complete results here.

Photo - H&H Classics

Photo – H&H Classics

Next up, Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas where our featured Milburn Electric sold for $33,000 and the Buick Town Car $42,900. Top sale honors go to this 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 Fastback at $357,500. Click here for all of the Barrett-Jackson results.

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Let’s jump back in time just a bit to Coys’ Schloss Dyck sale, whose results were just posted. The Mercedes-Benz Kombi we featured sold for about $71,000 and the top sale award goes to this 2006 Porsche Carrera GT that sold for about $758,000. Click here for complete results.

Photo - Coys

Photo – Coys

Artcurial’s October sale saw our featured Facel Vega go unsold. This 1964 Aston Martin DB5 was the top seller, bringing $738,000.

Photo - Artcurial

Photo – Artcurial

A previously-featured Alpine Le Mans racer sold here for $408,575. The rest of the results can be found here.

One of our favorite sales of the year occurred the first weekend of November: Bonhams’ London-to-Brighton sale. Of the few cars on offer, we featured a fair amount of them, sometimes, in the case of this no-sale Raynaud, previously. The top sale was the Renault we showcased, which sold for $340,429. The similar-looking Aster went for $263,484. Most Interesting goes to this 1903 Renault Type N-C 10HP Two-Cylinder Wagonette for $155,762.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Daimler we featured brought $295,661 and the steam-powered Hart $76,020. The Decauville sold for $186,540 while the Humber tricycle brought $45,966. Click here for complete results.

September 2016 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

First up: Bonhams, and their Goodwood Revival sale. The only one of our feature cars that sold was the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica that went for $785,031. The top sale was this 1956 Porsche 550/1500 RS Spyder that went for $5,976,862.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

That leaves the Daimler Dart, Renwick & Bertelli, and Aston-Butterworth all as no-sales. Click here for all of the results.

Another quick one from Bonhams, the sale of the Robert White Collection. We didn’t feature anything, but of the handful of cars (and larger selection of motorcycles), the top seller was this 1930 Bentley 4½-Litre Tourer for $409,994. Click here for full results.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

On to Brightwells’ September sale. The one and only Murad Sedan that we featured brought $1,557 – quite a price for a one-off automobile. The top sale was this 1978 Aston Martin V8 Series 3 that brought $97,367. Click here for complete results.

Photo - Brightwells

Photo – Brightwells

The Finest had a sale in Aspen, Colorado, and this 2009 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series was the top sale, selling for $220,000. Click here for all of their results.

Photo - The Finest

Photo – The Finest

How about one more from Bonhams? This one is the always-interesting Preserving the Automobile Sale held in Philadelphia. The Willys we featured beat its estimate, selling for $45,100. The Locomobile we featured failed to sell, but the top seller was a different, much rougher (although original) car from the same brand: it’s a 1901 Locomobile Style 5 that brought $121,000 after 80 years of ownership by the same people.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Galloway truck we featured sold for $26,400. Click here for complete results.

September 2016 Auction Highlights

First up, Bonhams’ Chantilly Sale. There was a collection of Horch motorcars offered here and we were able to feature two of them. The streamlined coupe was withdrawn from the sale but the 780 B Cabriolet brought $712,701. The top overall seller was this 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster for $5,960,772. Click here for all of the results.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Hopping across the English Channel to London, we have RM Sotheby’s and the big money they drew for this 1960 Aston Martin DB4GT that went for $3,226,720.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

A previously-featured Vallee sold here for $114,061. Our two feature cars both sold, with the Morgan bringing $172,592 and the Monteverdi $210,112. Full results can be found here.

Onward, and back to America, for Auctions America and their fall Auburn sale. The top two sales were both feature cars – and both Duesenbergs. The Franay Sunroof Model J sold for $715,000 and the Murphy Convertible Sedan went for $880,000. We’ll give our Interesting Sale award to this 1930 Buick Series 60 Sport Roadster that sold for $69,850.

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

The Dart Highwheeler we featured sold for $14,300 and you can see all of the other sales (and cars still available) here.

Mecum’s inaugural Louisville sale ended on September 10th and, while we didn’t feature anything from this sale, the top seller was this 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 Convertible for $280,000. Check out full results here.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

And the last auction for this rundown is Artcurial’s dispersion of the Normandy Tank Museum in France. We featured an M4 Sherman that sold for $330,540 but the top sale was a different M4 Sherman (technically, a 1944 Chrysler M4A4 Sherman) for $387,242. Click here for more WWII relics.

Photo - Artcurial

Photo – Artcurial

June 2016 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

Back for more from June, but first Coys’ Techno Classica sale. The Grosser Werkmeister failed to sell, but this 1968 Ferrari 330 GTC was the top sale at $801,500.

Photo - Coys

Photo – Coys

Our other three feature cars from this sale all sold, with the Ghia 1500GT bringing the most at $71,900. The Citroen Mehari sold for $26,250 and the GAZ Chaika $18,380. Check out full results here.

Osenat held a sale in June and we featured two interesting cars. The Unic failed to sell, but the Amilcar Compound exceeded its estimate (just barely), selling for $18,725. The top sale was this beautiful 1939 Delahaye 135M Cabriolet by Chapron for $361,130. Complete results are located here.

Photo - Osenat

Photo – Osenat

Next up we have Brightwells’ Modern Classics sale. While we weren’t able to feature anything from this sale, we can report that the top seller was this 1993 Ferrari 348 Spider for approximately $46,525. The 348 is currently the best value in the Ferrari world. Get ’em while you can. Full results are here.

Photo - Brightwells

Photo – Brightwells

On to Bonhams’ Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale. A previously-featured H.E. Sports sold here for $131,338. The Bugatti Monoposto and McLaren Can-Am both failed to sell. The MG B Prototype sold for $83,762 and the top sale was this 1949 Aston Martin DB Team Car for $901,473.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Other feature car sales included the Lea-Francis Hyper for $210,135 and the HWM Formula 2 for $225,003. Check here for more results.

And finally for this rundown, Barrett-Jackson’s Northeast Sale. Our featured Lamborghini Diablo sold for $236,500. The top seller was this 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Coupe for $624,800. Click here for complete results.

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Aston Martin Vulcan

2016 Aston Martin Vulcan

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 20, 2016

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

We have a rule here: only feature cars that are no longer in production. This is the newest car yet featured and, while we are not completely sure if the limited run of Vulcan cars have all been built, we know for sure that only 24 will be. If Aston isn’t done building them yet, they should be soon. This is car #11.

The Vulcan is one of the most extreme cars ever built. It’s not a race car, but it’s not a road car either (it’s not street legal anywhere). It’s a track car. Like the Ferrari FXX or even the Lotus 2-Eleven – this is a car for [well-heeled] private individuals to take to their local track days. And blow everything else away.

It is powered by a naturally aspirated 7.0-liter V-12 making 820 horsepower. It’s mostly carbon fiber and weighs less than 3,000 pounds. Getting to over 200 mph is easy. It’s simply insane. Price when new (buying from Aston) was $2,300,000. But now that they are spoken for, they will probably start to increase in value. Check out more info here and more from Mecum here.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $1,800,000.

Update: Not sold, Mecum Monterey 2017, high bid of $1,800,000.