Tag Archives: auctions america

Early August 2013 Auction Highlights

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August is a very busy month for classic cars – just in the Monterey area alone there are five major auctions. So we’ll cover early August as its own thing. First up, Auctions America’s huge and awesome sale in Burbank, California. Top sale was this 1964 Shelby Cobra 289 Roadster for $825,000.

1964 Shelby Cobra 289 Roadster

Our first feature car was the 1951 Glasspar and it brought $52,800. The other car we featured from this sale was an Edwards America roadster which sold for $66,000. Interesting cars was this auction’s bright spot. I’ll just go through them as I come to them… First, how about a 1976 Manta Mirage for $22,000?

1976 Manta Mirage

Then there’s this 1950 Pearson-Kurtis Front-Wheel-Drive Indy 500 car that was never actually raced. It’s got an Offy under the hood and is in barn-find condition – and it still managed $192,500.

1950 Pearson-Kurtis FWD

A rare 1967 Ghia 450SS Convertible sold at this sale. These cars are awesome. This one brought $129,250.

1967 Ghia 450SS Convertible

This 1953 Bohman Special Roadster was built by the son of the “Bohman” in “Bohman & Schwartz” – the celebrated coachbuilder. It was built for the movie “Johnny Dark” starring Tony Curtis. It sold for $104,500.

1953 Bohman Special Roadster

The award for “The Car I Would’ve Bought Had I Been There” goes to this 1924 Dodge Four-Door Sedan for only $5,500!

1924 Dodge Four-Door Sedan

For something a little rarer, this 1939 Steyr 220 Cabriolet should fit the bill. And the bill was $60,500.

1939 Steyr 220 Cabriolet

Check out this super rare 1993 Ford Mustang Cobra R (one of 107 built) with only 600 original miles. The price reflects it: $46,750 (which has to be some kind of record for a Fox body Mustang).

1993 Ford Mustang Cobra R

This I love. The sale was in Burbank – home of movie studios and Hollywood and all that. Well how about this extravagant golf cart? It was used in the Jim Carrey movie “The Grinch.” This car thing is straight out of Whoville. And it sold for $38,500. (It’s referred to in the catalog as a 2000 Cinema Vehicle Services Family Sedan). It’d definitely be cool to cruise in around a small town (on the sidewalks of course).

2000 Cinema Vehicle Services Whoville Family Sedan

Taking a 180 car-wise, this 1912 Buick Model 35 Touring was a car I kinda wanted to feature, but couldn’t squeeze it in. It sold for $28,600.

1912 Buick Model 35 Touring

Concept cars always get my attention – even if they aren’t that exciting. This 1988 Pontiac Fiero Concept was a 232 horsepower Fiero Concept that never made it to production. It’s one of one. It sold for $3,520. And I think that’s enough cars. You can check out the rest of the results here.

1988 Pontiac Fiero Concept

The other early-August auction was Silverstone’s semi-small (at least in comparison to the one above) CarFest North sale. The top sale was this 1973 Jaguar E-Type Series III Roadster which brought $111,600.

1973 Jaguar E-Type Series III Roadster

Check out complete results for that sale here.

Edwards America

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1954 Edwards America Coupe

Offered by Auctions America | Burbank, California | August 1-3, 2013

1954 Edwards America Coupe

Like many before him and many after, Sterling Edwards made a lot of money in industry but loved cars and wanted to build the perfect one. Well, very few have actually succeeded doing that (Ferruccio Lamborghini is about the only one who comes to mind. Horacio Pagani, I guess, too) and many have lost more money than they’ve made.

Anyway, he built a car called the R-26, which was a race car originally and a road car later. It was not a sales success. His second try was the Edwards America. He took a Mercury chassis and hung a lightweight, attractive, Italian-looking fiberglass body on it and stuffed a V-8 under the hood. This car has a 5.2-liter V-8, making 205 horsepower.

Unfortunately, Edwards’ timing was off and he couldn’t compete with the Corvette or the Thunderbird (much less both). Only six Americas were built and this is believed to be car #2. It has known ownership history and was repaired from a fire many years ago. It shows some signs of age, but it’s super rare and should be worth about $100,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Auctions America’s lineup in Burbank, California.

Update: Sold $66,000.

Glasspar G2

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1951 Glasspar G2 Roadster

Offered by Auctions America | Burbank, California | August 1-3, 2013

1951 Glasspar G2

1950s low-production fiberglass sports cars are a really interesting sector of collector cars. There were quite a few of these little cars that came out in the early 50s and the Glasspar G2 is one of the more well-known.

Bill Tritt founded Glasspar in 1949 as a fiberglass manufacturer. He built boats and in 1949 he built a sporty body for a friend’s hot rod. Two years later, the Glasspar G2 made its debut. It was available as a coupe or roadster and as a kit or as a complete car. Very few complete cars were sold – most of them were kits. And you see roadsters now and then but rarely ever see a coupe.

The G2 was the first all-fiberglass production car to come to market. It’s an attractive car, really. The rear-3/4 view is a bit Jaguar XK120-ish. The engines available at the time were Ford or Mercury flathead V-8s. This one has a Mercury unit – a 3.7-liter V-8 with Offenhauser aluminium heads. The G2 was made through 1953. This is about a $35,000-$45,000 car. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Auctions America’s Burbank lineup.

Update: Sold $52,800.

Duesenberg J-562

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1935 Duesenberg Model J Dual-Cowl Phaeton

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | August 29-September 1, 2013

1935 Duesenberg Model J-562 Dual-Cowl Phaeton

This is an actual Model J Duesenberg but it’s had some work done to it. When new, it was delivered to the Vice-President of the Cord Corporation with a LaGrande Dual-Cowl Phaeton body that looked exactly like the one you see here.

Apparently he used the car for some time before putting a Willoughby Berline body on the car and selling it as a new car (nothing like being the head of an automaker and more or less just making up a car’s “newness” factor because it’s convenient to you). Anyway, it sold and the chassis/engine numbers are both near the very end of Model J production – almost as high as you can go as 1937 was the final year for Duesenberg.

Some time later, the car was re-fitted with the body you see here. It’s an exacting re-creation of the original LaGrande Dual-Cowl Phaeton. It is not original but plays the part very well. It has also had a supercharger added to it to bring the 6.9-liter straight-eight up to “SJ” specification and 320 horsepower. It is not a factory SJ car.

This is a very desirable body style, even though it is not original. But it should still bring a very nice price (in the $600,000-$1,000,000 range). Click here for more info and here for more from Auctions America’s Auburn Fall sale.

Update: Sold $858,000.

Update II: Not sold, Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2015, high bid of $700,000.

Update III: Sold, RM Sotheby’s Motor City 2015, $852,500.

May 2013 Auction Highlights, Part I

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There were a number of big-time auctions in May – led off by Auctions America’s Auburn Spring sale. We’ll start with interesting cars, which was topped by this 1983 Lincoln Quicksilver Concept by Ghia. It has a Ford V6 and is a running car and sold for only $9,570.

1983 Lincoln Quicksilver Concept by Ghia photo 1983LincolnQuicksilverbyGhia_zps76785824.jpg

Our featured Hudson Commodore 8 Convertible sold for $51,700. Top sale went to this 1930 Packard Super Eight Model 745 Dual-Cowl Phaeton fro $198,000. Check out full results here.

1930 Packard Super Eight Model 745 Dual-Cowl Phaeton photo 1930PackardSuperEightModel745Dual-CowlPhaeton_zps42b4ff3a.jpg

Next up is Bonhams’ annual Aston Martin sale. The top sale (by far) was our featured DB4GT Bertone “Jet” which sold for $4,897,334. Our other featured car, the DB7 V12 Prototype sold for $34,663. One car whose price really caught my attention was this 2000 SWB Vantage Volante Special Edition which brought $609,924. These things were always expensive and I never really understood why. There were a number of really high-dollar cars and an apparent 100% sell-through rate. Check out complete results here.

2000 Aston Martin SWB Vantage Volante Special Edition photo 2000AstonMartinSWBVantageVolanteSpecialEdition_zps03c9cde3.jpg

Next up (and I’ve just decided to split May’s auction highlights into two posts) was Mecum’s Indianapolis Spring sale. The top sale was our featured Shelby GT500 Super Snake for $1,300,000. This sale had some odd results – including $107,500 for a Buick GNX and $1,000,000 for one of the handful of Shelby GT500 replicas used in the Nicolas Cage version of Gone in 60 Seconds. 

The next (third) highest sale was for this multi-award winning Corvette. It’s a ’67 427/400 Corvette Convertible and, judging by the price, is one of the nicest Corvettes in existence. It’s a black and blue car (Tuxedo Black with Blue interior), which is exceedingly rare. The price? $610,000.

1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/400 Convertible photo 1967ChevroletCorvette427-400Convertible_zpse66953d7.jpg

Another cool Corvette was this 1991 Callaway Convertible. It has a 400 horsepower engine and a 1990s-teen-bedroom-poster-worthy bodykit. It sold for $135,000.

1991 Chevrolet Corvette Callaway photo 1991ChevroletCorvetteCallaway_zps8f1913b2.jpg

Dana Mecum must have sold his soul to the devil, because he has become the king of getting limited-production muscle cars to his auctions. Like a ridiculous amount of rare cars. That, and there seem to be more Mopars at Mecum auctions than there were built in the late 60s and early 70s. For example, this 1966 Dodge D-Dart Lightweight. It is one of 50 built (and one of two at this sale!). It sold for $26,000.

1966 Dodge D-Dart Lightweight photo 1966DodgeD-DartLightweight_zps9500d45c.jpg

And going back a little farther, we find this 1941 Plymouth PT125 Pickup that sold for $14,500.

1941 Plymouth PT125 photo 1941PlymouthPT125_zps2bab4e44.jpg

Of our other feature cars, the Torino King Cobra and Camaro ZL1 both failed to sell. The L72 Chevy Biscayne with just 720 original miles sold for what has to be a model record of $165,000. Check out full results – including more rare muscle cars – here.

The final part of our “Part I” post for may takes us through Silverstone’s International Trophy Sale. Our featured Maserati Merak with custom coachwork by Saurer sold for $69,000. Top sale here went to this 1964 Ferrari 330GT for $134,900. Check out complete results here.

1964 Ferrari 330GT photo 1964Ferrari330GT_zps1203f6aa.jpg

April 2013 Auction Round-Up

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We’ll start with Mecum’s Houston sale which included our featured, all-original Mercury Voyager wagon, which failed to sell. Our featured pair of NASCAR-themed Mercury Cyclone Spoiler IIs both sold – the Yarborough Special bringing $26,000, while the Gurney special only brought $22,000. Top sale went to this 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 Fastback for $220,000.

1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 Fastback photo 1970FordMustangBoss429Fastback_zps5e9a2272.jpg

And from the “anything can show up at one of these sales” file, this 1972 Toyota Corona Mark II Wagon, which sold for $8,500. For full results, click here.

1972 Toyota Corona Mark II Wagon photo 1972ToyotaCoronaMarkIIWagon_zpsa6099b8d.jpg

On to Barrett-Jackson’s annual Palm Beach sale. Our featured Opel GT sold for $6,050. I was right on with my “how to buy a foreign sports coupe on the cheap” comment. Our featured Dodge D-100 Sweptside pickup brought $73,700. The top (real) sale was this 1968 Shelby GT500 Convertible for $330,000. (I say “real” because cars sold for charity always bring inflated results. There are no brand-new Corvette convertibles worth $1 million. Not even serial #001. Rich people pay big money for these cars to get a tax write off… I mean “to donate to a good cause”).

1968 Shelby GT500 Convertible photo 1968ShelbyGT500Convertible_zps67206b45.jpg

If I had to pick an “interesting sale” I would go with this gorgeous 1956 DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman that sold for $40,150 – which is a good price for a car that looks this good. Check out complete results here.

1956 DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman photo 1956DeSotoFirefliteSportsman_zpse7f0f12b.jpg

Next up was H&H’s sale at the Imperial War Museum in England. Top sale went to this 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing for $1,021,000.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL photo 1955Mercedes-Benz300SL_zps44f99fcd.jpg

Our featured Jaguar XJ220 Prototype failed to sell. “Interesting results” honors are split between two cars. First this 1969 Mazda Luce R130 Coupe sold for $25,500.

1969 Mazda Luce R130 Coupe photo 1969MazdaLuceR130Coupe_zpsd53e65b9.jpg

And finally, this 1989 Eltrans Mini-El sold for $2,200. Check out full results here.

1989 Eltrans Mini-El photo 1989EltransMini-El_zpsca2f5df3.jpg

Next up is Mecum’s Kansas City sale. Our featured Mitsubishi 3000GT Convertible conversion sold for $14,500. Interesting sales were led by this affordable and attractive 1969 Mercury Cyclone Fastback for $12,250.

1969 Mercury Cyclone Fastback photo 1969MercuryCycloneFastback_zps5135ffa8.jpg

Top sale went to this 1936 Ahrens-Fox BT Fire Truck. Early Ahrens-Fox fire engines are some of the most collectible fire trucks out there. This one sold for $125,000 (yes, I realize the photo shows it crossing the block for $135,000). Check out full results here.

1936 Ahrens-Fox BT Fire Truck photo 1936Ahrens-FoxBTFireTruck_zps65010ff9.jpg

Next up is the Don Davis Collection, which was offered at no reserve by RM Auctions on April 27. The top sale went to this 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS for $1,936,000. Pictured below that was a million-dollar car (just barely): a 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 which brought $1,001,000.

1967 Ferrari 330 GTS photo ScreenHunter_04_zpsea32638e.jpg

1965 Shelby Cobra 289 photo ScreenHunter_05_zpsf4ab5723.jpg

Our featured Toyota 2000GT brought an eye-popping $1,155,000 – surely a world record for a Japanese car at auction. Anther feature car, the Porsche 356 by Drauz, sold for $137,500. This 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing sold for $1,237,500.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL photo 1955Mercedes-Benz300SL_zps9f2627c4.jpg

Other feature cars that sold included a pair of Chryslers. First, the Newport Dual-Cowl Indy 500 Pace Car sold for $880,000. Then the GS-1 Special by Ghia brought $616,000. This 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spider sold for $1,650,000.

1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spider photo 1973Ferrari365GTB4DaytonaSpider_zps73f93d7f.jpg

Our final two feature cars are the F-Code Ford Thunderbird which sold for $198,000. And the BMW M1 went for $ 242,000. Check out complete results here.

Now we move on to Auctions America’s 2013 Spring Carlisle sale. The top sale (by a recent margin) went to this 1959 Chevrolet Corvette Big Brake Fuelie for $148,500.

1959 Chevrolet Corvette Big Brake Fuelie photo 1959ChevroletCorvetteBigBrakeFuelie_zpsa16ae50f.jpg

Finally, Bonhams sale at the RAF Museum in Hendon, U.K. The top sale there was a 1955 Jaguar XK140 Drophead Coupe for $194,500.

1955 Jaguar XK140 Drophead Coupe photo 1955JaguarXK140DropheadCoupe_zps0da2f79b.jpg

The most interesting car at this sale was this 1917 Fiat 15/20hp Tipo 2B Wagonette. I love the dually rear wheels. It sold for $34,000. Our featured AC Royal brought $26,900. Click here for full results.

1917 Fiat 15/20hp Tipo 2B Wagonette photo 1917Fiat15-20hpTipo2BWagonette_zps84cbc668.jpg

Hudson Commodore 8 Convertible

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1950 Hudson Commodore 8 Convertible Brougham

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | May 9-11, 2013

1950 Hudson Commodore 8 Convertible Brougham

There is a fabulous collection of Hudsons at this year’s Auburn Spring Sale from Auctions America. There are two 1950 Commodore 8 Convertibles, and while the other one is in nicer, brand-new condition, I think the color combo on this one is more attractive. Plus the photos are better.

The third generation of the Hudson Commodore was introduced for the 1948 model year. This generation is one of my favorite American car designs of all time. Their final year was 1952. Engine options were a straight-six or a straight-eight, as found in this car. It is 4.2-liters and makes 128 horsepower.

The convertible was a nice style – as all two-door Commodores are super-sporty looking, sharing styling cues from the Hornet, which had been honing its skills on the NASCAR circuit. This is an all-original car with 71,000 miles and three-on-the-tree. The fender skirts are what sets it apart – to me at least. And the wire wheels are off a Chrysler (and I’m not sure why). This is a $30,000-$45,000 car. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $51,700.

Ron Fellows Edition Z06

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2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Ron Fellows Special Edition

Offered by Auctions America | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | March 22-24, 2013

2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Ron Fellows Special Edition

The C6 Corvette just went out of production and along the way there were a number of special editions and different models. This particular one celebrates the career of Canadian race car driver Ron Fellows.

Fellows joined the Pratt & Miller Corvette race team at its inception in 1998/9. He won the 24 Hours of Daytona in a C5-R in 2001. He has two class victories and seven podiums in C5-Rs and C6.Rs at the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 2000 and 2008. He was the most solid, reliable, and winning Corvette team driver of all time. He was also (perhaps never officially), the team leader. In 2007, he stepped into a supporting role at team Corvette, retiring for good in 2009. He still competes in the occasional NASCAR road-course race.

So Chevrolet honored his loyalty and passion with a limited-edition run of 399 Corvette Z06s. All came in Arctic White with a red fender stripe and Fellows’ autograph. This one, car #399 of 399, is actually signed by Ron inside. It uses the same 505 horsepower 7.0-liter V-8 as every other Z06. This one has less than 150 miles on it. It’s a $60,000-$75,000 car. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Auctions America’s Ft. Lauderdale auction lineup.

Update: Sold $52,800.

Panther DeVille

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1977 Panther DeVille

Offered by Auctions America | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | March 22-24, 2013

1977 Panther DeVille

Panther Westwinds build some outrageous cars in their history. This neo-classic is actually pretty tame compared to some of their cars (it only has four wheels, is what I mean). When it was introduced in 1974, there were already a few neo-classics on the market, but so many more were yet to come.

The body was meant to evoke the Bugatti Royale. The engines were Jaguar-sourced – either a straight six or an optional V-12. The original owner of this car opted for the latter and it made about 282 horsepower. The car was named De Ville and, as you would expect from a car that looks like this and has that name, one was used (not this one) in the 1996 live-action version of 101 Dalmatians (the one with Glenn Close playing Cruella De Vil). I think that one was a coupe or convertible – I haven’t seen the movie in a while.

Only 60 DeVilles were built in total, with the sedan being the most popular bodystyle with 48 built. This one is original with original paint. It has new tires and has had mechanical freshening and is ready to go. I’ll call it a $35,000-$45,000 car. Click here for more and here for more from Auctions America.

Update: Did not sell.

Toyota’s Ultimate Supercar

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2012 Lexus LFA

Offered by Auctions America | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | March 22-24, 2013

2012 Lexus LFA

Toyota hasn’t built an exciting car in quite a while. The Supra stopped production in 2002 but stopped exporting in 1998. Since then it’s been big and bland for Toyota in the United States. Lexus wasn’t exactly setting race tracks on fire either, although the original IS caught a lot of sporting-esque people’s attention (but it wasn’t a sports car, just cool-looking).

Then in 2009 (at the height of new Nissan GT-R-mania), Toyota announces this insane car that they were going to build. Will it be the next Supra? Nope – it’s going to be a Lexus – and a $400,000 one at that.

Needless to say, this was rather shocking. Lexus began taking deposits and chose their customers (instead of the other way around) – as only 500 cars were going to be built (and were: production started in December of 2010 and ran through December of 2012). They were all built-to-suit. Strangely, these cars were sold through a two year lease program – that is, Lexus had first rights to buy the car back should the owner choose to sell it. I guess they didn’t want this one, as it’s about to be auctioned off.

With a base price of $375,000 (for the base model, which this is), Lexus only sent 150 LFAs to North America. The car uses a 4.8-liter V-10 making 552 horsepower. It sounds like an F1 car (no doubt, something Toyota learned from their V-10 F1 experience). The car is packed full of technology and drives and handles like a dream. It really is an astounding car.

It is a purpose-built supercar – the purpose here being one of the following: to show Toyota can be fun and build something awesome; for Toyota to show their shareholders that F1 was a semi-worthy investment; to better the GT-R (debatable); to make as many people as possible go “Whaaat?” (accomplished). With only 150 reaching these shores, they’re certainly rare and already out of production. As the two-year lease program has yet to expire, this is a rare, early opportunity to acquire one. This one has 400 miles on it and is essentially brand new. $350,000-$400,000 is reasonable. Click here for more and here for more from Auctions America.

Update: Sold $319,000.