Tag Archives: auctions america

Cupelle Open Touring

Posted on by
Reply

1905 Cupelle 8HP Two-Seater Open Touring

Offered by Auctions America | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | March 29, 2015

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

Cupelle is a very rare automobile marque. In the early years of automobile manufacturing, there were companies that specialized in different things. De Dion-Bouton, for example, was a prolific engine builder. And there was another French company, Lacoste et Battmann (of Paris), who built entire cars – for other companies.

Lacoste et Battmann built cars but didn’t want the hassle of marketing them, so they delivered them to other companies who badged, marketed, and sold them. Cupelle was one of those makes. Built by Lacoste et Battmann, this Cupelle uses an eight horsepower single-cylinder engine.

This example was restored in the 1950s and has been in a museum for a while. 1905 was the only year the Cupelle was manufactured, which makes this car mind-blowingly rare. It is thought that it may be the only one in existence. It can be yours for between $30,000-$40,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $45,100.

Westland Aristocrat

Posted on by
Reply

1958 Westland Empire Aristocrat Prototype

Offered by Auctions America | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | March 29, 2015

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

There was a proliferation of fiberglass sports cars that went on sale in the 1950s. While many of them were American, this one is British. It was built by the Westland Motor Company of Hereford, England.

The frame was a  custom-built job, but other parts of the car were lifted from cars of the period. The back of the car looks like a Jag XK120 and the front screams “Bugeye Sprite.”

The engine in this is a 948cc straight-four. The car was found in Vermont in the late 1970s, sitting outside exposed to the weather. In 1981 it was finally put in a garage before a restoration was undertaken in 2003. It’s a mysterious one-off British sports prototype and it should sell for between $60,000-$80,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $34,000.

DFP Coupe

Posted on by
Reply

1909 DFP Coupe

Offered by Auctions America | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | March 29, 2015

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

DFP stands for Doriot, Flandrin and Parant and they started producing cars under the DFP marque in 1908. Between 1906 and early 1908, Doriot-Flandrin was the brand name prior to the Parant Brothers joining the company. DFP remained in business through 1926 when Lafitte took the plant over.

Single-cylinder DFP cars were made until 1910. This car uses a Chapuis-Dornier straight-four engine. There were three four-cylinder engines offered in 1909, 2.0, 2.4, and 2.8-liter. It is not mentioned which engine this car carries.

The body is attractive, simple, and light and was constructed by Darlington Garage Ltd. The car is being offered from the collection of a museum in the Cayman Islands. It is expected to sell for between $40,000-$50,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: mysteriously disappeared from auction catalog.

“Shorty” Mustang

Posted on by
Reply

1964½ Ford Mustang “Shorty” Concept

Offered by Auctions America | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | March 27-29, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

This may be a car you are not familiar with. It looks like a normal 1965 – or, 1964½, my apologies – Mustang that got struck in a trash compactor. Believe it or not, this was actually a Ford factory concept car, its construction having been outsourced to Dearborn Steel Tubing Industries. This car was originally the 10th Mustang Prototype, but designer Vincent Gardner cut 16 inches out of the wheelbase and re-designed the entire body behind the firewall.

Ford had no intentions of ever building a two-seat-only Mustang because a car with four seats has broader appeal than does one with room only for two. But just for the hell of it, Ford decided to have this concept built anyway. After a few shows and magazine covers, Ford decided enough was enough and planned to have the car scrapped.

But Gardner had other plans. He stole the car and hid it in a warehouse… but he failed to continue to pay his rent and the warehouse’s owner found the car and called the cops. When the Mustang went missing, Ford’s insurance paid them for it, fearing it lost. So now the insurance had the car and Ford already had their money. So they sold it to one of their employees who kept it until 1968 when the current owner acquired it.

It was kept hidden away until the past 15 years, when it was restored and shown at various shows. In fact, here’s a video I took of it driving around last summer. The engine is a 4.9-liter V-8 and the body is fiberglass. Obviously, this is the only Mustang quite like this and it should sell for between $400,000-$600,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $511,500.

Here’s video of this actual car:

September 2014 Auction Highlights

Posted on by
Reply

We’ll start with a few leftovers from August. First, Rick Cole Auctions’ Monterey results, where the better-late-than-never top sale went to this $23,000,000 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport. The auction brought some crazy results and you can see them all here.

Photo - Rick Cole Auctions

Photo – Rick Cole Auctions

Moving on, we have Auctions America’s fall Auburn sale, where our featured SJ Duesenberg topped the sales at $1,265,000. The Duesenberg II failed to sell. Most interesting goes to this 1920 Packard 3-Ton Grocer’s Truck for $47,300.

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

Both of our featured concept cars sold, the wild Ford EX for $96,250 and the Explorer Sportsman for $15,675. And the Star Sedan was stolen for $8,250. Check out full results here.

On to Silverstone’s Salon Prive sale where our featured Ferrari Daytona Spyder came out on top at $3,711,510. My pick of the show would be this 1956 Austin-Healey 100M Le Mans Roadster for $243,685. Check out full results here.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Now we move to RM’s London sale where our featured “Tour de France” Ferrari 250 GT was the top sale at $8,119,188. The Bentley Continental GTZ sold for under its estimate at $391,961. Most interesting goes to this 1937 BMW 319 for $233,310.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Our featured 1909 Hotchkiss sold for waaaay below its estimate for only $65,327. And the awesome Jaguar XJR-15 brought $363,964 – outselling an XJ220 offered at this same sale. Check out full results here.

It’s been decided that all auction highlight posts from here forward will only run down five auctions at a time. So Bonhams’ Beaulieu sale will be the final sale for this post. For more auction results, stay tuned!

The top sale here was this 1920 Vauxhall E-Type 30-98 Two-Seater by Grosvenor Carriage Co. for $390,976.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

As far as our feature cars, the Minerva came out on top selling for $66,726. The Unic Taxi brought $44,484 and the Swift Cyclecar $33,826. Interesting cars were easily topped by this 1986 Interstyl Hustler Huntsman 6 for $18,556. Check out full results here, but don’t expect to find anything nearly as weird as this.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Duesenberg J-523

Posted on by
Reply

1936 Duesenberg Model SJ Dual Cowl Phaeton by LaGrande

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | August 30, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

I’ll put this as simply as possible: Duesenbergs don’t get much better than this. Reason #1: this baby is supercharged. Reason #2: this is the best (my favorite) body style you can get. The body, the LaGrande Dual Cowl Phaeton, was an updated version of the LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaeton. The updates were done by none other than legendary designer Gordon Buehrig.

This is a factory-spec Model SJ – so it’s not a Model J that was upgraded years later. That’s pretty exciting. The engine is the standard 6.9-liter straight-eight that’s been supercharged to put out 320 horsepower. This is the original chassis and engine but the body was swapped with another car. Both of these cars simply wear each others bodies to this day.

The present owner bought this in 1978 after the current restoration had been completed. It has recently been serviced to running and driving condition. This is one of four LaGrande Dual Cowl Phaetons attached to a supercharged engine and one of the final of the kind built. It’s an awesome opportunity and should bring in between $1,500,000-$2,000,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of this auctions’ lineup.

Update: Sold $1,265,000.

Update: Sold, RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2023, $3,030,000.

August 2014 Auction Recap

Posted on by
Reply

August was a record-setting month for the classic car industry. The first sale of the month was Auctions America’s California sale where this 1960 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster topped the numbers at $1,155,000.

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

Our featured Chrysler Plainsman sold for an impressive $176,000. You can check out full results here.

We didn’t feature anything from Barrett-Jackson’s Reno sale, and frankly I don’t have the time to sift through their site looking for highlights as the process there is just too clunky. So we’ll move on.

Auctions in August of course means Monterey and Pebble Beach. We’ll start with the star of the weekend: Bonhams and their Ferrari 250 GTO which ended up bringing $38,115,000, an all-time record price for any car at auction. It’s an appropriate price for the car, and not the stratospheric number many predicted. It’s a good sign. We featured a number of cars from Bonhams, including this Kissel Kar, which sold for $140,800. The other Ferrari we featured, the 1978 321 T3 F1 car sold for $2,310,000. And the other F1 car, the Brabham-Cosworth, sold for $1,034,000.

Our featured Porsche 908/03 failed to sell. Our pick for the most interesting non-feature car that sold goes to this 1913 Pope-Hartford Model 31 Portola Roadster for $192,500.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Our other feature cars both sold: the Speedwell brought $869,000 and the 1908 Napier $1,034,000. Check out full results here. Next up, Mecum in Monterey, where this 1961 Ferrari 250 Series II Cabriolet was the top seller for $2,250,000.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

None of our feature cars broke the million dollar mark, although the Kremer-Porsche was close at $930,000. A Duesenberg we featured a long time ago and failed to sell a couple of times before, finally sold here for $1,425,000. The Shelby Turbine car failed to sell, as did the Lester-MG.

Two cars we featured a long time ago that failed to sell also turned up at this sale and failed to sell again. They were the Delage Aerosport and a 1910 Locomobile. The Avia III race car we featured from a dealership was offered here, but it too failed to meet its reserve. The one-off Lazzarrino did sell, for $135,000. Check out full results here.

RM’s Monterey sale was just as impressive as Bonhams. The top seller was the #2 of the weekend, the 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale, at $26,400,000. The Ferrari 250 GT N.A.R.T. Spider brought $1,017,500. The Ferrari F1-2000 sold for $1,804,000. But the Ferrari 333 failed to sell, as did the March-Cosworth. The AAR Eagle-Santa Ana sold for $104,500. What a choppy paragraph.

Cool, non-feature cars were topped by this 1962 Maserati 3500 GT Spyder by Vignale for $764,500. RM also sold the prototype of this model for considerably more, making this seem like a deal.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

The Ford GT40 Roadster Prototype brought $6,930,000 and the Lancia PF200 C sold for $1,100,000. This 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 Paxton Prototype was a car I wanted to feature but didn’t get a chance to. It sold for $572,000.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Our other three feature cars were all much older. The amazing 1926 Rickenbacker sold for $946,000. The Stevens-Duryea went for $302,500 and the 1911 Mercer Raceabout, $2,530,000. Check out full results here.

Next up, Gooding & Company: $15,180,000 took home this top-selling 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider.

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

Our top feature car was the Maserati 250F for $4,620,000 and the Alfa Tipo 256 was right behind it at an even $4,000,000. Our featured Duesenberg and Ferrari 330 GT Speciale both failed to meet their reserves. The AAR-Toyota Eagle GTP brought $1,045,000. Check out full results here.

Last but not least on the Monterey peninsula, Russo & Steele. Our only feature car was the Lola-Mazda from the 80s – it brought $132,000. The top sale was this 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL for $1,320,000. Check out full results here.

Photo - Russo & Steele

Photo – Russo & Steele

Ford Explorer Sportsman

Posted on by
Reply

2001 Ford Explorer Sportsman Concept

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | August 30, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

Looks pretty manly, doesn’t it? I remember concept cars of this era – seeing auto show highlights in AutoWeek or some such publication (the internet still wasn’t my main source for news) and seeing these somewhat outrageous show cars. Many from the late-90s through the early-00s have a similar look about them.

This one is based on a standard Ford Explorer. The Sportsman was designed for fishermen. It comes with fishing rods and the self-deploying running boards offer storage for said rods (really a good idea that I’m surprised we don’t actually see on production cars). The roof rack is removable. There’s actually even a built-in fish tank in the rear. *Fish not included.

The engine is a 4.6-liter V-8 making 240 horsepower and it does run and drive (although you can’t register it, unfortunately). It’s the only one like it ever built and sold four years ago for $49,500. This time around it carries an estimate of $40,000-$60,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $15,675.

1925 Star Sedan

Posted on by
Reply

1925 Star Model F-25 Sedan

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | August 29, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

There have been quite a few car companies going by the name “Star,” but only one was founded by Billy Durant after he left GM. It was an assembled car, built using pieces made by other manufacturers. The Star was the affordable line of Durant Motors, built to compete against the Model T.

Production started in 1922 and the company was phased out in 1928. The four-cylinder model was dubbed “F-25” for 1925 only and it was the last year Star built only four-cylinder cars (a six was introduced alongside it for 1926).

This car has an older restoration, but it is simple and attractive. And usable. I saw a similar car for sale a few years ago for about $8,000 and not buying it remains one of my biggest automotive regrets. This one is nicer and should bring between $20,000-$30,000. Click here for more info and here for more from AA’s Auburn sale.

Update: Sold $8,250.

Duesenberg II

Posted on by
Reply

1983 Duesenberg II Dual Cowl Phaeton

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | August 30, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

Replicas. Some people love them, just as many people loathe them. Shelby Cobra replicas outnumber original Cobras by what has to be at least 100-1. All of E.L. Cord’s highlights from the 1930s were re-produced years later. Auburn Speedsters, Cord 812s, and the legendary Duesenberg Model J.

The Auburns and Cords look similar, but they aren’t convincing as originals. I think what holds them back is that they have modern tires on them. Not so here – these are correct 19-inch wire wheels with whitewalls. And they sell the whole package. Nothing here seems out of the ordinary until you look under the hood where a 7.5-liter Ford V-8 sits.

There have been a couple of attempts to revive Duesenberg, one of America’s most prestigious manufacturers. August Duesenberg’s son attempted it in the 1960s (and the car sort of became the 1970s Stutz Bearcat). There were a few awkward sedans built in the 70s called Duesenbergs. The Duesenberg II was the most successful, produced between 1978 and as late as 2000 by Elite Heritage Motors Corp. of Elroy, Wisconsin. They offered five different bodies that you could’ve gotten back in the 30s – this Dual Cowl Phaeton one of them.

When they were built, prices for these “new Duesenbergs” went up to $225,000. That’s pretty expensive for a replica. But these cars have modern conveniences and look absolutely stunning and authentic. Very few people can afford a real Model J, but you can get the same feeling for a lot less with this thing. Replicas aren’t something we’ll normally feature here, but this seems more legitimate than most. Plus, they’re far rarer than the real thing, with less than 100 built.

You can buy this one for an estimated $200,000-$240,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $147,500.