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1905 Northern Runabout

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1905 Northern Runabout

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 12, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Charles King and Johnathan Maxwell founded the Northern Manufacturing Company in 1902 in Detroit. The company’s 1902 offerings strongly resembled the Curved-Dash Oldsmobile – and that’s because Maxwell and King both worked for Oldsmobile before setting out on their own.

We’ve featured a 1902 Northern before (as linked to above) and this car looks relatively similar. It’s still powered by a single-cylinder engine. But unlike in 1902 where that engine made only five horsepower, it was upgraded to a downright sporty seven horsepower for 1905. Northern offered two twin-cylinder cars in 1905 as well, which made this the budget offering at $650.

Both Maxwell and King would leave Northern to found their own marques and the company closed in 1908. This car is said to retain its original chassis, body panels, and even its rubber flooring. Not many of these are left and this one is about as accurate and original as they come. It should bring between $45,000-$65,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $52,250.

Paige Daytona Speedster

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1921 Paige 6-66 Daytona Speedster

Offered by Bonhams | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | October 8, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

The Paige-Detroit went on sale in 1909 and after about a year and a half, company namesake Fred O. Paige was forced out of the company and the new owners dropped the “Detroit” suffix and began selling cars called the Paige. Without Mr. Paige, Paige would produce cars from 1911 through 1927 when they were acquired by Graham Brothers to form Graham-Paige.

The Model 6-66 was apparently named by someone who had no sense of superstition and assumed the public wouldn’t mind either. It was produced in 1921 and 1922 as Paige’s largest offering. Power is from a 5.4-liter straight-six capable of 70 horsepower.

The Daytona Speedster was so named because Paige took a Model 6-66 to Daytona Beach and clocked it at 102 mph, making this one of the first 100 mph cars available to the American public (though they only promised 80 mph in road-going models). My records show that it was only available in 1922, but weird things happen to the titles of old cars all the time.

This example was restored in the U.K. in 2013 and it is one of 18 known Daytona Speedsters in existence, which actually goes to show how fondly these were remembered back in the day. As one of America’s first true sports cars, and freshly rebuilt, this car should bring between $100,000-$130,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $84,000.

1912 Everitt Touring

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1912 Everitt Six-48 Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 11-12, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Barney Everitt left E-M-F in 1909 and he took William Metzger with him, leaving Walter Flanders out there on his own. The resulting car from this new E-M combo was the Everitt, a car produced in Detroit from 1910 through 1912.

The 1912 model line was the largest the company offered, with three distinct models. It was a big, solidly-built car. But then Flanders came crawling back and the company was renamed the Flanders Six in 1913. That company was ill-fated as Flanders joined Benjamin Briscoe’s United States Motor Company, which was a disaster (and Flanders brought his new company with him, which Briscoe promptly killed).

Anyway, this car, the handsome Everitt Six-48. It was the largest model the company offered and it’s powered by a 48 horsepower, straight-six. This is a five-passenger touring car (there was a larger, six-passenger version). It was restored in 2005 and looks great. This is one of the best styles of American cars of any era. They’re just grand. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $55,000.

Breese Teardrop Roadster

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1911 Breese Paris Teardrop Roadster

Offered by Bonhams | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | October 8, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Robert Breese worked at De Dion-Bouton and Renault, among others, before deciding he wanted to build his own cars. He wanted to produce them in America, and he managed to make a few prototypes while still in Paris that he was going to take home with him to begin production.

It’s thought that he managed to produce three examples, two of which survive (and they’re both in this sale). Breese would produce other cars in the U.S. later, but this was his start. While this example is powered by a lowly 7.5 horsepower straight-four, this car can hit 70 mph. It’s that light.

This example has known history back to 1927 and was restored in the early 1960s. It shows pretty well for a 55-year-old restoration, signs of care by the family that has owned it since the work was completed. This car is expected to bring between $100,000-$130,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $78,400.

Monarch Convertible

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1951 Monarch Convertible

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 11-12, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Here’s a marque produced by the Ford Motor Company that you probably aren’t familiar with. In Canada, GM and Ford have a history of needing to change the names of cars to get them to sell. GM did it with Beaumont and Acadian (and later, others), and Ford would do it with Meteor and Monarch.

Monarch was essentially a Canadian-market Mercury aimed at Oldsmobile. It was sold between 1946 and 1957, and then again from 1959 through 1961. Canadians had a lot more choice, brand-wise, than Americans because they got Mercury, Ford, and Lincoln too.

This car is powered by a V8 and was restored in 1995. In all, Ford sold just over 95,000 Monarchs over about a decade and a half. Only four 1951 Convertibles are still known to exist. And when was the last time you saw a Monarch? It’s a Canadian rarity. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Hershey.

Update: Sold $60,500.

Derby K4

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1930 Derby K4 1.8-Litre Course

Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 5, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Derby was a French automobile manufacturer and, as this car shows, they built some pretty sporty-looking pre-war cars. Founded by Bertrand Montet in 1921, the company only lasted a short time, closing their doors in 1936 (blame British management that took over in 1928).

The K4 was built during their good years, before financial strain took hold. Power comes from a 1.8-liter straight-six CIME engine. Many of their cars were four-cylinder models and an overly-ambitious V8 would ultimately prove their undoing.

This two-seater example was believed to have been delivered new to Italy, where Derby cars were built under license as the made-up-sounding Fandini between 1924 and 1926. It returned to France in 2015 and has been mostly restored. Derby never built many cars – a few hundred a year – but they look great and are a much cheaper alternative to some other sporty French cars of the era. It should bring between $130,000-$160,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

American Eagle Touring

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1911 American Eagle Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 11-12, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

There were a lot of car companies before 1920 that had the word “American” as part of their name. There was American, who was famous for their Underslung models, and then there were European marques like Austin, Fiat, and De Dion-Bouton, who all had American arms and thus named them separately.

What we have here is a one-off car built in 1911 by Martin Burzynski of Detroit, Michigan. He never wanted to produce cars and never even bothered setting up a company to do so. Instead, Burzynski had a patent on an aluminum-sidewalled tire with spring-loaded canvas and rubber treads. This car was built as a test vehicle for those tires.

Ultimately unsuccessful, this car only saw about 200 miles through the mid-1940s. It features a 60hp Wisconsin straight-six and a bunch of other off-the-shelf parts from other manufacturers. Perhaps the most interesting bit is that three of the original aluminum tires are included. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $242,000.

Elva Mk I/B

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1956 Elva Mk I/B

Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 5, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Elva Engineering Co. Ltd. was founded by Frank Nichols in 1955. The first series of cars, the Mk I, were based on a previous Nichols creation, the CSM, and were sold as bare rigid tubular chassis with a live rear axle. Some assembly required.

In 1956 the Mk I/B was introduced and it came with an engine – a 1.1-liter Coventry  Climax straight-four. The streamlined fiberglass body was actually built by Falcon Shells and it’s estimated that only 14 were built. This example was road raced around the Midwest its first owner, seeing track time at the likes of Road America and more.

This car was expertly restored in the early 2000s and still shows very well. It is thought to be the final Mk I/B built and is expected to bring between $160,000-$260,000 at auction. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $165,398.

Soviet Microcars

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Three Soviet Microcars

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | September 26, 2018

1969 ZAZ-965A

Photo – Brightwells

The Zaporizhia Automobile Plant in Ukraine has been producing cars under the ZAZ brand since 1960. They’ve also built cars from other manufacturers for local sale and built some heavy trucks and buses as well.

Zaporozhets were a series of microcars produced between 1960 and 1994, with the ZAZ-965 built in two series between 1960 and 1969. This car is listed in the catalog as a 1969 965. But the 1969 model was actually the ZAZ-965A. It’s powered by a rear-mounted 887cc V-4 capable of 27 horsepower.

When production ended in 1969, 322,116 examples of all types had been built. This car was imported to the U.K. from Lithuania and is all-original. You can read more here.

Update: Sold $475.

1987 SMZ S-3d

Photo – Brightwells

The SMZ was a microcar built in Russia and between 1970 and 1997 they built a car called the S-3d – this. Based on the ZAZ 695, it features a 346cc single-cylinder engine from an earlier model. Designed as a car for invalids, this car was technically classified as a motorcycle in Russia.

They built 223,051 of these – quite a lot – but they still aren’t that common. This original example was imported into the U.K. from Lithuania in 2016 and will sell at no reserve. Click here for more from Brightwells.

Update: Sold $719.

1967 ZAZ-968A

Photo – Brightwells

Here’s another Lithuanian import into the U.K. from the same collection. It’s another Zaporozhets, but slightly larger than the ZAZ-965. The “second generation” of these cars were introduced in 1966 as the ZAZ-966. It would evolve into the ZAZ-968 in 1971 and this model would last through 1980, while the later 968M would last through 1994.

Power here is from a 1.2-liter V4 capable of 30 horsepower. The 968A was actually built between 1973 and 1980 and had some safety improvements, like a plastic dashboard instead of a metal one designed for maximum carnage. This one is also no reserve. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $719.

Matra Jet Prototype

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1967 Matra Jet 6 Prototype

Offered by Aguttes | Linas, France | September 30, 2018

Photo – Aguttes

The Djet was a product of the Rene Bonnet company but when they went bankrupt in 1964, Matra bought it out and continued production of the little sports car. They iterated on the cars, selling the Djet 5 and 5S. Eventually they dropped the “D” and the car became the Jet 5S.

And then came version 6. What we have here is a prototype that used a Jet 6 as the starting point and is now a purpose-built race car. It’s powered by a bored-out 2.0-liter Gordini straight-four from an Alpine.

It was raced by its original builder, Marcel Moissonnier, in hill climbs around France. The current owner acquired it in 2015 and has used it on closed-circuit tracks. One-of-a-kind, it should bring between $17,000-$23,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.