Tag Archives: auctions

Voisin C12 Tourer

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1927 Voisin C12 Tourer by R. Duvivier

Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 5, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Voisin automobiles are fascinating. Gabriel Voisin is widely recognized as an engineering genius and his cars reflect that. Many of them feature Knight sleeve-valve engines, unique (and sometimes outrageous) coachwork and Jazz Age interiors.

The C12 was built between 1926 and 1933 and uses a 4.5-liter straight-six. Only 60 C12s were built and only three are known to survive. This is the only one that has a body on it (the other two are bare chassis). The body is by R. Duvivier of Levallois-Peret and has been meticulously restored (in 2004). It has covered nearly 2,000 miles since – meaning it’s ready for you to enjoy on the open road. It should cost its new owner between $310,000-$390,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Bonhams’ Beaulieu sale lineup.

Update: Sold $334,825.

Cisitalia 505 DF

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1953 Cisitalia 505 DF by Ghia

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | London, U.K. | September 7, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

Piero Dusio’s Cisitalia is most well-known for their sports cars and race cars in the immediate post-war period. The Cisitalia 202 is a highly sought after Italian sporting classic. But as time went on, open-top sports cars needed to give way to slightly more sensible cars if the company were to survive.

Unfortunately that strategy didn’t work either. The 505 DF is one of the rarest Cisitalia models. Introduced in 1953 at the Geneva show, it was based on the Fiat 1900 and uses the Fiat’s 1.9-liter straight-four making 79 horsepower. The very pretty body is by Ghia. It’s so smooth, with very few lines. Look how slick that rear panel looks. You can’t even see the door gaps.

Sold new to a Swiss owner, this car spent a lot of its early life in Switzerland before going to Germany. The restoration was completed in 2011. At most, 10 of these were built and only two survive. The other one is not roadworthy, making this the best one in the world. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $224,224.

A Big Truck from 1909

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1909 Ariès 3-Ton Truck

Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 5, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Ariès was a French vehicle manufacturer and we’ve featured a couple of their cars here on the site – but this is the first heavy commercial vehicle from the firm that we’ve seen. Ariès existed from 1902 through 1937 and commercial vehicle production began with the model above (some sources list 1910, which would make this a very early example).

What’s great about this truck is that it is pre-WWI. Sure, it was probably used by the French Army, but it pre-dates required harsh military wartime treatment. It could’ve delivered produce in the early days of the automobile. Plus, it’s a dually.

The engine here is a 5.0-liter straight-four and everything has been restored. It is described as “a joy to drive” and while I’m sure it’s interesting, it’s probably a little terrifying as well. At any rate, it should bring between $25,000-$31,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $31,518.

A Pair of Old Heavy Trucks

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1917 Saurer Four-Cylinder Truck

Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 5, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Adolph Saurer AG was around from 1903 through 1982. That’s a pretty good run, especially considering they abandoned the passenger car business more or less before the company got going.

What’s great about this truck is that it is WWI-era. So many of these trucks were either 1. destroyed during the war itself or 2. scrapped to make newer, more reliable, quicker, and efficient trucks and other equipment for WWII. So to have one that has survived is amazing. It’s powered by a 5.0-liter straight-four.

While it might be slow as dirt, it’s exceptionally interesting and carries a nice restoration and relatively recent mechanical freshening. It should bring between $25,000-$31,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $35,020.

1909 Ariès 3-Ton Truck

Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 5, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Ariès was a French vehicle manufacturer and we’ve featured a couple of their cars here on the site – but this is the first heavy commercial vehicle from the firm that we’ve seen. Ariès existed from 1902 through 1937 and commercial vehicle production began with the model above (some sources list 1910, which would make this a very early example).

What’s great about this truck is that it is pre-WWI. Sure, it was probably used by the French Army, but it pre-dates required harsh military wartime treatment. It could’ve delivered produce in the early days of the automobile. Plus, it’s a dually.

The engine here is a 5.0-liter straight-four and everything has been restored. It is described as “a joy to drive” and while I’m sure it’s interesting, it’s probably a little terrifying as well. At any rate, it should bring between $25,000-$31,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $31,518.

1917 Saurer Truck

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1917 Saurer Four-Cylinder Truck

Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 5, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Adolph Saurer AG was around from 1903 through 1982. That’s a pretty good run, especially considering they abandoned the passenger car business more or less before the company got going.

What’s great about this truck is that it is WWI-era. So many of these trucks were either 1. destroyed during the war itself or 2. scrapped to make newer, more reliable, quicker, and efficient trucks and other equipment for WWII. So to have one that has survived is amazing. It’s powered by a 5.0-liter straight-four.

While it might be slow as dirt, it’s exceptionally interesting and carries a nice restoration and relatively recent mechanical freshening. It should bring between $25,000-$31,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $35,020.

1906 Jewell

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1906 Jewell Model C Runabout

Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Auburn, Indiana | September 5, 2015

Photo - Worldwide Auctioneers

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

The Jewell was a product of the Forest City Motor Car Company of Cleveland, Ohio. After the first year of production (1906, which didn’t go so well), the company moved to Massillon, Ohio, and renamed themselves “Jewel.”

This light runabout is either a Model B or Model C (it is listed in the catalog as “Runabout”). The difference was that the Model C had a top and while this is more of an umbrella, I’m considering it a “top” because I don’t see how a convertible top would be possible on this high-wheeler-esque design. I will, however, admit to liking the Oklahoma!-like parasol.

The engine is a single-cylinder making eight horsepower. It is one of three known with tiller steering (of Jewell or Jewel) of about 1,000 total cars produced by the company over their short lifespan (Jewel disappeared after 1909). And it sports a very nice restoration. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $29,700.

Duesenberg J-394

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1931 Duesenberg Model J Tourster

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | September 3, 2015

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

There was a time when Duesenbergs were just used cars. Some people knew the value of them, but from about the outbreak of WWII through the early 1970s, these were just big, old cars. Only in the past 40 years have they really become known as the pinnacle of automotive achievement.

Fortunately, there were people who knew this all along and hoarded the things in fields and barns, protecting them. Some of the bodies were lost along the way, but many of the engines survived. This car has a genuine Model J 6.9-liter straight-eight making 265 horsepower. The engine number, 394, is listed as “renumbered.” But it is a true engine.

The chassis has been “remanufactured” (and we don’t know if that means it’s one of the replica chassis or just built from scratch). The current owner has owned this car for many years and, as you can tell, it has been his project car. He basically took one of those engines that survived and decided to get it back on the road. Heroic.

The body is actually a Tourster replica that was built much more recently and is not an authentic Derham Tourster, a car very desirable and expensive. This car might look a little awkward but it’s still a work in progress with original parts mixed in with those that have been remanufactured (the interior is gorgeous by the way). This is a great way to get a Duesenberg without paying “full” price. It should bring between $275,000-$350,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $290,000.

Aston Martin Sportsman

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1996 Aston Martin V8 Sportsman Shooting Brake

Offered by Bonhams | Chantilly, France | September 5, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Aston Martin has a great history of wagons – err… Shooting Brakes. A lot of the cars built earlier in Aston’s history were aftermarket jobs by outside coachbuilders. Not this thing. It was converted by Aston Martin themselves.

This car started life as a 1996 V8 Coupe, which is what the Virage was called from 1996 through 2000. Only 101 V8 Coupes were built. And only two were turned into wagons. The V8 Coupe was powered by a 5.3-liter V-8 making 330 horsepower.

This is a two owner car from new, with the current owner having used the car for hunting. I would presume it is fox or quail hunting or something as nothing could be more European. This is the last (or at least, most recent) Aston Martin Shooting Brake and it’s really cool. It should bring between $380,000-$600,000. Click here for more info and here for more form this sale.

Update: Not sold.

EB110 Super Sport

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1995 Bugatti EB110 SS

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | London, U.K. | September 7, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

This is one of the best super cars ever. It has the looks, it has the name, and it certainly has the speed. Romano Artioli’s Bugatti took shape in 1991 when production of the EB110 started in Italy. The original, “base” EB110 GT lacked the rear wing, as far as styling cues go. But the real difference was the power unit.

The Super Sport packs a punch with its quad-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-12 making 610 horsepower (a 50 horsepower bump over the GT). This put it right there with the McLaren F1 in terms of 1990s horsepower superiority. Top speed is an insane 216 mph. It can hit 60 in 3.2 seconds – which is still impressive 20 years later.

But the best thing has to be the looks. It just screams “super car” with proper scissor doors and bright yellow paint. It’s all around classic super car design. Bugatti would go broke in 1995 after just 33 EB110 SSs had been built – for a total count of 139 EB110s.

This is one of the last built and has had two owners since new, with the first being in Japan. RM seems to always find at least one fantastic super car for their London sale and it’s not going to get much better than this. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $965,888.

Intermeccanica Torino

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1968 Intermeccanica Torino Spyder

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | September 2-6, 2015

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

We’ve featured a couple of Intermeccanica’s cars before and neither of those two really look all that different from this one with the exception that this is a rag top. Intermeccanica was founded in Torino by Frank Reisner in 1959. Since 1981 they company has been based in Vancouver and now specialize in replicas.

But in the late-1960s they were churning out sporty Italian coupes and convertibles, like this Torino. The Torino name was short-lived because Ford protested and the name was changed to Italia. The Torino was new for 1968 and lasted (as the Italia) through 1973. It is powered by a 4.7-liter Ford V-8 making 225 horsepower. The body is hand-crafted steel and the whole car will do 155 mph.

Total production of Torino and Italia Spyders number around 400. This car supposedly escaped the factory badged as a Torino when it should’ve had Italia badges and is thus the “only known” 1968 Torino Spyder. At any rate, these are actually really nice, Italian sports cars from the 1960s/1970s. And they’re rare. This one should bring between $100,000-$140,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $159,500.