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Oldest, Lowest-Mileage, Unrestored Corvette

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1954 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster

Offered by Mecum | Champaign, Illinois | June 29, 2013

1954 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster

The Chevrolet Corvette was introduced for 1953 and it was powered by a 150 horsepower “Blue Flame” six (3.9-liter straight-six). It was a sports car but performance really wasn’t mind-blowing. A V-8 would come in 1955 to match Ford’s Thunderbird.

The Blue Flame engine was the only engine available in 1953 and 1954. This is one of 3,640 cars built in 1954 (’53s and ’55s are much rarer). On the plus side, ’54 Corvettes were available in more than just white, although this car still sports its original Polo White paint.

There is something extremely special about this ride: it is known as the oldest, lowest-mileage, unrestored Corvette in existence. It’s covered just 2,331 miles in its life – and there’s a reason for that. The original owner drove it until 1959, when he ordered it buried under one of this stores until 2000. It has been coined the “entombed Corvette.” It was exhumed in the 1980s and preserved since. If you want to see what a 1954 Corvette looked like when it left the factory, this is the car you want to see.

A perfect ’54 Vette will bring about $100,000 at auction. With “survivors” being very much in right now, we’ll see what kind of premium this car brings. Click here for more and here for the rest of the lineup from Mecum’s Bloomington Gold sale.

Update: Not sold.

Bonhams/H&H June 2013 Highlights

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Bonhams’ Banbury Run sale was held last week and the top sale was this 1966 Aston Martin DB6 which sold for $208,817.

1966 Aston Martin DB6

Our feature cars both sold. The 1899 Columbia Motor Buggy sold for $17,966. The ex-works demonstrator Javan R1 sold for $17,068. Interesting cars included this 1949 Daimler DB18 Drophead Coupe with coachwork by Barker. It sold for $34,136.

1949 Daimler DB18 Drophead Coupe by Barker

Other cool cars included this 1929 Morgan Anzani Aero – a fairly early Morgan three-wheeler. It sold for $44,916.

1929 Morgan Anzani Aero

And finally, this 1981 Talbot Sunbeam-Lotus “Rally Car.” These are moderately cool cars (the early-80s weren’t exactly “cool car” times) and this one sold for $17,966. Click here for full results.

1981 Talbot Sunbeam-Lotus

Next up was H&H Auctions’ sale held at Rockingham Castle in the U.K. Our featured AC Ace Brooklands sold for $19,342. Top sale was this 1937 Bentley 4.25-Litre Vanden Plas Coupe which brought $226,834.

1937 Bentley 4.25-Litre Vanden Plas Coupe

Interesting sales were definitely led by this 1918 Le Zebre Sports. I don’t remember coming across it when I looked for cars to feature, otherwise I surely would have. It sold for $123,088.

1918 Le Zebre Sports

Other cars included this pretty 1926 Buick Standard Six Tourer (first below) which sold for $18,024 and the 1920 Sunbeam 16hp Tourer (second below) which went for $58,027. Check out complete results here.

1926 Buick Standard Six Tourer

1920 Sunbeam 16hp Tourer

Jag XJR-5

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1982 Jaguar XJR-5

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 17, 2013

1982 Jaguar XJR-5

Jaguar really didn’t do much for itself as a sporting marque between the years of about 1955 and 1980. Sure, some of their cars competed in the hands of privateers over the years, but a factory effort was missing. That changed when Bob Tullius’ Group 44 race team was staring down a shut down.

Jaguar came calling and essentially absorbed the race team to be their factory effort in the prototype arena. The goal was to compete in IMSA GTP and the FIA World Endurance Championship (and later, Le Mans). It’s very aerodynamic and uses an aluminium tub, Kevlar composite body panels and Lockheed disc brakes. The engine is a mid/rear-mounted 6.0-liter V-12 making 625 horsepower. If geared correctly, this thing can do 217 mph.

You’re looking at the first XJR-5 built. It wears serial number 001 and it’s race history consists of the following:

  • 1982 Road America 500 Miles – 3rd overall, 1st in class (with Bob Tullius and Bill Adams)
  • 1982 Six Hours of Mid-Ohio – DNS after a practice crash (with Tullius and Adams)
  • 1983 100 Mile Laguna Seca – 2nd (with Tullius)

Bob Tullius owned this car after its brief racing career ended and he drove it at the 2000 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It was acquired directly from him by its current owner. It has been recently restored and track-tested.

This is a historically significant race car: it was the first XJR prototype and it spawned a series of successful prototypes (and even a sports car) that were competitive for the next 11 years. One of these last sold in 2006 for less than $250,000. Things may have changed little since then. We’ll see. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Failed to sell (high bid of $475,000).

S/N: 001

Barzoi 2

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1977 Fournier-Marcadier Barzoi 2

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | June 23, 2013

1977 Fournier-Marcadier Barzoi 2

Photo – Osenat

Okay, so this isn’t the greatest picture in the world, but I can’t tell you the last time I saw one of these come up for sale. And you get the idea of how freakish this thing really looks from this photo.

The weird inset reverse-pop-up headlights are one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen – it’s like KITT’s nerdy kid brother. If you look at the panel in front of the lights, you’ll notice that it pops up and shield the lights when not in use, creating a slick aerodynamic front profile. The lot description describes it as “James Bond”-ish and I think that is apt. If I didn’t know any better, I could picture this thing as a submarine.

This was not a kit car, unlike the Barquette above. Well – not kits that consumers could put together anyway. The chassis is out from under a Simca 1000 Rallye (this one is from a ’73 model). The engine is also from the same car – it’s an 80 horsepower straight-four unit of 1.3-liters. It is also rear-engined.

The Barzoi 2 was the last road car Fournier-Marcadier built and only 50 were made. This is expected to bring between $20,700-$28,500. Click here for more info and here for more from Osenat.

Update: Not sold.

A Pair of Fournier-Marcadiers

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1966 Fournier-Marcadier Barquette

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | June 23, 2013

1966 Fournier-Marcadier Barquette

André Marcadier built bicycles in France after World War II. In the early 1960s, he also began building go kart chassis and shortly thereafter met Colin Chapman. He liked what Lotus was doing in the U.K. and wanted something similar in France. So he teamed up with Marcel Fournier and, in 1963, launched France’s first kit car.

The FM 01 Barquette, as it was first called, was offered in kit form from 1963. The engine is from a Renault 8 Gordini – it’s a 1.1-liter straight-four tuned to make 89 horsepower that sits behind the driver and passenger. The car was supposed to be the sort of French kit version of the Lotus 23. In all, about 60 kits were sold through 1966.

This car should sell for between $32,000-$45,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $32,750.

1977 Fournier-Marcadier Barzoi 2

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | June 23, 2013

1977 Fournier-Marcadier Barzoi 2

Okay, so this isn’t the greatest picture in the world, but I can’t tell you the last time I saw one of these come up for sale. And you get the idea of how freakish this thing really looks from this photo.

The weird inset reverse-pop-up headlights are one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen – it’s like KITT’s nerdy kid brother. If you look at the panel in front of the lights, you’ll notice that it pops up and shield the lights when not in use, creating a slick aerodynamic front profile. The lot description describes it as “James Bond”-ish and I think that is apt. If I didn’t know any better, I could picture this thing as a submarine.

This was not a kit car, unlike the Barquette above. Well – not kits that consumers could put together anyway. The chassis is out from under a Simca 1000 Rallye (this one is from a ’73 model). The engine is also from the same car – it’s an 80 horsepower straight-four unit of 1.3-liters. It is also rear-engined.

The Barzoi 2 was the last road car Fournier-Marcadier built and only 50 were made. This is expected to bring between $20,700-$28,500. Click here for more info and here for more from Osenat.

Update: Not sold.

Fournier-Marcadier Barquette

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1966 Fournier-Marcadier Barquette

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | June 23, 2013

1966 Fournier-Marcadier Barquette
Photo – Osenat

André Marcadier built bicycles in France after World War II. In the early 1960s, he also began building go-kart chassis and shortly thereafter met Colin Chapman. He liked what Lotus was doing in the U.K. and wanted something similar in France. So he teamed up with Marcel Fournier and, in 1963, launched France’s first kit car.

The FM 01 Barquette, as it was first called, was offered in kit form from 1963. The engine is from a Renault 8 Gordini – it’s a 1.1-liter straight-four tuned to make 89 horsepower that sits behind the driver and passenger. The car was supposed to be the sort of French kit version of the Lotus 23. In all, about 60 kits were sold through 1966.

This car should sell for between $32,000-$45,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $32,750.

One of the Earliest Sports Cars

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1908 Isotta Fraschini Tipo FENC Two-Seater

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 17, 2013

1908 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo FENC

Milan-based Isotta Fraschini began building cars of their own design in 1904. This car came not long after that. The Type FE was a race car built by Isotta to compete in the great European races of the day. Its predecessor, the Type D, used a 17.2-liter straight-four engine. That’s “train-size.”

Well that big engine didn’t fare so well in competition, detonating itself after one lap. So, for the 1908 races, Isotta tried something different. Instead of brute power via displacement, they went for the whole package. The cars were light and handled well – weight was only 1,342 pounds – which is probably close to what the 17.2-liter engine weighed. And then they fitted it with a light 1.2-liter straight-four.

They were more successful at the track and Isotta Fraschini built some for the road and dubbed them “FENC.” The engine was enlarged to 1.3-liters and makes about 17 horsepower. It is capable of 60 mph. You could call it a sports car. Only about 100 FENCs were built and only two are known to survive. This one was discovered in 1985 in bad shape and then thoroughly restored. It sold at auction in 2008 for $166,500. We’ll see how it goes this time around. Click here for more info and here for more from Mecum in Monterey.

Update: Sold $145,000.

S/N: 6023

B.N.C. Type 53

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1929 B.N.C. Type 53

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | June 23, 2013

1929 BNC Type 53

B.N.C. was a French automobile company founded in 1923 by Lucien Bollack and René Netter (the “B” and the “N” – the “C” stands for “et Cie” or “and company”). They hired an engineer who had experience building cyclecars and a cyclecar was the basis for their first model. The cyclecars were successful in competition but sales were always slow.

In the late 1920s, the company shifted toward larger, more expensive cars – and sales grew dimmer. Even super sporty cars like this didn’t help and both founders were forced out in 1928. The company closed for good in 1935.

This car uses a 1.1-liter straight-four by Ruby and has been campaigned in the Le Mans Classic four times in the past 11 years (as B.N.C. raced at Le Mans in period, just not this car). It is said that this car has serious pace for its age. It is certainly rare and rather sporty looking. It is expected to sell for between $105,000-$160,000. Click here for more details and here for more from Osenat’s sale.

Update: Sold $104,800.

Artcurial 6/10/13 Paris Sale Highlights

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Artcurial held a relatively large sale in Paris on Monday and we featured a couple of cars from it. The top sale was this 1939 Horch 853A Cabriolet for $873,553.

1939 Horch 853A Cabriolet

Among our feature cars, there were two ASAs. Both sold: the race car RB 613 brought $291,184 while the road car 411 GT brought $237,545 – more than double the high end of the pre-sale estimate! Interesting cars were led by this 1974 KV Mini 1. It was built by KV using a 125cc engine. It’s a rare microcar of which not many were built. It sold for $2,759. Arrested Development fans take note – the hood appears to read “GOB.”

1974 KV Mini 1

Other interesting sales included this 1948 Lea-Francis 14HP Roadster. It sold for $49,042.

1948 Lea-Francis 14HP Roadster

One of our featured cars was an incredible military vehicle – a barn find condition World War I Nash Quad. It sold for $21,456. There were other military vehicles here as well, including this 1964 Hotchkiss M201 which sold for $15,325.

1964 Hotchkiss M201

There were a number of really nice, pretty French cars at this sale as well, including a trio of Bugattis, highlighted by this 1935 Type 57 Gangloff Coupe. It sold for $712,635. And our featured Renault Nervastella sold for $324,844 – almost three times its original estimate. Check out complete results here.

1935 Bugatti Type 57 Gangloff

Tojeiro Barchetta

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1952 Tojeiro Barchetta

Offered by Russo & Steele | Newport Beach, California | June 20-21, 201

1952 Tojeiro Barchetta

John Tojeiro was born in Portugal but relocated to England when he was very young. That move was important because after World War II, in which John served, England would become a hotbed for race car building.

Tojeiro made his name as a chassis engineer and once he was established, customers were contacting him and commissioning him to build one-off race cars. Tojeiro’s first car was powered by a Bristol engine and the body was supposed to look like a Ferrari 166 MM. Shortly after that, Tojeiro built two or three MG powered cars with a similar body. This is one of those cars.

The engine is a 1.5-liter MG straight-four, power output unknown – but likely less than 125. One of the three cars like this was driven to the AC headquarters and AC repainted it blue, put one of their engines in it, and displayed it as the AC Ace. So this car (which was not used by AC) is sort of the prototypical AC Ace. Which is pretty cool if you think about it (and if you refuse to think about it, I’ll tell you: the Ace became the Cobra. Shelby Cobras can directly trace their origin to this car).

This car was raced on road courses by privateers until the end of the 1954 season. It finished every race. It has bounced between owners quite a bit since then (and even a fair amount in the past five years). This car sold in Monterey last year at a different auction for a touch more than $150,000 and it sold twice in 2011 for about the same price (a little less). We’ll see what it brings this time around as the market continues to improve. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Russo & Steele’s Newport Beach lineup.

Update: Sold $159,500.

Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s, Arizona 2021.