January 2020 Auction Highlights

We kick off in January with RM Sotheby’s in Arizona where the top sale was this 2018 Pagani Huayra Roadster that sold for $2,370,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

All of our feature cars sold, with the V-16 Cadillac leading the way at $1,105,000. Following that was the Hispano-Suiza at $445,000 and the Shelby Series I at $91,840. Other sales included the Chalmers for $61,600, the Locomobile for $58,240, and the Kaiser for $10,080. Click here for complete results.

Next up, Gooding & Company, also in Arizona. This auction proved that bedroom wall car posters are key indicators of what’s going to skyrocket in value. In this case, it was a 1995 Ferrari F50 that outsold a Tucker at $3,222,500. It also way outsold the 250 GT Cabriolet that brought $1,462,500.

Photo – Gooding & Company

The Hispano-Suiza J12 Dual-Cowl Phaeton sold for $2,425,000. The Model A Duesenberg, and a previously-featured Model J, both failed to sell. More results are available here.

We move on to Barrett-Jackson, where the top sale was a charity lot: the first mid-engine Corvette. A 2020 Stingray that hasn’t even been built yet. This red pre-production car crossed the block, but the actual first one will be black.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

I couldn’t even tell you what their overall top sale was that wasn’t a charity lot because the results page isn’t sortable :(. I have strong feelings on these moonshot charity auctions, but I will keep them to myself.

Every car we featured sold, which is no surprise because this entire sale is 99.9% reserve-free. The Superbird brought $313,500, the L88 Corvette $330,000, and the Kuzma-Offy $165,000. The Aerocar went for a lot less than I anticipated, bringing only $275,000. I think, had it sold 15 years ago, it would’ve gone for much more.

On the other side of things were the Lawil at $12,100 and the Bremen Sebring at $7,700. Click here for all of the results.

Across town was Russo & Steele, who managed to move this 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster for $1,045,000. The Rambler Marlin we featured went for $8,800. A great buy. Final results can be found here.

Photo – Russo & Steele

Finally, we have Bonhams at Retromobile. The top overall sale was this 1931 Bugatti Type 55 Supersport that sold for $5,045,740.

Photo – Bonhams

Other big-dollar sales among our feature cars included the Pegaso for $782,089, a previously-featured Delahaye for $227,058, a previously-featured Talbot racer for $964,997 (less than half of what it sold for in 2014), and a BMW-Glas prototype for $229,581.

Other sales included the Devin D for $100,914 and the Toyota F1 roller for $90,823. No sales were the Bugatti 39, Zagato Mostro, and the previously-featured Miller Shooting Brake and Brasier saloon. More results can be found here.

Bremen Sebring

1985 Bremen Sebring

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 14, 2020

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Kit cars get a bad rap, and while it is sometimes deserved, I always remember that “hey, someone thought this was a good idea.” In this case, that someone was Al Hildebrand, the importer of the Sterling (aka the Nova) kit car who decided he could improve upon that already-popular idea.

The Sebring is Volkswagen-based, and this car is powered by a flat-four from a Porsche 914 (displacement unknown!). It’s actually in really good shape, as many of these were not cared for as this one has been. The dashboard even has a TV monitor in it.

The coolest part of this car is that it doesn’t have doors. Instead, the entire canopy flips forward to allow access to the cabin. Founded around 1970, Hildebrand’s Bremen, Indiana-based company lasted until 1988. They offered other kits as well, along with V6 and turbo V6-powered Sebrings. This one is selling at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $7,700.

C3 L88s

1968 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Convertible

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 10, 2020

Photo – Mecum

L88-powered third-generation Corvettes are among the most collectible of the era. The C3 Corvette was produced for an eternity: 1968 through 1982. But all of the good ones were in the first four or five years of production. The L88 engine was only available for three years: 1967 through 1969.

The 7.0-liter V8 was rated at 430 horsepower, though it is thought to have actually produced more than 550. It was based on Chevy’s NASCAR engine, and it was a hardcore beast. Only 80 cars were equipped with this engine in 1968, the first of two model years it could be had in a C3. This drop-top version should bring between $450,000-$550,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Mecum.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $350,000.


1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Coupe

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 11-19, 2020

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Here is the closed coupe version of Chevrolet’s monster 427 L88 Corvette. This example comes from the final year of L88 production, a year in which 116 examples were produced. Why so few? Well, part of the reason is that these engines have extremely high compression ratios that necessitate 103 octane fuel. Good luck finding that.

This wonderful 7.0-liter V8 also added as much as 35% to the purchase price of a new Corvette back in the day, which didn’t help. That’s a lot of money for a “430 horsepower” car. While the ’67s are the most expensive, the ’69s are still desirable. This will be another big-money car in Scottsdale. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $330,000.

Lawil S3 Varzina

1971 Lawil S3

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 11-19, 2020

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Lawil S.p.A. was founded by Henri Willame and Carlo Lavezzari in Pavia, Italy, in 1967. The company actually stuck around through 1988, building a range of microcars over the years. Their early cars were based on Lambrettas.

The S3, also known by its nickname Varzina, was introduced in 1968 and remained in production through 1980. It is powered by a 246cc twin from a Lambretta that makes 12 horsepower. Top speed was about 40 mph.

The S3 wasn’t very popular in Italy but sold okay in other markets (or okay enough to keep it around for a dozen years). They’re a rare sight today, and this one is selling at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $12,100.

Kuzma-Offenhauser

1961 Kuzma-Offenhauser

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 11-19, 2020

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Eddie Kuzma built Indy roadsters in the 1950s and early 1960s. Kuzma won the 500 in 1952 with driver Troy Ruttman, the youngest person to ever win the race. Ruttman actually ran this very car at Indy in 1963, where he finished 12th.

This is a “lay-down” Indy roadster, meaning the 4.2-liter Offenhauser engine is laid on its side, protruding from the bodywork. This both reduced drag and increased the left-side weight bias, making it faster around ovals. The car was not used in USAC after 1963 (the rear-engined cars had arrived). Instead, it went east, where it was used as a super modified.

Unfortunately, Ruttman’s son, Troy Jr., was killed driving this car in an accident at Pocono in 1969. The car was purchased by Bob McConnell in 1980 and was restored by a later owner in 2004. The catalog lists this as a 1963 but also states it was built in 1961. Not really sure which is correct. Anyway, it is selling at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $165,000.

Superbird

1970 Plymouth Superbird

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 11-19, 2020

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

We’ve featured a pair of Plymouth Superbirds in the past. One was a former NASCAR race car, and the other was Hemi-powered. Aside from the 426ci Hemi, Plymouth offered another engine in the “base” Superbird – a 440ci V8.

It came in two forms. One had a single four-barrel carburetor and made 375 horsepower, and the other, as this car has, is the same 7.2-liter V8 but with three two-barrel carburetors (the “Six-Barrel”) good for 390 horsepower.

This car is finished in Limelight Green, and it looks amazing. Production numbers, somehow, aren’t quite known. Everywhere you look gives you a different answer. It’s thought that about 1,920 Superbirds were produced in total. Only about 665 of those were Six-Barrel 440 cars. This one is selling at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $313,500.

Aerocar

1954 Aerocar

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 11-19, 2020

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

We’ve been promised flying cars for a long time. Well, Moulton Taylor and his company, Aerocar International, tried to make that promise come true back in 1949 when they introduced the Aerocar. It’s the first – and so far, only – road and air-legal vehicle ever produced. Six examples were constructed. They all still exist, but they don’t all still fly.

Power is from a 5.2-liter Lycoming flat-four that makes 150 horsepower. The top speed on land was 60 mph, while 110 mph was attainable in the air. As you can see above, the “car” portion of the vehicle was a bean-shaped thing with no fenders. It towed a very conspicuous trailer consisting of the propeller (it’s a pusher), wings, and a tail that you would have to attach in order to take flight (apparently it takes about half an hour to do). No word on how many people it takes to actually get that done in 30 minutes.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Aerocars are almost always “for sale” with ridiculous asking prices. It’ll be interesting to see what this actually sells for, as it is crossing the block at no reserve. You can read more about it here and see more from this sale here.

Update: Sold $275,000.

June 2019 Auction Highlights

We pick up well into June with Osenat. The Bugatti Type 35B was the only car we featured and it was easily the top seller at $455,822, therefore we shall award Most Interesting to this 1950 Hotchkiss Type 686 S. It brought $65,638. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Osenat

We’ll stay in Europe for our second sale, which was from H&H Classics in Duxford. $284,358 took home this 1957 AC Ace-Bristol, besting all other lots in terms of price. The Stanley Steamer we featured didn’t meet its reserve. More results can be found here.

Photo – H&H Classics

Onward to Mecum in Portland where this 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 was the top seller at $275,000. You can find more results here.

Photo – Mecum

Next up: Barrett-Jacksons’ Northeast sale, and we didn’t have any feature cars from this sale either. Someone paid $2.7 million for the final Corvette Z06 – a car that hasn’t even been built yet. With that dumb bit of news out of the way, the top-selling car that actually existed was $280,500 paid for this 2008 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster. More results are available here.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Finally, we have Bonhams’ Chantilly sale where a rough sell-through rate saw our featured Gordini take home top sale honors at $779,769. The Arnolt-Bristol and Alfa 6C both failed to sell, but a previously-featured Salmson found a new home for $57,183. Most Interesting goes to this 1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale that sold for $98,770. Click here for final results.

Photo – Bonhams

April 2019 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

We start off this highlight reel with H&H Classics’ Pavilion Gardens sale. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to feature anything, but this 1963 Jaguar E-Type Series I 3.8 Roadster was the top seller at $155,278. Click here for more results.

Photo – H&H Classics

Next up is Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach sale, and we didn’t get to feature anything from this sale either. The top sale was kind of a surprise – $412,500 paid for this 1947 Buick Super 8 Custom Convertible. Complete results can be found here.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Next up are two liquidation sales of entire collections, the first of which is the Tupelo Automobile Museum in Tupelo, Mississippi. The 1948 Tucker was far and away the top sale, bringing $1,985,000.

Photo – Bonhams

This sale was a great entry point to Duesenberg ownership, with the Model J sedan we featured selling for an “affordable” $450,500. The only other six-figure car was the Owen Magnetic at $128,800.

Here’s a rundown of all of the other cars we featured:

Click here for more results.

The sale of the Guyton Collection by RM Sotheby’s included some fascinating cars, foremost among them was the Duesenberg Model X, which ended up selling for $527,500. Meanwhile, this Model J sold for $1,105,000. And the overall top sale was $1,325,000 for this 1909 Rolls-Royce 40/50HP Silver Ghost Roi-des-Belges touring car.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Continuing down, we had the Ruxton Roadster at $747,500, the Du Pont Model G for $368,000, and the Mason Touring and Gothic Lincoln at $112,000 each. The H.C.S. was a relative bargain at $49,840. Click here for more results, including a huge amount of automobilia.

Finally, we have half of a Silverstone Auctions doubleheader: the Heythrop Classic Car Sale. No feature cars here, but the top sale was this 1988 Porsche 911 Turbo Targa for $102,343. Click here for the rest of their results.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

January 2019 Auction Highlights

January means one thing: Scottsdale. And we’ll start there with Bonhams where the 1951 Maserati we featured was the top sale at $2,755,000. Most of the other really big money cars all missed the target, which might say something about the top of the market (but we’ll see as the other sales all wrap up). The other Frua-bodied car, the Fiat 1100C, sold for $577,000. We’ll award Most Interesting to this 1956 Lincoln Premiere Convertible – mostly because I really want one. I just don’t have the $50,400 it would’ve required to take this one home.

Photo – Bonhams

A previously-featured Abarth race car sold here for $16,800 – a long way from the $45k+ it brought at multiple previous auctions (weird, it has a different chassis number listed in this sale compared to previous sales, but has the exact same backstory). This car has changed hands multiple times in the last few years. Someone here either got a great deal, or the consignor finally unloaded an albatross at a loss (also, dibs on “Albatross at a Loss” as my next rap album name). Meanwhile, the Stevens-Duryea sold for $72,800. Click here for complete results.

Next up from Arizona is RM Sotheby’s, and there were a couple of cars that failed to meet their reserve, including a previously-featured Hispano-Suiza and the Ferrari 250 GT Coupe Speciale. But another Ferrari was top dog at this sale, specifically this 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO that sold for $3,360,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The biggest money feature car we had was the Vector WX-3 at $615,500, with the WX-3R coming up right behind it at a cool $500,000. The Lesovsky-Offy brought $201,600, the Rolls-Royce State Landaulette $190,400, the Hooper Bentley $128,800, the Apollo 3500 GT $134,400, and the Lone Star Touring $44,800. Click here for complete results.

Barrett-Jackson’s catalog is so large that I don’t feel like scrolling through the entire thing trying to find highlights and the top sale. Their user interface leaves a little to be desired, so I’m just going to look through Saturday’s results and assume that the top sale was in their prime time lineup. What I found: the overall top sale was, as it usually is here, a charity lot. The first 2019 Ford GT Heritage Edition went for $2,500,000.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

That crazy Mercedes-Benz G63 6×6 sold for $1,210,000, while the Paige Ardmore sold for $16,500 and the Ford Lightning Rod Concept $27,500. All of the results can be found here and you can scroll through them at your leisure if you have a spare five hours.

Next: Gooding & Company, where the 1902 Yale we featured brought $105,280, and the Ferrari 275 Prototype failed to sell. The biggest money was reserved for this 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta for $7,595,000. Click here for more results.

Photo – Gooding & Company

Finally, we have Worldwide Auctioneers’ Scottsdale sale where this 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster was the overall top sale at $990,000.

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

Our three Indiana-built feature cars all sold, with the two Duesenbergs falling in “good deal” range. The Duesenberg Tourster sold for $605,000, and the other Duesey brought $506,000. The Auburn Boattail rounds it all out at $291,500. Click here if you want more results from this sale.