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April 2015 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

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First up is Coys Techno Classica sale in Essen, Germany. The top sale was a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing for $1,183,640. Our featured ZiL 114 sold for $44,856 while the EMW 327 failed to sell. Click here for full results.

Moving on, we head to Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach sale where a 2006 Ford GT was the top sale at $319,000. Ford GT’s are almost no-brainer top sale cars at many auctions today. It’s crazy how quickly they’ve doubled in price.

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Our featured International R100 Pickup sold for $22,000. Find full results here. Mecum’s Kansas City sale had a similar result with, you guessed it, a 2005 Ford GT being the top sale, at $255,000. Our featured Crosley Fire Truck failed to meet its reserve. Click here for full results.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

Now we’re off to RM Sotheby’s sale of the Andrews Collection in Texas. There were some amazing American cars from the 1930s in this sale, namely Packards and Cadillacs. Our featured Packard, the beautiful Sport Coupe sold for $2,200,000. We also featured a Cadillac, a ’58 Eldorado Prototype. It sold for $324,500. Both Duesenbergs brought big money – the Bohman & Schwartz Town Car sold for $3,630,000 and the Disappearing-Top Roadster $3,520,000.

The top sale was this 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Cabriolet by Pininfarina for $7,645,000.

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

The Buick Blackhawk brought $363,000. The Kurtis 500 by Allied sold for $220,000. With Kurtis, another Indy Car builder from the 1950s/1960s, Watson, was represented at this sale, too. Their 1960 Roadster brought $577,500. A previously featured Lincoln design study sold for $1,210,000. Click here for full results.

Finally, Worldwide Auctioneers held their Houston Classic on April 25th. Our featured Moretti failed to sell, which paved the way for a silver 1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to be the top sale at $715,000. Our three featured barn finds sold for way below their estimates, with the Rattler coming in at only $9,900. The Imperial did a bit better, bringing $13,750. And the Flint Touring went for $12,100.

International R100

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1954 International R100

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Palm Beach, Florida | April 17-19, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Light commercial vehicles – or everyday pickup trucks – are collectible because they’re cool and people grew up riding in them. And because they’re rare. Pickups weren’t always a style icon like some people see them today. They used to be work trucks. Many didn’t survive. Especially those built in smaller numbers by lesser remembered manufacturers.

International Harvester is still around, but they haven’t built passenger vehicles in decades. The R-Series line of pickups was built between 1953 and 1955. IHC would build series pickups through 1975. This truck is powered by a 3.6-liter straight-six making 104 horsepower.

This truck was treated to a nut and bolt restoration and is painted in its original colors. It’s a beautiful, clean truck that represents the base model for International trucks in 1954 (the R100 was new for ’54 and was $60 less expensive than the R-110 and had four more horsepower). It’s pretty nice. Read more here and check out the rest of Barrett-Jackson’s auction lineup here.

Update: Sold $22,000.

Scottsdale 2015 Auction Highlights

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January is a big month for auctions, so let’s get right into it: Bonhams in Scottsdale. The top sale there was this 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C for $9,405,000.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Two of our feature cars didn’t sell, the Aston Martin DB5 and the Ferrari 250 Europa. Our featured Humber brought $148,500 and the Mazda Cosmo $110,000. Check out full results here.

Next up was Barrett-Jackson’s mega-sale where our featured 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake was the top sale, after it crossed the block for $5,115,000. The next two top sales were the GM Futurliner (which was actually sold for charity) for $4,000,000 and the Pontiac Bonneville Concept for $3,300,000. The Pininfarina X Sedan brought $330,000.

Since the top sale was one of our feature cars, we’ll go ahead and name this 1940 Cadillac Series 75 Towncar by Brunn as Most Interesting, among the seemingly infinite number of interesting cars offered this weekend. It was well-bought at $115,500.

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Most of the cars at Barrett-Jackson are sold at no reserve, meaning the the highest prices takes it, no matter what. But once the “Salon Collection” of really nice classics rolled across the block, it became a parade of No Sales. Among them, our feature cars: 1953 NASCAR Corvette, a previously featured Duesenberg, the Chrysler ST Special, and the Lotus Turbine Indy Car.

The very interesting Packard Sightseeting Bus sold for $291,500. The Perana Z-One sold for $73,700 and the Caddy Northstart LMP brought $104,500. Check out full results here.

Next up is RM’s sale, which was technically in Phoenix. Their top sale was this 1964 Ferrari 250 LM by Scaglietti which was sold for $9,625,000.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Our three feature cars from this sale all sold, with the Miura SVJ bringing the biggest sum at $1,897,500. The Ghia L6.4 brought $412,500 and the Lightspeed Magenta sold for $16,500. Check out full results here.

The fourth auction of this rundown is Gooding & Company’s Scottsdale sale where – you guessed it – another Ferrari topped the sale. This time it’s a 1959 250 GT LWB California Spider for $7,700,000.

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

Our two feature cars both sold, with the DKW exceeding its estimate and selling for $132,000. The Ferrari 641 F1 car brought $990,000. See full results at Gooding’s website.

To round out our Scottsdale coverage, we have Russo & Steele and this 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster as their top sale for $1,430,000.

Photo - Russo & Steele

Photo – Russo & Steele

Our feature car from this sale, the 1959 Echidna, brought an impressive $162,800. Click here for full results.

STP Turbine Indy Car

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1968 Lotus 56

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 17, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

In 1967, Andy Granatelli entered the turbine-powered STP-Paxton Turbocar in the Indianapolis 500. The car nearly won the race at the hands of Parnelli Jones but a transmission bearing failure with eight laps to go ruined those plans.

Team Lotus took note of this impressive performance and they designed the Lotus 56 around a modified version of the Pratt & Whitney ST6B used in the Turbocar. The STN 6/76 made 500 horsepower in the 56. This car also has four-wheel drive.

So it dominated qualifying, with Joe Leonard taking the pole in one of three 56s entered for the race (a fourth was built, but was destroyed in Mike Spence’s fatal crash in testing). This car was raced by Graham Hill in the ’68 500. He crashed in turn two on lap 110, resulting in a 19th place finish. None of the 56s finished the race, but Joe Leonard was leading with nine laps to go when his fuel pump broke.

This car was owned by Richard Petty for many years and it has been restored to working, race-day condition. For the past year, it’s been on display on at the Speedway Museum in Indy. It’s an awesome piece of machinery and Indianapolis 500 history. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Barrett-Jackson’s lineup.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $1,200,000.

Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2016.

Perana Z-One

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2012 Perana Z-One

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 10-18, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

The Perana Z-One debuted at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show in concept guise. The car was style by Zagato – which is what the “Z” stands for. Perana is a South African company, formally known as the Perana Performance Group.

This car uses a 6.2-liter Corvette V-8 making 436 horsepower, although the owners can upgrade to an LS7 for up to 630 horsepower. These cars have a confusing history – originally, only 10 pre-production coupes were built with the lofty goal of 999 cars to be built per year. Instead, AC Cars acquired the rights to the car to build it as the AC 378 GT Zagato, with production beginning in 2012.

I don’t know how many cars, if any, AC has sold, but Perana has sold a few after that 2012 rights sale. So how many have been built and by which manufacturer? I’m not sure. Is it still in production? Probably not, but there are two of them at this year’s Barrett-Jackson sale. They were supposed to cost up to $150,000 for a high-horsepower version. This one likely won’t top $100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $73,700.

Cadillac LMP

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2000 Cadillac Northstar LMP

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 17, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

What you’re looking at is essentially General Motors’ only foray into the wild world of modern prototype racing. Between 2000 and 2002, under the guise of the Cadillac brand, GM took on the otherworldly Audi R8, among others.

The Northstar LMP (named for Caddy’s Northstar V8 engines) was built from the ground up by Riley & Scott. A version of the Northstar V8 was situated behind the driver – a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 making 650 horsepower. The competition history for this Cadillac factory team chassis includes:

  • 2000 24 Hours of Daytona – 14th (with Eric van de Poele, Wayne Taylor, and Max Angelelli)
  • 2000 12 Hours of Sebring – 6th (with van de Poele, Taylor, and Angelelli)
  • 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans – 21st (with Franck Lagorce, Butch Leitzinger, and Andy Wallace)
  • 2000 Petit Le Mans – 8th (with Lagorce, Leitzinger, and Wallace)

GM cancelled the program after 2002 to focus on their very successful Corvette racing program. These pop up for sale now and then, but only seven were built (two are in this sale). I remember hearing once that GM stripped most of the electronics out of these things before releasing them into the wild… so you can buy it, but it might be hard to use on a track day. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $104,500.

Chrysler ST Special by Ghia

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1955 Chrysler ST Special by Ghia

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 10-18, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Chrysler and Ghia teamed up quite a bit in the 1950s, developing concept car after concept car. They also collaborated on some production specials, like the ST seen here. Between 1952 and 1955, Ghia built a number of beautiful coupes on standard Chrysler frames. This one rests on a New Yorker chassis.

The engine is a 250 horsepower 5.4-liter V-8 and the car was sold new off of Ghia’s stand at the 1955 Turin Auto Show. I find differing production numbers everywhere I look, but the consistent thing is that the ST Special was the rarest of the Ghia Specials. As few as four may have been built (although that number could be as many as 40). This is, perhaps, the final one. And they’re all a bit different.

Finished in this nice copper color, this car was restored in 2012 from barn-find condition. Until then, it had spent most of its active life in France. And now it’s for sale publicly for the first time in a long time. Click here for more info and here for more from Barrett-Jackson.

S/N: N558768

Update: Not sold, high bid of $550,000.

Update: Not sold, Mecum Phoenix 2019, high bid of $450,000.

Pininfarina X

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1960 Pininfarina X Sedan

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 10-18, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

If you’re thinking “Wow, that’s a weird, winged three-wheeler,” you’re only half right. Because this thing had four wheels: one up front. two on the sides… and one more in the middle out back. The front wheel steers and the lone rear wheel is the only one the engine drives. The outboard wheels just ride along. Bizarre.

This concept car was displayed by Pinin Farina in 1960. It’s a four-door sedan and the rear looks like a 1950s/60s-contemporary American boat and the front is entirely unique. The engine is a Fiat 1.1-lilter straight-four making 43 horsepower. It’s probably not too quick with only 43 horsepower and that’s probably for the best as the handling really isn’t great. But it is very aerodynamic.

This car was listed for $3 million in the past five years so what it’ll bring is anybody’s guess. But it sure is interesting. Click here for more info and here for more from Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale.

Update: Sold $330,000.

NASCAR Corvette

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1953 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster Race Car

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 17, 2014

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

The Corvette is one of America’s signature automobiles – it’s the signature American sports car of all time. And America’s most-popular form of motorsport is NASCAR… so it’s only natural that there exists a Corvette with NASCAR history.

Ed Cole sent a few Corvettes south to be turned into race cars in 1955/1956. Two of them were destined for NASCAR (this one and a 1955 model). The ’53 ‘Vette seen here was given a high-output 1956 engine: a 4.3-liter V-8 (remember, the Corvette didn’t get a V-8 until 1955), making a minimum of 240 horsepower.

This car is said to have ran on the beaches of Daytona and at tracks such as Martinsville, Raleigh and Bowman Gray Stadium (although I have been unable to verify this). This is a super-rare piece of racing and Corvette history and should command a large sum. I actually saw this car in person this year and got to see it drive (video here, it sounds great!). I asked the representative of ProTeam Corvette who was guarding the car if they were selling anything interesting from their reserve collection this year and he failed to mention that this very car was going to cross the bliock. Oh well, I can buy it now if I so choose. Click here for more info and here for more from Barrett-Jackson.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $2,000,000.

Here’s some actual video of it:

Packard Sightseeing Bus

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1912 Packard ATD 3-Ton Sightseeing Bus

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 17, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Packard built some of the finest American cars of all time – but they also built commercial vehicles, especially in the pre-WWI era and immediately following the war. They offered chassis in a variety of configurations and tonnage. The ATD was introduced in 1911 and could be had as a fire engine, platform truck, or cab & chassis combo.

This gorgeous sightseeing bus is immaculate – but then again, how would it get dirty? It’s not exactly the easiest thing to cruise around town in and probably doesn’t see the light of day all that often. The engine is a 7.1-liter T-head straight-four making 24 horsepower. Top speed is probably slightly faster than walking pace, considering the sheer size of this vehicle and the lowly power rating.

It seats 42 people and may have been used as a tour bus around Yellowstone National Park (apparently motorized vehicles weren’t actually allowed on park roads 100 years ago). It’s the only surviving example and was once in the Otis Chandler collection (it’s coming from Ron Pratte’s collection this time around). It brought nearly half a million dollars when it left Chandler’s collection in 2006. That seems like a good number this time around. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $291,500.