Nagant Berline

Posted on November 22, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1918 Nagant Four-Cylinder Berline

For sale at Retrolegends | Valkenswaard, Netherlands

Tell me “Valkenswaard” isn’t the most fearsome sounding name for a northern European city. It sounds like a battle in Norse mythology involving a giant anthropomorphic bird and a giant invincible sword. Anyway, this 1918 Nagant has been on sale for a while, and I really like it.

Nagant was an arms manufacturer founded in Liége, Belgium in 1859. The name is probably most familiar to firearms types because of the famous Mosin-Nagant rifle that was put into use by the Russian Empire 1891.

Nagant wasn’t the only firearms manufacturer to turn to automobiles (BSA comes immediately to mind). Cars were introduced in 1900 and they were mostly licensed copies from other manufacturers. Later cars of their own design used high-revving (for the time) engines capable of up to 4,000 rpm. I’m unsure as to the power output of this car, but it may have the sidevalve 14/16hp engine introduced by Nagant in 1913.

These were known to be well-made, fast and highly durable cars. The company was acquired by Imperia in 1931 but production had wrapped up in 1928. Price is “available upon request,” which probably means it is too high, as it hasn’t sold in the years it has seemingly been sitting there. Click here for more info (well okay, less info, but it is the site where it is for sale).

1915 Crane-Simplex

Posted on May 29, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1915 Crane-Simplex Model 5 Sport Berline by Brewster

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | June 3, 2012

Tell me that isn’t a beautiful car. Quite a number of cars of this vintage have upright grilles that lead the cowl straight back to the firewall and passenger compartment. It’s like somebody fitted two rectangles together and called it a day. But look at the flow of the front of this car – how the cowl sweeps right into the windshield. It’s one of my favorite early automotive design touches. The roof rack completes the picture of this car, full of a wealthy family, their belongings strapped to the roof, travelling on to some Gilded Age vacation home on the New England coast.

Crane-Simplex is one of those marques that went through quite a few different names and owners over the years. A brief history: The Smith & Mabley Manufacturing Company began building the S&M Simplex in 1904. Two years later the company was broke and it was absorbed by the Simplex Automobile Company, the badging was shortened to “Simplex.” In 1915, the Crane Motor Car Company purchased Simplex and Crane-Simplex was born. In 1920, Mercer (and the ill-fated Hare’s Motors corporation) acquired Crane-Simplex for two years before Henry Crane (who founded the Crane Motor Car Company) bought it back after Hare’s Motors went bust. He tried to revive the company but it was gone from the marketplace by 1924.

The car featured here has a six-cylinder engine displacing 9.24-liters and it is from the first year of production. The body is by Brewster and, because the engine puts out significant power, it’s big. Crane-Simplex cars were for the very wealthy – John D. Rockefeller had one. They were well built and expensive. The one seen here sold for $13,800 in 1915. Only 121 Crane-Simplex cars were made in total.

The car is presented as “original” while having been “worked over” (which I take to mean “restored as needed”) so it can be driven long distances. Original or not, this would be one hell of a car to drive on a classic car tour. It’s one of the most exclusive pre-war American automobiles. It is exceptional.

The pre-sale estimate is $100,000-$140,000, and after looking at it, this sounds remarkably fair. To read the complete lot description, click here. And for more from Bonhams in Connecticut, click here.

Update: Not sold.

Duesenberg J-103

Posted on February 24, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1929 Duesenberg Model J Convertible Berline by LeBaron

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 10, 2012

LeBaron-bodied Duesenbergs are my favorite, although not necessarily Convertible Sedans. This one has an interesting history, having been owned first by Canada’s first and only Duesenberg dealer, Billy Van Horne. J103 was one of the first cars built (it was the fourth engine and third chassis constructed). It was the first long-wheelbase chassis.

The original body on this car was a Holbrook Seven-Passenger Limousine, which was fitted when the car sat on the Duesenberg stand at the 1929 New York Auto Show. The current body was fitted in 1935 when the third owner shipped the car back to Indiana to get a more sporting body mounted on chassis 2127.

This car was restored for the first time in the early 1960s before it found its new home in the Midwest. The restoration has been “upgraded” twice since, in order to keep the car fresh. Ownership is known from new and this is a Duesenberg with no “stories.” There was no storage in a barn for 40 years. Someone has been enjoying this car since it left the factory. Now it is being sold out of the collection of John O’Quinn.

There were only three of these LeBaron Convertible Berline bodies built. RM estimates the sale price of this car to be between $800,000-$1,000,000. To read the complete description, click here and for the rest of RM in Florida, click here.

Update: Sold $803,000.