1937 BMW 328

1937 BMW 328 Roadster

Offered by Gooding & Company | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 20-21, 2012

Photo – Gooding & Company

The BMW 328 is one of the best pre-war sports cars. It has racing pedigree, superb styling and enough power from its 2.0 liter 80 horsepower straight six to make it always entertaining. Constructed from 1936 until the war halted production in 1940, a total of 463 of these gorgeous machines were built. The 328 won its class in the 1938 Mille Miglia and won the race outright in 1940.

With less than 500 of them around, they don’t come up for sale all that often. But, it’s one of those cars that, if you’re a serious collector, you just have to have one. It is the pre-war BMW to own… in fact, it’s one of very few BMWs that are incredibly collectible (the 507 and M1 both come to mind as well).

It’s just such a wonderful design – those wheels like they came off a period truck. And white, I think, is the best color. The pre-sale estimate on this car is $500,000-$650,000. Worth it. More info here with more on the auction here.

Update: Sold $517,000.

Lee Roy Hartung Highlights

Auctions America by RM recently spent three days in Illinois offering up all sorts of stuff from the collection of the late Mr. Lee Roy Hartung. He had acquired an extensive collection of everything from bicycles to license plates to seemingly every variation of the Model A under the sun. Here’s a rundown of some of the automotive highlights from the auction:

The 1950 Edwards R-26 Roadster was the project of Sterling Edwards. It was built in California – one of many small fiberglass sports car start-ups that appeared on the west coast in the 1950s. The R-26 was a one-off that won the inaugural Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance (they honored contemporary sports cars before switching to the classics they honor now). Hartung acquired the body later and re-assembled the car using period parts from other cars. It sold in a somewhat dilapidated condition for $143,750.

(Edwards R-26 Roadster)

One car sold at the auction is a car that I’ve read a lot about but never actually seen – because they were built and used up back in the day. Ran into the ground because they were work cars. What I’m talking about is a 1925 Hertz Model D-1 Five-Passenger Touring. John D. Hertz founded a cab company in 1914 and in 1920 founded the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company to build his own taxis. A few years later he acquired a car rental company and renamed it Hertz. Not a man content on buying products from other people, Hertz decided to build his own cars that he would hire out. Enter the Hertz Model D-1. It’s a 6-cylinder original car from another era and they just don’t show up anymore. It was sold for $12,650 and would probably be quite fascinating if restored.

Finally, the most eye-popping car offered was the 1950 Veritas BMW. Veritas was founded by former BMW employees who decided to build their own car around pre-war BMW components. Their company lasted until 1953 and they turned out a few varieties: coupes, convertibles, and some that resembled downright race cars. German coachbuilder Spohn (who I primarily associate with Maybach) decided to build a one-off body for a Veritas based on General Motors’ Le Sabre Concept (which there is a picture of at the bottom of the page). It’s pretty close. Look at the tail-fins: fins that big didn’t become commonplace for another seven to nine years. This car hasn’t been seen in some time and sold in un-restored condition for $195,500.

Harley Earl’s Le Sabre Concept:

Complete results can be found at the Auctions America site here.

A Stunning 1959 BMW 507

1959 BMW 507 Roadster

To be offered by RM Auctions

at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, January 19/20, 2012

With the plethora of cars to come up for auction in Arizona in January, I probably should have started going through them months ago. But they weren’t available months ago so I’m starting today and we’re going to start with this beautiful, somewhat Gothic-looking 1959 BMW 507 being offered by RM Auctions. It’s one of only 252 built – which is startlingly rare. It’s possibly the most beautiful BMW ever built.

Black with black wheels – what a combo! The tan interior is a nice touch that will brighten your day if you are lucky enough to ever sit in this car. It is, without a doubt, the most stunning color-combo I’ve ever seen on a 507. It has been fully restored with a 3.2-liter (okay, 3168cc) V8 producing 150 horsepower through a 4-speed manual. It will hit speeds over 120 mph – which seems slow, but this car was produced in the 1950s (1956-1959). Plus, it looks like it’s doing half that standing still.

The 507 almost bankrupted BMW – it’s planned price point was $5,000 USD at 5,000 units per year, but soaring production costs sent the price soaring as well, eventually reaching $10,500 – and BMW still lost money on each one built. Not many 507s have come up for auction in the past few years. RM sold two earlier this year for slightly over $1 million USD each and Gooding & Company sold one in 2009 for around $900,000. From the looks of it, this car will top all three.

RM has not yet published auction estimates or a catalog description but you can find the car here and information on the sale here.

Update: Sold $990,000.