Tag Archives: Bonhams

Figoni et Falaschi 135M Delahaye

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1947 Delahaye 135M Three-Position Drophead Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 19, 2012

Photo – Bonhams

French coachbuilding firm Figoni et Falaschi is one of the most revered of all of the great coachbuilders and their work on Delahayes tend to be quite popular. This one is swoopy but it’s not as extravagant as some. It’s more along the lines of a post-war interpretation of a pre-war bodystyle.

This is the 135M model which means it has a 120/130 horsepower 3.6 liter straight six. Performance was sprightly, with the sports version of this car winning races across Europe – including the 1937 and 1938 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The 135 was in production from 1935 until Delahaye was purchased by Hotchkiss and production halted in 1954. About 2,000 of them were built using a variety of coachbuilders. Bonhams estimates that this one will sell for between $250,000 and $350,000. Find out more here and more on the auction here.

Update: Sold $474,500.

Coventry-Eagle Flying-8

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1925 Coventry-Eagle 980cc Flying-8 Sidevalve

Offered by Bonhams | Las Vegas, Nevada | January 12, 2012

Photo – Bonhams

Coventry-Eagle built very desirable bikes (desirable both then and now) from 1903 until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. They produced lightweight bikes and larger, more luxurious (and more expensive) bikes like this.

Introduced in 1923, the Flying-8 featured a 980cc sidevalve v-twin until an overhead valve JAP engine was offered in 1926. The models remained in production until 1931 and 1930, respectively.

Coventry-Eagles are fairly rare today and big bikes like this are especially sought after by collectors. This is a fine example with a recent overhaul that can be ridden and shown with pride. Bonham’s estimates it at $90,000-$110,000. Not cheap, but it’s not exactly Brough Superior money. More info here and more on Bonhams in Vegas here.

Update: Not Sold.

Duesenberg J-355

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1929 Duesenberg Model J Convertible Sedan by Murphy

Offered by Bonhams | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 19, 2012

Photo – Bonhams

I guess you could say that I have a thing for Duesenberg’s. Especially Model Js. Expect that, if there is one coming up for auction and I can get the car description well enough in advance (I want to know the engine number), then we’ll feature it here.

This is J-355 and it features elegant Convertible Sedan bodywork by Murphy and the 6876cc straight-eight Lycoming engine making an incredible (for the time) 265 horsepower.

J-355 was transplanted into this car (chassis #2225) from another Model J – one that was owned by a famous Hollywood producer. The original engine for this car is J-204 and that engine now resides in another Murphy-bodied Model J (chassis #2374). Basically, the two cars swapped powertrains sometime during their long history.

This car has not been offered for sale for quite some time, having been on display in a European museum for quite some time. It’s time to get it if you want it. Bonhams’ pre-sale estimate is $650,000-$750,000. Yes, it has slightly appreciated since new when it cost a whopping $12,000 in 1929. Read the full background here and check out more from Bonhams here.

Update: Not Sold.

THIS POST IS CONTINUED HERE

Abarth TC Race Car

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1967 Fiat Abarth TC Berlina Corsa

Offered by Bonhams, Scottsdale, Arizona, January 19, 2012

This is the ultimate hot-hatch – with the exception that the rear hatch is in the always-open position and beneath it is a 1050cc Abarth four-cylinder engine making about 110 horsepower. This car could take down much bigger and more powerful cars. That much power pushing this little weight makes for an incredibly tossable and fun race car.

And this car is race ready. Buy it and go. That little Abarth scorpion logo is good for a few seconds off your lap time. This car was discovered rotting in a backyard in California in 1997 and period-correct Abarth parts were sourced in order to complete the rebuild.

Bonhams’ pre-sale estimate is $50,000-$70,000. More info here with more on the sale here.

Update: Sold $46,800.

Update: Sold, Bonhams Monterey sale 2012, $30,475.

Update: Sold, RM Arizona 2014, $46,750.

Update: Sold, Bonhams Scottsdale 2019, $16,800.

Bonhams Mercedes-Benz World Highlights

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Bonhams recently held sale at Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey (on the 1st of December, 2011), featured a few interesting sales. Foremost among them was the 1953 Austin-Healey 100S Prototype that was involved in the infamous wreck at the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car was being driven by Lance Macklin who swerved to avoid a Mike Hawthorn’s Jaguar D-Type that was entering the pits. Pierre Levegh in a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR struck the rear of this Healey and was launched into the crowd, killing 83, including Levegh. The car’s infamy definitely played a part in it reaching a hammer price of $1.3 million – especially as it was sold in “barn find” condition seen here:

Other highlights include the red Maserati Quattroporte we featured a few weeks ago, selling for $80,000, falling right in the middle of the pre-sale estimate. Also sold was this super unusual 1912 Lanchester 38hp Detachable Open Drive Limousine for just over $130,000.

The car was owned by a Maharajah – as it seems more and more early British motorcars are – especially those with outlandish or highly unusual bodywork. The fixed roof over the rear passengers is completely removable on this car. The wheelbase is ridiculous and the whole front of the car looks like it was smashed backwards by about five feet. Unusual indeed.

I’ve decided that we’re going to give special mention to the final lot in every sale, as that lot usually tends to not be the most valuable or unusual car sold. It’s kind of overlooked. Like Mr. Irrelevant (the last pick in the annual NFL draft). For this sale it was a 2001 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Volante very similar (but not exact) to the one below.

As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the most beautiful cars of all time. It’s an extraordinarily pretty car and this one was dark blue with tan interior and had 63,000 miles on the odometer. It sold for almost $47,000 with buyer’s premium.

For complete results, check Bonhams’ website here.

Bonhams Harrogate Highlights

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Bonhams recent motorcycle and car auction at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate, U.K. featured a few interesting sales. Unfortunately, three of our featured vehicles here on the site did not sell: the Triumph 1800 Roadster, Bristol Beaufighter and the Brough Superior SS100.

Some of the highlights include a 1963 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. The 40 Series of the Land Cruiser range were made from 1960 until 1984 (and even longer in Brazil. These cars – er, uh, Jeeps – are much beloved by the off-road community. This particular model looks brand new and was owned by the Rover Car Co as an “evaluation” vehicle. It sold for about $26,000. Bonhams has these pictures locked, but I’ll do what I can for the other cars.

At most British auctions, there is a large selection of British cars. Two that I’d like to focus on are a 1946 Hillman Minx Drophead Coupe and this 1934 BSA Scout Roadster.

This isn’t the exact car – the exact car had striking red brakes and wheel caps. BSA, Birmingham Small Arms Company, is known primarily as a motorcycle manufacturer but they built cars from 1909 until 1926 and again from 1929 until 1940. Some of these cars where sporty three-wheelers but they built a number of four-wheeled variants as well. This 8.9 horsepower Scout uses a 1,075cc engine that was rebuilt about three years ago. It sold for about $12,000.

The Hillman Minx was produced from the early 1930s through 1970. The immediate postwar Minx (the example sold at Bonhams a 1946) did not differ much from the pre-war Minx. The model is commonplace but the Drophead Coupe body style is quite rare. A driver in nice black paint sold for about $5,700.

There were two interesting old trucks that passed across the block at this sale: a 1925 Autocar 27KS 5-Ton Truck in original running condition sold for about $10,000. And a 1927 International SF24 1.5-Ton Flat-Bed Truck in restored-as-necessary condition with an engine rebuild at some point brought about the same price.

Check out the complete results here (with pictures!).

1967 Maserati Quattroporte

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1967 Maserati Quattroporte

Offered by Bonhams at Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands, December 1, 2011

Bonhams December 1st sale at Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands has a number of very interesting cars including a very rare Arab as well as the most unusual Lanchester I have ever seen. But their pictures remain hard to come by, so I present this, a 1967 Maserati Quattroporte. Four-door Italian elegance. The one offered by Bonhams is red.

This was the first generation of the Quattroporte (“four doors” in Italian). The modern version is one of the best performing luxury sedans in the world and, in its day, this car was no different. This car features the 4.2-liter V8 making 256 horsepower allowing it to hit a top speed of 143 mph (according to Maserati, Car & Driver was able to get it comfortably to 120) – which, either way, is pretty quick for a full-size sedan in 1967.

The car was bodied by Frua and just 776 examples were produced. The interior of the car for sale is gorgeous tan leather with red striping. It underwent mechanical “refurbishment” a few years ago and still looks great. Pre-sale estimates range from about $70,000-$85,000.

More info (and pictures) here, with more sale information here.

Update: Sold $80,000.

Bonhams at Petersen Automotive Museum – Results

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Bonham’s November 12th, 2011 auction at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles sold a few interesting cars that we’ll talk about here. One that did not sell was the 1906 Holsman Model G-10 High-Wheel Runabout we featured here a few weeks ago.

On the upper-end of things was a 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine that was once owned by Elvis Presley. It’s Elvis-association brought in $172,000 – which is a lot, but then again, this is a lot of Cadillac. This result would appear to show that, in this case, Elvis’ name is worth approximately $100,000.

On the interesting side was this 1981 Phillips Berlina T-Top:

Neo-classics were all the rage in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There were quite a number of companies sprouting up in the U.S. that sol old-style cars on modern running gear. Every one of them looks like something Cruella de Vil would drive. This particular car from the Phillips Motor Car Company is built upon a C3 Corvette chassis and uses the donor car’s L82 V8. Chances are you could find numersou Excaliburs or Zimmers for sale at any one time, but this Florida-built Phillips is much rarer. It sold for $10,350.

The next car was featured in the the Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise movie Minority Report. It’s a 2004 Lexus that is fairly memorable from it’s role in the film (if you happened to see it). The car was featured prominently in the movie ads and at least one Lexus campaign if I recall correctly.

It doesn’t have much in the way of an interior – just a driver’s seat, a steering wheel, and some video screens. In the movie it was run on fuel cells (as that was the world-saving technology being touted as “the future” in 2004). Whether it runs or not in real life is another story. This car would work best as a pretty sculpture that sits in the middle of your collection. It brought $101,790.

Going back more than a hundred years we find this wonderful 1902 Autocar Type VIII Rear-Entrance Tonneau:

This car is a driver and is eligible for the London-to-Brighton Run. It’s attractive rear-entrance tonneau bodywork is a kind of marvel. Like three-door coupes today with their hidden rear-doors, this was an early attempt to build a somewhat sporty-looking two-seater with extra hidden seating and space behind the driver. Autocar traces its roots back to 1897 but they built their last “car” in 1911. They are still in business today, making large “vocational” trucks – thus making them, off the top of my head, America’s oldest vehicle manufacturer that’s still operating today. This car sold for $64,350.

Finally, we come to this 1951 Studebaker Land Cruiser Sedan.

It’s not remarkable – Studebaker made a good number of these – but it’s fresh (2007) restoration really looks good. It has a 120 horsepower V-8 and Studebaker’s stand-out “Bullet Nose” design. There’s just something about this car that struck me as intriguing. Do you agree or am I crazy?

For complete results, click here. Individual car pages are linked above.

Brough Superior SS100

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1928 Brough Superior SS100

Offered by Bonhams, Yorkshire, November 16, 2011

The bike shown above is not the same bike offered by Bonhams at their Yorkshire auction (Bonhams keeps their photos to themselves). But, the bike shown above was actually owned by T.E. Lawrence (of Lawrence of Arabia fame). Lawrence was actually killed while riding an SS100 (sans helmet).

The bike offered by Bonhams is an early example – the SS100 entered production in 1924 and was produced until the war broke out and the company shut down production in 1940. Of all models, Brough Superior produced a little over 3,000 bikes, a third of which still exist today. The motorcycles were built to exacting standards – the highest standard for motorcycles built before or since. They were tested before being delivered and if they didn’t perform exactly to George Brough’s standards they were re-built until perfect. They were, and are, considered “The Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles.”

This model features the early 998cc JAP V-Twin engine producing 45 horsepower @5000 rpm (later models had Matchless engines). The ‘100’ in SS100 meant that they were capable of 100 mph.

They were expensive when new and they remain so today. The example offered by Bonhams is expected to sell for between €190,000 and €210,000 (or $250,000-$285,000). You can read the entire lot description here and about the sale here.

Update: Not Sold.

Bristol Beaufighter

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1988 Bristol Beaufighter Convertible

Offered by Bonhams | Harrogate, U.K. | November 16, 2011

Again, as this is a Bonhams lot, not the actual picture. This is a random Beaufighter that looks to be in better condition than the one coming up for auction, which is a sort of sea green.

Bristol is as English as English car firms come. They haven’t published production figures since the early 80s and even then it was a tick over 100 cars per year. Production as been suspended as of early 2011 – but there was a time when people were buying these cars – and that’s when they would be built.

The Beaufighter was a slightly re-styled 412, a model introduced in 1975. It featured an updated engine, in this case a turbocharged 5.9 liter Chrysler V8 making the car capable of 150 mph. The body was by Zagato, as was the 412, the main difference being the four headlights on the Beaufighter versus two headlights on the 412. Production ceased in 1993 after 11 years.

The original price of this car was £40,000 in 1988, a far cry from the pre-sale estimate of £6,000-£8,000. The fact that this car has been in storage for 10 years is not helping its value. Bristol cars are rare enough as it is, so they don’t come up for auction that often. Bonhams sold a red Beaufighter similar to the one pictured above for £12,000 back in 2009 and that car was in much better condition. Then again, there are Beaufighter for sale in private hands that are asking almost as much as their price when new. Compared to that, this car is a bargain, but who knows what sort of maintenance and repair costs lay in wait.

Check out the auction lot here. And more about the auction here.

Update: Not Sold.