Offered by Bonhams | Los Angles, California | August 14, 2020
Photo – Bonhams
It’s rare when an American car from this era exists, while at the same time, practically zero information about it exists. The Mason Tourist King was produced in Newark, New Jersey, sometime between 1918 and 1920.
The car was produced as a prototype to show the U.S. government that it would make a great staff car. Features included to prove this point included a funky passenger seat that was attached to the door. This allowed for a flat sleeping area in the car.
Power is from a 55-horsepower, 4.6-liter Continental inline-six. Unfortunately, the car was produced right at the end of WWI, and no one was interested. It was saved long ago and was restored between 2010 and 2017 at a cost of over $500,000. It’s an interesting car and one that likely belongs in a museum (unfortunately). You can read more about it here and see more from this sale here.
Offered by Bonhams | Bicester, U.K. | July 25, 2020
Photo – Bonhams
Someone shopping for a large British luxury car in the late 1930s had some solid choices. There was of course Bentley and Rolls-Royce, but you could also choose from the likes of SS, Alvis, Brough Superior, Railton, and Lagonda.
In 1936, Lagonda introduced the V12, which featured a 4.5-liter V12 designed by W.O. Bentley and rated at 180 horsepower. It was the company’s first car to feature more than six cylinders. Production started in 1938 and ended at the outbreak of war in 1940.
Just 189 examples were produced. Lagondas have always been very exclusive cars, but the V12 is exclusive even by Lagonda standards. This one is largely original and is one of the final examples built. Its stately four-door sedan body will hold back the value a bit when compared to sportier body styles and open cars, but it should still command between $75,000-$100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Update: Not sold.
Update: Sold, Bonhams, London, October 2020, $80,004.
Offered by Bonhams | Bicester, U.K | July 25, 2020
Photo – Bonhams
Julius Solomon and Jacques Bizet met while working at Georges Richard and left to start their own company, Le Zebre. They launched their first car in 1909, the Type A. It was followed by the Type B and C in 1912.
The six-horsepower Type C would last through 1918, a year longer than the B. The replacement sub-one-liter inline-four in this car has been fitted with an electric starter and has been drained of fluids. This Type C will require a little work before it gets back on the road.
Le Zebre lasted through 1931, and their relatively diminutive cars do come up for sale here and there. But they are by no means common. This one should bring between $15,000-$17,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 13, 2021
Photo – Bonhams
With the Americans really stealing AC’s thunder, the company decided to launch a grand tourer model instead. They took an extended Cobra chassis and dropped a Pietro Frua-designed body over it in 1965. The body featured an aluminum trunk lid and hood.
For power, they turned to Ford. A 7.0-liter (428ci) FE V8 was chosen, and when fitted with a four-barrel carburetor, generated 345 horsepower. The big issue was two-fold. First, the cars were expensive to produce, as the chassis were built in England, shipped to Turin to get a body fitted, and then returned to England to be completed. Second, the big engine put off a lot of heat, a lot of which would end up in the cabin.
This Fastback is one of 51 produced and one of about 80 428s (or Fruas, as they are also known) produced in total. It is expected to sell for between $150,000-$200,000. Click here for more info.
1928 Mercedes-Benz 630K Sports Tourer by Sindelfingen
Offered by Bonhams | Brussels, Belgium | September 6, 2020
Photo – Bonhams
What would become the Mercedes-Benz 630K actually started out as the pre-merger Mercedes 24/100/140 in 1924. Beginning in 1926, the line was renamed the 630, and short-wheelbase K variants went on sale later that year.
They were powered by a supercharged 6.3-liter inline-six that made 138 horsepower with the supercharger engaged, which was done by matting the gas pedal. It was an expensive car, and not all that many were sold before the model went away at the end of 1929. Only 377 630Ks were built after the merger.
This example was bodied by the factory and was first used as a Mercedes-Benz display car. It’s first owner used it competitively until the Nazis came to power, causing him to flee to Finland, where he would later crash the car. It remained in its wrecked state until 1989, when it was discovered and brought back to Germany to be restored.
The work wrapped up in the 1990s, and the car is now being offered with a pre-sale estimate of $680,000-$1,000,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Well, the world is a mess, and most auction houses have postponed or canceled more or less every scheduled auction that was scheduled to be held anytime in late March through… well I don’t even know yet. It’s mid-April as I begin typing this post, and the calendar has more or less cleared out through May and into June (Edit: it took until June to wrap this up).
But! There are still some results to cover, beginning with H&H Auctioneers’ late March sale, which was pretty much the last one to get in before everything went haywire. The top seller was this 1938 Lagonda LG6 Drophead Coupe that brought roughly $237,510 (this was the day that the markets tanked, so the exchange rate was at its lowest in a long time).
Photo – H&H Auctioneers
The Jensen CV8 we featured brought $46,980, and complete results are available here.
RM Sotheby’s shifted their entire Palm Beach sale to online-only, and the top sale ended up being this 1996 Porsche 911 GT2 for $891,000.
H&H also had a sale in late April, even after things were shutting down. The top sale at this abbreviated sale was this 1967 Ford Mustang GT, and it sold for approximately $75,277.
Photo – H&H Auctioneers
The Austin sedan we featured sold for $10,949. More results are available here.
Osenat was one of the first houses to hold a mid-COVID (“mid” because it ain’t over yet) sale. The Panhard we featured didn’t sell, but the overall top seller was this 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S that sold for $950,518. Click here for additional results.
Photo – Osenat
Bonhams held an online sale at the end of May that included a Frazer Nash, an Allard L-Type, and a Lamborghini Urraco that we featured. Only the Lambo sold (for $75,178), and the top sale was for this 1966 Aston Martin DB6 that brought $184,400. Complete results are available here.
AC’s first post-war product was the 2-Litre, a kind of frumpy-looking thing using an engine that dated back to 1922. In 1953, they decided to put a sports car into production that was based on a John Tojeiro design. That same dated 2.0-liter engine was the initial underhood offering, but things soon got more exciting.
Beginning in 1956, AC offered a 2.0-liter inline-six from Bristol that made 120 horsepower. Sadly, this engine was also based on a pre-war design, but it made the car capable of 116 mph, which really upped AC’s sports car cred. They won their class at Le Mans and were popular on the sports car racing circuit. By 1961, a Ford-based 2.6-liter inline-six was offered for a short time. AC also offered a coupe version called the Aceca.
The Ace ceased production in 1963, but by that point, an American called Carroll Shelby had found the car and stuffed a V8 into it and called it the Cobra. The Ace name would also reappear in the 1990s on a different car.
In all, 463 Aces were built with a Bristol powerplant, the most common of the three engines offered. But it’s still rare, and it’s still “one of those cars.” It’s sports car royalty, and it’s for sale by Bonhams for $423,164. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Bicester, U.K. | May 30, 2020
Photo – Bonhams
The Urraco was Lamborghini‘s foray into the word of V8-powered sportscars, an arena in which they do not currently compete. In fact, they only produced two other V8 sports cars: the Silhouette and the Jalpa.
The Urraco was produced between 1972 and 1979 and is powered by a mid-mounted V8 available in three different sizes. The P300 model was the top dog with its 247 horsepower, 3.0-liter V8. Styling was by Gandini at Bertone, the powerhouse of Italian 1970s sporty design.
Only 190 examples of the P300 were built, and the seller of this car rates it on a scale of 99/100, which seems generous for any mid-engined Italian sports car from the 1970s. It’s expected to bring between $74,000-$86,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Bonhams | Bicester, U.K. | May 30, 2020
Photo – Bonhams
The L-Type was one of a handful of Allard models introduced in 1946, which was the first year for true Allard production. It went on sale alongside the J1 and K1. The L was produced until 1950 and strongly resembled a drop-top version of the P1 and the later M-Type.
L-Type buyers had the choice between two engines from the factory: one being a 3.6-liter Ford V8 and the other a modified 4.4-liter Mercury V8. No word on what this car has. It was restored in the 1990s, and some mechanical systems were refreshed a few years ago.
Only 191 examples of the L were produced, and only 10 are said to be listed in the Allard registry. They were all convertibles. This one should bring between $49,000-$62,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
The 1907 Renault Vanderbilt Racer was another big sale, bringing $3,332,500. Two old German cars sold, but the final sales prices were not listed, presumably because the new buyer is weird. They were the Opel Phaeton and the Demarest Benz. The other Benz failed to sell, as did a previously-featured Boyer and Knox.
RM’s Amelia sale boringly saw this 2003 Ferrari Enzo sell for the most money (there were so many cool classics here, so a late model Ferrari is kind of a bummer). It sold for $2,782,500.
Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
All of our feature cars sold, led by two Duesenbergs. The Stationary Victoria sold for $1,325,000, and the Convertible Coupe brought $1,132,500. Cars that crossed the $100k mark included the Talbot-Lago at $250,000 and the Muntz Jet at $117,600.
Aguttes’ March sale might just be the last one we get to recap for while, considering that most sales in late March and heading into April and May have been either canceled or postponed until later in the year. You know, pandemic and all.
