Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 8, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
The Sebring replaced the 3500 GT as Maserati‘s 2+2 coupe in 1962, after debuting at that year’s Geneva International Motor Show. It featured muscular but sophisticated styling penned by Giovanni Michelotti at Vignale. Just 593 were produced, and all but one were coupes.
Of those, 350 or so were Series I cars, which were built until 1965. Most of those were powered by a fuel-injected 3.5-liter inline-six that was rated at 232 horsepower in 1963. Both 3.7- and 4.0-liter units would be offered later in the model’s run.
A restoration on this example was performed between 2018 and 2020. No estimate is yet available, but you can read more about it here.
Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | September 9, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
Maserati launched five new models under Citroen’s seven-year ownership. The four-seat Khamsin was among the last and went on sale in 1974 with styling by Marcello Gandini during his time at Bertone.
Power is from a front-mounted 4.9-liter V8, the same powerplant previously used in the Ghibli SS. Output was rated at 320 horsepower. It’s got all of the Citroen hydraulic goodies – for better or worse, and the car went on sale a year before Maserati ownership passed to De Tomaso.
By the time it exited production in 1982, just 435 examples of the Khamsin had been built. This right-hand-drive example was sold new in the U.K., and its restoration was completed in 2012. Now it has an estimate of $160,000-$190,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | September 9, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
The Aston Martin Virage debuted for 1989 and was produced in its boxy gloriousness through 2000. But it wasn’t this boxy. This prototype wasn’t meant to signal the design language of the company’s upcoming near-supercar, it was just convenient to use a shortened Lagonda as a test mule.
But it also allows us to see the answer to the question “What if they made a two-door Lagonda.” Well, it’s kinda neat. Sure, it definitely looks like its been chopped a bit, but you can also still kind of see the upcoming Virage in its shape and front end.
It was powered by a 5.3-liter V8 and, after testing duty, was parked in the service department, only to be spotted by an Aston customer who wanted to buy it. It was overhauled by the factory and fitted with a contemporary Virage engine in 1993. It’s a pretty neat, one-off thing, and it can be yours for between $315,000-$440,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 2, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
This was a fancy car for some, presumably, Parisian back in the day. The Landaulette bodywork featured an exposed chauffeur’s compartment – well, it at least has a roof and a windscreen. Chances are they could’ve had side curtains for it too. But the passenger, and likely owner of the car, sat in back in an enclosed box.
The Type 43 was produced by Delahaye from 1911 through 1914. It’s powered by a 3.0-liter inline-four that was rated at 28 horsepower and paired with a four-speed manual transmission. As war approached, the Type 43 became the basis for some trucks as well.
This car was imported to the U.K. from France in 1991 and restored the following year. It’s been drained and sitting in storage since 2000. Recommissioning will be required. It has an estimate of $56,000-$69,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 2, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
Kougar Cars had only been around about a year when they produced this sports racing prototype. It looks like an Italian racer from the 1950s but is actually based on Ford or Jaguar components. This was the factory prototype for the Monza model, which would end up being less popular than the company’s Sports model.
This example is powered by a 3.0-liter Ford Essex V6. You could fit a Rover V8 in there. Or, if you were insane, a Jaguar V12. The aluminum bodywork features a low-slung front end, a hood scoop, and a headrest fairing for the right-side driver.
It was restored in 2012 and 2013. Only about 40 Monzas were produced, and this one has an estimate of $37,000-$63,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 2, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
So what is this exactly? Well, it’s described as a Rhodia – and that’s what the badge on the radiator surround says. But even browsing some fairly comprehensive automotive encyclopedias won’t help you find any info about the company.
Bonhams doesn’t provide much insight either, but they do mention that it was built in the U.S. and is “one of a few” exported to the U.K. for use as an ambulance during WWI. But, if you consult the Beaulieu Encyclopedia, there is a mention of Rhodia as a British manufacturer that existed sometime between 1914 and 1922. It notes that the ambulance you see here is the only evidence of its existence.
This truck, which is powered by an inline-four engine, is said to have been discovered in a garage in 1977, having been shut in there since 1939. It was previously registered as a taxi in Scotland in the 1920s, and it was restored by the current owner, with work wrapping in 2016. If you’re in the market for a mystery – and have the money/skill to build your own replacement parts from scratch, this is the historic WWI ambulance for you. It has an estimate of $18,000-$25,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 18, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
Colonel Pope founded five different car companies, four of which had his name attached to them. The Pope-Toledo was built in Toledo, Ohio, from 1903 to 1909. After it closed, the factory was sold to Overland.
A Pope-Toledo competed in the first Vanderbilt Cup in 1904. Not this car, though. This is an assembled car that uses a 24-horsepower Pope-Toledo frame, a post-1904 3.4-liter inline-four, and a reconstructed body imitating that used by the Vanderbilt Cup car, which was driven by Herb Lytle. Lytle previously owned this engine, which is larger than a stock Pope-Toledo unit.
The car’s low bodywork implies sport, and the fact that it has dual chain drive implies some kind of speed. This may not look the part, but for 1904, it was a performance car. Then again, the car as we see it is not from 1904 but from many decades later. It has an estimate of $200,000-$300,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 18, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
This car is proof that, if you watch long enough, just about everything will come up for sale. Ferrari‘s “P”-line of sports prototype race cars are among the most valuable and sought after vehicles in the world. Only four 412Ps were built, and two of those were actually converted from P3s.
This car, chassis number 0854, is one of two factory-built 412Ps. But not much left on it is from the factory. The car was purchased by David Piper in 1968, and the original aluminum body had seen a few years of hard racing duty at that point. And instead of repair it, he replaced the body with a fiberglass one. Which was then destroyed in a fire in 1969. It was then rebuilt again, and this time as a spyder, before it was actually restored to how it looked when new. This was done by the current owner, famed Ferrari guy Jim Glickenhaus.
With these old racing cars, it’s sort of like the “idea” of them. Eventually every part will be replaced, but as long as you can link the chain back to when it was new, then you’ve got the real deal.
The engine is a 4.0-liter V12 that makes somewhere around 420 horsepower. The period racing history for this chassis includes:
1967 1000km Spa – 3rd (with Richard Attwood and Lucien Bianchi)
1967 24 Hours of Le Mans – 23rd (with Attwood and Piers Courage)
All of this is good and well, but there is still one more important detail (it’s not the price, which most cannot afford anyway and will be well into the eight figures). It’s this: this car has license plates. The late 1960s is when the end came for sports prototypes to also be made street legal. By the 1970s, the cars were too extreme. This is pretty extreme, but you can still take it to the grocery store. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 18, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
The insane front-engined Panoz Esperante GTR-1 put Panoz on the map, and once that class was eliminated from FIA GT competition, Panoz re-tooled and came up with the LMP-1 Roadster S. Then they also founded the ALMS so they had somewhere to race it in the U.S.
It looks like an open-cockpit GTR-1, and it kind of is. They were powered by a 6.0-liter Ford-based Elan V8 that made 620 horsepower. This particular car is without an engine. It is chassis #002, and its competition history includes:
1999 24 Hours of Le Mans – 11th (with Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen, and Max Angelelli)
1999 Petit Le Mans – 5th (with O’Connell, Magnussen, and Memo Gidley)
Those are some grade A late-90s/early-00s endurance racing names. These Panoz prototypes are LOUD – you know, when they have an engine. And this one would be welcome at most historic racing events. It has an estimate of $350,000-$550,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 18, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
This is a “bitsa” Duesenberg. It’s got bits of this and that Model J assembled to form a complete car. This is the case with seemingly every pre-war Bugatti, and more than a few Model Js have swapped engines and/or bodies.
So what do we have here? First, a real Model J chassis (2481) that was pulled out of one of Karl Kleve’s hoards. It was originally bodied as a Willoughby limousine. It also has engine J-474 in it, and that’s what really matters (even though it did not come from chassis 2481). Weirdly, they’ve coupled that 265-horsepower, 6.9-liter inline-eight with a Tremec six-speed manual transmission.
The body is a recreation. There’s something about dual-cowl coachwork that is hard to really nail, and every such recreation looks slightly… off. Maybe it’s the long wheelbase coupled with too-small-looking wire wheels. Or maybe it’s just the photos. Anyway, this is said to be a $1.8 million build, and it now has an estimate of $1,250,000-$1,500,000. Click here for more info.
