Tag Archives: Bonhams

Daley Quadricycle

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1898 Daley Quadricycle

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | November 3, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

M.H. Daley, who owned a company that manufactured farm equipment, was responsible for one of America’s earliest automobile manufacturers. Founded in Charles City, Iowa, in 1895, the little company lasted only through 1898. His first car used an engine he designed himself.

It’s unknown how many cars Daley built (there were at least three and he did plan to market them for $500 a pop, though it’s unlikely this ever occurred), but this is the only one left. It’s powered by a 700cc twin-cylinder engine that gets a supposed 100 mpg. Good luck spending 100 miles in this thing trying to achieve that figure.

This car used to compete in the London-to-Brighton run back in the 80s before it was put on museum duty. The current owner acquired it back in 2011 and has had the engine rebuilt. That means it’s about ready to run in upcoming events. As a very rare pioneer American automobile, this car should bring between $46,000-$59,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $39,196.

Westfield

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1902 Westfield 13HP Model G Four-Seat Tonneau

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | November 3, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

Founded in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1901 by Charles Moore, Westfield did not produce cars for very long and, in fact, never really sold any gas powered cars at all, even though this car is actually gas powered. Their first cars were steam powered but he also sold cars with a chassis and body, but no engine.

Giving owners the ability to choose their own engines for their cars would lead to some pretty outlandish automobiles today, but in 1902 pickings were slim and this car features a 2.5-liter two-cylinder engine making 13 horsepower – enough power to get this thing up to around 50 mph. It was built by a small engine building company called Remington.

Westfield folded in 1903, having lasted just three short years. Restored in the 1990s, the car spent most of its life in the U.S., with much of the late 1990s and early 2000s touring the show circuit there. It came to the U.K. in 2006 where it has continued to be shown (and toured). You’re unlikely to find another car from this marque and this one, which is quite usable, should bring between $260,000-$330,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $376,362.

Clement-Panhard

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1900 Clement-Panhard 4½HP Type VCP Voiture Légère Vis-a-Vis

Offered by Bonhams | Los Angeles, California | November 11, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

There have been so many great pre-1905 cars for sale lately! This car is from the mini-empire of marques featuring Adolphe Clément’s name. Clement was on the board at Panhard et Levassor and when the company’s factory was found to not be adequate enough to build a run of a 4.5hp “dog carts” that were designed by Arthur Krebs, Clement set up his own concern to build them.

Clement-Panhards were available between 1898 and about 1900. They featured a rear-mounted single-cylinder engine that made 4.5 horsepower and drove the rear wheels through an exposed-gear transmission. The three headlights and center-pivot steering give it an unusual face that only its mother could love.

In the U.K., these were called Clement-Stirlings or Stirling-Panhards. Only about 500 were built and body styles differed wildly from chassis to chassis. This car has two bench seats that face each other, which was a weird fad among early cars. This one hasn’t been used in a while but it was well kept for the last many decades. It should sell for between $40,000-$50,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $60,500.

Abarth Monomille

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1963 Fiat-Abarth Monomille GT Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Padua, Italy | October 28, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

The Fiat-Abarth 750 was a tiny sports car manufactured by Abarth beginning in the late 1950s. The famous Zagato “Double Bubble” variant is highly sought after today. Thanks to that car’s success, in late 1960, Abarth shoved a larger engine in their Fiat 600-based car and the Monomille was born.

Early Scorpione cars carried bodies by Beccaris and this, a later GT version, sports a fastback body by Sibona & Basano. The engine is a 1.0-liter straight-four that was tuned in the 1990s to 80-ish horsepower (up from the original 60). These cars were expensive when new, costing nearly a third more than a Porsche 356.

This pricing model might explain why the Monomille is so rare today. This car, whose restoration was completed three years ago, is one of four GT models that still exist. It should bring between $110,000-$140,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $120,111.

The Oldest British Car

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1894 Santler 3½HP Dogcart

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | November 3, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

And now on to the most interesting sale of the year, Bonhams’ London-to-Brighton sale. It never disappoints, this year especially. What you’re looking at here is believed to be the oldest surviving car built in Britain. The Santler brothers, Charles and Walter, were building bicycles in the 1880s in Worcestershire. They completed their first vehicle, a steam car, in 1889.

Unfortunately there were some weird laws on the books in 1889 and two-seat self-propelled cars were illegal. So they parked their experimental vehicle and only came back to it a few years later when they took the chassis (this one) and installed a two-cylinder gasoline engine. It was used briefly and wasn’t rescued until the 1930s. A fan of old cars bought it in the 1950s and restored it, using a period-correct 3.5 horsepower single-cylinder Benz engine, which it still carries today.

The Santlers built a few one-off cars up through 1922 which included a brief run of cars they actually offered for sale. This may be the only surviving example from Santler and with its chassis dating to 1889, it’s one of the oldest cars in the world. It has been prepped and is ready to take part in this year’s London-to-Brighton run. As a piece of history, it should bring between $260,000-$330,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Peugeot L45 Grand Prix

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1914 Peugeot L45 Grand Prix

Offered by Bonhams | Los Angeles, California | November 11, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

Over the past year I’ve done some (super nerdy) analytical statistician-type stuff around the Indy 500. During the course of that research, I found some interesting things and this car features prominently among them. We’ll get to that in a minute, but first let’s say that yes, this is the coolest Peugeot you’re likely to ever see up for sale.

As one of the oldest car companies in the world, Peugeot has been involved in racing longer than most companies have existed. The L45 was one in a series of purpose-built racing cars that started with the L76 shortly after 1910. It became the L56 for 1913 and those were raced around Europe. For 1914, the car was updated again, this time to the L45 specification you see here. Peugeot built four of them for the 1914 French Grand Prix (three competed and this was the spare).

It features four-wheel brakes, shaft-drive, and a 112 horsepower, 4.5-liter straight-four. While racing in Europe was big business for Peugeot, there was this little race on the other side of the Atlantic that was getting a lot of attention. They sent one of their premier drivers, Jules Goux, there in 1913 and he was the first to take the checkered flag at the third Indianapolis 500. Keeping in mind there were no Indy 500s in 1917 or 1918, the race history for the chassis you see here includes:

  • 1916 Indianapolis 500 – 3rd (with Ralph Mulford)
  • 1919 Indianapolis 500 – 19th, DNF (with Art Klein)
  • 1919 Sheepshead Bay board track race – 4th (with Klein)
  • 1919 Cincinnati board track race – 2nd (with Klein)
  • 1923 AAA dirt championship – 2nd (with Joe Boyer)
  • 1949 Indianapolis 500 – DNQ (with Lindley Bothwell)

Wait, what was that last one? This car was owned by Peugeot and passed to a few owners including Lutcher Brown, Frank Book, Ralph Mulford, Art Klein, and finally to Lindley Bothwell. Bothwell’s legendary collection of early racing cars featured this among others. Feeling sporty, he took the car to the 1949 Indy 500 and bested the qualifying speed that the Peugeots posted in 1916. Unfortunately, it was far too slow to make the race. But it makes for a pretty interesting, if not bizarre story. Imagine someone showing up at the 2019 Indy 500 trying to qualify in Bobby Rahal’s race-winning car from 1986.

Not many of these Peugeot racing cars survive and this is supposedly the only one with Grand Prix history (even if it was a spare car). It is largely original, though the engine has been rebuilt since 2000 – but it is still capable of 100 mph. It’s one of the most interesting cars to come up for sale in some time. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $7,260,000.

DB AR1

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2003 Aston Martin DB AR1 Roadster by Zagato

Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 6, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

The Aston Martin DB7 went on sale in 1994 with a straight-six engine. The V-12 arrived in 1999. By 2003, when the variant you see above was introduced, the DB7 was pretty long-in-the-tooth. Before this, there was a DB7 Zagato Coupe built from 2002 and 2003 that helped spice up the range. This is essentially the roadster version of that car.

And it’s a true roadster – there is no top. And I guess, technically, it’s not even a DB7 at all, since that “7” doesn’t appear in the car’s name. “AR1” stands for “American Roadster 1” and just 99 examples were produced. This is #23.

The DB AR1 is powered by a slightly tweaked version of the DB7 Vantage’s 6.0-liter V-12 that, in this car, makes 435 horsepower. All that power helped set a record of sorts – this is the world’s fastest true roadster, with a top speed of 186 mph.

The first owner of this car was American. Then it made it’s way to it’s third owner in Luxembourg by way of its second owner in Switzerland. It’s a 2,000 mile car and a gorgeous one at that. Aston and Zagato go hand in hand and this car is drivable proof. It is expected to sell for between $300,000-$420,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

September 2017 Auction Results, Pt. II

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We’re back, this time starting with Mecum’s Dallas sale. The top sale was this 2006 Ford GT for $270,000.

Photo – Mecum

We featured a big Cadillac from this sale and it sold for $130,000. Check out everything else that sold (or didn’t) here.

Bonhams held their Chantilly sale in Paris in September and the top sale was this pretty 1953 Aston Martin DB2 Vantage Cabriolet for $485,415.

Photo – Bonhams

A previously-featured Horch failed to find a new buyer at this sale, but the Frazer Nash Shelsley did, selling for $242,707. And that crazy Ferrari 328 Conciso sold for $138,690. Click here for more results.

Let’s go to Italy for RM Sotheby’s all-Ferrari sale held at Ferrari. Ferrari actually auctioned off some stuff they had lying around (like a LaFerrari Prototype and a wind tunnel model of their newest model). The top sale was actually a 2017 LaFerrari Aperta – a car I was excited to feature, but Ferrari didn’t release what it was going to look like until right before the sale, so there weren’t any available photos. It brought an eye-watering $9,947,425. To be fair though, it was sold to benefit charity, so someone probably bought a nice, big tax write-off (depending on where the buyer was from).

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Two cars sold at this auction that we’d featured: a 195 Inter (for $1,078,636) and a one-off 250 Europa by Vignale for $3,440,850. Click here for complete results.

Moving on to Historics at Brooklands September sale, we’ll find that the Allard M-Type we featured sold for $29,097. The top sale was this 1966 Maserati Sebring Series II for $364,284. Click here for more results.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Finally, the Aguttes sale held at Montlhéry. The Georges Irat Cabriolet we featured failed to sell, but this 2003 Maserati 4200 Trofeo brought more money than anything else – $324,471. Click here for the rest of the results.

Photo – Aguttes

The Most Ridiculous Mercedes

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2017 Mercedes-Maybach G650 Landaulet

Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 6, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

Mercedes-Benz built a six-wheeled version of their iconic G-Class a few years ago. It was pretty intense and easily one of the most over-the-top cars money could buy. And it sold out quickly. So in 2017, Mercedes, with their bizarre new marque structure where luxury models lose the “Benz” and get appended with the halfway resurrected “Maybach” name, decided to try and one-up themselves in the ridiculousness category: they built an extended-wheelbase Landaulet version of one of the world’s most capable off-roaders.

The current generation of the G-Class dates to 1990, though the exterior has been tweaked over the years to give every buyer that true “Russian Mob” feeling. The G650 Landaulet gets the AMG treatment under the hood (I guess luxuriousness trumps power when it comes to the car’s name). It’s powered by a 621 horsepower, 6.0-liter twin-turbo V-12. That’s almost as much power as a McLaren F1.

That tan part of the roof at the back folds down to give the rear passengers the open-air experience while fording rivers – which it can do because this car is also equipped with portal axles lifted from the super-macho 4×4² version of the G-Class. Oh, and those rear passengers are coddled in the same seats from the near-limo Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. This convertible luxury truck is basically the ultimate Daimler Parts Bin Special.

And it is being sold by Daimler. It’s a zero-owner car whose proceeds will benefit charity. Only 99 of these have been/will be built and they will all sell – mostly, I’d guess, to wealthy Middle Eastern oil barons. No estimate has been published, but the base price for one of these is supposed to be around $550,000. We’ll see what this one brings. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $1,404,840.

Mack AB

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1917 Mack AB C-Cab Stake Bed

Offered by Bonhams | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | October 2, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

There are few companies more American than Mack Trucks. With their big, recognizable trucks and bulldog mascot, Mack was been producing the commercial vehicles that provide the backbone of American commerce since they were founded on June 11, 1900.

The AB was a model introduced in 1914 and produced through 1937. Over 55,000 were produced in varying configurations over the course of the production run. This one has a fairly lengthy wheelbase and a stake bed for hauling lumber. All that mass is moved by a 30 horsepower four-cylinder engine. Top speed is probably minimal, which is good because this truck features only mechanical rear drum brakes.

This stylish C-Cab truck has been well restored and is coming out of long-term ownership. The engine has been freshly rebuilt, making this the perfectly impractical vehicle for your Home Depot 2×4 runs. It should sell for between $15,000-$25,000. Classic commercial vehicles are always interesting, so grab this one while you can. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $8,800.