Tag Archives: Bonhams

Lorraine-Dietrich Grand Prix

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1909 Lorraine-Dietrich 16.4-Liter Grand Prix

Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 18, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Well, there’s no replacement for displacement. Back in the early days of competition motoring, companies just put bigger and bigger engines on their relatively simple chassis and hoped for the best. The crazy part is they rarely ever added cylinders. They just made them bigger. Coffee cans that you can count rev.

But! This car is not from 1909. Maybe a few of the components are, but this car was assembled much more recently. It started as a rolling 1909 Lorraine-Dietrich chassis that was fitted with an actual chain-driven Lorraine-Dietrich gearbox and a custom-built giant motor.

It’s a 16.4-liter inline-four that develops 200 horsepower and a crazy 850 lb-ft of torque, the latter at 1,500 rpm. Here’s an old car that can easily keep up with modern traffic. It has a pre-sale estimate of $600,000-$800,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $1,270,000.

Wolseley-Siddeley

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1906 Wolseley-Siddeley 15HP Tourer

Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Datchet, U.K. | July 22, 2023

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

Wolseley Motors was founded by Vickers – the armaments company – with engineer Herbert Austin on board to help design the cars. The first Wolseleys were sold to the public in 1901. Meanwhile, John Siddeley founded the Siddeley Automobile Company in 1902. Wolseley bought Siddeley in 1905, bringing the latter’s namesake into the fold.

Shortly after, Austin left to form his own company, and Siddeley was put in charge. He then promptly added his own name to the cars, thus forming Wolseley-Siddeley. In 1909, Siddeley left, and his name was then removed. So the car you see here is from a marque that only advertised from 1906 through 1909.

Power is from a 3.3-liter inline-four that was rated at about 15 horsepower. Not many of these survive, despite Wolseley being a dominant force in the U.K. car market around this time (interestingly enough, another auction house has another Wolseley-Siddeley in their catalog for not long after this car crosses the block). It’s been in the same family since 1956 and now has an estimate of $54,000-$68,000. More info can be found here.

Update: Sold, but the auction house won’t tell us for how much.

Lotus 107C

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1993 Lotus 107C

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 14, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Lotus has a long history in F1. From the days of Colin Chapman and Jim Clark to dominance in the ’70s and Mario Andretti’s only F1 championship. Lotus survived into the ’90s, selling out to what would become Pacific Racing, a team that disappeared after one season. The name then returned in the 2010s for a few years, which basically a holding place after Renault left and before they returned again.

Anyway, the Type 107 was designed by Chris Murphy (and team) and debuted for the 1992 season. The car was updated to “B” spec for 1993 and then to “C” specification for the first half of 1994 before it was replaced by the 109. Power in period was from a Ford-Cosworth V8 in ’92 and ’93 and a Mugen-Honda 3.5-liter V10 in 1994. Output was 725 horsepower for the Honda.

The history for this chassis, 107C-01 includes:

  • 1994 Pacific Grand Prix at Aida, Japan – 8th (with Pedro Lamy)
  • 1994 San Marino Grand Prix – 10th (with Johnny Herbert)
  • 1994 Monaco Grand Prix – 11th (with Lamy)

Lamy then used this car in testing at Silverstone when it suffered a catastrophic failure and was essentially destroyed. After Team Lotus failed in 1995, the remnants of this chassis were purchased by the current owner in 1997 along with some spares and rebuilt to show-car status. The Mugen-Honda V10 is long gone, but a mocked-up Judd V10 without internals is in there. The estimate is still $90,000-$125,000. Read more about it here.

Update: Sold $124,208.

Tyrrell 014

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1985 Tyrrell 014

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 14, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Tyrrell was an innovative F1 team, especially in the 1970s. Ken Tyrrell started campaigning cars in other Formula in the late 1950s, arriving on the F1 scene in 1966. The team’s peak occurred in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Their final win came in 1983, and the mid-1980s were not kind. Their last season was 1998 before being bought by BAR, which became the Honda F1 team.

The 014 was the replacement for the 012 (which was a car that got Tyrrell disqualified from the 1982 championship season). The 014 was used for the latter half of the 1985 season and the first few races of 1986. The team’s drivers during that span consisted of Martin Brundle, Stefan Bellof, Ivan Capelli, and Philippe Streiff.

This car was raced with power from a Renault-Gordini turbocharged 1.5-liter V6. Only four 014 chassis were made, and the history for this one, 014/3, includes:

  • 1985 Italian Grand Prix – 8th (with Martin Brundle)
  • 1985 Belgian Grand Prix – 13th (with Brundle)
  • 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch – 18th, DNF (with Brundle)
  • 1985 South African Grand Prix – 7th (with Brundle)
  • 1985 Australian Grand Prix – 13th (with Brundle)
  • 1986 Spanish Grand Prix – 10th, DNF (with Brundle)

This car is described as being “in as-last-raced condition” and does not have an engine. But the gearbox is there! So you can sit in it and pull through the gears making revving noises. The estimate here is $63,000-$100,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $73,933.

Trident Venturer

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1971 Trident Venturer Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 14, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Trident Cars Ltd was one of many low-volume sports car manufacturers that operated in the U.K. between the 1950s and 1970s. Their first car, the Clipper, was born out of a TVR prototype that TVR decided not to build. So one of their dealers, Bill Last, set up Trident cars to make it.

The Clipper was followed by the Venturer in 1969. Styling was similar, but instead of the Clipper’s V8, the Venturer received a 3.0-liter Ford V6 and a lengthened Triumph TR6 chassis. Production ceased in 1974, and an attempted restart in 1976 saw a few cars built before Trident closed for good in 1977.

About 84 Venturers were built, making it the most common of Trident’s models. This one was restored in the late 1990s and now has an estimate of $23,000-$32,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $18,926.

Koenigsegg GT1

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2007 Koenigsegg CCGT GT1

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 14, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

The Koenigsegg CCX was introduced in 2006 as the company’s third-ish model. The company decided they wanted to go GT racing around this time, so they developed this, the CCGT GT1. It was aimed at the FIA’s GT1 class in their GT Championship. This would’ve put it up against the likes of Chevy’s C6.R, the Aston Martin DB9R, and the Maserati MC12 GT1.

It’s powered by a 5.0-liter V8 that made over 600 horsepower. It also had a carbon-fiber monocoque – which the FIA outlawed for the upcoming season shortly after this car debuted, thus rendering it illegal and immediately obsolete. The FIA also then stipulated that 350 road cars had to be produced to homologate the car for racing. I’m not sure Koenigsegg has produced 350 cars to date, total. It’s like the FIA wants to keep their fields small and uninteresting.

So this was the only example built. One of Koenigsegg’s shareholders took the car home, and has had it ever since. Now it’s coming up for sale for the first time with an estimate of $3,750,000-$5,000,000. More info can be found here.

Update: Sold $4,267,570.

Unipower GT

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1969 Unipower GT

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 14, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

It’s hard to come by cars for sale that begin with the letter “U”. So far, our feature cars with this characteristic are limited to those built by Unic in France. The Unipower GT project was championed by Ernie Unger, who had previously worked at Lotus and Elva as well as at the Rootes Group, where he was an engineer on the rear-engined Hillman Imp.

Eventually Unger got his idea for a well-handling British sports car off the ground, with the help of some other folks, including financial backing of Tim Powell and his company, Universal Power Drives, which sold equipment under the Unipower brand.

The GT launched in 1966 with power from a buyer’s choice of Mini engines. The last GT was delivered in early 1970, and in all, just about 75 were built. Only about 40 are known today.

This one is set up for competition use and is powered by a 1.3-liter inline-four Cooper S engine. It’s eligible for historic racing and has a pre-sale estimate of $65,000-$90,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Bugatti Type 22

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1914 Bugatti Type 22 Prince Henry Open Tourer

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 14, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Here’s a fun secret: most “old” Bugattis really aren’t what they started as. So much has been replaced over the years that, often times, more is new than is old. The other bucket is “assembled cars” that used bare Bugatti frames (or frames “believed to have been from a Bugatti”), reconstructed coachwork, and maybe some period mechanical components.

These trade hands often as “real” Bugattis but there is very little real about them. This car is described by Bonhams as a 1914 Bugatti Type 22-Style tourer, which is more honest than most. It was not born this way. The Bugatti Type 22 was introduced in 1913 as an updated replacement for the Type 15. It featured an oval radiator, a larger body, and quarter-elliptic springs.

This car was built around a Bugatti inline-four engine. The frame is thought to have been from 1924-1926 and has been shortened. The gearbox is also from the mid-’20s. There’s then more swapping around of bits in its history – and creation of the missing ones. Now what you have is true Bugatti power moving what could be referred to as a recreation. As this is a pretty regular occurrence in Bugatti circles, the estimate here is still a hefty $155,000-$200,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $142,509.

Graber-Bodied TC 21/100

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1955 Alvis TC 21/100 Coupe by Graber

Offered by Bonhams | Cheserex, Switzerland | June 18, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Another Thursday, another Graber-bodied Alvis. Some of the Graber-bodied cars from Alvis looked pretty much like their factory counterparts. But this car is a far cry from the stock and stodgy TC 21/100 “Grey Lady.” The TC 21 went on sale in 1953. The TC 21/100 was introduced in October of that year.

It featured an updated exhaust system and and an increased compression ratio over the initial model. The engine was a 3.0-liter inline-six that made 100 horsepower initially, but with the changes, the updated model could hit 100 mph.

Only 11 TC 21/100s were bodied by Graber (only five of them were coupes), and this one was sold new in Switzerland. It was restored in the last few years and has an estimate of $90,000-$110,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $104,814.

Chiron

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2020 Bugatti Chiron

Offered by Bonhams | Cheserex, Switzerland | June 18, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

The Chiron is the last of its kind: the full-on factory effort for speed provided by a fossil fuel-burning monster of an engine. Production of the Chiron lasted from 2016 through 2022 across a number of sub-models and is said to be the last hurrah for Bugatti’s insane quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W16 engine.

That engine, in the base Chiron, produced 1,479 horsepower. It could hit 60 in 2.4 second and topped out at 261 mph, which is actually governed “due to current tire technology.” That’s kind of odd, as later Chirons could hit 300 mph.

This car was spec’d at the factory by its owner in two-tone Atlantic Blue and French Racing Blue. It is one of 500 Chirons produced. Perhaps the most interesting thing here is that Bonhams chooses to claim that the car has never been driven in the rain. How do you prove that? The estimate is $2,750,000-$3,300,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold, but Bonhams is nefariously hiding the price.