Tag Archives: Bonhams

May 2015 Auction Highlights, Pt II

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Here we go again, jumping right into it we have Silverstone Auctions’ May sale where our featured Lancia Delta Integrale 16v sold for $27,540. The top sale was this 2010 Porsche 911 GT2 RS for $430,300. Click here for full results.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Next up is Bonham’s Spa sale where a magnificent 1990 Porsche 962C was the top sale at $1,628,951.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Only one of our feature cars, the Lechner Prototype, managed to sell (the McLaren and Maurer didn’t). It brought $119,038. Click here for full results.

Next up is RM Sotheby’s Villa Erba sale in beautiful Lake Como. Two of our feature cars failed to sell, the BMW-Glas and the Ferrari 195 Inter, while our other feature car (the Ferrari 212 Export) was the top sale at $7,593,600. Interesting cars included this 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Villa d’Este Coupe by Touring for $885,920. Complete results can be found here.

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

The first of two auctions held in Greenwich, Connecticut is where we go next: Bonhams. The top sale was this 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Stelvio Convertible by Gangloff for $1,595,000.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

A previously-featured Duesenberg failed to meet its reserve at this sale and did not sell. Our other three feature cars all sold with the Chalmers-Detroit bringing $69,300. The Falcon-Knight sold for $28,600 and the Elgin Touring brought $17,600. Click here for complete results.

And finally, Dragone Auctions, the other sale in Greenwich. Two of our feature cars failed to sell: the Pontiac Banshee and the Mercer Type 35. The Smith Flyer sold for $7,150. The top sale was this 1913 Stutz Bearcat Series B for $577,500. Click here for full results.

Photo - Dragone Auctions

Photo – Dragone Auctions

Falcon-Knight Speedster

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1927 Falcon-Knight Model 10 Speedster

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | May 31, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Falcon-Knight was a company that fell under John North Willys’ corporate umbrella. He founded the company to fill a price gap below the Willys-Knight. Both used the then-prolific Knight sleeve-valve engine.

That engine is a valveless 2.6-liter straight-six making 46 horsepower. The cars were produced in the former Garford truck plant in Elyria, Ohio. Even though they were supposed to be the sort of baby Willys-Knight, the cars were nearly identical to the Whippet, albeit with a different engine.

1927 was the first year for Falcon-Knights and the Model 10 was the only model available. This car features unique, special-ordered Speedster body and it is believed to be the only one like it. The company built cars in 1928 (and a few in 1929) before calling it quits. This one has known ownership history from new. Only 11,041 Falcon-Knights of all body styles were ever built. This one should cost between $18,000-$25,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $28,600.

1910 Chalmers-Detroit

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1910 Chalmers-Detroit Model K ’30’ Touring

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | May 31, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Ready for a history lesson? Erwin Ross Thomas had his hand in the automobile industry almost from the beginning. In 1900 he founded two companies: Auto-Bi (which sold motorized bicycles) and the Buffalo Automobile Company, which built cars (they were pretty much the same company but made different products). Buffalo only built cars through 1902 before Thomas re-named the company after himself and got pretty famous with his Thomas Flyer.

That’s Part I. Part II involves two former Oldsmobile workers on a train in 1906 who had just failed to secure funding for a new venture. When they met Thomas in the dining car, he bankrolled a new company in Detroit, called Thomas-Detroit. It only took two years of the former-Olds employees to tire of Thomas’ manage-from-New York-even-though-the-company-is-in-Detroit style and they convinced Hugh Chalmers, vice president of the National Cash Register Company, to buy out Thomas. So the Thomas-Detroit became the Chalmers-Detroit in 1908. In 1911, the Detroit suffix was dropped and Chalmers soldiered on until they merged with Maxwell in 1922 and ceased production in 1923. Then Maxwell become Chrysler. And here we are today. Ta-da!

Anyway, this beautiful old touring car is powered by a 30 horsepower 3.7-liter straight-four. The Model K ’30’ was the first car designed under the new ownership and they were expensive. Chalmers-Detroit-branded cars were only sold for three model years, making this car rarer than later Chalmers cars. It has been fabulously restored and is gorgeous. It should sell for between $75,000-$90,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $69,300.

May 2015 Auction Highlights, Pt I

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First up in the month of May, Bonhams’ all-Aston Martin sale where a previously featured DB7 V12 Prototype sold here again, this time for $35,612. The top sale was this 1966 Aston Martin DB5 Convertible restored to Vantage specification that sold for $2,360,784.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Our featured DB4 Vantage Convertible was right behind it at $2,332,827. The DB6 Volante failed to sell. Check out complete results here.

Auctions America’s Auburn Spring sale had our featured Ford GTX1 atop the sales leader board, selling for $330,000. Interesting sales were definitely topped by this 1939 Diamond T truck with a really cool beverage trailer.

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

This sale had some bargains, too – check them out here. Brightwells held a sale in May, as well. Our featured Frazer Nash was easily the top seller at $337,550. Interesting sales included this 2000 Daewoo Musiro Concept car. It doesn’t have an engine, but it did sell for $1,250.

Photo - Brightwells

Photo – Brightwells

One of our feature cars didn’t sell, the H.E. Tourer, but the Dare DZ brought $15,385. Click here for full results.

Mecum’s annual Indianapolis sale always features some big time muscle cars. Unfortunately, our featured low-mileage Hemi Cuda failed to sell. The top sale was a different muscle car: a ’67 Shelby 427 Cobra for a cool $1,000,000.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

Our featured Lightweight Mustang Prototype brought $130,000. Click here for full results. The Veritas from Coys’ Ascot sale brought $263,700 while the Fiat sold for $63,500. Full results can be found here.

Elgin Six

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1916 Elgin Six Touring

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | May 31, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

A few executives of the Elgin National Watch Company of Argo, Illinois, decided that they were going into the automobile business in 1916. The leap was a rational one: watches required precision and engineering. So did cars.

This car is from the first year of manufacture. The only model Elgin produced in 1916 was the Six. It was available as a Tourer and Roadster. The engine, a 2.0-liter straight-six, makes 21 horsepower.

Elgin would only produce six-cylinder cars until the business went under in 1924. This is one of only eight 1916 Elgins known to exist. These were reliable, durable cars – obviously, as this is an unrestored survivor. It should bring between $20,000-$30,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $17,600.

Maurer C87

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1987 Maurer-BMW C87

Offered by Bonhams | Francorchamps, Belgium | May 24, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Group C racing was awesome. Loads of major automobile manufacturers built ridiculous prototype sports racing cars – some of the fastest race cars ever built. They had huge engines with big turbos and they all looked like wedges with wheels. And lost among the Sauber-Mercedes, Jaguars and Porsches were some privateers cars, like this Maurer.

Walter Maurer was an artist known in the car world as being part of BMW’s “Art Cars” projects as well as a part-time racing driver. The car was designed by an ex-Sauber engineer and the body was built by Dornier Aerospace. Maurer’s ties to BMW landed him a sweet 2.0-liter turbocharged BMW straight-four that could produce 1,350 horsepower in qualifying trim. Maurer designed the paint scheme himself.

Maurer drove the car in competition with co-drivers Helmut Gall and Edgar Dören lending a hand during endurance events. This car did not compete in the World Sportscar Championship, and instead raced in Supercup, a German series that also used Group C cars. It’s best result was 10th in 1988 and a 12th place finish in 1989. It has been used recently and would be great to take vintage racing. It should sell for between $1,000,000-$1,300,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Bonhams’ Spa lineup.

Update: Not sold.

The First McLaren Road Car

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1969 McLaren M6GT Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Francorchamps, Belgium | May 24, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

New Zealander Bruce McLaren founded the racing team that still bears his name to this day in 1963. McLaren was killed in 1970 in his own Can-Am car in a crash at Goodwood. Needless to say, his legacy is alive and well.

McLaren Can-Am cars were some of the best in the late-60s and early-70s. The M6A was their car for 1967. 1968 brought the M6B and for the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, the company was developing a closed-coupe sports car called the M6GT. In order to race it in a sports car class, they had to build models for the road. The plan didn’t work out, and only three prototypes were completed – two of which were converted from M6B Can-Am cars, and one, which was a road car built from scratch. The first road car was sold to a customer in the U.S.

The two converted M6Bs were converted to road cars and Bruce McLaren used one as a daily driver. This is the other one. It was sold to a racer named David Prophet who actually raced it for a little while. It was restored in 1996 and is perfect for the road today. It uses a 5.0-liter Chevrolet V-8 making 370 horsepower. It’s as sleek as a race car and can do 180 mph. While it may look like a kit car or something, this is a legitimate McLaren road car – the grandfather of the F1. It should sell for between $210,000-$260,000.  Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Not sold.

Lechner Sports Prototype

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1991 Lechner-BMW LSC1 Spyder

Offered by Bonhams | Francorchamps, Belgium | May 24, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Walter Lechner Racing is a racing team and a racing school based in Austria. They’ve competed in Porsche Supercup for over the past decade, but in the early 1990s they tried their hand at prototype sports car racing. They commissioned Reynard to build them a car. It was called the Lechner Spyder SC91. This is actually that car, but with newer bodywork and a different name.

This chassis was raced competitively between 1991 and 1999 under a variety of different names with revised bodywork as it went. The chassis is from ’91, hence the model year listed, but the bodywork (and name) it currently carries come from later on in the decade. It was originally fitted with a 3.5-liter Judd V-10 but now wears a 4.0-liter BMW V-8. Some highlights for this car include:

  • 1991 Interserie Siegerland – 2nd (with Walter Lechner as Lechner Spyder SC91)
  • 1991 Interserie Zeltweg II – 2nd (with Lechner)
  • 1992 Interserie Zolder – 2nd (with Lechner)
  • 1993 Interserie Siegerland – 2nd (with Lechner as Reynard Spyder)
  • 1993 Interserie Donington – 1st (with Lechner)
  • 1993 Interserie Zeltweg – 2nd (with Lechner)
  • 1994 Interserie Zeltweg – 1st (with Lechner)
  • 1994 Interserie Division I Championship (Lechner as driver, using this car for one race)
  • 1997 Interserie Spa – 2nd (with Josef Neuhauser as Reynard-Judd Can-Am)
  • 1997 Interserie A1-Ring (with Neuhauser)
  • 1997 Interserie Hungaroring (with Neuhauser)
  • 1997 Interserie Division I Championship (with Neuhauser)
  • 1998 Interserie Most – 1st (with Neuhauser as Horag-Reynard-Judd Can-Am)
  • 1998 Interserie A1-Ring – 1st (with Neuhauser)
  • 1998 Interserie Hungaroring – 1st (with Neuhauser)
  • 1998 Interserie Division I Championship (with Neuhauser)
  • 1999 Interserie Most – 3rd (with Neuhauser)

Good Lord! That’s a lot of podium finishes, not to mention an extended racing life for a type of car that normally doesn’t stay that competitive for that many years. At any rate, this thing has been raced privately and is ready to run. You can buy it for between $130,000-$200,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $119,038.

DB4 Vantage Convertible

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1962 Aston Martin DB4 Series IV Vantage Convertible

Offered by Bonhams | Newport Pagnell, U.K. | May 9, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Aston Martin DB4 is the car that started a styling trend that would continue for over a decade in a handful of models. They’re beautiful cars with a lightweight body, as designed by Carrozzeria Touring. They were built between 1958 and 1963 in five different series with each successive series featuring slight styling tweaks.

This is a Series IV car. It is also a “Vantage” car – Aston speak for the biggest and baddest available. In this case, it means it features a triple-carbureted version of the DB4’s 3.7-liter straight-six, making an impressive 266 horsepower. Vantage cars were only available beginning with the Series IV launch in 1961.

Of the total 1,110 DB4s built (not counting DB4GTs), only 136 hard tops were built with the Vantage engine. An even fewer 32 convertibles had the same motor. Only 70 DB4 Convertibles were built in total. And yes, this car is a pre-Volante terminology Aston Martin “convertible.” It’s a rare car.

This car was purchased new by actor Peter Utsinov and it is left-hand drive. It has seen very little use since the mid-1980s and has never been restored. It will need a little attention before you take it out on the road, but that shouldn’t hamper the price too much – it is estimated to bring between $1,400,000-$1,500,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $2,332,827

DB6 Volante

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1967 Aston Martin DB6 Mk I Volante

Offered by Bonhams | Newport Pagnell, U.K. | May 9, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Aston Martin DB6 is one of the sexiest Astons ever made. And in most cases, a drop-top Aston Martin is always more drool-inducing than their closed-roof counterparts. This car is no exception.

Prior convertibles were just that, convertibles. With the introduction of the DB6 in 1965, the term Volante was used to describe a rag top Aston and let’s be honest, it’s a fine, exotic-sounding word. The DB6 is a wonderful GT too, a true four-seater. It is powered by a 4.0-liter straight-six making 282 horsepower.

The DB6 would remain in production through 1970 – into the 1971 model year – with a total of 1,575 hard tops produced. The Volante was much rarer – only 178 built with this car being a Mark I, signifying it was built before the summer of 1969, when the Mark II was introduced. This is a 58,000 mile car with recent service history that is ready for the road. It should bring between $1,000,000-$1,100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.