Tag Archives: bring a trailer auctions

Callaway C16

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2007 Callaway C16 Speedster

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | November 2022

Photo – Bring a Trailer Auctions

Remember this car? It was everywhere when it debuted at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Designed around a C6 Corvette convertible, the car features fiberglass bodywork styled by Paul Deutschman. The “windshield” is actually two tiny pieces of Lexan in front of each passenger. There is no top. And the rear fairings house built-in helmets.

Power is from a Callaway-modified 6.2-liter V8 that was rated at 616 horsepower, which was more than any standard Corvette at the time. Top speed is said to be in excess of 210 mph, with 60 arriving in 3.2 seconds.

Only one was built, and it’s being sold be Ken Lingenfelter. If this thing would’ve entered production (not sure if the windscreens would’ve made it to a production car) it would’ve been intended to compete against cars from Lamborghini and Ferrari. I think it ranks right up there with the best American supercars of the 2000s, including the Saleen S7 and Mosler MT900S. Click here to see more.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $252,000.

Bugatti 59/50S

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1935 Bugatti Type 59/50S

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | June 2022

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Spoiler alert: Bugatti Fridays, as has been the case here in June, will continue next week with a Bugatti Type 43 that has a replacement body and a replacement engine. This car has a similar story. And it is this: in the 1960s, a huge collection of parts was acquired by the guy who would end up putting this car together.

Among those items were four (!) Type 59 frames he brought back to the U.S. with him. The Type 59 was sort of the ultimate evolution of the pre-war Bugatti racing car. Only eight were constructed (although it is unclear how many frames were built). This car uses frame number two.

The supercharged 5.0-liter inline-eight is supposedly a special engine that was previously used in a speed record car in 1933 before being used in Robert Benoist’s 1935 French Grand Prix race car. The assembler of this car got that engine and put it in this chassis, then built a body around it that replicates Benoist’s race car. All of this was completed in the 1990s. It’s pretty amazing, really, and the auction listing notes a list of factory Bugatti parts used in the build, including the piano-wire wheels.

So it’s not that different from the Type 43 described above. It just so happens that all of the replacement bits were put on the car many decades later. This is a one-of-a-kind Bugatti with some pretty detailed history. The auction ends today, click here to see where the bidding ends up.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $500,000.

Chiron Pur Sport

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2021 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | June 2022

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Another day, another insane supercar. The Chiron was Volkswagen – er, Bugatti’s follow-up to the impossible-to-top Veyron. Well it topped it. And then they went and made it more extreme with a series of special and high-end editions.

The Chiron launched in 2016 and used an updated version of the Veyron’s quad-turbocharged 8.0-lite W16 that in Chiron spec put out 1,479 horsepower. The Pur Sport got a redline increase and a revised gearbox.

Introduced in 2020, the Pur Sport was supposedly limited to 60 units. It is described as a “handling-focused variant” with lightweight components, a fixed rear wing, a pretty crazy wheel design that pulls air into the rear diffuser, and, somehow, stickier tires.

This example is finished in a pretty awesome two-tone color scheme – inside and out. The price is eye watering so far, with the bidding already at $3.7 million at the time of this writing. More can be read about it here.

924 Carrera GT

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1981 Porsche 924 Carrera GT

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | June 2022

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The 924 is not the most-loved Porsche of all time. It was the entry-level replacement for the 914, a car that was co-marketed by Volkswagen. The 944 replaced the 924 in the U.S. market beginning with the 1983 model year, however, the 924 remained on sale elsewhere in the world through 1988.

There was a 924 Turbo and a sporty 924S, but the real halo car in this range is the homologation Carrera GT (and GTS). Based on the 924 Turbo, the CGT featured an increased compression ratio and an intercooler for the turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four that pushed output to 210 horsepower. More modified race versions (Carrera GTR) made up to 375 horsepower.

Just 400 road-going examples of the Carrera GT were built, and they are visually differentiated from standard road cars with their fender flares and hood scoop. As of this writing, bidding is already at $54,000, enough to buy a few really nice 924s. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $119,937.

LFA Nurburgring

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2012 Lexus LFA Nurburgring

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | June 2022

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The LFA was the most the most super supercar that Toyota ever built. And the optional Nurbugring package, which was a $70,000 (!) option, made it even super-er. Actually, what it did was add a big rear wing, a front splitter and dive planes, and suspension revisions.

There was also a 10-horsepower bump for the 4.8-liter V10, resulting in 563 horsepower. Lexus only produced 64 examples with this package out of a total run of 500 cars. Available model years ran from 2011 through 2013, and nearly 10 years later there are still rumors of cars yet to be sold, almost certainly because dealers parked them away in their private collections.

However, there really was a sort of “who wants to pay that much for a Lexus” sort of thing that went on when these cars were new. Short-term thinking there, because they cars are hot now. The bidding on this LFA is already over a million dollars with well over a week to go as of this writing. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $1,225,000.

Spyker C8 Targa

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2007 Spyker C8 Laviolette Targa

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | May 2022

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The Spyker C8 is a car that is pretty hard to believe that they actually built. And in some kind of numbers too. The design is outlandish, bordering on over-styled. But they are very striking, and the interiors are some of the best ever bestowed on a supercar.

The C8 went on sale in the early 2000s, and the Laviolette featured a fixed glass roof instead of the earlier Spyder’s retractable soft top. This car is the only Laviolette optioned with a targa roof system with two removable panels. That was $16,000 extra. Also, it is one of six Basic Instinct 2 editions. Which is one of the oddest product tie-ins in a movie ever.

Power is from a 4.2-liter Audi V8 that was rated at 400 horsepower when new. It might not make for the quickest supercar ever, but it’s enough to get the job done and sound good doing it. This car has 4,000 miles and is already bidding past $200,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $505,000.

Alfa 8C Competizione

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2008 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | May 5, 2022

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Alfa Romeo may not be crushing it in the U.S. right now, but this car is proof that they can still put out some stunners, despite what the sales numbers show. To be fair, in this car’s case, they only built 500 of them, with orders for almost triple that.

Styling was done in-house at Alfa and was supposed to invoke the company’s classic models of the 1950s and ’60s. It’s a success. It took its name from the 1930s 8C, Alfa’s pre-war masterpiece. The car is powered by a Ferrari/Maserati 4.7-liter V8 that was rated at 444 horsepower. And it sounds amazing.

Colors were all over the board, but most appear to have been finished in red. It still looks good in black, and pretty much any other color you could lather it in. Bidding is already at $175,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $351,000.

Mercedes-Benz 230 N

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1937 Mercedes-Benz 230 N Cabriolet A

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | April 30, 2022

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The Mercedes-Benz W143 launched in 1936 as the 230. The following year, the 230 N (for Normal) was introduced as a short-wheelbase variant of the 230. It actually shared its wheelbase with 1933’s W21 200 model.

The 230 N was only produced for a single year, with approximately 963 built. Like the standard 230, the N is powered by a 2.2-liter M143 inline-six that was rated at 55 horsepower when new.

This car wears Sindelfingen Cabriolet A coachwork, one of a variety of styles offered on the 230 N. The car looks to have been restored, at least in part, over the years. It’s not a classic Benz that crops up often, and bidding on this one ends in just a few days. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $165,000.

Siata 200CS

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1952 Siata 200CS by Bertone

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | April 2022

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Siata only built cars in low numbers, and they all looked like low, sleek Mille Miglia-style racing cars for the street. Well, you know, until the Spring. The 200CS was a model that launched as a bare chassis in 1952. The Chrysler V8-powered car was supposed to preview the next line of Siata cars.

But instead, they switched to Fiat 8V power, and the 200CS was kind of a stillborn project. This one is now powered by a 6.4-liter Chrysler FirePower V8, which has been installed in place of the car’s original 5.4-liter Chrysler V8. The body was built by Bertone especially for John Perona, the then-owner of New York’s El Morocco nightclub.

The current owner traced the car down in 1983, finding it in an Indiana garage. It’s unclear how many 200CS chassis were built, but this is the only one that looks like this. Bidding is already into the six figures, and you can read more about it here.

Update: Sold $689,999.

The King of Iraq’s 770K

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1930 Mercedes-Benz 770K Four-Door Three-Position Cabriolet by Voll & Ruhrbeck

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | January/February 2022

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The first comment on this auction was to the effect of “This is BaT at a completely different level.” And they ain’t kidding. The 770K was not only extremely exclusive when new, but also ultra rare. And they trade hands (at least publicly) very infrequently. The W07, which was the first generation of the 770 range, went on sale in 1930, making this an early example, in terms of timing. It would be replaced by the W150 in 1938.

They were very expensive cars, intended for high-ranking government officials. The (second-generation) 770K is largely remembered for being the choice cars of Nazi officials. But this car was produced before the Nazis were even in power. And it was sold new to the King of Iraq, remaining in his family until the 1950s.

Power is from a supercharged 7.7-liter inline-eight that made 200 horsepower with the supercharger engaged. Mercedes built 205 examples of the 770 in total, with 117 being the first-gen style. This one was bodied by Voll & Ruhrbeck of Berlin as an imposing, intimidating car. Which was probably the desired effect considering the type of people who owned them.

The car has about 10 days left at auction by the time this posts, and bidding was up to $600,000 at the time of this writing. The cheaper of the two 770Ks we’ve featured in the past sold for $2.5 million, with the other one not selling at a bid of $7 million. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $2,555,555.