Tag Archives: car

Daimler Star of India

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1926 Daimler 45 HP Salon Cabriolet by Barker

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 18-20, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Big Daimler’s from this era are impressive cars (perhaps none more so than this Double Six). Let’s keep in mind that this is a British Daimler, as the German Daimlers had become “Mercedes” by 1902. The British concern started building cars in 1896, and the last one was sold in 2010. It’s a dormant marque right now under Tata’s control.

But who cars about all of that, because look at this thing. The 45 was the “big” Daimler, with this being of the third model to carry that name, and it was produced from about 1926 through 1927. It would be replaced by the Double Six. Daimler called the 45 the largest production car in the world. Hard to argue. It’s powered by a massive 8.5-liter inline-six.

This car was purchased as a bare chassis by the Maharaja of Rewa for a cost of $7,000. It then went to Barker & Co. of London for a body. The body is actually made of “German silver,” which RM declines to define but is actually a catchall for various alloys. This one has some crazy features, like snakes that come over the front fenders, a single rear door, and an upright V-shaped windshield.

The car remained in India until the 1970s, and RM claims the tires date back to the period the car was built. Another Blackhawk car, this one has an estimate of $1,000,000-$1,500,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $880,000.

1954 Indy 500 Pace Car

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1954 Dodge Royal 500 Indy Pace Car Edition

Offered by RM Auctions | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 10, 2014

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

There’s a lot of cars to choose from that we could’ve featured this week. RM’s Hershey sale was chock full of rare antique automobiles and we’ve featured a number of them. But this is the last car from this sale we got to feature and I couldn’t pass it up. It’s a beauty.

It’s very striking – yellow with black graphics and top and wire wheels with whitewalls (tongue twister alert). There’s a continental kit out back as well. The Royal was a new model for Dodge in 1954, the same year of Dodge’s inaugural pacing of the Great American Race. The Royal was the top model for Dodge in ’54 and it used a 150 horsepower 4.0-liter Hemi V-8 to muscle it along.

Dodge built 701 Pace Car Edition Royal Convertibles. This car was restored by its current owners and it looks amazing. Suddenly, this rare edition has become one of my must-have 1950s American classics. Go figure. It’ll cost me between $50,000-$70,000, though. Too bad. Click here for more info and here for the rest of RM’s Hershey lineup.

Update: Sold $49,500.

Ford EX Concept

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2001 Ford EX Concept

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | August 27-31, 2014

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

Well this is pretty cool, isn’t it? It’s a true concept car – you don’t recall Ford selling anything like this in the past 15 years, do you? It’s cool. It’s wild. It’s extreme.

This is actually a working, drivable concept car. It’s powered by a 4.0-liter V-6 making 375 horsepower and lots of torque. It’s four-wheel drive, obviously, and although they don’t quite look it, those are 33-inch tires. It resembles more of the modern side-by-side ATV than it does a production truck.

If Ford would’ve built this, they would have been off-road legends. Instead, there is just this one example. If go-anywhere is your thing, then this is your ute. It has to be massively entertaining with all that power, no real weight, and extreme off-road capability (although it’s a little rare to be thrashing it on the trails). In any event, it should sell for between $75,000-$100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $96,250.

Update: Sold, Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2017, $110,000.

Update: Sold, Mecum Phoenix 2019, $99,000.

Top Open-Wheel Cars in Monterey

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Open-Wheel Race Cars

Offered during the Pebble Beach Concours Weekend | August 15-17, 2014

 1986 March 86C Cosworth

Offered by RM Auctions

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

This was the car in CART in 1986. Fielded by Truesports, the March 86C was campaigned by Bobby Rahal for the 1986 season. It is powered by a 700 horsepower 2.7-liter Cosworth turbo V-8. Just take a look at this car’s competition history:

  • 1986 Indianapolis 500 – 1st (with Bobby Rahal)
  • 5 other wins that season
  • 1986 CART Championship

The chance to own an Indy 500-winning car is a very rare thing, and one this cool driven by such a legend makes it even better. The car still retains its race-winning engine. It should sell for between $1,750,000-$2,500,000. Click here for more info.

S/N: 86C-13

Update: Not sold, high bid of $1,550,000.

2000 Ferrari F1-2000

Offered by RM Auctions

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

The F1-2000 was, you guessed it, Ferrari’s F1 car for the 2000 season. And guess who drove for Ferrari in 2000? That’s right, Michael Schumacher. And it was one of those seasons that he had with Ferrari where he nearly won everything on the calendar. He also won the championship. This car won the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix. The engine is a monster: 3.0-liter V-10 making 770 horsepower. It should sell for between $1,750,000-$2,500,000. Click here for more.

S/N: 198

Update: Sold $1,804,000.

1970 Brabham-Cosworth BT33

Offered by Bonhams

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

You’re looking at the final car driven by Jack Brabham in Formula One. In fact, he won his final grand prix in this car – the 1970 South African Grand Prix. What’s even better, this is a Brabham chassis and he remains the only person to ever win in a car bearing his own name. The car looks fabulous. The engine is too: it’s a Cosworth V-8 of 3.0-liters and puts out 430 horsepower at an ear-shattering 10,000 rpm. It can be yours for between $1,000,000-$1,400,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $1,034,000.

1978 Ferrari 312 T3

Offered by Bonhams

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Ferrari 312 T3 was Ferrari’s second car for the 1978 Formula One Season. The car used for the first two races was a carryover from 1977. The T3 was introduced for the third race. This car was driven primarily by Carlos Reutemann (who won the 1978 British Grand Prix in it). It also driven by Gilles Villeneuve. Villeneuve won the 1978 Race of Champions (a non-points F1 race) in this car. The engine is a 530 horsepower 3.0-liter Flat-12. Ferrari built five of these cars and this one is offered in more-or-less as-raced conditions and has spent many years in the Maranello Rosso Collection. It should sell for between $1,500,000-$2,000,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $2,310,000.

1969 AAR Eagle-Santa Ana

Offered by RM Auctions

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Here’s the last open-wheel car we’ll feature from Monterey (mostly because I just lost all of the work I did on this post and had to start over – there are other awesome racers this weekend). This car comes from AAR, Dan Gurney’s All American Racers. It was their car for 1969 and it uses a 5.2-liter Ford V-8. AAR built four of them, three of which raced at the Indy 500 that year. This one did not, although Gurney did run it in practice. The only racing this car has ever done is on the historic circuit and it has been in the same ownership for nearly a quarter of a century. It can be yours for between $125,000-$175,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $104,500.

1913 Stevens-Duryea

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1913 Stevens-Duryea Model C-Six Five-Passenger Touring

Offered by RM Auctions | Monterey, California | August 16, 2014

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

The Stevens-Duryea was a car for millionaires. The Vanderbilts drove one – a C-Six to be exact (it’s still on display at the Biltmore and if you’ve been there, you’ll know that the car is huge). Stevens-Duryea was founded when J. Frank Duryea and his brother Charles developed what I can only imagine to resemble an Oasis-level brotherly feud. J. Frank left and designed his own car, which the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company wanted to be part of. J. Frank, J. Stevens… was J. Geils there too? (Okay, enough musical jokes).

The C-Six was produced for 1913 and 1914 only. It was available in a number of body styles over two wheelbases and featured a 44.6 horsepower (44.8 for 1914!) 7.5-liter straight-six engine. The restoration on this car was completed in 2008 and the details are perfect – check out more pictures on RM’s website here.

The current owners acquired the car in 2010 and the car is described as running well. It is one of nine C-Sixes known to survive and it is fantastic. It should sell for between $200,000-$275,000. Click here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $302,500.

Speedwell Speed Car

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1912 Speedwell 12-J 50HP Speed Car

Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 15, 2014

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Dayton, Ohio’s Speedwell Motor Car Company built cars for only seven short years, but they made the most of it. As the company name may suggest, they were sporty (for the most part) but also reliable and well-built. Company premises were damaged during a flood in 1913 and they closed the following year.

The Series 12 was built in 1912 only and they were available in nine configurations, with the Model J denoted a four-passenger touring car. The 7.2-liter straight-four under the hood makes 50 horsepower. This particular example is a “Speed Car” – a racier version of their normal production car. It is the only Speedwell Speed Car in existence.

Speedwell built about 4,000 cars in their lifetime, and they are super rare today. This one has known ownership since the 1930s, including Bill Harrah, and it was restored in 1999. You can be next in line if you can write a check for between $550,000-$750,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $869,000.

Re-bodied Bugatti 57C

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1938 Bugatti Type 57C ‘Cäsar Schaffner Special Roadster’

Offered by Bonhams | Monaco | May 11, 2012

The Bugatti Type 57 was the most popular Bugatti model that the company ever made. It was produced from 1934 until 1940 and there were some very limited editions that are very desirable today – such as the 57SC Atlantic. The 57C, as seen here, featured the 3.3-liter straight-eight – but with a Roots-type supercharged added on, for a total output of 160 horsepower.

This car, chassis 57.577, was originally a Gangloff-bodied Stelvio cabriolet. In the 1960s, it was acquired by Cäsar Schaffner who restored it and, in the process, decided to restore it to the specifications of a different chassis number. So, while 57.577 retains its original chassis (although it was shortened) and engine – it does not retain its original body. The new body was in the style of a Type 57S by Corsica. It looks nice, but you have to question, today, what would be more valuable? A Bugatti with its original body, or a Bugatti with a sort of replica body?

In any case, this car has been freshened over time and is quite nice and it’s eligible for all of the historic events it would have been had the Gangloff cabriolet body remained. It is priced confidently with an estimate between $420,000-$580,000. And if you’re still not quite sold on it, check out the back of this thing:

Pretty nice. For the complete catalog description, click here. And for more on Bonhams in Monaco, click here.

Update: Not sold.

Rondeau-Cosworth

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1978 Rondeau M378 Ford-Cosworth

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 12, 2012

What is it about Le Mans that inspires racecar drivers to want to become manufacturers? Yves Courage, Henri Pescarolo, Alain de Cadenet all caught the bug – and so did Jean Rondeau, who began constructing and racing his own cars at the famed 24 Hours in 1976. 1978 was the first year that the cars actually bore his name and this was the first of them. Rondeau would win the 1980 race in a car of his own design – the only time this has ever happened.

This car, chassis no. 001 holds the record for the most starts at the race with 10. No longer are single cars competitive for an entire decade. It’s an impressive feat. Here’s a rundown of those years:

  • 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans – 9th overall, 1st in class (with Rondeau, Bernard Darniche, and Jacky Haran)
  • 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans – 30th, DNF (with Rondeau and Haran)
  • 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans – 3rd (with Gordon Spice, Philippe Martin and Jean-Michel Martin)
  • 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans – 2nd (with Haran, Jean-Louis Schlesser and Philippe Streiff)
  • 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans – 10th (with Pierre Yver, Bruno Scotty and Lucien Guitteny)
  • 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans – 28th, DNF (with Vic Elford, Joël Gouhier and Anne-Charlotte Verney)
  • 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans – 11th (with Jean-Philippe Grand, Jean-Paul Libert and Pascal Witmeur
  • 1985 24 Hours of Le Mans – 43rd, DNF (with Michel Dubois, Hubert Striebig and Noël del Bello)
  • 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans – 17th (with del Bello, Scotty and Lucien Rossiaud
  • 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans – 27th, not classified (with Scotty and Pierre-Alain Lombardi)

Jean Rondeau was killed in a road car accident in 1985, but his name lived on at the race he lived for – on this car, through 1988. This car also competed in nine other European endurance events, with at least one win.

The engine is a 3.0-liter V8 from Cosworth making 415 horsepower. It’s a race car and weighs next to nothing. So it’s quick. And it’s a piece of history – although it never won the big race, it holds an impressive record and is eligible for historic events. The pre-sale estimate is $790,000-$990,000. To read the complete description, click here. And for the entire RM in Monaco offering, click here.

Update: sold $464,128.

Ferrari 206 S Dino

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1966 Ferrari 206 S Dino Spyder

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 12, 2012

In 1966 Ferrari introduced their gorgeous V-12 powered 330 P3 race car to compete against the big boys in the biggest sports car races on the continent. Alongside the 330, there was a new, smaller race car, powered by a 2.0-liter V6 making 218 horsepower. It was called the 206 Dino S.

With a body penned by Pierre Drogo and built by his company, Carrozzeria Sports Cars, it was certainly a looker. And it was no slouch on the track, placing second at the Targa Florio and taking the bottom two podium spots at the Nürburgring. The car here (chassis #006) was actually the third car built for sale. Some of it’s competition highlights include:

  • 1966 1000km Nürburgring – DNF (with Richard Attwood and David Piper)
  • 1967 Brands Hatch – 6th overall, 1st in class (with Michael Parkes)
  • 1968 Targa Florio – 22nd (with Hans Wangstre and Evert Christofferson)

Most of its brief competition history was at the hands of amateur drivers and it was placed into storage in the early 1970s. When it was removed, it was carefully restored over a number of years to it’s original condition as it was campaigned at the ’66 Nürburgring race.

Ferrari’s original intention was to build 50 homologation examples but they ended up building only 18. And this is a very early example. I love the striking light blue on red color scheme – it’s not something you see everyday. But then again, a 206 S isn’t something you see everyday either, regardless of paint scheme. The price proves it, with an estimate between $2,875,000-$3,600,00. For the compete catalog description, click here and here for the complete lot list.

Update: sold $3,263,400.

Here’s video of a similar car:

Lancia Hyena

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1995 Lancia Hyena

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 12, 2012

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lancia was achieving success on the Rally circuit with their series of Delta Integrale rally cars. They also had to produce homologation models for street use in order to compete. Some of these are highly sought after. They were boxy and fast but not necessarily the epitome of Italian automotive style and grace.

Enter Zagato, the famed Italian design house that penned the design you see here – a small two-dour coupe version of the five-door Integrale hatchback. They proposed a limited edition run of these coups, to which Lancia said: “Uh, no thanks.” Their loss, as Zagato went ahead and built them anyway by purchasing Integrales, stripping them down, and fitting them with the body you see here. The cars were lighter and had more power and the same rally-bred all-wheel drive system.

The original Zagato plan pitched to Lancia called for 500 units to be built. But, doing it themselves, the costs soared and only 24 were built and sold for about $75,000 each. They had a 250 horsepower (although the one for sale here has been upped to about 300) 2.0-liter turbocharged straight-four.

These are very rare cars and the price shows it, estimated between $130,000-$185,000. For the complete catalog description, click here. For more on RM in Monaco (including a tremendous collection of Ducati motorcycles) click here.

Update: sold $116,032.