Tag Archives: cars

The Machine

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1970 AMC Rebel Machine

Offered by Mecum | Denver, Colorado | July 20-22, 2017

Photo – Mecum

AMC, whose history is long, tangled, and very interesting (but we won’t go into it here), seemed to build two kinds of cars during the course of their existence: 1. absolute garbage or 2. kind of cool, fast, sporty muscle cars. Even within the Rebel line, which was built between 1967 and 1970, it was a 50/50 split (though in 1967 it was technically not an AMC, but a Rambler… before that marque was merged back into the AMC line).

1970 was the final year for the Rebel and it could be had as a sedan or a two-door hardtop coupe. The base engine was a straight-six and a range of V-8s were offered as well. They also built a top-of-the-line muscle car and they called it “The Machine,” which is a pretty badass, if not lofty, name for a car.

The Machine is powered by a 6.4-liter V-8 making 340 horsepower. That was a decent enough rating, but it was still well short of what the big motors from Ford, GM, and Chrysler were making in 1970. This example is well-optioned and looks very nice. It’s one of 1,000 painted in the iconic red, white, and blue paint scheme – out of a total of 2,326 Rebel Machines built. This is one of the coolest cars AMC ever built and it can be yours! Click here for more info and here for more from Mecum in Denver.

Update: Sold $50,000.

AC Buckland

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1953 AC Buckland

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | July 8, 2017

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Auto Carriers Ltd., later known as AC Cars, started building vehicles in 1901. They’re still around, though they are mostly building Cobra replicas and random attempts at sports cars. The 1950s were their sweet years, introducing or selling five different models during the decade.

The first of these was the 2-Litre, a car AC introduced in 1947. It was available as a two-or-four-door sedan and they also built a few Drophead Coupes. And then there was this, the Buckland tourer. The 2-Litre had the highest production total of any four-wheeled AC vehicle by the time it was out of production in 1956.

They are powered by a 74 horsepower, 2.0-liter straight-six. Only 60 Buckland tourers were built and this car has period racing history. It raced at Silverstone, Brands Hatch, and was the first AC car to race at Goodwood. It’s been completely restored and retains its original chassis and body. This particular Buckland was a no-sale at Historics’ most recent sale, so we’ll see if they can find it a new home this time around with an estimate of $47,000-$55,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Sold, Historics at Brooklands, November 2019 – $55,555.

Voisin C28 Cabriolet

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1938 Voisin C28 Cabriolet

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 18-19, 2017

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

It seems like there is maybe one of Gabriel Voisin’s automobiles that trade hands each year. This year, it looks like this beautiful, windswept C28 Cabriolet is the one you can get your hands on. The C28 was introduced in 1936 and we featured a relative of this car previously.

Voisin used sleeve-valve engines in his cars. This car is likely powered by a 3.3-liter straight-six with a power rating of 102 horsepower. Racing cars they were not. Instead, these were mechanical marvels with beautiful coachwork and sometimes wild interiors. This is one of the more restrained Voisins I’ve seen come up for sale. Part of the reason is that the coachwork was done outside of the factory, something that, while common in its day for cars of this stature, was quite uncommon for Voisin.

The body was designed by R. Saliot, a Voisin service center. They didn’t have the ability to actually build the body, so they outsourced their design elsewhere. This car is one of two with coachwork known to have been designed by Saliot (the other one won Pebble Beach). It was actually applied to this chassis when it was about 10 years old, which is why it looks a little post-war.

It is known that a monk acquired this car before selling it at auction in the late 1960s. Restored in the early 2000s, it comes from a “prominent” collection. Only about 60 C28 Voisins were built and this one is the only one quite like it. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Ford Cortina Lotus Mk I

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1966 Ford Cortina Lotus Mk I

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | July 8, 2017

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

This one’s a classic – and in a classic livery. The Ford Cortina was a large (for England) family car offered as a two or four-door sedan (or wagon). Built by Ford UK, the first generation was available between 1962 and 1966. The nameplate continued on European Ford vehicles through 1986.

This hot Lotus version of the Cortina came about after Colin Chapman had someone build a twin-cam version of the Kent engine that normally powered the Cortina. Ford must’ve liked it so much that they asked Chapman to fit the engine to some Cortinas so they could homologate it for racing. They were assembled and tuned by Lotus, but sold through Ford dealers in the U.K. It was a factory two-door hot rod that predated the muscle car era, with the first generation of the Lotus Cortina having been sold between 1963 and 1966.

That Lotus-tuned engine is a 1.6-liter twin-cam straight-four that puts out 105 horsepower. There are a bunch of lightweight, go-fast parts attached too, and just about all of the 1,000 examples constructed were painted white with the green stripes. This car was made roadworthy in 2014. It’s a great example of a sought after car that has gained credibility in collector circles on both sides of the Atlantic. It should bring between $45,000-$52,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $56,976.

Shelby Series II

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2007 Shelby Series II Prototype

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 16-19, 2017

Photo – Mecum

Cars bearing Carroll Shelby’s name first appeared in 1962. It’s been more a less a steady stream of different cars since, from his long association with Ford, to his brief stint with Chrysler in the 80s. The thing almost all Shelby cars have in common is that they are hopped up versions of already existing vehicles, from the AC Ace to the Ford Mustang to the Dodge Omni.

But in 1998 Shelby American introduced a car called the Series 1. It was a clean-sheet design and the company built 249 of them in 1999, all fully road legal and ready to go. While the cars were being built, however, Shelby American was acquired by another company (they got everything, including the Series 1, except for the Cobra “continuation” business). When that company went bankrupt on an unrelated matter, Carroll Shelby bought the Series 1 rights back. He built a handful of additional Series 1 cars in 2005.

In 2006, Shelby found some new backers who wanted to put the Series 1 back into production. The car was slightly restyled and rechristened the Series II. Three Series II Prototypes were built, with this being the only one in black (they were largely based on some of the leftover Series 1 cars that Shelby built, as this car was actually constructed in 2005). It is powered by a supercharged 4.0-liter Oldsmobile Aurora V-8 making 550 horsepower. If it sounds weird that you’d built a raw American sports car powered by an engine from an Oldsmobile sedan, remember they used that V-8 in IndyCar, too. $225,000 was to be the going rate, but some federal emissions laws changed and the project was cancelled.

This pristine example has only 22 miles on it. Shelby cars are still super collectible, so if you want one of the newest – and rarest – look no further. Click here for more info and here for more from Mecum in Monterey.

S/N # CSX5505

Update: Not sold, high bid of $400,000.

Jensen GT

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1975 Jensen GT

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | July 8, 2017

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Brothers Richard and Alan Jensen built their first Austin Seven-based cars in the mid-1920s. In the 1930s they began modifying Fords before turning to full scale production of their own designs in 1935.

In 1972 the company introduced the Jensen-Healey, the best-selling car in company history. It was a two-door convertible that lasted through 1976, when the company folded. A year prior to that, they presented this “shooting brake” version of the Jensen-Healey, and called it the GT. This wagon-esque car featured a tiny rear seat and shared the Healey’s 2.0-liter straight-four (which was a Lotus-designed engine) that makes 144 horsepower.

This is, perhaps, the best-looking Jensen GT I’ve ever seen. Well-restored, it’s a 61,000 mile car in bright Atlantic Blue with a large cloth sunroof, chin spoiler and wire wheels. The GT was only produced for a span of eight months, with just 511 cars constructed before Jensen closed up shop. This one should bring between $17,900-$23,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $20,194.

June 2017 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

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We’re back with more from June, starting with H&H Classics’ second June sale, this one held at Woodcote Park. The top seller was this 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage, featuring the world’s tallest antenna, which brought $317,992.

Photo – H&H Classics

The Tojeiro-Climax we featured failed to meet its reserve. More results can be found here.

We move across the Channel to Osenat’s June sale. The Tracta we featured brought big money ($786,394) – but it wasn’t enough to dethrone this 1939 Bugatti Type 57C Cabriolet by Gangloff from the top of the sale sheet. It brought $1,414,979.

Photo – Osenat

Both of our other feature cars sold, with the other Bugatti in the sale bringing $321,130 and the Turcat-Mery $120,423. Click here for complete results.

Back to the U.K. for Brightwells’ Modern Classics sale. We weren’t able to feature anything from this sale, but the top sale was $97,257 for this 1995 Porsche 911 Turbo. More results from Brightwells can be found on their site here.

Photo – Brightwells

Next up: Barrett-Jackson’s “Northeast” sale. The top sale here was a basically brand new 2017 Ferrari 488 Spider that sold for $434,500 – which was definitely not a great deal for the buyer, as you can buy one of these off the lot for less (even with the same options). Someone got caught up in the auction fervor…

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

The Tiffany neo-classic we featured brought $13,200. You can see the rest of the results here.

Finally, we have Auctions America on the West Coast in Santa Monica. The top sale was this 1960 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster that sold for $1,100,000.

Photo – Auctions America

The Ferrari 599 GTO we featured failed to sell, but the Duesenberg brought $880,000. And the spacey Tatra 603 sold for $41,800. Click here for complete results.

Lombardi Grand Prix

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1971 Lombardi Grand Prix

Offered by Artcurial | Monaco | July 2, 2017

Photo – Artcurial

So what do we think it says about the design of an automobile if it is produced by a couple of different companies under a couple of different names? Does this mean that the design is solid and popular and so in-demand that a bunch of companies are all clamoring to build it? Or does it mean that one company tried, failed, went out of business and sold the design to someone else?

The Lombardi Grand Prix went on sale in 1968 and was sold through 1972. It was also sold as the OTAS Grand Prix, the Giannini 1000 Grand Prix, and the Abarth Scorpione. The car’s underpinnings are borrowed from the rear-engined Fiat 850, meaning this car is powered by an 843cc straight-four making 43 horsepower. Top speed is 99 mph. It won’t set the world on fire, but it’s small, light, and nimble enough to be loads of fun.

This example has been thoroughly gone through, having been restored about five years ago. They only built a few hundred of these and this one is expected to bring between $33,500-$45,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $27,247.

Lambretta Mink

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1968 Lambretta Mink Prototype

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | July 8, 2017

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Primarily known for their scooters, Lambretta was a brand name owned by Innocenti. They operated out of Milan between 1947 (the height of scooter-mania in Italy) and 1972 (when both brands were sold to British Leyland – a death sentence).

Lambretta did try their hand at vehicles other than scooters, but their products apparently never progressed beyond three wheels. There were commercial vehicles, and this prototype microcar. This car was not built by the Lambretta factory but was constructed by the UK Lambretta importer. Production never began and this was the only example made.

Top speed of this Lambretta scooter-powered (200cc, single-cylinder) microcar is 30 mph. It’s a one-off, 4,000-mile car and it should bring between $11,500-$16,500. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $15,866.

Ruf Yellowbird

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1989 Ruf CTR Yellowbird

Offered by Artcurial | Monaco | July 2, 2017

Photo – Artcurial

The so-called “Yellowbird” is the car that put Ruf Automobile on the map. Built from 1987, the CTR (which stood for “Group C Turbo Ruf”) was not actually based on a Porsche Turbo, but instead the 911 Carrera 3.2 of 1987.

Ruf had their way with the stock motor and by the time they were done with it, it was a twin-turbocharged 3.4-liter flat-six that was seriously underrated at 469 horsepower (it was actually likely closer to 500 or more). It was a monster supercar in its day, having a higher top speed than just about anything, topping out at a whopping 213 mph, with 60 arriving in about 3.6 seconds. It outperformed everything from Ferrari and Lamborghini upon introduction and the only thing Porsche had on it was that the 959 was quicker to 60.

It’s a legendary machine that actually looks better than the 911 Turbos (930) that it sort of competed against. If you’re familiar with the Yellowbird, you’ll notice that this car doesn’t quite look right. And you’re correct. The original owner of this car ordered this CTR from Ruf and it looked like all of the other 28 Yellowbirds that Ruf built. The current owner acquired it in 1992 and wanted something that was more usable on the track.

By 1995 it had the appearance it has now, with a full roll cage, an RSR-type spoiler out back, slight exterior trim changes, and racing wheels and tires. But it is still a true, factory-built Ruf CTR – one of only 29 completed. Ruf later converted another 25 Porsche 911 Carreras to CTR specification, but those cars are still titled as Porsches (as Ruf is designated as a separate manufacturer).

This is the first one of these I can remember seeing for sale. They’re legendary, and rightfully so. This one is expected to bring between $560,000-$900,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Artcurial’s Monaco lineup.

Update: Not sold.