Tag Archives: cars

Unrestored 1907 Daimler

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1907 Daimler Type TP 45 10.6-Litre Four-Seat Tourer

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, England | June 29, 2012

The Daimler name is one of the more storied in automotive history – and one of the more confusing. H.J. Lawson founded the Daimler Motor Company Ltd in Coventry, England. The name Daimler, of course, belonged to Gottlieb Daimler of Germany, builder of the first four-wheeled automobile, who had set up his own company bearing his name in 1890 in Germany. Lawson licensed the name – and the patents – of his German elder.

Gottlieb’s company would become Daimler-Benz in 1926, DaimlerChrysler in 1998 and Daimler AG, as it is currently known, in 2008. With the exception of those very early cars (up through 1908), everything badged as a “Daimler” was built by the English company founded by H.J. Lawson. As you can see, this car falls into the period where both companies were building cars using the same name.

This one was built in England and spent its early years as transport for the noble Craven family. After the original owner’s death, it was used little, being set up on blocks between the 1920s and 1980s and was acquired by its current owner in 1983. Ownership history is known and undisputed and there was even a log of every trip this car took when it was with its original owner – or should I say, chauffeur.

The engine is monstrous – a 10.6-liter four-cylinder that could propel the car to 80 mph – in 1907! And it’s in original condition – it has never been restored. I would rate this car as “above fantastic,” as if such an inane rating means anything. The dark red leather interior shows no cracking and looks far better than the leather in the last 10-year-old Acura I rode in. The paint still reflects light at 105 years old and the little brass and wood pieces here and there make this car look like it just drove out of a time warp. The only thing not original are the wire wheels, which were added during the First World War – making them far more period correct than anyone who will ever drive this car again.

This Brass Era automobile/80 mph horseless carriage – is an incredible machine. The more I look at it, the more I fall in love with it. Unfortunately I will not be able to pony up the $390,000-$620,000 required to take it home. Cheers to whoever does. For more information, click here and for more on Bonhams in Goodwood, click here.

Update: Sold $564,395.

HRG 1500

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1951 HRG 1500 Sports

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, England | June 29, 2012

HRG was founded in 1936 by Major Edward Halford, Guy Robins, and Henry Ronald Godfrey (the H, the R, and the G coming from the first letters of their last names). They introduced the 1500 model in 1939. The 1.5-liter four makes 58 horsepower and is good for 85 mph “under favourable conditions,” which, I think, is an understated, British way of saying “when going downhill.”

The 1500 model was produced unchanged until the company closed its doors in 1956 – hence the very pre-war design you see here on a car from the early-1950s. The 1500 was far and away the most popular HRG, with 111 built. Only 241 HRGs were built in total, so they are quite rare – especially one this nice.

British Racing Green is an excellent color for this car and will not hurt when it comes to the final price, which is expected to be between $70,000-$85,000. For more information, click here. And for more from Bonhams in Goodwood, click here.

Update: Sold $57,710.

Lotus Eleven

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1956 Lotus Eleven Le Mans

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, England | June 29, 2012

Photo – Bonhams

Bonhams’ Goodwood sale includes the Glasius Lotus Collection, featuring quite a few rare, storied Lotuses (Loti?) including race cars, road cars, and concepts. This 1956 Eleven is a wonderfully restored example that has an important competitive background.

The Lotus Eleven was introduced by Colin Chapman in 1956. It featured this slippery body designed by Frank Costin, brother of Cosworth co-founder Mike Costin. (Frank Costin would go on to co-found Marcos before building a few cars that bore his last name in its entirety).

The ‘Le Mans’ spec car had the option of a 1.1-liter (FWA) or 1.5-liter (FWB) Coventry-Climax straight-four. This one has the 1.1-liter and the standard tubular space frame, for a weight around 1,100 pounds – making it capable of over 130mph. This car does not have the headrest that was fitted to some of the later models (the Eleven was produced up to 1958). About 270 were built, inclusive of all versions.

Proper sporting cars should have a competition history – as this one does. It was a factory Lotus team car that competed in the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans with drivers Cliff Allison and Keith Hall. A retirement – when Allison hit a dog on the Mulsanne Straight – placed the car 26th in the standings. After the race, the car ended up in the hands of an American and passed through an unknown number of owners before it was finally restored to the as-or-better-than-new condition it is in today.

This Eleven – with Lotus factory racing history – is being offered in this glorious condition for the first time. It is estimated to sell for between $210,000-$270,000. For more information click here. And for more from Bonhams in Goodwood, click here.

Update: Sold $239,464.

Itala Grand Prix Car

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1908 Itala Grand Prix Car

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, England | June 29, 2012

The Itala marque was founded in 1904 and is fairly well-known among enthusiasts and collectors for its racing prowess prior to 1910. The company existed until bought out by Fiat in the mid-1930s. That’s 30 years of history but it’s so rare to see one come up for public sale. And yet here is one – but not just any Itala. This car, known as “Floretta” is a somewhat famous model with known, detailed history.

Itala racing cars won the Coppa Florio in 1905, the Targa Florio in 1906 and the Peking-to-Paris race in 1907. 1908 was the first year for a fixed “formula” for the Grands Prix of Europe. Itala built three four-cylinder cars for the 1908 season, utilizing drivers Alessandro Cagno, Henri Fournier and Giovanni Piacenza. It was thought until very recently that this car was the one driven by Cagno. New evidence (such as wheelbase and weight comparisons) suggest that this may have been the one driven by Piacenza, as it had a longer wheelbase and thus, more weight, than either of the other team cars.

In 1909, the car was in possession of a Mr. R. Wil-de-Gose who lapped the Brooklands circuit at 93mph. The next year he returned and eventually bumped the speed up to 101mph, faster than the Mercedes race cars it competed against in 1908. Shortly after this, the original racing body was replaced with the four-seat touring body you see here. After World War I, the car was parked in a garage in England until discovered in 1927. The car was brought back to life and has changed hands only a few times since. I highly recommend going to Bonhams site here and reading the entire description, which includes snippets of stories by people who have driven this monstrous machine. It’s very interesting.

The engine is a massive 12-liters in capacity. It has four-cylinders with cylinders cast in two blocks. It makes about 100 horsepower and is good for cruising comfortably at speeds over 80 mph. The last Itala I can find that sold at auction went for less than $100,000. The estimate on this one is slightly more at $2,300,000-$3,900,000. It’s an amazing machine and an amazing opportunity. For more info click here and for more on Bonhams in Goodwood, click here.

Update: Sold $2,724,748.

1995 Indy Pace Car

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1995 Chevrolet Corvette Indy Pace Car

Offered by Mecum | St. Charles, Illinois | June 22-23, 2012

The Chevrolet Corvette has (of this writing, including the 2012 race) paced the Indianapolis 500 ten times, the first being in 1978. It was there for a second time in 1986 and 1995 marked the third time. This is one of 527 (actually it’s #46) of the special “Indy 500 Pace Car” optioned replicas sold for street use.

It was based on the C4, the fourth-generation Corvette, which was introduced for the 1984 model year, so it was 11 years old by this point – more than a little long in the tooth. The paint scheme is actually quite nice with Dark Purple Metallic over White. 1995 was in the midst of ZR-1 production but this car is not a ZR-1 – even though it sports ZR-1 wheels and brakes.

It has the LT1 under the hood, the 350 cubic inch (or 5.7-liter) V8 makes 300 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque. 1996 would be the final year for the C4, so this is one of the final special edition C4 Corvettes – and it’s a rare one. Get it, it won’t be too terribly expensive. For more information click here and to see the rest of Mecum’s Bloomington Gold Corvette Auction, click here.

Update: Sold $18,500.

1895 Millot

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1895 Millot Vis-a-Vis

For Sale at Oldtimer Galerie International | Toffen, Switzerland

From the “Wow, That’s Old!” files, we present this archaic 1895 Millot Vis-a-Vis, built by Millot Frères (the Millot Brothers) in Gray, France. The company was founded in 1805 to produce farming equipment. By 1892 they were making stationary engines and sometime around 1895 they began building these rather crude-looking vehicles. It looks like something that just drove off the railroad tracks and onto the street.

It’s referred to as a “saw-bench” and they built an unknown number of them (at least three survive). It is powered by a nine horsepower, 2.0-liter single-cylinder engine. I can’t even begin to imagine the noise that this thing makes – or how it drives, handles or rides. It is simply something from another era that very few will get to experience.

This is showcased as an 1895, but various sources suggest different dates for the first Millot automobile – some as late as 1899. The company did build more traditional cars beginning in 1901 (through 1902), but none are known to survive. I’ve seen a photo of one and it looks light years ahead in terms of design when compared to the car shown here, even though only a few years separate them. Cars simply just don’t come much older than this. Price is “on request.” Click here for more info.

Dingman Collection Highlights

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RM Auctions recently held a reserve-less auction of the Dingman Collection in Hampton, New Hampshire. There were a lot of 1940s-era Ford’s – a lot of woodies too. Our feature car, the 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Sportsman Convertible sold for $253,000. The top sale was a 1936 Ford Custom Cabriolet with a coachbuilt body by Glaser. It bettered the upper end of its reserve by more than $100,000, selling for $396,000.

The next biggest sale was also the top-selling Lincoln – a 1938 Lincoln-Zephyr Coupe. As one of the all-time great automotive designs, it commanded a premium at $330,000.

The top selling Mercury was $187,000 for this 1942 Model 29A Station Wagon.

And finally, on a brighter note, this 1940 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet in a brilliant shade of blue sold for $93,500. For complete results, click here.

Darmont-Morgan

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1921 Darmont-Morgan Three-Wheel Runabout

Offered by RM Auctions | Nysted, Denmark | August 12, 2012

I don’t think there is any way, without breaking my legs into smaller pieces, that I would be able to fit in this car – which is a shame because I think it is really cool. H.F.S. Morgan began marketing his three-wheelers in 1911 and within a few years he was exporting them to France where a few many handled the importing duties. There are a few names on the importers list – two of them being the brothers Darmont (Roger and Andre).

Three-wheeled Morgans became popular in motorsports for a few reasons. One, they were light, and their small v-twin motorcycle engines weren’t necessarily overworked trying to keep them moving. They began taking victories in Europe and after World War One, a Morgan Three-Wheeler scored an improbable victory at a race in France. Roger Darmont quickly entered an agreement with Morgan to build the cars in France, where their popularity had exploded. These were called Darmont-Morgans.

Built in a Parisian suburb, the cars were, initially, the same as those being built in Malvern Link, but over time they grew into their own and in the mid-1930s, Darmont introduced a four-wheeled car of his own design. The company closed at the outbreak of the Second World War.

This rare survivor is a fine example of an early Morgan but in even scarcer form – a Darmont. It’s also a great example of a cyclecar – a style very popular in 1920s France. This car looks like it’s probably been in a museum for quite a while – tended to as needed, but never restored. It’s really cool.

No estimates have been published yet for this sale, but for more information, click here. And for more from this incredible sale, click here.

Update: Sold $41,700.

D.B. Le Mans

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1961 D.B. Le Mans

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | June 17, 2012

Known as Deutsch-Bonnet until 1947, D.B. was a French manufacturer founded by Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet, who left the firm in the early 1961 to start his own company. D.B. started in 1938 building Citroen-based racing specials and turned to road cars in 1952.

The Le Mans model was introduced in 1958 and lasted until the company closed up shop in 1961. All their road-going models were Panhard-based using Panhard flat-twin engines. The Le Mans had an 850cc version making about 60 horsepower.

The Le Mans name was not wishful thinking – D.B.s won their class at the 24 Hours three separate times. These were legitimate sports cars. Approximately 200 Le Mans models were built and they might not be the most powerful European sports car of the 1960s, but they are certainly rare. For more information (in French), click here. And fore the rest of Osenat’s auction lineup (including another rare D.B.), click here.

Update: Not sold.

Henry J

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1951 Henry J Deluxe

Offered by Mecum | North Little Rock, Arkansas | June 16, 2012

Henry J. Kaiser’s vision of what his post-war automotive empire would look like was, well, optimistic. Kaiser, along with Joseph Frazer, took the remnants of Graham-Paige and bought Ford’s wartime Willow Run production plant to build automobiles under the Kaiser and Frazer nameplates. In 1950, Kaiser decided to try and bolster production of his cars by pulling a play out of the Henry Ford playbook: build a small, inexpensive car for the masses. The Henry J was born (and it was marketed as its own make).

So how did they do it? Kaiser wanted a car that seated five adults and could do 50 mph “for sustained periods of time.” It also had to retail for $1,300 (about $12,500 in 2012). To hit these marks, they had to cut some corners: there was no trunk lid – you had to go through the rear seats, which was probably difficult as the car was only offered with two doors. The base model also lacked armrests, a glove compartment, a sun visor and flow-through ventilation. Fortunately, the car you see here is a Deluxe model.

Which means it has the straight-six (instead of the four-banger). It’s a 2.6-liter making 80 horsepower. Unfortunately, even though it was very cheap, it only cost a few dollars less than a Chevrolet 150 – which had a functioning trunk, armrests, and more interior room. Sales declined steadily through 1954 when the Henry J was axed.

They didn’t build millions of these cars – which was part of the problem originally, as Kaiser needed mass production to make a profit. He didn’t get it and the Kaiser nameplate disappeared from passenger cars in 1955. The company went on to focus on it’s recently acquired Willys and Jeep business, which went on to become part of AMC.

It was a pioneering compact car, but you just don’t see Henry Js everyday. And this one looks to be in exceptional condition. We’ll see what it brings when it sells. For more information and photos, click here. And for more on the Salmon Brothers Collection, click here.

Update: sold $16,000.