Tag Archives: cars

Honda NSX

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1995 Honda NSX

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | March 3, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

It’s always weird when manufacturers adorn cars with different branding based on where they are sold. The NSX is an Acura product in North America. But pretty much everywhere else in the world, it’s a Honda. And this Honda NSX is from the middle of the first generation. It was delivered new to France, so it’s left-hand drive, but it’s also 25 years old. That means you can bring it to the U.S.

The first-gen NSX is an appreciating classic. It’s one of the last wonderfully analog cars. In 1995, the NSX was still two years away from a displacement increase and a power bump, and the 3.0-liter V6 in this car was rated at 270 horsepower.

There are more desirable and interesting colors, but you can’t really go wrong with red on a two-door, mid-engine sports car. This 15,000-mile example should sell for between $67,000-$91,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $68,373.

Triumph Vitesse

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1963 Triumph Vitesse Convertible

Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | March 20, 2021

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

The Triumph Herald was a small, four-cylinder car built between 1959 and 1971. It was available in just about every two-door configuration imaginable aside from a pickup. But it was not very powerful or very fast. So, in 1962, Triumph decided to offer a different, yet similar model with a bigger engine.

There were 51,212 examples of the Vitesse built through 1971, split between two-door sedans, convertibles, and a very rare wagon across three different series. The first Vitesse models, including this one, were powered by a 1.6-liter inline-six that made 70 horsepower. Giovanni Michelotti styled the Herald, and he tweaked the same design and called it the Vitesse.

This car is one of 8,447 first series convertibles built. It is expected to bring between $18,000-$23,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $32,868.

Peugeot Darl’Mat

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1938 Peugeot 402 Darl’Mat Special Sport

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | March 3, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

Here’s a car I’ve wanted to feature for years. For a while, about a decade ago, these were popping up for sale right and left. And then the trail went cold. Spoiler alert: the current owner of this car bought it in 2012, which aligns with my timeline.

Let’s start with the 402, which was Peugeot’s large family car produced between 1935 and 1942. About 75,000 were built. Most were factory sedans, but there were plenty of aftermarket coachbuilt versions as well.

Some of those were cars built for Parisian Peugeot dealer Emile Darl’Mat. Darl’Mat obtained permission from Peugeot to commission a run of sports cars to celebrate Peugeot’s history at Le Mans. Marcel Pourtout’s company was brought in to body the cars, which were initially based on the smaller 302 chassis. Production shifted to the 402 before too long, which offered a larger, 2.0-liter inline-four rated at 55 horsepower. All of them were streamlined French masterpieces.

This car is one of 53 Darl’Mat roadsters built, and an additional 20 coupes and 32 convertibles were also made. Only about 30 survive. Darl’Mat’s vision of a sporty Peugeot really took off when his namesake cars ended up running well at Le Mans in 1937 and 1938.

The pre-sale estimate on this car (400233) is $430,000-$670,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Alpine GTA V6 Turbo

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1990 Renault Alpine GTA V6 Turbo

Offered by Brightwells | Online | February 13-18, 2020

Photo – Brightwells

The GTA was the first “Alpine” that was technically branded as a Renault product. Alpine become the model, as this was the first new Alpine model launched after Renault acquired Jean Rédélé’s company in 1973. The GTA went on sale in 1985 and was built through 1991.

There were a number of different sub-models offered, including a base, naturally aspirated version. There was also a Le Mans model, an example of which we have featured before. By 1990, the car had been fitted with power-robbing emissions equipment, and this V6 Turbo model is powered by a, you guessed it, turbocharged 2.5-liter V6 rated 182 horsepower. Sixty arrived in seven seconds, and the car topped out at 151 mph.

This car has aftermarket wheels that make it look like a Venturi, and it is expected to sell for between $10,000-$13,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $10,931.

Touring Sciadipersia

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2017 Touring Sciadipersia Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | March 3, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

Over the last five years or so, there has been this trend of coachbuilders and styling houses going out on their own to build limited-run cars. Such cars are then branded by the company that designed them. For instance, instead of “Maserati GranTurismo by Touring,” the company just called it a Touring Sciadipersia. Oh wait, that’s the car we have here.

It is based on Maserati’s GranTurismo and even retains Maser’s trident badging. But the body has been reworked, apparently in an attempt to mimic the Qvale Mangusta (how have we not featured a Qvale Mangusta!?). Anyway, this car shares the same 454-horsepower, 4.7-liter V8 with the GranTurismo Sport. It hits 60 in 4.8 seconds on the way to a 186-mph top end.

Touring planned to build 15 of these, but only one coupe and one convertible were ever completed, which makes this one of one. Pricing was never released when they were new, but this one is expected to bring between $460,000-$700,000 now. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Ascari Ecosse

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1997 Ascari Ecosse

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Paris, France | February 13, 2021

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Well, check this out. Ascari Cars is no longer around, but in the late 1990s and 2000s, they were a British supercar company that built extremely low volume stuff out of Banbury, Oxfordshire. Their models included the FGT race car, the Ecosse (their first road car), and the KZ1. They went out of business in 2010, and their old place is now used by the Haas F1 team.

The Ecosse was produced between 1997 and 2003 and was kind of a road-going version of the FGT. In that time, only 19 examples were built. This one was once owned by the family of Ascari owner Klaas Zwart. It was sold by his family in 2019 to the current owner.

This car is powered by a 4.4-liter BMW V8 that makes 300 horsepower. That is enough to push the car to 200 mph. Oh, by the way, the car isn’t black. It’s a very dark green, which really makes it better. This ultra-rare late-90s supercar should sell for between $185,000-$235,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

De Sanctis Formula Junior

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1958 De Sanctis Formula Junior

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Online | February 19-26, 2021

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Gino De Sanctis was a Fiat dealer in Rome who decided in the late 1950s that he wanted to start building race cars. This decision coincided with the launch of the Formula Junior class in 1958. It was an entry-level open-wheel class using parts from regular production cars.

In this case, De Sanctis used a 1.1-liter Fiat inline-four from an 1100/103. Power was rated at 72 horsepower, and the engine was mounted behind the driver. The car features a tubular spaceframe, a four-speed manual gearbox, and a coil-sprung front suspension.

This is the fifth De Sanctis car built, and it was used by its first owner for two seasons of the Italian Junior Championship before heading to a racing school until 1973, when it was purchased by the current owner. The final De Sanctis cars were built in 1970. You can read more about this one here and see more from this auction here.

Update: Not sold.

Lancia 2000 Sedan

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1972 Lancia 2000 Sedan

Offered by Anglia Car Auctions | Online | Feburary 27-28, 2021

Photo – Anglia Car Auctions

Today, the barely-alive Lancia only produces badge-engineered versions of cars from other manufacturers, namely, Fiat (they’ve only made one model since 2016). You might think that this car was the start of it all, but it isn’t. It was actually designed by Lancia before they were taken over by Fiat.

The car was production-ready in 1969, the same year Fiat took control of the brand. It was never supposed to go on sale because it was expensive to build, but once Fiat realized Lancia had nothing else in the hopper, they launched it anyway in 1971. Production would continue through 1974. Both sedans and coupes were offered.

I actually quite like the look of the sedan, which is powered by a 2.0-liter flat-four (weird, right?) that made 126 horsepower when fuel injected. The injected engine, which this car has, also got an extra speed in the gearbox for a total of five. Only 14,319 sedans were built, and this 66,000-mile example should sell for between $11,000-$14,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $34,378.

Leyland Mini

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1978 Leyland Mini

Offered by Shannons | Melbourne, Australia | February 23, 2021

Photo – Shannons

Dorky watermark alert. So what do we have here? First, Shannons’ write-up says that the Leyland Mini dropped the Clubman name after 1973. Yet they list this 1978 model as a Mini Clubman. I left it off.

What we do know for sure is that Leyland is the marque. The original Mini was sold under a number of different marques throughout the world, including Austin, Morris, Innocenti, Authi, Mini, and, down under, Leyland. The Leyland Mini was produced in Australia between 1973 and 1978.

This one is powered by a 1,275cc inline-four sourced from a European Cooper S model. This isn’t a version of the Mini seen very often, especially outside of Australia, where this one is located. It should sell for between $9,000-$11,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $7,744.

Alfa 1600 Junior Zagato

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1973 Alfa Romeo 1600 Junior Zagato

Offered by Mecum | Glendale, Arizona | March 18-20, 2021

Photo – Mecum

It may not look like it, but this is actually part of the same series of Giulia/Sprint/GTVs cars such as this one. But the styling is radically different, which is where the “Zagato” part comes in. Alfa’s 105/115 Series of coupes went on sale in 1963 with the Giulia Sprint GT, and the general styling would continue on through 1976’s GT 1300 Junior.

Zagato applied their boxy-yet-aerodynamic bodywork to two cars in the series, including the 1600 Junior Z seen here (there was also a 1300 version, although it was just called the “Junior Zagato”). This one is powered by a 1.6-liter Twin Cam inline-four rated at 108 horsepower. Top speed was 118 mph. The 1600 Junior Z was actually based on the floorplan of the Alfa Spider 1600, and it went on sale in 1972.

Only 402 were built through 1973, although sales continued through 1975. This is one of 12 known to be the U.S., and you can read more about it here. See more from Mecum here.

Update: Sold $52,800.