Triumph 1800 Roadster

Posted on November 10, 2011 by classiccarweekly

1948 Triumph 1800 Roadster

To be offered at Bonhams, Yorkshire, November 16, 2011

(Photo not of actual car. Imagine if this was blue and looked like a daily driver.)

This was the first car Triumph put on sale after the end of the war. It was originally fitted with a 1.8 liter straight-4 (although those were replaced by a 2.0 liter unit beginning in 1948). A total of 2,501 of both models were produced, making this car fairly rare compared to it’s successor, the TR2 (of which more than 8,000 were built).

The 1800 had a top speed of 75 mph and could hit 60 in a sprightly 34.4 seconds. The car had the pre-war looks to match its pre-war performance and was the end of the line for classical styling before the arrival of the TR2.

The car being sold by Bonhams is blue and was apparently used as a daily driver by its owner (who bought the car in the early 1960s). It’s described as being in “rolling restoration” condition – but driveable. It’s an attractive classic British design and it can be had cheap with a pre-auction estimate of £8,000-£10,000 ($12,000-$16,000).

More info on the car (and the actual picture) can be found here. More info on Bonhams Harrogate sale can be found here.

Update: Not Sold.

Bonhams Veteran Motor Cars, London 2011

Posted on November 9, 2011 by classiccarweekly

Bonhams recently conducted their Veteran Motor Cars and Related Automobilia sale in London. Seven of the eight London-to-Brighton eligible automobiles sold. The lot list for this auction is one of the most interesting in recent memory. It’s very rare when there is an auction when none of the lots are ordinary. There is an E-Type or classic Ferrari, which certainly aren’t everyday, but neither are they as far out there as an 1898 Fisson Wagonette.

Top Sales, well I guess I’ll just run through them all (each car is linked to its catalog description):

The bargains of the sale were the two American-made cars. First a 1904 Pope-Tribune Model II 6hp Two-Seat Runabout sold for £34,500 or roughly $55,400. The more obscure American car (yes, they come much more obscure than a Pope-Tribune) was the 1898 Daley Quadricycle built by M.H. Daley of Charles City, Iowa. It sold for £44,400 or $71,000.

The next two cars sold for just over $100,000 each. First the 1901 Sunbeam-Mabley Cycle Car seen here with its awkward 1x2x1 wheel layout:

The original intention was to break the mold of turning a horse and carriage into a horseless carriage – try a different design out. Well that they did and they produced about 130 of them between 1901 and 1903 with less than five known to exist. £65,300.

The other $100,000 car (or £66,400) was a 1902 Deckert 8hp Two-Seater built in Paris by H. Deckert. The company lasted from 1901 until 1906 and this is the only known survivor.

A 1902 Renault Type G 8hp Two-Seater sold for about $143,000 (£89,500). The car is interesting in that it’s almost 110 years old, but in its present company it gets overshadowed.

The two biggest sales of the auction were the 1898 Fisson 8hp Twin-Cylinder Six-Seat Wagonette – produced in the last year of Fisson production which began only two years prior. The car is beautiful and the only one like it left. It brought £156,600, or $251,500.

Finally, we come to the biggest of the sale, the 1899 Panhard-Levassor Type M2F 6hp Wagonette which brought £158,800 or $255,000.

The front shot of the car doesn’t quite impart the same magnificence of this car as do other angles. Panhard et Levassor built a fair number of cars, even early – and they are still in business today producing light military vehicles after giving up car production in the 1960s. This M2F Wagonette isn’t all that rare either as Gooding & Company sold one earlier this year for $396,000. Comparatively, this car was a steal.

Complete results can be found here.

Holsman High-Wheeler

Posted on November 8, 2011 by classiccarweekly

1906 Holsman Model G-10 High-Wheel Runabout

To be offered by Bonhams’ at their “Classic California” sale on November 12, 2011

We said we would bring you the interesting and unusual. This definitely qualifies as the latter. High-Wheelers were a style of early automobile where the wheels were, well, high – providing significant ground clearance for the unpaved roads of rural, turn-of-the-century America. They eventually fell out of favor in the teens as America’s infrastructure improved and pneumatic tires became the norm. Imagine the “comfort” offered by solid-state wooden wagon wheels on hard pavement – or any other surface for that matter.

The Holsman Automobile Company was founded in 1903 in Chicago, Illinois and built a variety of cars using a variety of engines ranging from this single-cylinder model up to 26 horsepower 4-cylinders. Early models utilized rope drive but the company switched to steel cables and finally chains. This model sports rope drive to the rear wheels. This car is currently not running but was parked in running condition (a long time ago).

Gooding & Company sold a Holsman, a 1908 Model 10-K. This is a G model and it’s current condition means it will probably come in below Gooding’s result of about $45,000 in 2010. For more information on the car, check the details on the Bonhams website here and for the entire auction catalog, click here.

Update: Not Sold.