Tag Archives: classic cars

British-Bodied Delage

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1938 Delage D6-70 Cabriolet by Coachcraft

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 2024

Photo – Osenat

The D6 was, perhaps, the most successful model Delage ever had. The launch model, the D6-11, went on sale in 1932. Eight more variants would be produced before production wrapped… in 1953. This car is a D6-70 chassis, a model that was only offered in 1937 and 1938.

Originally, it would’ve been powered by a 2.7-liter inline-six rated at 78 horsepower. However, this car was purchased by its current owner in 1985 as a project, and part of completing that project was upgrading the drivetrain to D6 Olympic specification, which resulted in the inline-six jumping to 3.0 liters and sporting three carburetors – a setup rated at 100 horsepower during D6 Olympic production from 1948 to 1949.

This car was one of few delivered new to the U.K., where it was bodied by Coachcraft. While it’s been parked since 2020, the car was used heavily under current ownership, being driven to lands as far away as Syria. Now it has an estimate of $43,500-$65,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold ~$100,809.

1918 Rochet-Schneider

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1918 Rochet-Schneider 16500 Coupe-Chauffeur by Billeter and Cartier

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 2024

Photo – Osenat

Rochet-Schneider was a French manufacturer that came into being when Edouard Rochet’s car company was joined by Theophile Schneider in 1905/1906. The company soldiered on until 1932, with its later years mostly focused on commercial vehicles (though passenger cars were still available).

This car carries the preposterous model name of “16500.” It is powered by a hefty 40-horsepower inline-four that is mated to a four-speed manual transmission. It is apparently capable of 55 mph.

It has been restored and sports town car bodywork by Billeter & Cartier of Lyon. It has an estimate of $55,000-$87,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Chapron-Bodied Delahaye

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1940 Delahaye 135MS Roadster Grand Luxe by Chapron

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 2024

Photo – Osenat

The MS variant of Delahaye’s 135 model line was the sportiest, and production spanned both sides of WWII. It would eventually give way to the 235 of 1951, and that car was really just an updated 135 underneath.

This particular car was delivered to Henri Chapron in mid 1939. The intent was to build the body and display it at the Paris Motor Show, but Germany came calling, so the car was sent to America to be displayed at the 1940 New York World’s Fair. Since they couldn’t take it back to France, it was sold new in the U.S., remaining there until the current owner bought it in 2005.

All 135MS examples were powered by a 3.6-liter inline-six, and this triple-carbureted version made about 145 horsepower when new. It now has an estimate of $325,000-$550,000. More info can be found here.

Update: Sold ~$277,226.

280SE 3.5 Cabriolet

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1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | March 2024

Photo – Bring a Trailer

This is among the finest classic Mercedes-Benz products you can buy. It’s also among the classiest. The W111 chassis was designed by Friedrich Geiger and is among three generation of Benzes that fall under the “fintail” category, even though these late coupe/cabriolet variants don’t really have tail fins.

The two-doors came a few years after the sedans and initially launched as the 220SE in 1961. A displacement increase in 1965 brought the 250SE to market, followed by the 2.8-liter 280SE in 1967. All of these cars had straight-six engines. Then, in 1969, Mercedes launched the unnecessarily confusingly named 280SE 3.5, which had a 3.5-liter V8 that made 197 horsepower.

Coupes and convertibles were offered with the V8, and just 1,232 examples of the cabriolet were sold. They have been six-figure cars for some time and continue to creep up. This silver-over-blue example has a little time left to bid, and you can do so here.

Update: Sold $270,000.

TVR 280S

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1989 TVR S1 280S

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | March 2024

Photo – Brightwells

The TVR S Series was produced from 1987 through 1994 and was kind of the gap car between the company’s wedges and their “modern” line of cars that consisted of the Griffith, Chimaera, Cerbera, and Tuscan.

The first S car was the S1, or the 280S. It is powered by a 2.8-liter Ford Cologne V6 that made 160 horsepower. The car could hit 60 in eight seconds on its way to a 128-mph top end.

This was the first new TVR product under director Peter Wheeler, and about 605 S1 cars were built before it gave way to the S2, etc. This one has been repainted blue and has an estimate of $7,700-$10,000. More info can be found here.

Update: Sold ~$8,354.

Morgan Grand Prix

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1919 Morgan Grand Prix

Offered by Aguttes | Paris, France | March 2024

Photo – Aguttes

H.F.S. Morgan had his own automobile dealership and service center by 1904 and ended up building himself his own car five years later. The next year, he was producing them for sale, and the Morgan Motor Company was born.

He used his cars early on in competition settings, including the 1913 Cyclecar Grand Prix, in which a Morgan won. The car that won was the basis for the company’s Grand Prix model that followed, which is what is shown here. It has a Motosacoche Acacias Geneve engine of 1.1 liters in capacity (a V-twin). This car has one of two known remaining engines of the type.

The Grand Prix model was offered from 1913 through 1926. And the three-wheeled design it pioneered and started to perfect would be the basis for three-wheeled Morgans for decades to come. This TT model is pretty stripped down, and it has an estimate of $65,000-$100,000. More info can be found here.

Update: Sold ~$70,325.

Ferrari 365 California

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1967 Ferrari 365 California

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Coral Gables, Florida | March 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Here’s one of very few classic Ferraris we haven’t been able to feature in the last… 13 years! And there’s a good reason for that: there aren’t many of them. The 365 line of cars replaced the 330 line as well as the 500 Superfast. The 365 California was the first in the line, and it was the direct replacement for the Superfast. The later 365 GT 2+2 would replace the 330 GT 2+2 and be much more common.

The California rode on the 500 Superfast chassis and wore bodywork by Pininfarina. Power was from an enlarged version of the 330 GT’s V12 that now displaced 4.4 liters and made 320 horsepower. Just 14 were produced.

This one was sold new in California and has been with its current owner since 2006. They do not change hands often, and when they do they command a premium. The estimate here is $4,000,000-$4,500,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Countach 5000 QV

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1988 Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Coral Gables, Florida | March 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Here’s another Countach. This one is the followup to the LP500 S, and it’s called the 5000 QV, for quattrovalvole. Produced from 1985 until 1988, it was the last Countach variant to really stick mostly to the original styling before Horacio Pagani updated it for 25th Anniversary Edition duty. 610 were built.

Yes, the 5000 QV was boxier than the original LP 400. It had big wheel arch flares, impact bumpers for the U.S. market, and the big V-shaped rear wing, which was optional. There was also an optional front wing… which is one of the most insane ’80s automotive touches there was.

Power is from a 5.2-liter V12 with four valves per cylinder (hence the “QV”) that made 414 horsepower in U.S.-market trim with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection. This car has been converted to European-spec, with six downdraft Weber carburetors. When new, cars equipped like this made 449 horsepower. This car was first titled in 2018 and has less than 1,000 miles. It also has an estimate of $850,000-$950,000. More info can be found here.

Update: Not sold.

6C 2300 B Turismo Cabriolet

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1937 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B Turismo Cabriolet by Pinin Farina

Offered by Gooding & Company | Amelia Island, Florida | February/March 2024

Photo – Gooding & Company

Alfa’s 6C 2300 model was short lived compared to the 2500 model that followed. It was in produced from 1934 through 1938. In that time, the company turned out just 760 examples, with the “B” variants coming into the line in 1935.

These 2300 B variants still used the same 2.3-liter DOHC inline-six that produced 70 horsepower on this single-carburetor unit. This long-chassis Turismo model wears one-off coachwork by Pinin Farina.

The car was later on display at the 1938 International Motor Show in Berlin and then spent decades in Switzerland and later France and Italy. It is one of 81 Turismo cars built between 1936 and 1937, and it was restored in the 1990s. The estimate here is $900,000-$1,200,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Chevron B31

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1975 Chevron B31

Offered by Iconic Auctioneers | Stoneleigh Park, U.K. | February 2024

Photo – Iconic Auctioneers

Chevron‘s B31 was a sports prototype race car that initially competed in the 1975 European 2-Litre Championship. It was an evolution of the 1973 B26 and was actually entered in high-level competition through 1990. Which is an insanely long time to keep a race car around.

This car previously was fitted with a Cosworth DFV but has since been taken back to its as-designed 2.0-liter Hart DOHC inline-four that was rated at 290 horsepower. It has a Hewland five-speed manual gearbox and fiberglass body work.

It is the fifth of six B31s built in 1975. It has a Martini livery and won a historic championship in 2013. It now has an estimate of $125,000-$150,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold ~$119,383.