Tag Archives: classic cars

Voisin Lumineuse

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1927 Voisin C11 Berline Lumineuse

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 9, 2018

Photo – Artcurial

Gabriel Voisin’s cars are usually a little on the wild side, this one being no exception. Dubbed “Lumineuse,” or light, you can see from just the lone picture above how strange this car appears. The greenhouse bows inward as it rises and the use of glass on this car is one of the most original I’ve ever seen. The front windscreen folds outward, the windows retract inside the car (but not inside the door). It makes it look like the top just lifts right off (but it doesn’t).

The engine is a 2.3-liter Knight sleeve-valve straight-six. The interior is, of course, some strange pattern that suits the car perfectly. The exterior is done in an almost-military-brown and it’s quite understated as well. The wheels sit at the four corners of this car, with practically no overhang from the body, which is all aluminium, making it very light. And I love the weird forward-facing spotlight hanging off the rear of the car.

It sounds as if there has been ongoing work on this car since 1973. It certainly isn’t fresh but it does look quite nice and is evidently quite usable. The C11 was the most-produced Voisin product but only three Lumineuse-bodied examples are known to exist. It’s quite creative and very cool. It should bring between $305,000-$425,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $365,050.

1909 Zedel

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1909 Zedel Type CA 10HP Double Phaeton

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 8, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Zedel was actually a Swiss company when it incorporated in 1901. In 1902, they opened a factory in France and in 1906 they produced their first vehicles. The Swiss arm of the company was gone by 1908 and Zedel was primarily a French concern thereafter – until the entire company shut down in 1923 (though they had been selling cars as Donnet-Zedel since 1919).

This, the 10 horsepower Zedel, was in production at least from 1908 through 1910. It’s a four-cylinder engine and it moves a pretty large touring car body that was built for this chassis by Henri Gauthier.

Zedel never built cars in large numbers and this is the first non-Donnet Zedel that I can recall coming up for sale in the past few years. It is coming out of a decent-sized collection of French and Belgian cars that Bonhams has on offer. This one should bring between $36,000-$48,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Sold $53,917.

Four Oddities from Artcurial

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Four Oddities from Artcurial

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 10, 2018

1907 Chameroy Tonneau

Photo – Artcurial

What? Never heard of a Chameroy Tonneau? Artcurial is presenting a collection of true oddball cars at Rétromobile and I love it. Automobiles Chameroy of Le Vesinet offered automobiles for only four years, from 1907 through 1910.

This 1907 model features a V-4 engine making “at least 9 horsepower.” It is likely an Aster engine and probably the largest car Chameroy built (which would likely make it the Type D, but that’s just an inference on my part). Chameroy was apparently more famous for their own special “non-skid tires” and may have had more success with them. As it is, this is the only known example of their cars to survive. It should bring between $12,000-$18,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $33,585.

1907 Louis Pouron 8HP

Photo – Artcurial

This little two-seat French roadster was not built by an automobile company. Instead, it was built by a French railway employee, likely while he was on strike (just kidding!).

It’s powered by an eight horsepower De Dion single-cylinder engine from 1903. Not much else is known about the car’s history or its builder. The collection of Michel Broual, of which this is being sold from, acquired it after many years of waiting as the car wound up in a shed that had sort of been made smaller around the car so it could not be removed. The owner refused to allow anyone to trample his garden and someone else snuck in and bought it out from under Broual who would have to wait years to buy it from that gentleman. Kind of weird story. But hey, it’s kind of a weird, one-off car. It should bring between $12,000-$18,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $16,062.

1907 Contal Mototri Type B

Photo – Artcurial

Camille Contal’s Mototri was a forecar built in France. Unlike many of its counterparts, this was not a motorcycle fitted with a front-facing chair. It was designed from the ground up as a tri-car.

First introduced at the 1905 Paris Auto Salon, the Contal would be sold to the public in 1907 and 1908. 1907 was a good year publicity-wise for the firm as one of their Mototris competed in the Peking-Paris race (even if it didn’t do very well). The Mototri could be had as you see here or as a delivery wagon. Compared to many of the cars in this collection, this one seems to be in quite decent shape. It should bring between $18,000-$30,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $65,709.

1925 SIMA-Violet Type VM

Photo – Artcurial

Ah, the SIMA-Violet. When I think “cyclecars” this is one of the first cars to come to mind (this is a close second). SIMA-Violet’s name comes from SIMA (Société Industrielle de Matériel Automobile) and the last name of the company’s founder: Marcel Violet.

The company produced their unique take on the cyclecar between 1924 and 1929. Most are two-seaters with the seats offset so that the driver sat farther forward than the passenger. They were all powered by a 497cc two-stroke twin designed in-house that was geared to do 60+ mph (no thank you). If you ever want to see a great example of one of these up close, head to the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville. The blue example on offer here should sell for between $10,000-$15,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $32,124.

Chameroy Tonneau

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1907 Chameroy Tonneau

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 10, 2018

Photo – Artcurial

What? Never heard of a Chameroy Tonneau? Artcurial is presenting a collection of true oddball cars at Rétromobile and I love it. Automobiles Chameroy of Le Vesinet offered automobiles for only four years, from 1907 through 1910.

This 1907 model features a V-4 engine making “at least 9 horsepower.” It is likely an Aster engine and probably the largest car Chameroy built (which would likely make it the Type D, but that’s just an inference on my part). Chameroy was apparently more famous for their own special “non-skid tires” and may have had more success with them. As it is, this is the only known example of their cars to survive. It should bring between $12,000-$18,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $33,585.

Louis Pouron

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1907 Louis Pouron 8HP

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 10, 2018

Photo – Artcurial

This little two-seat French roadster was not built by an automobile company. Instead, it was built by a French railway employee, likely while he was on strike (just kidding!).

It’s powered by an eight horsepower De Dion single-cylinder engine from 1903. Not much else is known about the car’s history or its builder. The collection of Michel Broual, of which this is being sold from, acquired it after many years of waiting as the car wound up in a shed that had sort of been made smaller around the car so it could not be removed. The owner refused to allow anyone to trample his garden and someone else snuck in and bought it out from under Broual who would have to wait years to buy it from that gentleman. Kind of weird story. But hey, it’s kind of a weird, one-off car. It should bring between $12,000-$18,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $16,062.

SIMA-Violet

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1925 SIMA-Violet Type VM

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 10, 2018

Photo – Artcurial

Ah, the SIMA-Violet. When I think “cyclecars” this is one of the first cars to come to mind (this is a close second). SIMA-Violet’s name comes from SIMA (Société Industrielle de Matériel Automobile)and the last name of the company’s founder: Marcel Violet.

The company produced their unique take on the cyclecar between 1924 and 1929. Most are two-seaters with the seats offset so that the driver sat farther forward than the passenger. They were all powered by a 497cc two-stroke twin designed in-house that was geared to do 60+ mph (no thank you). If you ever want to see a great example of one of these up close, head to the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville. The blue example on offer here should sell for between $10,000-$15,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $32,124.

January 2018 Auction Highlights

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We’ll start off January’s first results rundown with Bonhams’ final sale from December, their London Olympia sale. The top sale was this 1964 Aston Martin DB5 for $619,297.

Photo – Bonhams

Both of our feature cars from this sale sold, with the Bristol 411 bringing $58,459 and the TVR 2500 $33,845. Click here for more results.

Mecum held the first sale of 2018 (in Kissimmee, Florida). A number of our feature cars sold, beginning with two previously-featured wagons: a 1948 Buick that brought $29,700 and a 1969 Dodge Coronet 500 that sold for $19,800. The Plymouth Pickup sold for $36,300, the Dodge $55,000, and the ’72 International Pickup $26,400.

The top sale was this 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari for $3,410,000.

Photo – Mecum

Cars that didn’t sell included some pickups, like the Mercury, Ford, and Chevrolet. The Buehrig Carriage Roof Coupe we featured a while ago also failed to sell here. The Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 didn’t find a new owner in Kissimmee, after nearly a year of trying. The ZR1 Corvette and the Ruf BTR were also no-sales. More can be found here.

Next up, Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale. We featured a few of their “Reserve” cars – all of which failed to sell: the Talbot-Lago, Rolls-Royce Phantom III, a previously-featured Plymouth Concept Car, and a previously-featured Shelby Cobra Dragonsnake.

Meanwhile, the top sale was a charity car: a 2017 Ford GT. It brought $2,500,000. Click here for more results.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

On to RM Sotheby’s in Arizona. Every car we featured from this sale sold, including both Alfa Romeos, with the Boano Speciale bringing $1,270,000 and the oldest surviving Alfa Romeo in the world, $445,000. Both Fords also sold, with the Model K selling for $252,000 and the Brewster-Ford $89,600. The top seller was this 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C for $2,947,500.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Rolls-Royce Phantom III from this sale did sell, bringing $593,500. And the beautiful Ferrari 212 Inter brought $1,187,500. Click here for complete results.

And finally, for this rundown, Gooding & Company in Scottsdale. The top sale was the Ferrari 275 GTB Speciale we featured. It sold for $8,085,000. The Bristol 402 we featured failed to sell, as did the Bugatti Type 29/30.

We’ll award Most Interesting to this 1963 Iso Grifo A3/L Prototype that brought $1,760,000.

Photo – Gooding & Company

The Kaiser Dragon we featured sold for $37,400 and the D.B. HBR5 $47,300. Click here for more results and to see the cars that are still for sale.

Minerva Type F/M8 Limousine

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1938 Minerva Type F/M8 Limousine

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 8, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Here’s yet another Minerva, this one much closer to WWII than any of the others. This was actually from the final year of Minerva passenger car production. They weren’t building many cars per year by this point, which makes this pretty rare. It would have been called a Type F in Belgium, but when imported to the U.K. the importer decided to call it an M8.

It’s powered a 4.0-liter straight-eight and has a big limousine body. This would have been a pretty nice car for whatever Londoner purchased it new (and perhaps purchased it off the stand at the 1938 London Motor Show). It has had a light restoration but could probably use a good looking-over before use. It should bring between $49,000-$58,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Sold $99,320.

Minerva Landaulette

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1928 Minerva Type AK Landaulette

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 8, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

We featured a number of Minervas recently and here’s a slightly newer one. The Type AK was available from Minerva for a decade: 1927 through 1937. This example is in fairly original shape (or at least sporting an older restoration). The rear compartment seats up to five, which makes this pretty limousine-ish.

It’s powered by a 6.0-liter Knight sleeve-valve straight-six making 150 horsepower. It’s described as a Landaulette, which may mean that the top can be removed from half of this car, but no mention is made of that in the lot description, nor are there photos of the car in this state. Either way, it’s a pretty desirable car from a rare exotic make and it should bring between $85,000-$120,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $78,037.

Turcat-Mery Saloon

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1924 Turcat-Mery 15/25HP Model SG Saloon

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 8, 2018

Photo – Bonhams

Some of the best Turcat-Mery’s are sporty tourers. The company was around from 1899 through 1928 and they had to produce a few more standard designs, you know, in order to keep income flowing in.

Before disappearing in 1928, they had financial issues (actually, back in 1921). Once they got production running again, the Model SG was among the first cars rolling back out of the factory. It’s powered by a 3.0-liter straight-four rated at 16 horsepower. This particular example has been on museum display since 1987. It’s not quite roadworthy at the moment, but it does look really good. It should bring between $24,000-$30,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $29,796.