Tag Archives: classic cars

Voisin C28 Clairiere

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1935 Voisin C28 Clairiere Berline

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

Photo – Gooding & Company

Well, once the world found out that the Mullin collection was getting dispersed, we all should’ve prepared ourselves for some Voisins to come to market. This C28 is one of two known with “Clairiere” coachwork, a style that was introduced on the earlier C25 chassis.

The C28 is powered by a 3.3-liter Knight sleeve-valve inline-six rated at 110 horsepower. Of the two known to exist, the other is locked away forever in the Schlumpf hoard in France. So if you want one, this is it.

It has known ownership from knew, having been first delivered in Berlin in 1936, despite being titled as a 1929. It was owned by the Voisin family in the late 1990s and came into the current collection in 2010. The catalog carries a very reassuring disclaimer that the car has been in storage and “may not be currently operational.” So, you know, maybe it runs. The estimate is $350,000-$450,000. More info can be found here.

Rigling-Duesenberg

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1933 Rigling-Duesenberg Race Car

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Miami, Florida | March 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Herman Rigling and Cotton Henning were chassis builders during the “Junk Formula” years at Indianapolis. And their racing chassis were logged as “Rigling” in the Indianapolis 500 box scores. The junk formula was supposed to ensure stock-ish engines (in some cases, very stock). No superchargers, limited displacement, etc.

That said, you could still build a scratch-built racing engine and meet the criteria. Enter August Duesenberg, who built a beauty that this car first ran with at Indy in 1931. This car’s Indy 500 history includes:

  • 1931 Indianapolis 500 – 35th, DNF (with Babe Stapp)
  • 1932 Indianapolis 500 – DNQ (with L.L. Corum)
  • 1933 Indianapolis 500 – 13th (with Willard Prentiss)
  • 1934 Indianapolis 500 – DNQ (with Harold Shaw)

Let’s keep in mind that this was running at Indy during Duesenberg’s glory years. For 1933 the car used an engine from a Duesenberg Model Y road car. That engine was damaged by a later owner, who tried to adapt it to accept a Model J engine. That project was never completed.

After a late-90s/early-00s restoration, during which the car was fitted with a Duesenberg Model A engine, it relocated to its current collection in 2011. There are not many Duesenberg-powered race cars out there anymore, and even fewer in private hands. This one has an estimate of $500,000-$700,000. More info can be found here.

G.A.R. Roadster

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1930 G.A.R. Type B5 Roadster

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

Photo – Gooding & Company

Cyclecars G.A.R. was founded in Clichy, France, in 1922, and, through a name change to Gardahaut et Cie in 1929, remained in production through 1934. M. Gardahaut designed the cars, and he took them racing in the mid-’20s to prove their mettle.

The G.A.R. was not a mass-produced car, and only three B5s are known to still exist. This one is powered by a 1.4-liter inline-eight that was rated at eight taxable horsepower. It also has a Cotal pre-selector gearbox and four-wheel drum brakes.

With known history back to 1970, the car came into the Mullin collection in 2011 and was restored two years later, debuting at Pebble Beach that year. It now has an estimate of $75,000-$125,000. Click here for more info.

1905 Richard-Brasier

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1905 Richard-Brasier Type D Tourer

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

Photo – Gooding & Company

Richard-Brasier was not named after a guy named Richard Brasier. In fact, it was named for Charles-Henri Brasier, formerly of Panhard and Mors, and Georges Richard, he of his own eponymous company. The partnership was founded in 1902, but Richard left the company during 1905 and went on to found Unic. Brasier soldiered on alone.

This Model D is from the final bit of Richard-Brasier production and is powered by a 6.5-liter inline-four that was good for almost 60 horsepower. These were well-performing cars in their day, hence probably why it was sought out for the Mullin collection, from which it is being offered.

The car carries coachwork by Deshayes Freres & Courtois. Gooding & Company are testing the waters at Amelia with some of the less valuable/desirable Mullin cars before the “big auction” at the museum later this year. You can read more about this car here.

Djet III

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1964 Rene Bonnet Djet III

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 2024

Photo – Artcurial

Fun fact: the Rene Bonnet Djet was the first rear-mid-engined production car. There were four series of Djet produced by Bonnet before production was taken over by Matra in 1965. They would continue producing various versions for the next few years.

The Djet III was produced between about 1962 and 1964 and featured power from a Gordini inline-four that in this example has been rebuilt to 1.1 liters and is capable of 105 horsepower. This car features a tubular trellis frame and is one of 15 Djet IIIs produced. Other series of cars had more conventional frames.

Bodywork is fiberglass, and this one was restored about 15 years ago, with the work apparently fresh enough that the engine still requires break in. It now has an estimate of $85,000-$110,000. Click here for more info.

Duesenberg J-346

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1931 Duesenberg Model J Disappearing Top Convertible Coupe by Murphy

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

Photo – Gooding & Company

Can we talk about how good this car looks painted silver with green wire wheels and wide whitewalls? What a combo. This is a Murphy-bodied Model J, and it has known ownership history back to new.

But what makes it interesting is that it was repainted, and the interior refreshed, in 1951. It remained with one owner for 61 years and appears to have been somewhat recently acquired by its current owner. The car was offered privately late last year but went unsold. There is a document on their website tracing the car’s history, but it is somewhat confusing.

In any case, this is what you’d call a “driver”, which is the best kind of car, much less a Model J. Not only that, but it’s a highly desirable Murphy-built body style. There are plenty driver-level Model J sedans, but most open cars have been [over] restored. It has a 6.9-liter straight-eight capable of 265 horsepower, and more info can be found here.

Delaunay-Belleville HB6

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1912 Delaunay-Belleville HB6 Coupe-Chauffeur

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 2024

Photo – Artcurial

Based north of Paris, Delaunay-Belleville was one of France’s – and the world’s – most lauded marques prior to WWI. These were top-tier luxury cars that sat at the very top of the market. Many of their cars were coachbuilt, including this one, with the body here thought to have been produced by Audineau.

The company’s fortunes dipped during the 1920s and they lost some of their brand cachet. Somehow, the company survived WWII and even offered cars up until 1950, presumably on a by-order basis.

The HB6 (not to be confused with cross-town rival Hispano-Suiza’s later H6B), was a pre-WWI model powered by a 4.5-liter inline-six rated at 25 taxable horsepower. Just 1,308 examples were built from 1911 through 1914. This one remained unsold until 1919, when it was purchased new by the current owner’s grandfather, who used it during his wedding four years later. The car was then laid up in stables for 90 years. It now has an estimate of $162,000-$271,000. Click here for more info.

Voisin C30 S

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1938 Voisin C30 S Coupe

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

Photo – Gooding & Company

Gabriel Voisin was a visionary designer – of both automobiles and aircraft. But brilliance doesn’t necessarily transfer over to business skills. By 1937 Avions Voisin had been reorganized under SADAV, and the new heads of the company tapped Voisin to design a new car.

It would be his final pre-war design. Long known for their use of Knight sleeve-valve engines, Voisin would shift away from them for the C30 and move to the (likely) 3.6-liter supercharged Graham inline-six. Only about 30 C30s were built before the war put an end to production.

This is said to be the only “C30 S” Coupe produced. It bounced between two owners between 1945 and 1998. For the next 10 years it resided with one owner and was sold in 2008, presumably into the Mullin collection. You can read more about it here.

The Guidomobile

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1939 Guidobaldi Guidomobile

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 2024

Photo – Artcurial

If someone said “Guidomobile” to you, chances are this is not what you pictured. This car was built – from scratch – by Francois Guidobaldi, an inventor and former cycling champion. After winning a cycling championship in the 1900s, he went on to patent a carburetor, a gas generator, and and more into the 1970s. But in 1939 he was working on this, which very much looks like a period Auto Union grand prix car.

Most incredibly, he built the engine from scratch. And it is an eight-cylinder two-stroke unit measuring 1,357cc in displacement and shaped like a star. It has dual ignition, two Roots-type superchargers, and a self-designed carburetor. It is said to have been capable of 180 horsepower. It resides right behind the driver.

Guidobaldi died in 1971, and the current owner purchased it out of a museum in 2009. It was only later, during a restoration, that the body was finally crafted in aluminum based on sketches by the original constructor. This one-off piece of madness has an estimate of $285,000-$395,000. More info can be found here.

Talbot-Lago T150C Roadster

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1937 Talbot-Lago T150C Roadster

Offered by Osenat | Paris, France | February 2024

Photo – Osenat

There are versions of the Talbot-Lago T150C that are among the most expensive cars in the world and far and away the most expensive Talbot-Lagos. This isn’t one of them, but it is quite an attractive car. The T150 launched in 1937, and the “C” variant meant it had a competition chassis.

Power is from a 4.0-liter inline-six rated at 140 horsepower. There were racing variants of the T150C (hence the competition chassis) as well as very rare short-chassis “SS” models. It is unclear who did the body work for this car, but in the 1950s the front end was reworked with a modified grille and bumpers.

This car was on the show stand in Paris in 1937 and remained with its first owner for 40 years. The third and current owner purchased it in 2018. Originally red, it was painted black under original ownership. The current owner had it repainted red and black. It has an estimate of $650,000-$985,000. Click here for more info.