Adler Trumpf Junior

1935 Adler Trumpf Junior

Offered by Coys | Berlin, Germany | October 7, 2017

Photo – Coys

Adler was a German automobile manufacturer that got its start in 1900. Based in Frankfurt, the company introduced a pair of front-wheel drive models during the 1930s. They were the Trumpf and the smaller Trumpf Junior.

Introduced in 1934, this Junior model is powered by a 1.0-liter straight-four that makes 25 horsepower – enough to push the car to 56 mph. It was a popular model that performed and sold well.

Unfortunately for Adler, WWII came and their factory was destroyed by Allied bombs. Production did not resume after the war ended (though Adler did join with Triumph to build some motorcycles through the 1950s). This example was restored in 1992 and has been on museum duty since 2000. It should sell for between $14,000-$21,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Sauber C9

1989 Sauber-Mercedes C9

Offered by Coys | Fontwell, U.K. | September 7, 2017

Photo – Coys

Coys has a serious race car for it’s Goodwood sale this year. The Sauber C9 was one of the preeminent Group C race cars from the late 1980s. Introduced in 1987, it was developed from the Sauber C8 race car and was much more successful than it’s predecessor.

Co-designed by Peter Sauber, the C9 is powered by a 5.0-liter Mercedes-Benz V-8 with two turbochargers. That combination made 700 horsepower in the most basic of forms and over 900 if you cranked up the boost. The most famous C9s were those painted solid silver that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans on their way to the World Endurance Championship in 1989 (and they won the Championship again in 1990). This car is the only C9 that still wears the 1988 AEG livery – it was retained by Sauber for display in his museum after the 1988 season.

I do not have access to any race records for this particular chassis (C9-A2). The current owner purchased this car from Peter Sauber in 2010 – after 20 years of museum duty. It was restored in 2015 and a fresh engine was constructed by the original engine builder. No pre-sale estimate is available but you can see more here and more from Coys here.

Update: Sold, approximately $2,377,000.

Fiat 750 Vignale

1963 Fiat 750 Vignale Coupe

Offered by Coys | London, England | May 18, 2017

Photo – Coys

Fiat never built a car called the “750” but they did build one called the 600. Produced from 1955 through 1969, it was visually similar to the classic 500, but with a larger engine. There was also the van-like Multipla version, which was the basis for some wild designs. The normal 600 was also used as the basis for some cool coachbuilt cars. Fun fact, there was a version of the 600 called the “750” – but it was only produced by Zastava in Yugoslavia.

Vignale took the sort of tiny, round 600 and enlarged the engine to 750cc. In this guise, the straight-four probably made more power than the original 633cc engine. The body is the star here, though. It’s very stylish, sort of a mini-coupe that doesn’t resemble the base car at all. Vignale also built a two-door sedan and a convertible.

As far as production numbers go, there may have been as many as 40,000 750 Vignales built. That seems like quite a few, but then again Fiat built 2,695,197 600s in total, so it’s kind of a drop in the bucket. This one shows nice and it is completely usable. It should bring between $13,000-$15,500. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Australian-Bodied Rolls

1923 Rolls-Royce Twenty Open Tourer by Smith & Waddington

Offered by Coys | London, U.K. | April 12, 2017

Photo – Coys

The Rolls-Royce Twenty was introduced in 1922 and it was Rolls-Royce’s “small car” – if you can consider something that is as large as this as “small.” In its early years, Rolls-Royce built gigantic cars, so really, anything less than gargantuan could be considered small. It was their first new model since 1907.

The Twenty is powered by a 3.1-liter straight-six making, presumably, 20 horsepower. With the correct (read: lightweight) body work, the car could attain 60 mph. The simple yet sporty body on this car was constructed by Smith & Waddington of Sydney, Australia.

That’s right, this British-built Rolls was sent as a bare chassis to Australia where its first owner chose to have it bodied locally. Smith & Waddington were the premier Australian coachbuilder for Rolls-Royces. At one point, they were building bodies for 85% of the Rolls-Royces coming into Australia. This car came back to the U.K. in 2013 and has covered 13,000 miles since the engine was rebuilt in 1990.

When production ended in 1929, only 2,940 Rolls-Royce Twenty models had been produced. This one should bring between $56,500-$69,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold, approximately $56,250.

Delahaye Torpedo

1923 Delahaye Type 87 Torpedo

Offered by Coys | Essen, Germany | April 8, 2017

Photo – Coys

Known for their exotic coachbuilt cars of the 1930s and 40s, Delahaye cars date back to the 1890s and up until the 1930s, they resembled many other large, well-built cars. Take, for example, this Type 87 Torpedo. Looking at it in near-profile, it’s pretty hard to distinguish it from a Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes, or any number of large American touring cars also built in 1923.

The Type 87 was introduced at the 1921 Paris Auto Salon and was one of the first new Delahayes introduced after WWI. It’s powered by a 1.8-liter straight-four and it was sold in the 10CV class. This model was produced through 1926 and in total about 3,800 were built.

This particular example was discovered in the south of France in 1989. It has since undergone a complete restoration and is a solid driver, having participated in quite a few historic car driving events. It should bring between $48,500-$70,250. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Coys’ lineup.

Update: Sold, approximately $53,800.

Indra Spider

1972 Intermeccanica Indra Spider

Offered by Coys | Essen, Germany | April 8, 2017

Photo – Coys

Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica was a tiny car manufacturer that only built original models from 1966 through 1974. It’s a relatively short amount of time (even though they’ve been building replicas since) and yet, we’ve featured quite the array of their vehicles.

The Indra was the final non-replica Intermeccanica built and it lasted from 1971 through 1974. It was offered as a Convertible or in the form of two slightly different Coupes. Most of them were powered by V-8s from Chevrolet. When GM pulled their support, the Indra went out of production.

This example, with funky bucktoothed rally-style lights, is one of just 60 convertible Indras produced – 125 were built in total. This one should bring between $80,000-$90,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Porsche 959 Speedster

1987 Porsche 959 Speedster

Offered by Coys | Essen, Germany | April 8, 2017

Photo – Coys

If we consider the dawn of the supercar to begin sometime between the Lamborghini Miura and the Ferrari 288 GTO, then the Porsche 959 is among the more grandfatherly supercars in existence. What most older supercars have in common is this: they were all hard tops. Drop top supercars didn’t gain much traction until the Lamborghini Diablo Roadster and the Ferrari F50.

The 959 was the most technologically advanced motorcar available for purchase when it debuted in 1986. It was the fastest car in the world too, topping out at 197 mph. It is powered by a 2.8-liter twin-turbo flat-6 making 444 horsepower. With a complex all-wheel drive setup and active suspension, this car was years ahead of its time.

So we come back to the elephant in the room. What’s with the drop top? Porsche never built one… so what is this? Well, Porsche sold one of the 337 959s to racing driver Jürgen Lässig who, well, had a slight incident in this car while racing down the Autobahn. He sold what was left of it to Auto Becker, a German used car company. They meticulously rebuilt the car but decided, since it wasn’t original anymore anyway, to make it into a convertible. It’s pretty crazy and pretty cool. Sure, it’ll never be as valuable as a traditional 959, but it is rarer… and sunshinier. Yes, that’s now a word. A removable hardtop is included as well.

This wonderful piece of someone’s imagination is estimated to bring between $1,300,000-$1,600,000 at auction. Click here for more info and here for more from Coys.

Update: Sold, approximately $1,450,000.

January 2017 Auction Highlights, Pt II

A few more from Scottsdale, starting with Bonhams. The Ferrari California Spider we featured would’ve been the top sale, had it reached its reserve. Instead, this 1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight Competition was the top sale at $7,370,000.

Photo – Bonhams

Other big dollar cars included two of our feature cars: the Mercedes S-Type brought $4,812,500 and the Ferrari 340 America $6,380,000. The Abarth Scorpione sold for $116,600. Click here for complete results.

Next up, Worldwide Auctioneers and their inaugural Arizona sale. We didn’t get to feature anything from these guys, but the top sale was $1,980,000 for this 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Roadster. Click here for more results.

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

Finally, from Scottsdale, we have Russo & Steele. Their top sale was this 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 S Cabriolet A that brought $423,500.

Photo – Russo & Steele

Our featured Falcon Mk III failed to sell. Click here for complete results.

Before we move on to Retromobile results, let’s jump back to December to Coys’ True Greats sale where this 1969 Porsche 911 S/T was the top seller for about $856,000. Click here for all of the results from this sale.

Photo – Coys

Now we move to Paris and the three Retromobile sales, the first of which is RM Sotheby’s. The top sale was the incredible Alfa Romeo Tipo B that went for $4,177,896. The OSCA and Porsche 917 failed to sell but the Porsche 901 Prototype went for $692,337. I know it’s kind of cliché to list a Ferrari as “most interesting” but this one is too pretty not to. It’s a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB in Verde Pino that sold for $2,059,106. Click here for complete results.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Lenham Le Mans

1967 Lenham Le Mans Coupe

Offered by Coys | Birmingham, U.K. | January 14, 2017

Photo – Coys

In 1967 Peter Rix joined Julian Booty’s Vintage Sports Car Garage and they changed the name to the Lenham Motor Company. Their first cars were based around the Austin-Healey Sprite. Racing cars and other models followed. Production ceased in 1982 but the company was revived later on and is still doing some work.

The Le Mans was a GT car based on the Sprite and the engine is likely a 1.3-liter straight-four making in the neighborhood of 65 horsepower (if this particular car is based on a Mk IV Sprite). The body is fiberglass and the car is fully race-prepped for vintage racing.

What makes this car interesting is that it was the final official Le Mans Coupe converted by Lenham. It’s a neat, rare little race car that would be a great way to get into historic racing and it should sell for between $24,500-$30,500. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold (about) $25,723.

Melling Wildcat

2008 Melling Wildcat Prototype

Offered by Coys | Birmingham, U.K. | January 14, 2017

Photo – Coys

Al Melling worked at TVR and was responsible for co-designing the TVR-produced engine that was used in the Cerbera. His work spread across to motorcycles, Formula One, and other supercar manufacturers. He set up a shop in Rochdale, England, called Al Melling Sports Cars to produce this, the Wildcat.

It looks like something that would’ve come out of England, specifically like something from TVR or Marcos. This was the first example built and it is powered by a 5.7-liter Chevrolet V-8 tuned to make 450 horsepower (other engines are an option if you buy one new). Top speed is 180 mph and 60 arrives in just 3.5 seconds.

As of 2014, only seven Wildcats had been produced, with this being the first, the Prototype (which was assembled in just nine months). The car has been in the Melling family since it was built and they are the ones offering it for sale here. Click here for more info and here for more from Coys.

Update: Sold (about) $22,375