Devin C

Posted on January 18, 2022 by classiccarweekly

1959 Devin C

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Phoenix, Arizona | January 27, 2022

Devin Enterprises of Southern California was one of America’s leading kit car companies of the 1950s. Various models were offered, including a couple of turn-key ones. In late 1961, they introduced the C, which used a Corvair-sourced engine.

In this car, which was a turn-key factory-built example, power comes from a Corvair flat-six, the size of which isn’t even mentioned in RM’s auction write-up. Apparently, back in the day, this car was used by the Granatelli brothers for supercharger testing at Bonneville. Pretty awesome. It also appeared at drag strips, setting a quarter-mile time of 12.44 seconds at 109 mph in period.

The current non-supercharged engine was installed during a 2010s restoration. RM estimates that about 21 Cs were built, with about 19 remaining. This one carries a pre-sale estimate of $70,000-$90,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $78,400.

Devin D

Posted on January 14, 2020 by classiccarweekly

1958 Devin D

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 6, 2020

Bill Devin’s Devin Enterprises operated out of California between 1955 and 1964 and specialized in fiberglass kit cars. During their brief existence, they also sold some actual cars. One such model that was available as a complete, turn-key car was the D, which was introduced in 1958.

While it was also available as a kit, the Devin D was offered by the company ready to go with the option of two different engines: one from VW and one from Porsche. It used a custom ladder frame and a fiberglass body. This car is powered by a 100 horsepower, 1.8-liter Porsche flat-four.

Only 46 Devin Ds were produced. With its very Porsche-like design, this D is a more affordable alternative to its period Porsche competition. It is expected to bring between $89,000-$130,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams in Paris.

Update: Sold $100,914.

March 2017 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

Posted on March 25, 2017 by classiccarweekly

We’re back with more from Amelia Island, beginning with Gooding & Company where they sold a previously-featured Porsche 911 GT1 road car for $5,665,000 – a nice bump over the price the owner paid for it five years ago. The big-money Jaguar XKSS failed to sell, as did the Pegaso. Our Most Interesting award goes to David Brown’s personal 1949 Aston Martin DB Mk II which sold for $1,540,000.

Photo – Gooding & Company

Mazda’s 767B sold for $1,750,000 and the Cisitialia we featured brought $550,000. The rest of Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island results can be found here.

We didn’t get to feature anything from Motostalgia’s Amelia Island sale, but I wish we would’ve featured the top seller, this 1950 Abarth (Cisitalia) 204A Spyder that sold for $1,001,000. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Motostalgia

And now, the final results from Amelia Island: RM Sotheby’s. The Ferrari 166 would’ve been the top seller, but it failed to meet its reserve. So top sale honors went to another of our feature cars, the Bugatti 57S by Vanvooren for $7,700,000. Other million dollar sales included the Lancia Tipo Bocca for $2,145,000, the Supercharged Stutz for $1,705,000, and a previously featured Lancia PF200 Spider that brought $1,248,500.

There were other cars that sold here that we had featured in the past. This beautiful coachbuilt Graham-Paige sold for $770,000 – earning its consignor over a half a million in profit in one year’s time. At the other end of the spectrum, this Atlas Babycar went for just $30,250 – roughly half of what it sold for four years ago.

We’ll give “Most Interesting” to this 1959 Devin D that we neglected to feature. It sold for $88,000.

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

Other feature cars were the Zimmerli Roadster that went for $71,500 and the Meyers Manx that sold for $68,750. To see complete results, including the sale of the Orin Smith Collection, click here.

Now how about a couple of auctions in France? Aguttes held a sale in Lyon and this 1972 Dino 246 GT was the top sale at $335,171.

Photo – Aguttes

The Honda we featured brought $36,210. Complete results can be found here.

Finally, Osenat auctioned off the Perinet-Marquet Citroen collection. While we didn’t feature anything, this 1969 Citroen DS21 Cabriolet Usine was the top sale at $129,720. Click here for the rest of the results.

Photo – Osenat

Russo & Steele Monterey Highlights 2012

Posted on September 2, 2012 by classiccarweekly

Russo & Steele’s Monterey Auction is the last of the Pebble Beach sales we’ve got to cover. Neither of our feature cars, the Fiat Stanguellini Bertone and the Apollo 5000 GT, sold. Top sale went to a 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 for $781,000.

1965 Shelby Cobra 289

Other interesting sales included a pair of Devins. First, the 1959 Devin SS for $165,000.

1959 Devin SS

Then there was this 1957 Devin Triumph S “Gary Special” for $66,000.

Another special-like car was this 1962 Allard L-390 CC hillclimb car. The car is one of a few dozen Allard hillclimb specials built and it was actually built in 1948. But it was not registered until 1962, which is why it is listed as such. The competition car (CC) bodywork was added around this time. It sold for $66,000.

1962 Allard L-390 CC

Two other cars of note are both rather recent. First is this 1999 Acura NSX Alex Zanardi Edition. If you want to own an NSX, this is the one to get because it is named after one of the greatest, most entertaining open-wheel drivers you will ever have had the chance to seeing. Only 50 were ever built and it sold for $64,900.

1999 Acura NSX Alex Zanardi Edition

And finally this 2010 Superlite SLC Coupe is hand-built one-off supercar with a 632 horsepower LS7. It sold for $105,600.

For complete results, click here.

Mecum Monterey 2012 Highlights

Posted on August 25, 2012 by classiccarweekly

Mecum’s multi-day sale at this year’s Pebble Beach weekend featured a number of high-dollar Porsches, including this year’s top sale, our featured 1972 Porsche 917/10 that brought an impressive $5,500,000. The second-highest selling car was our featured 1908 Simplex that was also impressive at $1,900,000. Our featured Duesenberg from this sale was bid to $350,000 but didn’t meet the reserve and thus failed to sell. The only other million dollar car was this $1,050,000 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spider.

1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyder

I mentioned all the cool Porsches and one that really struck me as awesome is this 1974 911 RSR that was driven in the IROC series by Emerson Fittipaldi. There were only 15 of these built by Penske for the 1974 season. Fittipaldi drove this in the season’s first race and it was a reserve car the rest of the year. It sold for $875,000.

1974 Porsche 911 RSR IROC - Emerson Fittipaldi

Another race car, or sort of race car – a car that was designed with racing in mind but could probably be easily driven on the street, was this 1955 Devin Monza. It sold for $105,000.

1955 Devin Monza

Some other cool cars from the 1950s included this one-off 1952 Astra Coupe. This car was for sale last year in at Fantasy Junction in California for $125,000. It sold here for $43,000.

1952 Astra Coupe

Perhaps one of the most beautiful cars of the sale was this 1953 Muntz Jet. Designed and originally built by Kurtis, production was taken over by Earl “Madman” Muntz for a little while. They’re rare and they’re pretty. This one cost $75,000

1953 Muntz Jet

From large-ish American convertibles to tiny European microcars – this 1958 Goggomobil TS400 brought a small-ish $26,000.

1958 Goggomobil TS400

Another teeny-tiny European car was this 1970 Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica. I’ve seen a number of Bianchina Transformables (the convertible) but I’ve never seen the wagon variant. It sold for $17,500.

1970 Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica

This 1977 International Scout SSII (yes, I’m out of transitions) is a very rare find – especially in this condition. It sold for $23,000.

1977 International Scout SSII

Continuing with the theme of utility, I thought this 1956 Hudson Rambler Station Wagon was pretty cool. I’ve actually seen one of these up close and they are kind of bizarre looking – in a very good way. It sold for $19,500.

1956 Hudson Rambler Wagon

And finally, we always seem to be able to find some oddball Corvette at Mecum auctions (and Auctions America’s sales too, I guess). This sale was no different. Witness: the 2009 Corvette SV 9 Competizione. Only four of these were built (aftermarket). They have an all-carbon fiber body, so don’t ding it – or chip it. It sold for $44,000.

2009 Chevrolet Corvette SV 9 Competizione