December 2016 Auction Highlights

First up in December is one of two Bonhams sales, this one is the Bond Street Sale where we featured two Zagato-bodied Aston Martins. The DB7 Zagato brought $390,262 but the V12 failed to sell. Bonhams published most of their results, but they appear to have skipped the top two sellers. The highest dollar price currently reported was $821,000 for this 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante “Prince of Wales”. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Bonhams

Mecum’s Kansas City sale was this month and the #1 sale was $130,000 for this 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/400 Coupe.

Photo – Mecum

The Phillips Berlina neo-classic we featured went for a reasonable $17,500. Click here for all results.

Remember those earthquakes in Italy over the past few months? Well the head of Fiat decided that Ferrari would build one more LaFerrari and then auction it off for charity to benefit the victims of those earthquakes. RM Sotheby’s sold the car in Daytona Beach this month and it brought $7,000,000.

The top sale at H&H Classics’ Chateau Impney sale was this 2012 Ferrari F430 Spider that brought $179,669.

Photo – H&H Classics

A previously-featured Phebus failed to sell and the Bristol 407 brought $38,047. Click here for complete results.

And finally, Brightwells’ Modern Classic Cars sale. We didn’t get to feature anything from it, but this 2007 Bentley Continental GT was the top sale at $35,529, which seems like a remarkably good deal. Click here for the rest of the results.

Photo – Brightwells

SWB California Spider

1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider

Offered by Bonhams | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 19, 2017

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The California Spider is one of the most sought-after road-going Ferraris. Prices have stair-stepped up in recent years from $4 million to $11 million and on up to the $15-$17 million range. The 250 series has a long and varied model history, but the GT cars started in 1954 and the long-wheelbase California Spider was built between 1957 and 1959.

The short-wheelbase version debuted in 1960 and was built through 1961. It is powered by a 3.0-liter SOHC V-12 making 280 horsepower. In addition to a shorter wheelbase, the cars also sported revised suspensions, brakes, and engine internals. Visually, the SWB cars did not depart much from the LWB version, but they are a little more aggressive-looking. The car you see here lacks a chromed front bumper, as it was removed by the owner of the car in the late 1960s.

Prior to being exported to America in 1968 this car was used in an Italian film. The current owner has had it since 2006 and stands to make quite a nice profit off of it at auction. Only 56 SWB California Spiders were built and they are usually the more expensive version of the ultimate drop-top 250 GT. Look for a price in excess of $10 million in January. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

November 2016 Auction Highlights, Part II

We’ll start it off with H&H Classics’ Donington Park sale. We didn’t get to feature anything, but this 1973 BMW 3.0 CSi was the top sale at $60,880. Click here for complete results.

Photo - H&H Classics

Photo – H&H Classics

Next up, Mecum in Anaheim, California. The top sale was a car perfectly at home in Los Angeles, a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder that brought $1,475,000.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

The Studebaker Stake Bed pickup truck we featured sold for $14,000. Click here for more results.

Hopping back across the Atlantic, we have Brightwells’ Classic & Vintage Cars sale for November. The top sale was this 2002 Ferrari 360 Modena for $80,836. The Middlebridge Scimitar was featured brought $6,218. All the results can be found here.

Photo - Brightwells

Photo – Brightwells

Another Ferrari top sale was this 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C Alloy for $3,655,120 at RM Sotheby’s Duemila Route sale in Milan, Italy.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Porsche 959 sold for $1,078,560 and the Alfa Romeo 6C blew past its estimate selling for $167,776. The Alpine A110 went for $119,840 and the Innocenti Mini $15,579. Go here to see all of the results of this insane sale.

To keep with the Italian exotic theme, Historics at Brooklands had this 1990 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary sell as the top sale for $296,320.

Photo - Historics at Brooklands

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

We featured a number of cars from this sale, including a slew of microcars. The Tourette Supreme was the most expensive at $38,938. The Bamby and the Berkeley were downright cheap, bringing $5,006 and $5,284 respectively. The Zagato Zele fell somewhere in between at $16,687.

There were also some sports cars like the TVR Cerbera which was hammered for $28,508. The oddball Carver sold for $36,852 and, going back in time, one of the first Dellow cars built sold for $20,859. Click here for complete results.

Ferrari F1-91

1991 Ferrari F1-91

Offered by Bonhams | Stuttgart, Germany | August 12-September 27, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Bonhams is offering cars from the Willi Balz collection at a public tender sale – meaning it isn’t a live auction, but instead you can offer a price via a sealed bid. There are a number of classic F1 cars on offer here, including this: Ferrari’s 1991 F1 machine.

The F1-91 was also known as the Ferrari 642, following the 1990 641/2 and the 1989 F1-89. For 1991, the Scuderia powered their cars with a 3.5-liter V-12. Horsepower should be about 740, as the 1990 car put out 685 from the same engine (up 85 from 1989). This car has race history including:

  • 1991 San Marino Grand Prix – DNS (with Alain Prost)
  • 1991 Monaco Grand Prix – 3rd (with Jean Alesi)

Since its retirement from Ferrari, it has been used at historic events including Goodwood and the Nurburgring. The 642 had a short shelf-life as it was only used in the first five races of 1991 before being replaced by the 643. This, chassis 124, is the third of five built and it should bring between $340,000-$680,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

August 2016 Auction Highlights

First up for August is the final sale of July, Silverstone Auctions’ Silverstone Classic sale. The top sale was this 1958 AC Ace Bristol for $333,550.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Our featured Mitsubishi Pajero Evo went for $15,776. Full results can be found here.

Now we move into Monterey and all of the Pebble Beach car craziness. We’ll start with Bonhams and their top seller, the Bugatti Type 51 Grand Prix for $4,000,000. Other million dollar sales included a previously-featured Duesenberg for $1,254,000, the Mercedes-Simplex for $2,805,000, and the LaFerrari for $3,685,000.

The Cheetah GT failed to sell, but for our Most Interesting, we’ll pick this beautiful 1930 Lincoln Model L Convertible Roadster that brought $66,000.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Other sales included the Studebaker-Garford for $126,500 and a previously-featued Delaunay-Belleville for $450,000. The best-bought car of the sale (and thus far, the entire weekend), was this 1908 Fuller that someone practically stole for $11,000. I wish I would’ve been there because that thing would currently be in my garage. Click here for more results.

Now we move across town to Mecum’s Monterey sale. The top seller here was a 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari for $4,700,000 – over a million more than the one Bonhams sold. Either the atmosphere of Mecum’s sale got two people over-hyped and one of them overpaid (though, in five years, this will likely seem like a bargain) or the fact that Bonhams was unable to get their LaFerrari to cross the stage costed them a lot of money.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

There were a lot of no sales here, leading us to believe that a lot of people are still thinking their cars are worth the going rates from a few years ago. No sales among our feature cars included the Snowberger Indy car, a Porsche 912 Prototype, a Bohman & Schwartz Duesenberg, another, previously-featured Duesenberg, a previously-featured Packard, the Aston Martin Vulcan, and a Locomobile we featured years ago that has failed to meet its reserve at five Mecum sales. On a positive note, another previously-featured Duesenberg was hammered sold for $600,000. Click here for complete results.

Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach sale saw our featured Ferrari California Competizione sell for a very nice $18,150,000. A pair of cars that failed to sell were the Ferrari Daytona Shooting Brake and the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith. A previously-featured OSCA race car sold here for $605,000. As far as Most Interesting, how does this 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster grab you? Someone grabbed it for a hefty $10,400,000.

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

Other no-sales included the Abarth Record Car, the four-door Rolls-Royce Convertible, and the Cisitalia. There were some more big dollar cars here as well, including $11,990,000 for an Alfa Romeo, $907,500 for a Cadillac and the following for three Maseratis: the A6G/54 brought $3,300,000, the Ghibli SS Spyder $1,500,000 and the A6/1500 Coupe $852,500. Click here for complete results.

Another Monterey auction was that of RM Sotheby’s and they boasted the weekend’s biggest dollar value sale with $21,780,000 for the 1955 Jaguar D-Type that won the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Other big money cars included the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B for $19,800,000 and the first Shelby Cobra for $13,750,000. All three of these sales are world records – the Jaguar for most expensive British car; the Alfa for most expensive pre-war car; and the Cobra for most valuable American car. Pretty impressive.

Other million dollar feature cars were the Maybach for $1,072,500 and the Duesenberg Tourster for $1,320,000. The Ferrari 268 would’ve been on that list, but it failed to meet its reserve. Other no sales included the Maserati A6G/2000 and a previously-featured Lotus 56. The Bocar brought $412,500, a Moretti we featured in 2013 sold for $132,000, and the Maserati Quattroporte went for $88,000. Click here for everything else from RM.

LaFerrari

2014 Ferrari LaFerrari

Offered by Bonhams | Monterey, California | August 19, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The “Holy Trinity” of modern hypercars (the LaFerrari, the Porsche 918 Spyder, and the McLaren P1) have been around for a few years now, but the LaFerrari is the last one to start hitting the auction circuit. The other two have both sold at auctions for a while and, this weekend, there are two LaFerraris on offer (Mecum has one as well).

As poorly named as the name LaFerrari might be, the car is incredible. It’s very good looking and has performance matched by almost nothing else. The coupe was built between 2013 and 2015 with only 499 constructed. A convertible is on its way shortly.

The engine is a 6.3-liter V-12 making 789 horsepower. Ferrari, being at the forefront of Formula One, uses an F1-style KERS electric motor that can add an additional 161 horsepower. That’s a grand total of 950 horsepower. Top speed is over 217 mph.

This particular LaFerrari has only covered 230 miles, which accounts for testing, delivery mileage and only a few “for fun” miles. It’s essentially brand new and hopefully the new owner will drive it, enjoy it, and let the world see it. As incredible as it might seem, getting in on this car for the estimated $3,600,000-$4,200,000 will seem like a steal in 10 years. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Sold $3,685,000.

California Spyder Competizione

1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder Competizione by Scaglietti

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 20-21, 2016

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

California Spyders are among the most special Ferraris. They have a legend all their own and a beauty almost unmatched by their contemporaries and other Ferraris alike. But there were a select few of these cars that were given to people crazy enough to take them racing. It’s like putting a supermodel in a boxing ring. The difference though, is that this is one competent supermodel.

The long wheelbase California Spyder came before the short wheelbase version and were built in 1959. Only 50 were made. This car is powered by a 275 horsepower 3.0-liter V-12 engine – the Competizione spec being good for more ponies over the standard road car. The other thing that a competition Spyder had was a lightweight aluminium body. Only nine of these were ever constructed.

Specifically, this car was the first one built with disc brakes and it also has a competition transmission and large fuel tank. It was sold new in America by Luigi Chinetti to George Reed of Illinois who took the car racing. The competition history of this car includes:

  • 1959 Bahamas Speed Weeks, Nassau Trophy Race – 23rd (with Reed)
  • 1960 12 Hours of Sebring –  5th (with Reed and Alan Connell)
  • 1960 Bahamas Speed Weeks, Nassau Trophy Race – 12th (with Reed)

It also had quite the SCCA run in 1960. The car has had several owners since departing Reed’s care and was restored in the 1980s and again in 2011. It’s as good as they come and should bring between $18,000,000-$20,000,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $18,150,000.

Ferrari Daytona Wagon

1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Shooting Brake by Panther Westwinds

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 20-21, 2016

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

We’ll start by urging you to go to Gooding & Company’s website to check out more pictures of this awesome car. Sure, it’s a Ferrari Daytona, but it has been turned into a shooting brake – a two-door wagon. The rear section features a lot of glass, including a huge rear window and gullwing-hinged side glass that fold up. It’s astonishing.

As a 365 GTB/4 this car is powered by a 4.4-liter V-12 making 352 horsepower. The design was actually done by Luigi Chinetti Jr. for a customer at his dealership. The body was built by Panther Westwinds, a manufacturer of sports cars in their own right.

The first owner was a Floridian who surely enjoyed driving this mobile, black, glass greenhouse. It would have a few other American owners (and one Belgian). The current owner acquired the car in 2013 and had it completely restored. It has only covered 4,500 miles in its life, which is incredible. This unique one-off is expected to bring between $700,000-$1,000,000. Click here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Ferrari 268 SP

1962 Ferrari 268 SP by Fantuzzi

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2016

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Here’s a car you aren’t likely to get another shot at purchasing. With only two examples produced (of this chassis/engine combo), the 268 SP hails from an era of dramatic change in the racing world. Right about 1960, there was a drastic shift in thought: if we mount the engine behind the driver, maybe these things will handle better.

So Ferrari, and their sports prototype cars, adopted this new philosophy. The SP line of cars debuted in 1961 and only six of this lineage would be built. Only two of them were fitted with this 265 horsepower, 2.6-liter V-8. The awesome body by Fantuzzi is similar to other Ferrari racers of the day, namely the 250 TR 61.

This, car #3 or chassis #0798, has a factory competition history consisting of:

  • 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans – 19th, DNF (with Giancarlo Baghetti and Ludovico Scarfiotti)

After Le Mans, the car came to America to race as part of Luigi Chinetti’s NART team. As part of this team, its competition history includes:

  • 1962 Bahamas Speed Weeks, Nassau Trophy Race – 8th (with Lorenzo Bandini)
  • 1963 12 Hours of Sebring – 34th (with John Fulp and Harry Heuer)
  • 1963 Bahamas Speed Weeks, Nassau Trophy Race – 5th (with Fulp)

It ran a few more races through 1966 and then sat until 1969 when it went to a collector in France. It was restored during his ownership and the current owner acquired the car approximately 20 years ago. It’s a fairly famous car that has been shown at the most exclusive events worldwide. With only six built – and being one of only two built with this engine – this Ferrari is one those seriously collectible 1960s racers. Huge money is one the table here. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Sold, RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2021, $7,705,000.

July 2016 Auction Highlights

First up, from June, Auctions America’s Santa Monica sale. Our featured Clenet Series II sold for $28,000. The top sale was one of the 1990s best supercars, a 1995 Ferrari F50 that went for $1,952,500. Click here for complete results.

Photo - Auctions America

Photo – Auctions America

Next we move on to Mecum in Denver where this 1963 Ford Galaxie 500XL R-Code was the top sale at $155,000.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

We featured an Oldsmobile Bravada from this sale and it failed to sell with a high bid of $11,000. Click here for complete results.

Artcurial’s Le Mans Classic sale was this month and because of poor time management on our part, we were only able to feature one car, a Delahaye 148L, that sold for $276,265. The top seller was this bewinged 1977 Porsche 935 Group 5 race car for $1,436,510. Full results can be found here.

Photo - Artcurial

Photo – Artcurial

H&H Classics were at Chateau Impney in July. We featured three cars from this sale and the top seller among them was the Costin-Nathan for $105,855, blowing its estimate out of the water. The top seller overall was this 1990 Ferrari Testarossa for $140,384.

Photo - H&H Classics

Photo – H&H Classics

Our other feature cars both sold, with the Connaught bringing $104,397 and the Saxon $14,953. Click here for more.

And finally, Brightwells’ July sale. This 1966 Citroen DS 21 Chapron Decapotable was the top seller at $73,886.

Photo - Brightwells

Photo – Brightwells

The one-off Silurian Tourer that we featured sold for $29,026 and the older of the two Albion trucks sold, bringing $27,707 (the other failed to meet its reserve). Click here for complete results.