Alvis TD 21 Drophead Coupe

1960 Alvis TD 21 Drophead Coupe

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | September 22, 2018

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

The Alvis TD 21 was a big jump, design-wise, for Alvis. The TC 21 was a much more old-school British automobile and the TD 21 (and transitional TC 108G) looked thoroughly modern for the late 1950s. Something you could compare to an Aston Martin of similar vintage. The TD 21 was built between 1958 and 1963 before being replaced by the TE 21.

Power comes from a 3.0-liter straight-six that made 115 horsepower. This is a Series I car, which were built between 1958 and 1961. TD 21s could be had as a Coupe or Drophead Coupe and all cars sat four at topped out at 103 mph.

This 17,000-mile example has an automatic transmission which has been rebuilt. It’s a classy British drop-top that’s ready for touring. It should bring between $69,000-$79,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $71,012.

June 2018 Auction Highlights, Pt. III

The third sale Bonhams held in June was the liquidation of the Den Hartogh Ford museum in the Netherlands. Kind of a weird spot for one of the largest collections of Ford vehicles anywhere in the world, but everyone’s got their thing. In chronological order, the early Fords we featured sold for:

There were a bunch of interesting cars here, especially commercial vehicles. We’ll give Most Interesting to 1931 Ford Model AA Camper that brought $26,790.

Photo – Bonhams

Speaking of commercial vehicles, here are the results for the five we featured:

The rest of the results can be found here.

RM Sotheby’s liquidated the rest of the Dingman Collection and another Ford was the top seller. It’s an awesome Roush Racing 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra SCCA Trans Am that sold for $720,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Lincoln Continental was featured sold for $60,480. Final results can be found here.

On to July where Historics at Brooklands held a sale at the Brooklands Motor Museum. We featured a Renault Alpine and it sold for $44,738. The top sale was this 2012 Ferrari 458 Italia for $168,515. Click here for more results.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Next up, Artcurial’s Le Mans Classic sale. While the Venturi we featured failed to sell, the biggest sale of the day was $3,669,607 for this 1963 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster.

Photo – Artcurial

The strange Sovam 1100 sold for $13,915. And the two Lambos both sold as well, with the Countach bringing $1,141,049 and the 400 GT $500,948. Click here for more results.

And finally, Brightwells Classic & Vintage sale. The Mini Marcos failed to sell but the Mini-Comtesse did, bringing $1,089. The top sale was this 1961 Jaguar E-Type Series I 3.8 Roadster for $178,661. The Bristol 400 brought $75,385 Click here for all results.

Photo – Brightwells

Alpine GTA V6

1991 Renault Alpine GTA V6 Turbo Le Mans

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | July 7, 2018

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Alpine was a car company founded in 1955 by Jean Rédélé. They built rear-engined sports cars, like the A110, and were closely linked to Renault for much of their early history. So closely linked, in fact, that Renault bought Alpine outright in 1973.

The GTA above replaced the Alpine A310 in 1985. This was the first car branded as a Renault (though this car’s successor would revert to just “Alpine”). The Renault Alpine GTA was offered in a few different variations between 1985 and 1991.

Still rear-engined, this GTA “Le Mans” Turbo uses a 2.5-liter turbo V-6 making 200 horsepower. The sprint to 60 mph took 6.7 seconds and top speed was 150 mph. The Le Mans model was introduced in 1990 and 325 were made over the course of about a year. These are rare, pretty cool, and definitely eye-catching cars. This one should bring between $25,000-$35,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $44,738.

May 2018 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

We’ll pick up where we left off last time, with Silverstone Auctions’ May Sale. We didn’t get to feature anything from this half of their sale, but the top seller was $362,726 paid for this 1966 Iso Grifo GL 350. Everything else can be found here.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Now let’s backtrack to the beginning of the month and head to Auburn, Indiana, for RM Sotheby’s Spring Sale. The Terraplane Utility Coupe we featured failed to meet its reserve. As is customary at mid-western classic car auctions, a 2006 Ford GT was the top seller, bringing $297,000. Complete results can be found here.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Next up, Brightwells and their dual Classic & Vintage/Modern Classic sale. The top sale was this 1969 Jaguar E-Type Series II Coupe for $88,666.

Photo – Brightwells

The Fleur de Lys Minibus we featured failed to sell but you can check out everything else that did, here.

Let’s go to Mecum’s huge Indy sale. The top sale was another Ford GT, this time a near-brand new 2017 model. It sold for $1,815,000.

Photo – Mecum

Now let’s go through the feature cars. First, the Diamond T Woody sold for $30,800. Another truck, a previously-featured ’41 Ford Pickup, sold here for $37,400. We had a couple of other previous features cross the block too, including: Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 (not sold), 1906 Packard ($286,000… finally!), Stutz Speedway Four ($71,500), Kurtis KK4000 Indy Car ($291,500).

The Continental Mk II (another previous feature) and Pontiac El Catalina Prototype both failed to sell. Find more results here.

Finally, we have Historics at Brooklands. We featured three cars from this sale and two failed to sell including the Bedford Pickup and the ultra-rare Lister Storm. The Rolls-Royce Camargue brought $99,318. The top sale was this $118,881 1990 Lister Jaguar XJS V12 Coupe. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Lister Storm Road Car

1994 Lister Storm

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | May 19, 2018

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

!!!! Let’s start at the beginning: Brian Lister founded Lister Cars in 1954 and they built sports racing cars for the duration of the decade. Later they acted as a factory race team for other manufacturers and have been a long-time Jaguar modifier. But in the early 1990s they went berserk and decided to build a monster race car to take on the McLaren F1, Jaguar XJ220, and Ferrari F40 LM at Le Mans.

And then they had to homologate this monster by building some road cars.

And that’s what we have here. One of just four Lister Storm V-12 Road Cars ever built (only three exist today). Honestly this is a vehicle I never thought I would see trade hands publicly at auction. The race cars competed from 1995 through 1999 as a works entry and for a few years after that in privateer hands.

The road cars were only built in 1993 and 1994 and they were expensive. They also had the largest V-12 engine anyone had stuffed into a production car since the end of WWII. It’s a 7.0-liter V-12 based on the engine from a Jaguar XJR-9 Le Mans car. Power is rated at 546 horsepower (pretty stout for 1993). It was a world class supercar in its day and was the fastest four-seater in the world for over a decade (that’s right, it had four seats!). Top speed: 211 mph.

This three-owner example has just under 31,000 miles on it. It’s a true rarity. It’s one of those cars that they claimed to have built but no one ever really sees (unless you go to Wilton House supercar shows or Goodwood or somewhere on the regular). I’m giddy just writing about it. Great job Historics… now if you could just manage to bring an Isdera Commendatore or Mega Monte Carlo to auction you’d really win my heart.

This car is expected to sell for between $200,000-$225,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Rolls-Royce Camargue

1982 Rolls-Royce Camargue

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | May 19, 2018

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

There are Rolls-Royces from the 1980s that you can acquire for about $10,000. I’m not saying it’s a good idea, but it’s possible. Not so here. The Camargue was a luxury coupe built by Rolls-Royce that was even more unattainable than the Corniche. It was the most expensive car sold in the U.K. at the time of its launch.

And that didn’t really help its cause. While certainly a statement on wheels, the Camargue was outsold by the Corniche (which could also be had as a convertible). Built between 1975 and 1986, Rolls managed to sell just 531 examples of this monstrous coupe.

This one-owner Camargue is powered by a 6.75-liter V-8 that made somewhere between 220 and 250 horsepower. RR wasn’t big on quoting actual figures at the time. This chassis was originally sold to a Middle Eastern royal family and has covered less than 5,000 miles since new. It’s likely the nicest example extant and can be yours for between $84,000-$105,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $99,318.

Bedford JO Pickup

1961 Bedford JO Pickup

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | May 19, 2018

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Bedford was, from its inception, a division of General Motors. The commercial companion to Vauxhall, Bedford’s light commercial vehicles were available from 1930 through 1991.

The Bedford TJ was a model sold as both a van and pickup truck from 1958 through 1967 (and through 1975 in other markets around the world). It was an updated version of the earlier TD. The JO (or J0), which was the ½-ton model, was the lightest of seven different TJs offered.

Based on the lot description, it appears this truck uses a 2.6-liter straight-six. The styling on this thing is kind of wild, with a lot going on up front and a very plan looking box out back. It’s like the automotive equivalent of the reverse mullet. About 5,000 JOs were manufactured and only 20 are known to exist in the U.K. This one has been restored to what appears to be better-than-new condition. It was the 10th JO built and should bring between $60,000-$65,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Sold, Historics Auctioneers, Ascot, April 2021, $40,693.

March 2018 Auction Highlights

We pick up where we left off last time, with the other half of Silverstone Auctions’ Race Retro sale. This was the “Classic Car” half and this 1997 Aston Martin V8 Vantage V550 that was purchased new by Elton John was the top sale at $306,412.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The one-and-only Aspira supercar we previously-featured sold here for $95,851. Click here for full results.

On to Historics at Brooklands at Ascot Racecourse. The Railton we featured failed to sell, but the top sale was this 1992 Porsche 911 RS that brought $386,596. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Brightwells held a Classic & Vintage Cars sale on March 7th. The only car we featured, the Daimler DS420 Landaulette, sold for $13,852. The top sale was this 1975 Aston Martin V8 Series 3 for $76,190. Click here for more from Brightwells.

Photo – Brightwells

Onward to Amelia Island! We’ll start with Bonhams where two of our feature cars failed to sell: the 1899 Panhard and the Kurtis KK4000 Indy car. The overall top sale was this 2015 McLaren P1 for $1,710,000.

Photo – Bonhams

The 1912 Thomas Flyer sold for $196,000, the Kellison J4R $28,000, and the Lotus Mk VI $30,240. Click here for other results.

To finish off the first half of Amelia Island results, we have Gooding & Company. The cars with the largest estimates all failed to sell so the top seller ended up being this dusty fresh 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB Long Nose Alloy for $2,530,000 (which is still some pretty big money).

Photo – Gooding & Company

Another Ferrari, the 212 Europa we featured, brought some big money too: $1,600,000. The Lion-Peugeot handily exceeded its estimate, selling for $220,000. And Frank Kurtis’ 500S sold for $112,750. Click here for everything else.

Railton Woody

1935 Railton Straight Eight Estate

Offered by Historics at Brooklands | Ascot, U.K. | March 3, 2018

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Railton is an old British car maker, but not as old as you might think. Noel Macklin, who also founded Invicta, founded Railton in 1933 after selling his former company. The company was named for Reid Railton who was famous for his land speed record attempts (and for founding the Arab marque). Reid Railton had little input on these cars but was paid a little for each sold. Also, there are various Railton Specials out there that Reid built for his record attempts but those aren’t related to this company.

The first Railtons were built on modified Hudson Terraplane chassis. Then they moved on to other Hudson running gear and, ultimately, in 1939, Macklin sold the entire company to Hudson which phased it out later that year (though a few were built after the war).

This car uses a 4.2-liter Hudson straight-eight engine making 113 horsepower. It was a pretty strong car in its day: American power and European style and size. This particular example left the factory as a tourer, but during restoration in 2005 that body was found to be beyond saving and this period-style Woody Estate was built instead. It certainly looks like it could’ve come off the assembly line like this and it’s very attractive. And with that big Hudson motor it’s even more exciting. It should bring between $55,000-$63,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of this sale’s lineup.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Sold, Historics at Brooklands, March 2019, $36,371.

November/December 2017 Auction Highlights

We’re winding up 2017 and we’re starting with Historics at Brooklands at Mercedes-Benz World. Two cars here shared the “top sale” honors. They were this 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL:

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

And this 1994 Lamborghini Diablo VT. Both brought $182,216.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

The Peugeot van we featured failed to sell, but the Ligier microcar went for just $2,987 -a steal for a true oddity. Click here for complete results.

Brightwells sort of snuck a sale in under our radar in late November and we didn’t get to feature anything from it. The top sale was $89,965 for this 1963 Jaguar E-Type Series I 3.8 Roadster. Click here for more results.

Photo – Brightwells

Next up, Bonhams’ first of two December sales held in London. This, the Bond Street Sale, appropriately saw this very Bond-esque ex-Paul McCartney 1964 Aston Martin DB5 bring the most money of any car in the sale: $1,811,994.

Photo – Bonhams

That means that the Ferrari 288 GTO (and the Bristol 411) failed to sell. Click here for more from this sale.

RM Sotheby’s held their “Icons” sale in New York City and this 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione blew everything else away, selling for $17,990,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The three cars we featured from this sale all sold, with the Pagani bringing the most at $1,850,000. The Marmon sold for $962,000 and the Chrysler Special $885,000. Click here for the rest of the big dollar cars (and they were all big dollar cars).

Finally, for 2017, Leclere auctioned off some of Citroen’s private reserve. The top sale was the Tubyk Concept we featured for $43,747. The 1980 Xenia Concept missed its estimate, bringing just $8,616. Most Interesting goes to this semi-bizarre 2007 Citroen Jumpy “Snow Atlantic” by Sbarro which sold for $21,210.

Photo – Leclere

The other Sbarro creation was the topless Berlingo and it sold for $12,593. The two Eco 2000 prototypes both sold with the 1983 version bringing $11,268, while the 1984  version brought $19,222. And the Citela Concept sold for $17,233. Click here for complete results.