Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | April 17, 2021
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Facel SA was a French company that started as a component manufacturer that turned toward coachbuilding and eventually automobile production. Their first cars went on sale in 1954, and the company ended up bankrupt in 1964. The Facel II was their last gasp.
It’s a two-door, four-seat grand tourer that went on sale in 1962. It’s powered by a 6.3-liter (383) Chrysler V8 good for 355 horsepower. Top speed was 135 mph when equipped with an automatic transmission like this one. The cars were quick in their day – faster than a Gullwing, a DB4, and a 250 GT.
Only about 180 were produced through the end of the road in 1964. This one was on the London Motor Show stand and spent 25 years in storage before being restored in 2017. It is now expected to sell for between $360,000-$430,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | April 17, 2021
Photo – Historics Auctioneers
The Rootes Group was like England’s version of AMC, and to continue the metaphor, that would make BMC Britain’s GM. So, BMC had a hit on their hands with the Mini, and Rootes introduced a small car competitor called the Hillman Imp. It featured a rear-mounted engine and a rear-wheel-drive layout.
Much like the Mini, the Imp was sold under a few different nameplates, including the Singer Chamois, Hillman Husky, and the Sunbeam Stiletto. The Stiletto was a “sporty” version of the Imp and it went on sale in 1967. The body style was different too, as this car is more of a fastback coupe than the 2-door sedan Imp. Production lasted through 1972.
The stock engine was a 55-horsepower, 875cc inline-four. This hot-rodded example has a Rover K-Series 1.8-liter inline-four making 120 horsepower. It is also teal (check) and has Minilite-style wheels (check). Stilettos are rare: only 4,735 of the first series examples were produced. This one will sell at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | March 20, 2021
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The Triumph Herald was a small, four-cylinder car built between 1959 and 1971. It was available in just about every two-door configuration imaginable aside from a pickup. But it was not very powerful or very fast. So, in 1962, Triumph decided to offer a different, yet similar model with a bigger engine.
There were 51,212 examples of the Vitesse built through 1971, split between two-door sedans, convertibles, and a very rare wagon across three different series. The first Vitesse models, including this one, were powered by a 1.6-liter inline-six that made 70 horsepower. Giovanni Michelotti styled the Herald, and he tweaked the same design and called it the Vitesse.
This car is one of 8,447 first series convertibles built. It is expected to bring between $18,000-$23,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | March 20, 2021
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The Lamborghini Espada is an interesting car. They’ve never been as valuable as any other 1960s Lambo, and they feature a pretty polarizing design. It is kind of like someone smashed a Murena GT, an Iso Lele, and DeTomaso Mangusta into one four-seat, front-engine GT.
This rear-wheel-drive car is powered by a 3.9-liter V12 that was rated at 350 horsepower when new. The Espada was built in three different series between 1968 and 1978, with the Series 3 launching in 1972. Only 456 S3 cars were built, but they seem to be the ones that crop up most often (the S2 cars were actually more common).
This one has been restored and is finished in black. Some Espadas wear some pretty wild colors, so this one looks pretty restrained. The pre-sale estimate is $155,000-$175,000, which is expensive, but not Miura expensive. That said, this is not a cheap car to own. You can read more about it here and see more from this sale here.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | December 12, 2020
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Jaguar’s XK140 replaced their XK120 in 1954. It would be produced for three years and cover multiple body styles and a few sub-models, including the Special Equipment (SE) model, which was sold as the “MC” in the United States. The range was supplanted by the XK150 in 1957.
One body style was the Roadster, as shown here with a disappearing soft top. XK140s could also be had as fixed-head and drophead coupes, the latter saw the soft top pile up behind the seats when stowed. All XK140s were powered by a 3.4-liter inline-six, and in SE spec with a C-Type cylinder head, power was upped from 190 to 210 horsepower.
This restored example was a U.S.-spec car originally and has returned to the U.K. So I guess that makes it an SE by way of an MC. It should sell for between $90,000-$115,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | December 12, 2020
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In America, there is nothing remotely sexy about the name “Ford Escort.” There are no glorious images of the car on African rallies. No clips of RS-branded hatchbacks racing through the streets. We just got the crappy sedans and hatchbacks.
Not so in the U.K., where cool Escorts appeared as early as the 1960s. The fourth-generation Escort went on sale in 1986 and was produced through 1992. The RS Turbo actually debuted during the previous generation (thus why this is called a Series 2) and continued in production for the duration of the fourth-generation model run.
It is powered by a turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four rated at 132 horsepower. It was fuel injected, intercooled, and capable of 125 mph and 60 in 8.3 seconds. Not super quick today, but fun and relatively cheap in 1988. This one has 36,000 miles and looks pretty good in black with a sly rear spoiler and driving lights up front. It is expected to sell for between $18,000-$24,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot, U.K. | September 26, 2020
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Yes, please. While not every Alfa Romeo 75 sedan looks like a sexy, boxy, homologation special, this one checks a lot of… er, boxes. The 75 was produced between 1985 and 1992. It was only available as a rear-wheel-drive sedan, and there were quite a few different variants offered, including a super rare Turbo Evoluzione model.
The 1.8 Turbo is powered by a, well, turbocharged 1.8-liter inline-four. Output was rated at 153 horsepower. Historics says this is an Italian-market limited edition QV model. What that means is unclear with regards to factory equipment, but the car has been “restored” (I think they mean modified) with BBS wheels, and IMSA-style rear spoiler, and a pretty slick Recaro interior.
If it isn’t stock, whoever built it had great taste. It’s the best-looking 75 I’ve ever seen. And the estimated price seems to think many will agree. It is expected to sell for between $22,000-$30,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | September 26, 2020
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Bean Cars was an offshoot of an older company that dated back to 1822. It was started as a foundry by Absolom Harper. Harper’s granddaughter married George Bean, who would take over the company in 1901. Cars didn’t arrive until 1919, which was more or less a frantic attempt to fill the void left by the lack of need for munitions after the armistice.
So for the next 12 years, Bean produced passenger cars and commercial vehicles. In 1926, they launched the 18/50HP, which was powered by a 3.0-liter Meadows-sourced inline-six. Only about 500 examples were produced before the end of 1927, and Historics reports that only four “Super Sport Open Tourers” were constructed.
It’s Bentley-esque, that’s for sure. But it’s also probably pretty usable. This, the only surviving model of its type, is expected to fetch $175,000-$195,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Auctions have been pretty few and far between for the last few months, and some traditional tent auctions have turned to offering cars online. One such sale was RM’s Essen sale, which was originally scheduled for late March and shifted to online-only in June. No-sales included the Puch G-Wagen.
The overall top sale was this brand-new 2020 Porsche 935 Martini that brought approximately $1,480,782.
Finally, on the affordable side of things, the Ginetta G20 could’ve been had for $10,180, the Panther Lima for $8,329, and the Arkley SS for a paltry $1,357. Click here for final results.
Mecum held a sale in North Carolina to liquidate a private collection. At least I think it was in North Carolina. There was some weird online bidding stuff too. Pretty confusing. At any rate, this 1969 Dodge Daytona was the top seller at $231,000.
Photo – Mecum
All of our feature cars sold (everything sold), including the Buick GSX for $140,800. The Grand Sport Corvettes brought $68,750 for the convertible and $74,250 for the coupe. Complete results are provided here.
Finally, Historics’ Windsorview Lakes sale, where the awesome Spyker LM85 we featured sold for $281,472. The top sale was this 1964 Aston Martin DB5 for $703,682.
Photo – Historics Auctioneers
Our two other feature cars both sold, with the Humber bringing $27,443 and the Brooke Double R $24,648. More results can be found here.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Windsorview Lakes, U.K. | July 18, 2020
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Brooke Kensington was a company that produced a road-legal open-wheeled two-seater in the 1990s. They only built nine cars before the design was sold to a new company, Brooke Cars Ltd. The cars were similar, though the new Double R models were updated and better-looking.
The two-seat side-by-side layout remained, but the engine choices changed. This car is powered by a 260 horsepower, 2.3-liter Cosworth inline-four. Power output on other cars ranged from 200 to 400 horsepower. I can’t imagine how the 400-horse version drives. Other equipment includes a six-speed gearbox, a Quaife limited-slip differential, OZ Racing wheels, and a carbon-fiber engine cover.
The Double R only weighs 1,120 pounds, making the car a complete rocket. Production remained very limited like its predecessor, although I’m not sure how many were actually built. This car has a pre-sale estimate of $15,000-$20,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
