Tag Archives: indy 500

Watson Indy Roadster

Posted on by
Reply

1960 Watson-Offenhauser Indianapolis Roadster

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Fort Worth, Texas | May 2, 2015

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

A.J. Watson and Fred Offenhauser are two legendary names associated with the Indianapolis 500 – names that, to Indy faithful, are right there with Foyt and Unser. Watson built his first car (for himself) in 1947. In 1955 he modified a Kurtis KK500C which ended up winning the 500. In 1956, Watson built his first Indy Roadster from scratch. He would go on to build only 22 more.

This car was built in 1960 and was run for a few years thereafter. Its competition history includes:

  • 1960 Indianapolis 500 – 30th, DNF (with Len Sutton)
  • 1960 Milwaukee 200 – 1st (with Sutton)
  • 1961 Indianapolis 500 – 19th, DNF (with Sutton)
  • 1961 Milwaukee 200 – 2nd (with Sutton)
  • 1962 Indianapolis 500 – 31st, DNF (with Allen Crowe)

The ’62 500 was the final race for this car (because it was crashed), which didn’t fare too well there. It is powered by a 4.2-liter Offenhauser straight-four. The car was discovered in the early 1980s and was restored thereafter to its 1961 Indy livery. It has been back to Indy since (driven by Sutton in some warm up laps) and was displayed at the NHRA museum.

Watson Roadsters are very rare – even more so in private hands. This one should bring between $700,000-$800,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $577,500.

STP Turbine Indy Car

Posted on by
1

1968 Lotus 56

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 17, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

In 1967, Andy Granatelli entered the turbine-powered STP-Paxton Turbocar in the Indianapolis 500. The car nearly won the race at the hands of Parnelli Jones but a transmission bearing failure with eight laps to go ruined those plans.

Team Lotus took note of this impressive performance and they designed the Lotus 56 around a modified version of the Pratt & Whitney ST6B used in the Turbocar. The STN 6/76 made 500 horsepower in the 56. This car also has four-wheel drive.

So it dominated qualifying, with Joe Leonard taking the pole in one of three 56s entered for the race (a fourth was built, but was destroyed in Mike Spence’s fatal crash in testing). This car was raced by Graham Hill in the ’68 500. He crashed in turn two on lap 110, resulting in a 19th place finish. None of the 56s finished the race, but Joe Leonard was leading with nine laps to go when his fuel pump broke.

This car was owned by Richard Petty for many years and it has been restored to working, race-day condition. For the past year, it’s been on display on at the Speedway Museum in Indy. It’s an awesome piece of machinery and Indianapolis 500 history. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Barrett-Jackson’s lineup.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $1,200,000.

Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2016.

1954 Indy 500 Pace Car

Posted on by
Reply

1954 Dodge Royal 500 Indy Pace Car Edition

Offered by RM Auctions | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 10, 2014

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

There’s a lot of cars to choose from that we could’ve featured this week. RM’s Hershey sale was chock full of rare antique automobiles and we’ve featured a number of them. But this is the last car from this sale we got to feature and I couldn’t pass it up. It’s a beauty.

It’s very striking – yellow with black graphics and top and wire wheels with whitewalls (tongue twister alert). There’s a continental kit out back as well. The Royal was a new model for Dodge in 1954, the same year of Dodge’s inaugural pacing of the Great American Race. The Royal was the top model for Dodge in ’54 and it used a 150 horsepower 4.0-liter Hemi V-8 to muscle it along.

Dodge built 701 Pace Car Edition Royal Convertibles. This car was restored by its current owners and it looks amazing. Suddenly, this rare edition has become one of my must-have 1950s American classics. Go figure. It’ll cost me between $50,000-$70,000, though. Too bad. Click here for more info and here for the rest of RM’s Hershey lineup.

Update: Sold $49,500.

Shelby Turbine Indy Car

Posted on by
Reply

1968 Shelby Turbine Indy Car

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 14-16, 2014

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

Everyone remembers Andy Granatelli’s STP turbine indy cars from 1967 and 1968 – back in the day when the Indianapolis 500 stood for speed and innovation. The STP-Paxton Turbocars were driven by Parnelli Jones and Joe Leonard and dominated the races but always failed prior to the finish.

Well in 1968, Carroll Shelby also built a similar turbine-powered open-wheel racer and entered it in the Indy 500. The team practiced two cars – this one was driven by Bruce McLaren. USAC changed the rules surrounding turbine cars and while the STP cars were still legal, the Shelby cars were not able to compete and were withdrawn prior to qualifying.

The powerplant here is a General Electric T-58 shaft-drive turbine putting out a crazy 1,325 horsepower. This car is pristine and is currently on display the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in their Turbine Indy Car exhibit. It’s a pretty cool opportunity that should command a pretty princely sum. You can read more here and see more from this sale here.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $450,000.

The 1974 Indianapolis 500 Winner

Posted on by
Reply

1974 McLaren M16C

Offered by RM Auctions | Monterey, California | August 16-17, 2013

1974 McLaren M16C

I guess I can get right to it: the competition history for this car includes:

  • 1973 Indianapolis 500 – 9th (with Johnny Rutherford)
  • 1974 Indianapolis 500 – 1st (with Rutherford)
  • 1974 Milwaukee 150 – 1st (with Rutherford)
  • 1974 Pocono 500 – 1st (with Rutherford)
  • 1974 Michigan 500 – 4th (with Rutherford)
  • 1974 Trenton 300 Race 1 – 4th (with Rutherford)
  • 1974 Trenton 300 Race 2 – 7th (with Rutherford)
  • 1974 Phoenix – 7th (with Rutherford)

As I think you’ll agree, only that second line really matters. It makes this car huge. Only a handful of Indianapolis 500 winning race cars are in private hands (that won prior to 1996). Rutherford started 25th, battled with A.J. Foyt for 50 laps and then took off, lapping every car on track with the exception of second place Bobby Unser – who finished 22 seconds behind J.R. That’s a beast of a race car and driver.

The M16C was introduced in 1973. This was a McLaren-factory car campaigned for the entire USAC season with Rutherford behind the wheel (Peter Revson was his teammate). This car won the pole at Indy in ’73. It was slightly redesigned for ’74 and Rutherford had to wait until Bump Day to make the field. This car was sold by McLaren to a privateer team, who failed to qualify for the 500 with it in 1977 and 1978.

When it was restored later on, the car was reverted to as it was in victory lane in 1974. It changed hands for a record price in 1991 and has been used (by Rutherford) at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The engine is a 2.6-liter turbocharged Offenhauser straight-four making 800 horsepower. That’s more than current Indy cars. At any rate, it’s rare that a 500 winner can be bought. This one should sell for between $1,250,000-$1,750,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Monterey.

Update: Sold $3,520,000.

S/N: M16C-5

Chrysler Newport Pace Car

Posted on by
2

1941 Chrysler Newport Indianapolis 500 Pacemaker by LeBaron

Offered by RM Auctions | Fort Worth, Texas | April 27, 2013

1941 Chrysler Newport Indianapolis 500 Pacemaker by LeBaron

The Chrysler Newport Dual Cowl Phaeton was a limited-production car built by Chrysler in 1940 and 1941. U.S. automotive production ceased at the end of 1941 to make way for war production, making this the last truly grand pre-war American automobile.

Ford had just introduced the Continental and GM was showcasing its concept car in the form of the Buick Y-Job. Chrysler needed to show that they could do style as well and the Newport project was born. Walter P. Chrysler died in 1940 and soon after, his successor approached Ralph Roberts at the famed coachbuilder LeBaron to design a two-seat and four-seat concept car. The two-seater was the Thunderbolt, and the four-seat was the Newport. One of my favorite parts of this story is one of legend: that Roberts wanted to show what a 1941 Duesenberg Dual Cowl would have looked like had they stayed solvent.

Chrysler liked what they saw and ordered five more examples (of each) to be built – in 90 days – in time for the 1941 auto show season at the end of 1940. The Newport had flowing lines and hideaway headlights and drove up excitement for other Chrysler models. This particular car was the only Newport built that had exposed front headlights. And it was chosen to pace the 1941 Indianapolis 500. After the race, it became the personal car of Walter P. Chrysler Jr.

The engine is a 143 horsepower 5.3-liter straight-eight. This car was in all-original condition when it was acquired in 2000 by its then-owner. It was painted light green with green interior – what Walter Jr. wanted after he took the car home. It was sold by RM at Amelia Island in 2009 for $687,500. It has apparently been restored – or at least repainted to its, presumably, original color scheme. It is expected to sell for between $900,000-$1,200,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $880,000.

1995 Indy Pace Car

Posted on by
1

1995 Chevrolet Corvette Indy Pace Car

Offered by Mecum | St. Charles, Illinois | June 22-23, 2012

The Chevrolet Corvette has (of this writing, including the 2012 race) paced the Indianapolis 500 ten times, the first being in 1978. It was there for a second time in 1986 and 1995 marked the third time. This is one of 527 (actually it’s #46) of the special “Indy 500 Pace Car” optioned replicas sold for street use.

It was based on the C4, the fourth-generation Corvette, which was introduced for the 1984 model year, so it was 11 years old by this point – more than a little long in the tooth. The paint scheme is actually quite nice with Dark Purple Metallic over White. 1995 was in the midst of ZR-1 production but this car is not a ZR-1 – even though it sports ZR-1 wheels and brakes.

It has the LT1 under the hood, the 350 cubic inch (or 5.7-liter) V8 makes 300 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque. 1996 would be the final year for the C4, so this is one of the final special edition C4 Corvettes – and it’s a rare one. Get it, it won’t be too terribly expensive. For more information click here and to see the rest of Mecum’s Bloomington Gold Corvette Auction, click here.

Update: Sold $18,500.

Milhous Collection Results

Posted on by
Reply

RM Auctions’ “recent” sale in Boca Raton, Florida of the eccentric Milhous Collection of cars – and many other assorted expensive things – was a big success, with every lot selling. The auction brought in a total of $38.3 million. Top sale was the 1912 Oldsmobile Limited Five-Passenger Touring we featured a while back. The estimate on the car was $1.4-1.6 million but the car ended up selling for $3,300,000 including fees.

The second-highest sale at the auction was not a car. It was this 1903 Ruth Style 38-B Fair Organ:

It’s gigantic and sold for $1,265,000. Of the top ten sales, six were automobiles and four were organs or orchestrations. All four of these musical pieces sold for over $1 million.

Our other feature cars included the stunning 1913 Alco Six Model H Touring Car that sold for $506,000. The Duesenberg Model J Murphy Convertible Sedan sold for $990,000. The 1932 Marmon Sixteen brought $552,500. Our other feature car, the one-of-a-kind Rounds Rocket Indy roadster sold for $275,000.

Other highlights were this 1933 Chrysler Custom Imperial Five-Passenger Phaeton.

It’s a former Otis Chandler car with impressive styling and a 135 horsepower. It sold for $1,210,000.

In addition to the Rounds Rocket Indy roadster, there were a few other race cars that sold too. First was this 1949 Snowberger-Offy built by former driver Russ Snowberger and driven by George Lynch who failed to qualify it for both the 1950 and 1951 Indy 500.

It sold for $192,500. There was also a 1962 Lesovsky-Offy (aka the Sarkes Tarzian Special) driven by Elmer George (father of IRL founder Tony George) in the 1962 and 1963 race.

It bettered it’s estimate by about $50,000, selling for $330,000. From a slightly more recent era, this 1984 March 84C Cosworth driven by Teo Fabi – in awesome Skoal Bandit livery – sold for $110,000.

The most “affordable” car sold at this sale, that was not a motorcycle or tractor, was a 1962 Corvette Convertible that sold for $66,000 – it was the only car not to break into the six figures.

The other interesting “vehicle” sold was a 1941 Ryan PT-22 Recruit airplane. These planes were very popular in general aviation after WWII because they could be bought as surplus for a few hundred dollars. There used to be a handful of them based at a local airport back in the late 1940s and 1950s. At least one ended up in a creek (no one was hurt). This example sold for $241,500, slightly higher than what was paid for it after the war.

For complete results, click here.

Rounds Rocket

Posted on by
4

1949 Rounds Rocket

Offered by RM Auctions, Boca Raton, Florida, February 25, 2012

This beastly mid-engined Indy car was built by Indy car-building legends Lujie Lesovsky & Emil Diedt for a man named Nathan Rounds, who provided the funding and the original drawing of the car that he modeled after the brilliant pre-war Auto Unions.

Because both Diedt and Lesovsky were busy building their own successful race cars, this car was barely ready for the 1949 Indy 500 where it as entered with Bill Taylor as the driver. He did not qualify. In 1950 both Sam Hanks and Bill Vukovich gave the car a run and failed to make the show. Bill Vukovich was a man among men at Indianapolis and – even though 1950 was his rookie year – if he couldn’t get the car in, there was scarcely hope.

Intrigue: Nathan Rounds was close friends with Howard Hughes and it is suspected that Hughes money was behind the project. After failing to make Indy in 1950 the car was shipped to Beverly Hills where it sat in storage, although it did appear in a Mickey Rooney film in 1949.

Bill Harrah (of course) discovered the car in 1969 and bought it. When his collection was parted out the car was purchased and restored and eventually purchased by the Milhous Collection in 1998.

Here is your chance to purchase a car that was extremely ahead of its time. Indy cars would be front-engined for at least another 10 years and here was this brilliant car that had come along and said “the way of the future” (that’s a Howard Hughes quote from The Aviator).

It features an Meyer-Drake Offenhauser straight-four engine (naturally), making about 350 horsepower. It’s fast too – it was tested at Bonneville after it was completed and was clocked at 140 mph. The no reserve pre-sale estimate is $250,000-$350,000. For the complete catalog description, click here and for the rest of the collection click here.

Update: Sold $275,000.