April 2019 Auction Highlights

We’re already in April, and we start as we often do: with a leftover from the month before. In this case, it is Leclere-MDV’s sale. We didn’t get to feature anything, but the top sale ended up being this 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster for $248,014. Click here for more results.

Photo – Leclere-MDV

And on into April we move, with Mecum’s Houston sale. This 2014 Ferrari F12berlinetta brought the most money: $203,500. More results are available here.

Photo – Mecum

The top seller at Bonhams’ Goodwood sale was this 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that has been updated to Vantage spec. It sold for $832,103.

Photo – Bonhams

Feature cars that failed to find new homes included the Miller Shooting Brake, the Bristol 403, the Larrousse F1 car, and the Trumbull cyclecar. Those that sold were led by the Columbia Electric Phaeton, which sold for $76,661, while the Adams Two-Seater brought $22,547. Click here for complete results.

Onward to Brightwells’ Bicester sale. No feature cars here, unfortunately, but this 1924 Lancia Lambda Series 3 was the top seller at $146,522. More results can be found here for a time.

Photo – H&H Classics

Finally, we remain in Europe and move to Germany for the RM Sotheby’s Techno Classica sale in Essen. A few no-sales to get out of the way: the Italdesign Zerouno and the Wendler Mercedes. The #1 seller was $2,542,848 paid for this 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet A by Sindelfingen.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Sales included a previously-featured Morgan Aero SuperSports for $99,853 as well as the Voisin for $310,103 and the Monteverdi sedan for $197,113. Click here for everything else.

October 2018 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

We’re starting off our second October auction rundown with one of Bonhams’ most interesting sales of the year: their sale at the Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia. Even with a bunch of weird old classics on hand, the top sale was still a 1970 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 for $215,040.

Photo – Bonhams

The Paige Daytona Speedster we featured sold for $84,000 and the Breese Paris Roadster $78,400. Click here for more results.

H&H Classics held a sale in October, and the Honda S800 we featured sold for $17,615. The overall top seller – by a very wide margin – was this 1929 Bentley 4.5-Litre Le Mans-style Tourer for $1,115,638. Click here for final results.

Photo – H&H Classics

Next up, Leclere-MDV in Paris. We featured an Alpine A110 1300 S that sold for a strong $105,158. The overall top sale was $286,795 for this 1990 Lancia Delta HF rally car and full results can be found here.

Photo – Leclere-MDV

Onward to Osenat’s Automobiles de Collection sale where the Matra Murena we featured failed to find a new home. The catalog here was on the smaller side and the top sale was this 1972 Land Rover Range Rover for $45,067. Click here for more results.

Photo – Osenat

Finally, we stay in Europe for Brightwells’ Bicester Classic & Vintage sale. The Frazer Nash we featured ended up being the top seller, bringing $265,436. That means we get to award Most Interesting. We’d like to hand that to a Soviet SA-6 SAM missile that was included for some reason but will stick with cars, particularly this 1934 Humber Sniper 80 Golfer’s Coupe that brought $41,609. Click here for all of the results from this sale.

Photo – Brightwells

Alpine A110 1300 S

1969 Alpine A110 1300 S

Offered by Leclere-MDV | Paris, France | October 21, 2018

Photo – Leclere-MDV

The Alpine A110 is perhaps the most well-known car the little French company ever produced. Now part of Renault, the once-independent Alpine always had strong ties to Renault, and they built the A110 in a few different forms for almost two decades, from 1961 through 1977.

This is how they mostly looked, and we’ve previously featured a 1600 S variant. The yellow example above is powered by a 1.3-liter Renault straight-four from a Gordini R8 that makes 120 horsepower. The 1300 S (which was for “Super”) was offered between 1966 and 1971 only.

This example was recently overhauled and is ready to run. These are great-looking, great-sounding little cars. Only 868 were built, and they’re one of the best sports cars that France ever offered. This one should bring between $57,000-$80,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $105,158.

September 2018 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

The latter half of September was chock full of sales, beginning with Leclere-MDV’s Peugeot/Citroen sale. We featured a Peugeot 177M that sold for $25,454. The top sale was $124,442 for this 1977 Peugeot 504 Rallye-Raid Coupe. Final results can be found here.

Photo – Leclere-MDV

Up next is Historics at Brooklands’ sale at the Brooklands Motor Museum. The top sale was $556,387 for this 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Series I Pinin Farina Coupe.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

The Rinspeed Porsche we featured failed to sell, but the Alvis brought $71,012. Click here for more results.

On to Brightwells’ Leominster Classic & Vintage sale. The top sale was this 1972 Jaguer E-Type Series III V-12 Coupe for $57,534.

Photo – Brightwells

The three Soviet minicars we featured all sold. The ZAZ-968A and the SMZ S-3d sold for $719 each and the ZAZ-965 went for just $475, making it the cheapest car we’ve ever featured. Click here for complete results.

Silverstone Auctions’ “The Porsche Sale 2018” saw, guess what, a Porsche as the top sale. Specifically, a 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring for $249,198. The Ruf BTR2 failed to sell, and full results can be found here.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Porsche was also the top marque at Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas. This 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder sold for $1,760,000 – far and away the top sale.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

The Moreland Gas Tanker sold for $35,200 and final results can be found here.

Peugeot 177 Weymann

1927 Peugeot 177M Sedan by Weymann

Offered by Leclere-MDV | Herimoncourt, France | September 16, 2018

Photo – Leclere-MDV

The Peugeot Type 177 was produced between 1924 and 1929. It was the company’s mid-range offering and the 177M went on sale in 1927 featuring a transparent roof. But this car carries a coachbuilt body by Weymann and the exterior is wrapped in waterproof fabric, a Weymann signature touch.

The engine is a straight-four making 28 horsepower. This car underwent a 10 year restoration that began in 1994. Finished in Bordeaux red, the black fabric appears to be a landaulette, but is indeed a fixed-roof sedan.

Only 130 Weymann-bodied Type 177Ms were known to have been built and only three are known to still exist. This one should bring between $20,000-$23,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $25,454.

March 2018 Auction Results, Pt. III

Yet more sales from March, beginning with H&H Classics at the Imperial War Museum. Interestingly, there was a collection of Nash-related motorcars sold at this sale. These included the one-off Nash Pickup that sold for $30,216 and the LaFayette that brought $63,614. The overall top sale was this 1966 Aston Martin DB6 that went for $326,023.

Photo – H&H Classics

The White half-track we featured failed to sell and you can find more results here.

Osenat’s March sale saw this 1928 Bugatti Type 44 Cabriolet by Vanvooren bring some big money: $446,583.

Photo – Osenat

The La Buire Coupe we featured brought $64,754 and the Venturi Coupe $52,101. Click here for more results.

Leclere MDV held a sale the same weekend as Osenat and both of our feature cars failed to sell (the Léon Bollée and the Aston Martin Cygnet). The top sale was $518,607 paid for this 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300 S Coupe. Full results can be found here.

Photo – Leclere MDV

Next we have Mecum during the first full weekend in April. They were in Houston and the Continental Mk II we featured failed to sell. The top sale was this 2006 Ford GT for $286,000. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Mecum

Finally, RM Sotheby’s in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This is the first sale from RM Sotheby’s that would’ve been under the Auctions America banner last year (we miss you Auctions America!). The top sale was a 1962 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster for $1,540,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Acura NSX we featured brought $71,500 and the Buick Roadmaster Sport Phaeton sold for $56,100. The Laforza was a relative bargain at $4,125. And a previously-featured Michigan Touring car failed to sell at this auction. Click here for more results. from this sale.

Aston Martin Cygnet

2011 Aston Martin Cygnet

Offered by Leclere MDV | Avignon, France | March 25, 2018

Photo – Leclere MDV

As a fan of obscure cars from big manufacturers (even those from Aston Martin), this 2011 Aston Martin Cygnet really hits the spot. The car is essentially a fancy version of the Toyota/Scion iQ city car sold all over the world. It got the Aston grille and a nicer interior. If they haven’t already, people will completely cease to remember this car ever existed in another five years.

Probably because it was still a Toyota underneath. No silky-smooth V-12 power plant here. The engine is a puny 97 horsepower 1.3-liter straight-four. So with that in mind, the question you’re probably asking is “Why?” Well Aston Martin decided they needed to meet the 2012 European Union fleet emissions regulations and by offering a car that got 60 mpg they could continue to build other insanely powerful road cars.

It’s easy to question their strategy of re-branding a Toyota now (well, it was then too) but, as you might expect, it failed spectacularly. They planned to sell about 4,000 of these a year at a price of about $45,000. Initially they were only sold in the U.K. and at one point Aston dealers in the U.K. were giving them away if you bought a DBS, DB9, or V8 Vantage (according to the auction catalog). Over two years of production, they managed to sell just 143 of these in the U.K. (there may have been another 150-ish sold elsewhere but I can’t verify that). Having covered 34,000km, this car is still expected to bring $48,000-$62,5000, proving even un-sellable cars appreciate if they have the right badge. Click here for more info and here for the rest of this auction’s lineup.

Update: Not sold.

1923 Léon Bollée

1923 Léon Bollée Type M Roadster

Offered by Leclere MDV | Avignon, France | March 25, 2018

Photo – Leclere MDV

The Bollée name is a very important one in the history of French automobiles. Amédée Bollée built some of the earliest steam cars beginning in 1873. Léon, his son, began building gasoline-powered cars in 1893. His Voiturettes are some of the best pre-1900 vehicles built.

And those are what people usually think of when they hear the name Bollée. But his company actually lived on for a few more decades (Léon died in 1913). In fact, in 1924, the company was purchased by Morris Motors of the U.K. as a way for Morris to break into the French market. It went just okay and production ended in 1928 and the French company closed in 1931.

This four-cylinder Type M is a four-door, five-passenger Roadster. If the entire car was restored (the interior definitely has been) it was done long ago, as the paint is showing its age. But where are you going to find another one? In the last decade, give or take, this is the first post-WWI Léon Bollée car that I can recall seeing (actually, it’s the first post-1900 Léon Bollée car that I can recall seeing). It should bring between $30,750-$37,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Citroen Citela Concept

1991 Citroen Citela Concept

Offered by Leclere-MDV | Aulnay sous Bois, France | December 10, 2018

 Photo – Leclere-MDV

The Citela was Citroen’s take on the urban EV… back in 1991. This car was first shown at the French Pavilion of the 1992 World Expo in Seville, Spain. It had an electric motor and powers two inboard rear wheels (notice how you can’t seem them from this angle?). It sort of just looks like an over-sized mobility scooter.

The powered version (that Citroen still has) will do 68 mph and makes 26 horsepower. A couple of these prototypes were built in varying body styles and this one is just a roller. It should bring between $11,750-$14,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $17,233.

Update: Not sold, Aguttes July 2019.

Citroen Eco 2000 SA

1983 Citroen Eco 2000 SA 109

Offered by Leclere | Aulnay sous Bois, France | December 10, 2017

Photo – Leclere

Warning: this car is MUCH smaller than it appears. It is not mini-van-esque in size as its shape might belie, but (and look at the old cars parked nearby) it’s a miniature version of a compact car. The Eco 2000 program began to see if they could build a car that got great gas mileage and the lowest possible drag coefficient.

That Eco 2000 program lasted from 1981 through 1984 and four prototypes were built. This was the third one and it was built for wind tunnel testing. It should sell for between $3,500-$8,250. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $11,268.

Update: Sold, Aguttes July 2019, $1,137.