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.

Citroen Concept Cars

Citroen Concept Cars

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


1980 Citroen Xenia Concept

Photo – Leclere

Leclere has been tasked with unloading some extras from Citroen’s private collection. Among the many cars are more than a few concepts, including this 1980 Xenia. First shown at the 1981 Frankfurt Motor Show, this wagonoid design study was what wagons were supposed to look like in the year 2000. Apparently Citroen didn’t see the SUV craze coming.

Presumably unpowered (but hey, it has solar panels to run the air conditioning!), this would make an interesting piece in any collection. It should bring between $17,500-$29,500. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $8,616.


1983 Citroen Eco 2000 SA 109

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.


1984 Citroen Eco 2000 SL 10

Photo – Leclere

Here’s another Eco 2000 prototype. This was the final and most sophisticated of the four Eco 2000 cars and it actually looks more like a road car than the wind tunnel model shown above as it was actually shown to the public. It’s a roller, as Citroen is keeping the only example that has an engine.

This car should sell for between $9,500-$14,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $19,222.


1991 Citroen Citela Concept

Photo – Leclere

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.


1999 Citroen Berlingo Flanerie by Sbarro

Photo – Leclere

The Berlingo is a van built sold by Citroen. The first generation was introduced in 1996. Switzerland-based Sbarro got their hands on this one and made it wacky. In all, they did at least three takes on the Berlingo. This one has four rows of seats and looks like an amusement park vehicle, like something that would be used in Jurassic Park.

This is the only one like it and it is currently missing running gear. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a Berlingo power unit and pop it back under hood. This should bring between $10,500-$13,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $12,593.


2010 Citroen Tubyk Concept

Photo – Leclere

No, this is not a panda with wheels. Instead, it is a modern take on Citroen’s TUB light van of 1939-1941. The TUB was the first van ever to feature a sliding side door. This concept van debuted at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. It’s full-on French weird in that they-just-might-build-it kind of way.

This one isn’t powered but it should bring between $23,500-$35,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of the Citroen’s on offer.

Update: Sold $43,747.

Update: Sold, Aguttes July 2017, $7,156.

October 2017 Auction Highlights, Pt. III

October was a busy month. This is our third results rundown and we start with Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas. There wasn’t any time to feature anything from this sale, but the biggest money went to this 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder for $1,760,000. Click here for more results.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Across the ocean we go to our next sale, Osenat in France. We didn’t get to feature anything, but the top sale was this 1968 Lancia Flaminia Coupe for $97,518. Click here to see the rest of their lots.

Photo – Osenat

Let’s stay in France for Leclere’s Parisian motorcars sale. Again, we lacked a feature car here but the biggest money went to this 1982 Renault 5 Turbo privateer rally car for $197,358. The rest of their sales can be found here.

Photo – Leclere

Brightwell’s Bicester Classic & Vintage Cars sale was held in October and we were able to feature three cars from this one. Of those three, the Autovia sedan brought the most at $98,463. The top sale overall was $160,167 for this 1976 Ferrari 308 GTB.

Photo – Brightwells

The Friswell we featured sold for $31,508 and the Calthorpe beat its estimate, bringing $27,569. Everything else can be found here.

And finally, Bonhams in Padua, Italy. Our lone feature car, the Abarth Monomille GT, sold for $120,111. The top sale overall? This 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster for $1,040,968. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Bonhams

March 2017 Auction Highlights, Pt. III

We’ll kick this one off with Bonhams’ Goodwood Members’ Meeting sale in March. The top sale was this 1961 Aston Martin DP214 Replica GT Competition Coupe that brought $683,409 – that’s some serious replica money.

Photo – Bonhams

Both of our feature cars sold, with the 1903 Gladiator bringing $175,291 and the super cool NSU Kettenkrad $64,108. For the rest of the results, check out Bonhams’ site here.

Osenat held two sales in March, the second of which saw this 1932 Chrysler Imperial Custom Convertible by de Villars take top sale honors at $350,245.

Photo – Osenat

Our two feature cars both sold, with the Salmson race car bringing the most: $168,636. At the other end of the spectrum was the Georges Irat Roadster which sold for $32,430. You can see the rest of the results here.

Mecum’s Kansas City sale held in March saw this 2005 Ford GT go to a new home as the top seller at $300,000.

Photo – Mecum

The Pontiac Tojan we featured from this sale brought $13,500. You can see more from Mecum in Kansas City here.

Leclere held a sale in Avignon in their native France. This one popped on my radar too late to feature anything, but a weak sell-through rate had this 1966 Ferrari 330 GTC go as the top seller for $838,800. Click here for full results. There were some interesting cars in this sale and we’ll be sure to feature more from their upcoming auctions.

Photo – Leclere Maison de Ventes

The final sale from March is the Imperial War Museum sale held by H&H Classics. The top sale was the long-ago featured Ferrari Nembo Spyder for $744,015. The Armstrong-Siddeley Special we featured sold for $28,777 and we’ll give Most Interesting to a similar car, this 1928 Armstrong-Siddeley 20HP Long Ascot Tourer that went for $22,811.

Photo – H&H Classics

And the Bitter CD we featured sold for a healthy $84,228. Click here to see the rest of the results from this sale.