’56 Lincoln Premiere

1956 Lincoln Premiere Coupe

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 12-20, 2023

Photo – Mecum

This is the best Lincoln of the 1950s. I mean, the Continental Mark II is pretty great, but it’s not technically a Lincoln. The ’56 Premiere, specifically a coupe in pink, is one of the ideal ’50s American cruisers.

The Premiere nameplate debuted for 1956, and a second generation would launch in 1958 before disappearing after 1960. Three body styles were offered this year, and this example is one of 19,619 coupes made.

Power is provided by 6.0-liter V8 rated at 285 horsepower. The want is strong, and it’s unclear if this one has been restored, but the interior doesn’t appear so (it’s two-tone white and pink just like the exterior). Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $40,700.

Lincoln KB by Dietrich

1933 Lincoln Model KB Dual Cowl Phaeton by Dietrich

Offered by Bonhams | Amelia Island, Florida | March 3, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

Before the Continental arrived, Lincoln’s K series of cars was the best thing they offered. The first K arrived in 1931, and 12-cylinder cars followed in ’32. The Model KB was sold in 1932 through 1934. A variety of factory body styles were offered along with standard coachbuilt styles from the likes of LeBaron, Willoughby, Brunn, Judkins, and Dietrich.

This Dietrich-bodied dual cowl phaeton is one of nine produced for the model year, and it’s a pretty car, especially in these colors. When new, the car would’ve cost $4,200. Which was not cheap. The 6.8-liter V12 was rated at 220 horsepower, which put it near the top of American cars of its day.

It’s an older restoration and is a CCCA Full Classic. This one comes from long-term ownership. You can read more about it here and see more from this sale here.

Update: Not sold.

June/July 2020 Auction Highlights

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.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Diablo SE30 we featured brought $259,136, the EuroBrun F1 car $99,952, and the Porsche 912 $61,699. Other sales included the Ginetta G33 for $27,147, the TVR Grantura for $19,743, the Glas 1300 GT for $17,892, the Glas S 1004 for $13,573, and the Neckar for $12,031.

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.

Mecum’s annual Indianapolis sale got shifted to July this year. The overall top seller was the prototype Shelby GT350R we featured. It sold for an impressive $3,850,000. Big-money no-sales included the L88 Corvette convertible race car, the Diedt-Offy Indy car, the Chevelle LS6 convertible, and the Ferrari 275 GTB/4. The high bids for those cars are available at their respective links. Most Interesting is awarded to this 1924 Lincoln Model L Limousine for $24,750 because old Lincolns rock.

Photo – Mecum

Other no-sales included Richard Petty’s ’71 Road Runner, the Dodge Lil Red Express, the Hemi GTX, the ’53 Eldorado, and the obviously-cursed Brumos-Edition 911 GT3. The Kurtis 500H was withdrawn.

On a positive note, a lot of cars estimated to bring lesser amounts found new homes, including the Checker Marathon for $6,600, the Nash Rambler for $24,200, a previously-featured Erskine Panel Truck for $28,600, and the Zimmer Golden Spirit for $24,200. The Cougar Eliminator brought $104,500, the GT350 convertible $1,100,000, a previously-featured Shelby Series 1 prototype $115,500, and the Ferrari F512M $396,000. More results, yes there are more results, are available here.

Dorotheum’s scooter and microcar sale had some interesting vehicles on offer, including this 1963 Peel P50 that sold for $97,265.

Photo – Dorotheum

We featured five cars from this sale. Here’s how they fared:

Complete results are presented 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.

Gothic Lincoln


1926 Lincoln Model L Gothic Phaeton by Murphy

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | St. Louis, Missouri | May 4-5, 2019

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Henry Leland‘s Lincoln Model L went on sale in 1921 and would remain in production until 1930. By then Ford had taken over and things went in a different direction. But for a solid decade, Leland’s well-engineered cars were a viable alternative to the Packards and Cadillacs of the era.

The 5.9-liter L-head V8 made 90 horsepower, and quite a few bodies could be had – either from the factory or from a number of coachbuilders. Enter Walter M. Murphy who built this so-called “Gothic Phaeton” for a millionaire rancher in San Diego. The body is aluminum and features brass and nickel trim. Some interior surfaces are gold-plated. It has immense and wonderful detail, including folding seats that turn into a bed.

That pointed two-piece windshield along with the weathered trunk out back and water-stained convertible top add to a somewhat menacing, old world appearance completely worthy of its “Gothic” name. It’s probably the most fantastic Model L I’ve come across and is expected to bring between $100,000-$150,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $112,000.

January 2019 Auction Highlights

January means one thing: Scottsdale. And we’ll start there with Bonhams where the 1951 Maserati we featured was the top sale at $2,755,000. Most of the other really big money cars all missed the target, which might say something about the top of the market (but we’ll see as the other sales all wrap up). The other Frua-bodied car, the Fiat 1100C, sold for $577,000. We’ll award Most Interesting to this 1956 Lincoln Premiere Convertible – mostly because I really want one. I just don’t have the $50,400 it would’ve required to take this one home.

Photo – Bonhams

A previously-featured Abarth race car sold here for $16,800 – a long way from the $45k+ it brought at multiple previous auctions (weird, it has a different chassis number listed in this sale compared to previous sales, but has the exact same backstory). This car has changed hands multiple times in the last few years. Someone here either got a great deal, or the consignor finally unloaded an albatross at a loss (also, dibs on “Albatross at a Loss” as my next rap album name). Meanwhile, the Stevens-Duryea sold for $72,800. Click here for complete results.

Next up from Arizona is RM Sotheby’s, and there were a couple of cars that failed to meet their reserve, including a previously-featured Hispano-Suiza and the Ferrari 250 GT Coupe Speciale. But another Ferrari was top dog at this sale, specifically this 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO that sold for $3,360,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The biggest money feature car we had was the Vector WX-3 at $615,500, with the WX-3R coming up right behind it at a cool $500,000. The Lesovsky-Offy brought $201,600, the Rolls-Royce State Landaulette $190,400, the Hooper Bentley $128,800, the Apollo 3500 GT $134,400, and the Lone Star Touring $44,800. Click here for complete results.

Barrett-Jackson’s catalog is so large that I don’t feel like scrolling through the entire thing trying to find highlights and the top sale. Their user interface leaves a little to be desired, so I’m just going to look through Saturday’s results and assume that the top sale was in their prime time lineup. What I found: the overall top sale was, as it usually is here, a charity lot. The first 2019 Ford GT Heritage Edition went for $2,500,000.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

That crazy Mercedes-Benz G63 6×6 sold for $1,210,000, while the Paige Ardmore sold for $16,500 and the Ford Lightning Rod Concept $27,500. All of the results can be found here and you can scroll through them at your leisure if you have a spare five hours.

Next: Gooding & Company, where the 1902 Yale we featured brought $105,280, and the Ferrari 275 Prototype failed to sell. The biggest money was reserved for this 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta for $7,595,000. Click here for more results.

Photo – Gooding & Company

Finally, we have Worldwide Auctioneers’ Scottsdale sale where this 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster was the overall top sale at $990,000.

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

Our three Indiana-built feature cars all sold, with the two Duesenbergs falling in “good deal” range. The Duesenberg Tourster sold for $605,000, and the other Duesey brought $506,000. The Auburn Boattail rounds it all out at $291,500. Click here if you want more results from this sale.

’42 Continental Cabriolet

1942 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hampton, New Hampshire | June 23-24, 2018

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

It all changed for Lincoln in 1940. They were among the first to really move into the “modern” era of automobiles. The Model K that dated to 1931 was out of production and the Lincoln-Zephyr and Continental were on sale. These were clean, modern-looking designs and the Continental was just stellar.

In December of 1941, everything changed. America was at war and automobile production was about be put on hold for years. Very few 1942 model year cars were built in the U.S. The 1942 Continental was the rarest of the pre-war Continentals with just 136 Cabriolets and 200 Coupes built.

All were powered by a 4.8-liter V-12 that made 130 horsepower. The restoration on this car is described as “older” but “well-preserved.” It’s known to have been part of quite a few collections over the years and comes out of the Dingman Collection after only about 18 months as a part of it. See more about this car here and more about this collection here.

Update: Sold $60,480.

Continental Mark II

1956 Continental Mark II

Offered by Mecum | Houston, Texas | April 5-7, 2018

Photo – Mecum

Here is one of the loveliest American cars of all time. When it was released in 1956, it was the most expensive car sold in America. In 1956 the base price was $10,400 – the same as a Rolls-Royce and double the price of a Cadillac. And this was no Lincoln. Ford knew they were making a special car and created the Continental Division to produce this car under a separate marque.

It was so opulent that it only lasted two years, through 1957. It’s powered by a 285 horsepower, 6.0-liter V-8 (the ’57s got 300 horsepower). While Mark IIs look best in white (opinion) I really love this 1950s pastel blue with wide whitewalls. The interior is the same shade of blue, mixed with white.

In beautiful condition, this Mark II was once owned by socialite Lolita Armour. It’s one of just 2,550 examples built in 1956 and one of only 2,996 built in total. They’re rare, but they’re around. Click here for more info on this one and here for more from Mecum in Houston.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $42,000.

Update: Not sold, Mecum Indy 2018, high bid of $35,000.

Update: Not sold, Mecum Harrisburg 2018, high bid of $40,000.

October 2016 Auction Highlights

We’ll pick up in October where we left off in September: with Bonhams and their Zoute sale in Belgium. The top sale was this 1955 Porsche 356 Pre-A 1600 Speedster that brought $653,361.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Porsche 911R we featured broke the bank, too, bringing $538,062. Complete results can be found here.

Now onto the biggest sale of the month: RM Sotheby’s in Hershey, where one of the Duesenberg‘s we featured came away as the top sale at $2,090,000. The other Duesey, the Prototype Model J, brought $340,000. The Regal was the only no-sale among our feature cars and our Most Interesting award (not to mention well bought) goes to this 1929 Lincoln Model L Five-Passenger Brougham by Brunn that was bought new by gangster Legs Diamond. It sold for $38,500.

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

Other well-bought cars included this Oakland Touring for $44,000 and this Pullman Touring for $51,700. The other Pullman brought $66,000 while a previously-featured White Yellowstone Park Bus sold for $88,000. And finally, the Chalmers sold for $71,500 and the Winton $160,000. Full results can be found here.

Mecum’s Chicago sale ended on October 8th and this 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 Fastback was the top sale at $245,000.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

The Reo The Fifth Touring car we featured failed to sell, having been bid to only $9,000. Click here for complete results.

Artcurial liquidated a collection in France that featured a variety of American vehicles, where the top seller was this 1932 Packard Deluxe Eight Model 904 Convertible Victoria in the style of Rollston for $58,696.

Photo - Artcurial

Photo – Artcurial

The Matford we featured brought $20,010 and the Meteor $8,004. Click here for more results.

Silverstone Auctions held an all-Porsche sale in October and this 1972 911 S 2.4 Coupe was the top sale at $243,925. Click here for complete results.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

August 2016 Auction Highlights

First up for August is the final sale of July, Silverstone Auctions’ Silverstone Classic sale. The top sale was this 1958 AC Ace Bristol for $333,550.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Our featured Mitsubishi Pajero Evo went for $15,776. Full results can be found here.

Now we move into Monterey and all of the Pebble Beach car craziness. We’ll start with Bonhams and their top seller, the Bugatti Type 51 Grand Prix for $4,000,000. Other million dollar sales included a previously-featured Duesenberg for $1,254,000, the Mercedes-Simplex for $2,805,000, and the LaFerrari for $3,685,000.

The Cheetah GT failed to sell, but for our Most Interesting, we’ll pick this beautiful 1930 Lincoln Model L Convertible Roadster that brought $66,000.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Other sales included the Studebaker-Garford for $126,500 and a previously-featued Delaunay-Belleville for $450,000. The best-bought car of the sale (and thus far, the entire weekend), was this 1908 Fuller that someone practically stole for $11,000. I wish I would’ve been there because that thing would currently be in my garage. Click here for more results.

Now we move across town to Mecum’s Monterey sale. The top seller here was a 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari for $4,700,000 – over a million more than the one Bonhams sold. Either the atmosphere of Mecum’s sale got two people over-hyped and one of them overpaid (though, in five years, this will likely seem like a bargain) or the fact that Bonhams was unable to get their LaFerrari to cross the stage costed them a lot of money.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

There were a lot of no sales here, leading us to believe that a lot of people are still thinking their cars are worth the going rates from a few years ago. No sales among our feature cars included the Snowberger Indy car, a Porsche 912 Prototype, a Bohman & Schwartz Duesenberg, another, previously-featured Duesenberg, a previously-featured Packard, the Aston Martin Vulcan, and a Locomobile we featured years ago that has failed to meet its reserve at five Mecum sales. On a positive note, another previously-featured Duesenberg was hammered sold for $600,000. Click here for complete results.

Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach sale saw our featured Ferrari California Competizione sell for a very nice $18,150,000. A pair of cars that failed to sell were the Ferrari Daytona Shooting Brake and the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith. A previously-featured OSCA race car sold here for $605,000. As far as Most Interesting, how does this 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster grab you? Someone grabbed it for a hefty $10,400,000.

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

Other no-sales included the Abarth Record Car, the four-door Rolls-Royce Convertible, and the Cisitalia. There were some more big dollar cars here as well, including $11,990,000 for an Alfa Romeo, $907,500 for a Cadillac and the following for three Maseratis: the A6G/54 brought $3,300,000, the Ghibli SS Spyder $1,500,000 and the A6/1500 Coupe $852,500. Click here for complete results.

Another Monterey auction was that of RM Sotheby’s and they boasted the weekend’s biggest dollar value sale with $21,780,000 for the 1955 Jaguar D-Type that won the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Other big money cars included the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B for $19,800,000 and the first Shelby Cobra for $13,750,000. All three of these sales are world records – the Jaguar for most expensive British car; the Alfa for most expensive pre-war car; and the Cobra for most valuable American car. Pretty impressive.

Other million dollar feature cars were the Maybach for $1,072,500 and the Duesenberg Tourster for $1,320,000. The Ferrari 268 would’ve been on that list, but it failed to meet its reserve. Other no sales included the Maserati A6G/2000 and a previously-featured Lotus 56. The Bocar brought $412,500, a Moretti we featured in 2013 sold for $132,000, and the Maserati Quattroporte went for $88,000. Click here for everything else from RM.

10 Modern Rarities

There are cars that are rare, obviously. Sometimes it is intentional – Lamborghini and Ferrari want to sell a lot of cars and make a lot of money, but they have to balance that with exclusivity. If everyone drove a Ferrari, they wouldn’t be as special (but we’d be a lot happier, I would guess). Anyway, we are going to celebrate 10 cars (or trucks or SUVs) produced since the year 2000 by major manufacturers that just didn’t sell. Some were flops. Others were doomed from the start.

A few cars just missed the cut. Apologies to the final generation Saab 9-5, Lincoln Mark LT pickup, those two new Scions (the 2016-only iA and iM), Pontiac G5, PT Cruiser Convertible, and (at some point in the future) the Chevrolet SS. Here we go:


10. 2005-2009 Mitsubishi Raider

Mitsubishi_Raider_crew_cab

A number of Mitsubishi’s could’ve made this list. A few years ago they sold 50,000 cars in the U.S. and Ford sold half a million F-150s in the same time span. But the Dodge Dakota-based Raider is pretty rare on our roads. Over six years, they sold only 28,334 of these.


9. 2004-2005 Saab 9-2x

Saab_9-2X

The Saab 9-2x was a badge-engineered version of the Subaru Impreza hatchback. The “Saabaru” was only sold for two years and only 10,346 were built. While the Subaru version is pretty common, you almost never see the Saab. Or maybe you do – they are identical other than the grille area. It’s the fancy-man’s Impreza.


8. 2002 Lincoln Blackwood

2002_Lincoln_Blackwood_2

Have you ever actually seen one of these? I haven’t seen one in years. This was Ford’s fancy F-150 Crew Cab and it only lasted in the U.S. for one model year (Mexico got a second year). In total, only 3,356 were built. I guess people weren’t ready for a $52,000 pickup truck from a “soft” brand. My favorite Blackwood story is that, at the end of the 2002 model year, there was a dealership somewhere that had a deal: buy a Lincoln Blackwood, get a brand new Mercury Cougar… free. Talk about saddling dealers with some dead weight.


7. 2005-2008 Isuzu i-Series

Isuzu_i-Series

This was basically just a copy of the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon that was already on sale in the U.S. The picture above shows a four-door version, even rarer than the heavily-discounted two-door base model (I once saw a brand new one on a dealer lot for about $8,000 back in its day). It was a slow-seller… in the first year there were only 1,377 takers. Isuzu left the U.S. shortly after.


6. 2010-2013 Acura ZDX

1280px-2011_Acura_ZDX_--_NHTSA

Uh, what is this? The shaving razor grille of Acura is on some sort of… SUV? Crossover? Tall car? Does it have four doors or two? I’ve only ever actually seen one of these… and they are relatively recent. Only 7,191 were built and sold (they sold 18,000+ NSXs). So you’re twice as likely to see an NSX than a ZDX. Think about that.


5. 2008-2012 Suzuki Equator

2009_Suzuki_Equator_extended_cab_Premium

The pickup market is a tough nut to crack. The Equator was a Nissan Frontier-based pickup offered by Suzuki. It’s actually a decent-looking truck – better than the Nissan anyway. Canadian sales ceased in 2010 but U.S. sales soldiered on until 2012 (and Suzuki left the U.S. market not long after). Since 2009, they sold only 5,808 of these. Pretty rare.


4. 2002-2005 Lexus IS300 SportCross

Toyota_Altezza_Gita_002

Yes, I know the photo above is of the Japanese Toyota variant, but Lexus sold it as the IS300 SportCross between 2002 and 2005. While the IS300 is one of the best (the best?) car Lexus has ever built, the SportCross was a dud. Only 3,078 were built. Bentley Continental GTs are more common on our roads.


3. 2009-2010 Hummer H3T

Hummer_H3T_NY

The Hummer H3 was an SUV built between 2006 and 2010 by Hummer. The H3T was a pickup variant only available for two of those years. It was a popular concept a few years before it ever went on sale – but by the time it did the market didn’t care. Only 5,680 were made and I have never seen a single one.


2. 2011-2014 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet

2011_Nissan_Murano_CrossCabriolet_--_10-28-2011

I think this easily qualifies as the most bizarre vehicle on this list. It’s probably the most bizarre vehicle produced by a major automobile manufacturer in quite some time. I’m not sure how many of these were built but I’ve only ever seen two: both driven by women in their mid-50s.


1. 2011 Saab 9-4x

1280px-Saab_9-4X_--_04-08-2011

Here’s the unicorn. Before General Motors kicked Saab to its knees and shot it point blank in the head, they introduced the 9-4x. It’s basically a Cadillac SRX that was produced in Mexico for its Swedish cousin. It went on sale literally right before the brand was shuttered. Only about 500 of these were made. I’ve actually seen one in my tiny hometown. But it’s easily the rarest car on here, and thus why it is #1.