March 2014 Auction Highlights Part I

The first weekend in March was an eventful one for car auctions – and shows, with the Amelia Island Concours going on. But before we get to Amelia Island, let’s cross the pond and check out Bonhams’ Oxford sale highlights. The top sale there was this 1964 Bentley S3 Continental Coupe by Mulliner, Park Ward. It sold for $124,601.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Our featured MG NB Cresta Tourer failed to sell. And our featured BSA Scout doubled the lower-end of its estimate, selling for $20,249. Style-wise, I think the coolest non-feature car was this 1962 Ford Consul Capri Coupe which sold for $14,464. Check out full results here.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Now we get to Amelia Island and first up is Gooding & Company, where our featured Porsche 907 Longtail was the top sale at $3,630,000. The other 24 Hours of Daytona-winning Porsche, the 1983 March 83G, failed to sell. Cool cars were topped by this 1955 Porsche 356 Speedster once raced by Pedro Rodriguez. I’ve seen this car in person before and it is cool. It sold for $462,000.

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

Another cool featured Porsche was our 356 Carrera 2 that sold for $550,000. This 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS Lightweight brought an eye-popping $1,402,500.

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

Another great German car was this stunning green 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster. This was as cheap as I’ve seen a 300SL in some time and the color combo makes it an even better deal at $946,000.

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

Our featured Voisin failed to sell. The Madame X V-16 Cadillac brought $264,000. And the 1909 Alco Runabout sold for $280,500. This sale also featured a very nice BMW collection. One of the lesser-seen modes was this 1958 BMW 501 A. It sold for $121,000. Check out full results here.

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

And finally, on to RM’s Amelia Island sale. The top selling car was easy to spot beforehand – our featured Figoni et Falaschi Delahaye sold for $6,600,000. The deal of the sale was our featured Kissel White Eagle Tourster which sold for only $60,500! Somebody made off like a thief with that car. Congratulations.

Cool cars were topped by this beefy 1974 Iso Grifo 7-Liter coupe for $440,000.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Our featured Locomobile Speedster sold for $126,500. There was another Locomobile at this sale, this sporty 1919 Model 48 Roadster by Merrimac. It brought $143,000.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Our featured American De Dion sold for $115,500 and the all-original B.N.C. race car $181,500. This 1965 Shelby GT350 R race car is the “winningest” Shelby race car of all time, notching 17 straight wins in the late-60s. It sold for $984,500.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

The only featured Duesenberg from the Amelia Island weekend sold for $1,567,500. And finally, there was this 1937 Packard 120 Pickup. It was custom built well after 1937 but it’s been around for a while and looks like the trucks Packard dealers used to use. It sold for $93,500. Check out full results here.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

February 2014 Auction Roundup

There were two sales in February we haven’t covered yet. First was Silverstone Auctions’ Race Retro & Classic Car Sale. The top sale there was this 1987 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante X-Pack for $282,000.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Our featured Nissan 240RS rally car failed to sell. Cool cars were topped by this 2000 Ford Mondeo Super Tourer that competed in the BTCC in 2000. It was built by Prodrive and sold for $172,845.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

This auction was chock full of race cars, including this Ford-powered 1994 Harrier LR9C. There were road-versions of this car built, so it competed in the GT2 class in the British GT Championship. It sold for $53,700.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

And finally, this super-rare and in-excellently-condition 1979 Vauxhall Chevette HS. They only built 400 of these hotted-up hatchbacks. It brought $27,200. Click here for complete results.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The other sale was H&H Auctions’ Pavilion Gardens sale. The top seller was 1959 Alvis TD21 by Graber. It brought about $64,000.

Photo - H&H Auctions

Photo – H&H Auctions

Our featured AC 3000ME sold for $22,500. Cool cars were definitely topped by this 1952 Jowett Jupiter Abbott Coupe – the only one (of the two built) still around. How did I not feature this!? It brought $33,800.

Photo - H&H Auctions

Photo – H&H Auctions

This 1922 Delahaye Type 87 Dual Cowl Tourer caught my eye. This is about as cheap as you can get into Delahaye ownership at $24,400.

Photo - H&H Auctions

Photo – H&H Auctions

And finally, this unusual 1975 Mercedes-Benz L306D Motorhome. It’s kind of bulky and weird looking. It sold for about $17,000. Click here for complete results.

Photo - H&H Auctions

Photo – H&H Auctions

Retromobile 2014 Auction Highlights

We covered three auctions from the fantastic Retromobile event in Paris this year. Two of them, Bonhams and RM Auctions, have their results posted. Artcurial had a second day of their sale and therefore do not have their results just yet. First up is RM’s sale. The top sale was this 1955 Jaguar D-Type for $4,947,835.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

We featured three cars from this sale. Of those, only the Gordini failed to sell. Cool cars included this 1982 Rondeau M482 GTP for $284,875.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Our featured Porsche Carrera GTS brought $1,724,246 and the Th. Schneider sold for $82,464. Another cool car was this 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cabriolet by Gebrüder Tüscher which sold for $397,326.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

And finally, this awesome barn find condition 1971 Mercedes-Benz 600 Six-Door Pullman Landaulet which was pulled from an African country (it was not said from which country but I think it’s safe to assume it has been dictator-owned). Anyway, these are extraordinarily rare. It brought an impressive $719,685. Check out full results here.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Now on to Bonhams’ sale. The top sale here was a 1968 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 for $3,434,222.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Two of our featured cars from this sale failed to sell: the Marlboro Steam car and the Lion-Peugeot. The most interesting car award goes to this 1969 Mazda Cosmo L10B Coupe which sold for $74,928.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Our featured Metallurgique Berline brought $35,903. This 1957 Borgward Isabella sold for $39,025.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Our featured Attica 200 sold for $18,732. The awesome Hispano-Suiza Omnibus brought $234,151. This cool, ex-Maurice Trintignant 1947 Delage D6 3-Liter Grand Prix sold for $1,482,959. Check out full results here.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

CLK GTR Roadster

2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Roadster

Offered by RKMCCA | Charlotte, North Carolina | November 1-2, 2013

2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Roadster

The Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR is one of the most outlandish road cars ever built. It was a byproduct of the FIA GT1 class homologation rules of the late-1990s that stated any car competing in the class must be available for purchase on the street. The class was cancelled for 1999, but Mercedes decided to build some road cars anyway.

Between 1998 and 1999, 26 road cars were built (25 were promised by Mercedes with regards to the rules). This car is titled as a 2002, but was likely built in 1999 (at the time of construction, these were the most expensive cars in the world and moving them was no small feat). The cars use a 6.9-liter V-12 making 604 horsepower and could hit 60 mph in 3.8 seconds on their way to a top speed of 199 mph.

The final six cars were built sans roof. This is the third roadster constructed (and the one most often seen for sale). A solid million dollars isn’t out of the question by any means for this ultra-limited edition supercar. You can read more here and check out the rest of RKMCCA’s auction lineup here.

Update: Sold $1,300,000.

Lotec C1000

1995 Lotec C1000

Offered by RKMCCA | Charlotte, North Carolina | November 1-2, 2013

1995 Lotec C1000

The Lotec C1000 is a fairly famous one-off supercar from the 1990s. It was so radical at the time that most supercar fiends heard about it through whatever we did pre-internet to learn about crazy, new cars. It was built by race car constructor Lotec in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz (hence their logo on the front of it).

It was built at the request of a very wealthy individual from the UAE who wanted something quicker than a downright pedestrian McLaren F1. This thing ending up costing him $3.4 million (the F1 would’ve been a better return on his investment… but I don’t think he needed to worry about that).

It uses a rear-mounted twin-turbocharged 5.6-liter Mercedes-Benz V-8 that makes 1,000 horsepower. The body is all carbon fiber (which was ridiculously expensive in 1995). The top speed? 268 MPH. It isn’t slow. But it’s also not the world’s fastest production car, because it was never put into production and only this one was built. The pre-sale estimate is between $1 million and $1.3 million (which is reasonable because I’ve seen it sell for about that previously). You can read more here and check out more from this sale here.

Update: Not sold.

September Results II

Our second post covering auctions for September starts with RM’s big London sale. They had a huge collection of Mercedes-Benzes cross the block, but the top sale actually went to our featured Maserati 250S for $3,340,000. Our featured Jaguar D-Type failed to sell. As did our featured Mercedes 500K Cabriolet C. The top-selling Benz was this 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet B for $1,287,400.

1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet B

Our featured 1932 Mercedes-Benz 370 S sold for $1,208,900. On top of the “interesting cars pile” was the Lotus Esprit Submarine from the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. It sold for $967,000.

1977 Lotus Esprit Submarine

Another cool car was this 1975 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12 which brought $527,000.

1975 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12

Our featured Mercedes 290 Cabriolet A brought $435,000. And our featured Benz Doctor’s Cabriolet sold for $83,500. Other interesting cars include this 1948 Austin VM 30 Cabriolet for only $12,300.

1948 Austin VM 30 Cabriolet

I can’t pick just two or three cool Mercedes’ from this sale to highlight because so many of them are the more mundane road cars that you just don’t see anymore (which I find fascinating). These are restored examples of cars that they built a ton of, but it would probably be easier to find a 540K today. You really have to check out the full results here, but I’ll tease you with this 1952 Mercedes-Benz 170 Da Pick Up. It sold for $77,300.

1952 Mercedes-Benz 170 Da Pick Up

Bonhams held a sale during the Goodwood Revival. The top sale here was our featured Alfa Romeo 8C-35 Grand Prix car for $9,511,542. It was kind of a no-brainer that this would be the top sale, as Bonhams has been killing it lately with competition cars bringing huge sums. Apparently they currently hold world records for 11 different marques at auction, which is pretty impressive (they probably hold more, but don’t want to look up all of the smaller marques over the years).

Cool cars start with this 1936 Invicta 4.5-Litre S-Type Low-Chassis Tourer which sold for $307,413. Our featured Invicta did not sell.

1936 Invicta 4.5-Litre S-Type 'Low Chassis' Tourer

Our featured Connaught did not sell either. But this 1934 Singer 1.5-Litre Le Mans did. It actually raced in the 1934 24 Hours of Le Mans. It sold for $136,966.

1934 Singer 1.5-Litre Le Mans

Two other interesting cars: first this 1951 Jaguar XK120 Competition Roadster which brought a big $228,277.

1951 Jaguar XK120 3.8-Litre Competition Roadster

And this super-cool 1985 Audi Quattro SWB Coupe. A very rare rally car for the road, it brought $185,409.

1985 Audi Quattro Sport SWB Coupe

And finally, let’s go to our featured Jaguar XJR-8 race car. It sold – but that’s all the information that was provided. Bonhams didn’t provide a final amount – but I will refer to it as a “mysterious sum in the neighborhood of $1.4 million.” Anyway, you can check out the full results here.

Mercedes 290 Cabriolet A

1934 Mercedes-Benz 290 Cabriolet A by Sindelfingen

Offered by RM Auctions | London, U.K. | September 8-9, 2013

1934 Mercedes-Benz 290 Cabriolet A

What I like about this sale is that there are a bunch of Mercedes-Benzes of intermediate prestige. Yes, 500K and 540K Benzes are wonderful but you never see 380s or 290s at these big, fancy auctions.

Thus, why I’m featuring this car instead of the 540K Special Roadster from the same sale. The Mercedes-Benz 290 was known internally as the W18 and it was available in two different wheelbases. This is the shorter one. The engine is a 2.9-liter straight-six making 60 horsepower. The wheel wells on this car seem to ride really high, giving this an almost-SUV-like appearance. It might be good off-road. It looks like a car that some Nazis would use to chase down Indiana Jones.

Only 3,566 short-chassis cars were built (which is a fairly high number compared to other cars of the era). The Cabriolet A (seen here) was the sportiest of the various body styles offered, but it was almost the most expensive. My favorite feature here is the dual rear-mount spares (I’m a sucker for those). This is a rare car with an older restoration that has had some use. It should still bring between $390,000-$465,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of RM’s interesting London auction lineup.

Update: Sold $435,000.

S/N: 109942.

Beautiful 370 S Mercedes

1932 Mercedes-Benz 15/75HP Mannheim 370 S Sport Roadster

Offered by RM Auctions | London, U.K. | September 8-9, 2013

1932 Mercedes-Benz 1575HP Mannheim 370 S Sport Roadster

I think this is a very attractive car. I actually like it a little more than I do those swoopy 500K roadsters. This, the Typ Mannheim 370 S was a version of the Mercedes-coded W10 that was introduced in 1929. It uses a modified version of an earlier Ferdinand Porsche-designed chassis and a 3.7-liter straight-six making 75 horsepower.

The 370 S was the fourth iteration of the W10, being produced from 1930 through 1933. It used the shortest wheelbase of all the cars in the series and was only available in roadster or sport cabriolet form. This one was born as a Sport Cabriolet but was converted to a roadster when restored between 2004 and 2006.

Only 195 370 S cars were built in total and apparently only seven of them carry roadster bodies like this. This style of elegant and sporty early Mercedes-Benz is quickly becoming my favorite MB style of all time. I want this triple black 370 S roadster. It should sell for between $1,115,000-$1,480,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $1,208,900.

S/N: 87123.

500K Cabriolet C

1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Cabriolet C by Sindelfingen

Offered by RM Auctions | London, U.K. | September 8-9, 2013

1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Cabriolet C by Sindelfingen

RM Auctions is offering an incredible collection (all from the same owner) of Mercedes-Benzes. Like 70 or 80 cars – it’s an entire day of the auction. Anyway, there are a lot of old Benzes in the sale that I’ve never seen before. Many are more generic, pedestrian models than this 500K (but sometimes that’s even more interesting).

The 500K was the followup model to the 380K. It was introduced in 1934 and uses a 5.0-liter supercharged straight-eight engine making 100 horsepower and 160 with the supercharger engaged. The body is by Sindelfingen – Mercedes’ then in-house coachbuilder. Between the 500K and the 540K, only 122 Cabriolet C bodies were built.

This car has been beautifully restored and the interior shows signs of use. It would make a great driver – something that is rare among these high-dollar Mercedes cabriolets. The pre-sale estimate on this car is $1,100,000-$1,400,000. You can read more here and see more from this auction here.

Update: Not Sold. High Bid of $1,025,000.

S/N: 215011

RM Monterey 2013 Highlights

RM’s annual auction held during Pebble Beach weekend was a big one this year. They tried their best to set an all-time record with their top sale, but it fell short by a “mere” $2 million. Still, the car topped the upper end of its estimate by $10 million (!). It was actually one of our feature cars: the 1967 Ferrari 275 N.A.R.T. Spider. It sold for a remarkable $27,500,000. The next highest-selling car was another prancing horse: this 1953 Ferrari 375 MM Spider by Pinin Farina for $9,075,000.

1953 Ferrari 375 MM Spider by Pinin Farina

Of our feature cars, two didn’t sell. They were: the sale’s only Duesenberg and our featured Maserati A6GCS/53. This sale featured a somewhat obscene 26 million dollar cars. We’ll run them down here. Two other Maserati’s topped the million dollar mark, including our featured Birdcage for $2,090,000. The other was this 1953 Maserati A6G/2000 Spyder by Frua for $2,530,000.

1953 Maserati A6G-2000 Spyder by Frua

The next two most expensive Ferrari’s were our featured 500 Mondial for $3,520,000 and this 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider by Scaglietti for $4,070,000.

1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider by Scaglietti

We’ll continue our tour of Europe and head to the Western Front where this 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster by Sindelfingen sold for $7,480,000.

1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster by Sindelfingen

Our featured Pebble Beach-winning 680 S-Type by Saoutchik sold for $8,250,000. And as always, there were Gullwings galore. This sale included the following (from top to bottom): 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL ($1,265,000), 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster ($1,430,000), and another (in a more interesting color, in my opinion) 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL ($1,485,000).

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL

1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL

How about another pair of Ferraris? First, an early 1950 166 MM Barchetta for $3,080,000.

1950 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta

And then this 1961 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Coupe Aerodinamico by Pininfarina for $2,750,000.

1961 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Coupe Aerodinamico by Pininfarina

For some competition cars we can look to our 1974 Indy 500-winning McLaren which broke the bank at $3,520,000. Then there was this 1958 Lister-Jaguar “Knobbly” Prototype which went for $1,980,000.

1958 Lister-Jaguar 'Knobbly' Prototype

To keep going with the theme, this 1955 Jaguar D-Type was one of the coolest cars of the show (if you’re capable of whittling a list like this down that far). It sold for $3,905,000.

1955 Jaguar D-Type

The final million dollar competition car is this 1996 Ferrari 333 SP Evoluzione that sold for $1,375,000.

1996 Ferrari 333 SP Evoluzione

That car shows that it wasn’t just old classics bringing the big bucks. Two more modern Ferraris did well too: this 1990 Ferrari F40 (first below) sold for $1,155,000 while one of my all-time favorites, a 1995 Ferrari F50 (second below) brought $1,677,500.

1990 Ferrari F401995 Ferrari F50

This 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Series II Cabriolet by Pininfarina sold for $1,100,000.

1961 Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet Series II by Pininfarina

How about a Spanish car? This 1935 Hispano-Suiza K6 Cabriolet by Brandone was a car I really wanted to feature (but didn’t for various time-related reasons). It sold for $2,255,000.

1935 Hispano-Suiza K6 Cabriolet by Brandone

Back to England for a couple more cars. This 1911 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Roadster sold for $1,017,500.

1911 Rolls-Royce 4050 HP Silver Ghost Roadster

Then there was this super-cool 1960 Aston Martin DB4GT which went for $2,200,000.

1960 Aston Martin DB4GT

The rest are all Ferraris. First, another Series II Cabriolet – this a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Series II Cabriolet by Pinin Farina. It’s in blue (and looks better because of it) and sold for $1,292,500.

1960 Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet Series II by Pinin Farina

Then there was a “usual suspect” – a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti. These are million dollar cars every time and show up at most big auctions. It went for slightly more than usual at $1,650,000.

1971 Ferrari 365 GTB4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti

And last – but not least – one of my favorite of Enzo’s creations, a 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso. It sold for $1,386,000. Check out full results here.

1964 Ferrari 250 GT 'Lusso' Berlinetta by Scaglietti