Tag Archives: rm auctions

Unrestored Locomobile

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1923 Locomobile Model 48 Series VIII Sportif by Bridgeport Body Company

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2013

1923 Locomobile Model 48 Series VIII Sportif by Bridgeport Body Company

Locomobile started producing cars in 1899 with production focused on steam cars. They were one of the leading motorcar manufacturers in the early days but they switched to internal combustion power in 1903. Competition was fierce and in 1922 they were taken over by Durant Motors.

Prior to that, in 1911, they introduced the Model 48 – a benchmark model in their history. It lasted through to the end of the company in 1929. It was overbuilt and out of date by 1923 as the model never really had any major updates. But the motorcar was still in its relative infancy and modernity didn’t matter to all customers. The engine is a 95 horsepower 8.6-liter straight-six. The body is the “sports” body offered from Locomobile at the time, the four-door convertible Sportif.

This car cost $9,900 when new. All owners have been known from that time. And what is most amazing about this car is that it is a survivor. It has less than 25,000 original miles and won Best in Class at Pebble Beach in the Pre-War Preservation Class in 2002. Since that time it’s won other awards for its remarkable condition. It is expected to bring between $175,000-$225,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM at Amelia Island.

Update: Sold $176,000.

Hispano-Suiza Torpedo

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1928 Hispano-Suiza H6C Transformable Torpedo by Hibbard & Darrin

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2013

1928 Hispano-Suiza H6C Transformable Torpedo by Hibbard & Darrin

Photo – RM Auctions

We featured a Hispano-Suiza H6C fairly recently and while that car was certainly cool, it really can’t match this one for looks. Check out the rounded fenders, swooping lines and the soft cream color scheme. It’s beautiful.

The body is by Hibbard & Darrin, a company comprised of two Americans living in Paris. Four-door convertibles really need to make a comeback (I’m looking at you, Cadillac) as the style is really elegant and imposing, something often not found on modern cars. The sweeping fenders on this car were actually added in the late-1930s after the car had seen a few owners. The engine is a 160 horsepower 8.0-liter straight-six.

This car was one of very few Hispano-Suizas delivered new to the U.S. And it’s also one of only a few H6Cs that are still around. Luckily, it happens to be one of the best looking as well. It can be yours for between $400,000-$500,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $495,000.

Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island 2018.

Update: Not sold, RM Sotheby’s Arizona 2019.

Saoutchik-bodied Pegaso

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1954 Pegaso Z-102 Series II Cabriolet by Saoutchik

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2013

1954 Pegaso Z-102 Series II Cabriolet by Saoutchik

Wow. Pegaso, the Spanish truck manufacturer, produced a line of sports cars in the 1950s and, boy, are they lookers. They are also highly desirable. The best-looking (and meanest) versions of the Z-102 I’ve ever seen have all been bodied by Saoutchik. This Cabriolet tops them all for beauty.

The Pegaso Z-102 was introduced in 1951 and lasted through 1958. Only 84 were built. This uses a 2.8-liter V-8 making 165 horsepower (other cars have other engines). Pegaso went the interesting pre-war route of offering different engine combinations with their chassis’ and then sent the cars to coachbuilders for interesting – sometimes one-off – bodies.

Saoutchik bodied some of the most flamboyant cars of the 1930s and 40s. When the last of the great coachbuilt cars (Talbot-Lago) stopped production, the great coachbuilders that were still around really didn’t have a lot going on. Some of them bodied a few Pegasos – Saoutchik bodied 18 Z-102s. Only one is a Series II Cabriolet (there were three Series I Cabriolets) and this is it. This car spent most of its life in its home country of Spain. At some point, an owner but a coupe body on it but it has been restored to original condition. It’s gorgeous and extremely rare – the most sought after post-WWII Spanish automobile ever built. It should sell for between $1,250,000-$1,750,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Did not sell.

1911 Lozier Touring Car

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1911 Lozier Model 51 Seven-Passenger Touring

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2013

1911 Lozier Model 51 Seven-Passenger Touring

Lozier built big, expensive cars first in Plattsburgh, New York, and then in Detroit. They didn’t build many but the ones that they did make are majestic. They were some of the most expensive cars available in their day. This one cost a whopping $5,995 in 1911 – about $150 more than the price of the average house.

The engine is a 51 horsepower (hence the model name) 9.1-liter T-head six-cylinder. But it’s no ordinary 1911 car. This car was once in the Henry Ford Museum before being sold to a private collector in 1968. That collector, Ken Pearson, restored the car for the first time – but he upgraded it along the way. He wanted to be able to drive this thing across the country without worrying about reliability – so he rebuilt it “to modern tolerances.”

With only a few thousand Loziers built, they’re certainly rare. Finding one that has been restored to a state like this one is even harder to do. The restoration is older and has had “tens of thousands of miles” put on it since, but shows near-new. A luxury car through and through, this car should sell for between $400,000-$600,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM at Amelia Island.

Update: Sold $1,100,000.

Update II: Sold, RM Sotheby’s Arizona 2016, $990,000.

Duesenberg J-530

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1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Convertible Coupe by Walker-LaGrande

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2013

1935 Duesenberg Model SJ 530 Convertible Coupe by Walker LaGrande

This awesome – and awesome is the correct word – Duesenberg Model J is actually an SJ – it has a factory supercharged engine. But it is not the original engine for this car. Let me try and trace this out…

Engine J-530 has an origin I am unfamiliar with. This car is on chassis 2405, which originally had a very cool Rollston Town Car body on it. This incredible Walker-LaGrande Convertible Coupe body was originally on chassis 2563. The bell housing is from engine J-515, the engine that was originally with this body on 2563. So at some point in time, the Rollston Town Car body disappeared and this body was separated from its original chassis. The body and bell housing came with it and was put on chassis 2405. Engine J-530 was brought in to get the thing running. And remember: this is the supercharged 320 horsepower version.

The Walker-LaGrande body is one of three like it built and the only one with a supercharger on it. It’s actually one of only seven bodies built for Duesenbergs by Walker-LaGrande in total. This car was delivered new to a banker in Chicago before going through the hands of several well-known collectors. Among Model Js, this is one of the big ones. It should sell for between $3,500,000-$5,000,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $4,510,000.

Duesenberg J-444

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1931 Duesenberg Model J Tourster by Derham

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2013

1931 Duesenberg Model J-444 Tourster by Derham

This is the second Derham Tourster (of the eight originally built) to be offered at an RM auction in 2013. The other one, J-423, sold for $1.32 million. That one had kind of an interesting history, being owned by an Italian Count and all. This one is slightly more interesting.

J-444 was delivered new to film comedian Joe E. Brown, who was known for his comedic roles in the 1930s-1950s (and he was the rich gentleman who hilariously courted Jack Lemmon (in drag) in the near-perfect film Some Like It Hot. He delivered the classic line “Well, nobody’s perfect”). By the time World War II came around, the car was passed around before it came into the hands of a Mr. Howard Hughes.

Hughes liked powerful things and the Duesenberg Model J fit that bill. A 265 horsepower straight-eight engine was about as good as you were going to do in the day. He, apparently, wasn’t so concerned with the gorgeous Derham Tourster body on the car – as he cut the rear half of the car off and used the car to tow gliders up and down a runway – aircraft, after all, were his business.

The car was later in the Otis Chandler collection and then the John McMullen collection and a replica of its original body was fitted at some point. This is a real Derham Tourster, but it just doesn’t have the original Derham Tourster body it came with. It is remarkable to look at nonetheless. John O’Quinn acquired it after that.

This car has been in the hands of some seriously famous people and well-respected car collectors who obviously didn’t let its “replica” body scare them (as it shouldn’t). This car sold in 2007 for $1.35 million. It won’t bring less than that this time around but that is, apparently, the going rate for a Derham Tourster today. Click here for more info and here for more from RM at Amelia Island.

Update: Sold $825,000.

Tribelhorn Electric

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1905 Tribelhorn Electric Brougham

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2013

1905 Tribelhorn Electric Brougham

Sometimes, with electric cars, it can be difficult to extract horsepower and performance figures. This is even more difficult when the car is almost 110 years old. It is an electric car, built by A. Tribelhorn & Cie AG, in Feldbach, Switzerland. And I have no idea what kind of power it makes. Probably not a lot.

The company was founded by Johann Albert Tribelhorn in 1899. The company built electric cars exclusively up until they were acquired by a rival in 1919. For another year or so after that they built a few electric commercial vehicles. This is a passenger vehicle with wood bodywork and tiller steering.

It was offered by RM at Hershey in the fall of 2011 fresh from the estate of John O’Quinn. It sold there for $35,000. Now it is being offered for sale again, less than two years later. It makes you wonder why – did the new owner run out of money? Hate the car? Did it not work? In any case, this is a good chance to grab up a rare Swiss electric vehicle. And you know what was paid for it a year and a half ago, so they can’t exactly be asking for the moon this time around. Click here for more info and here for more from RM.

Update: Sold $77,000.

Marmon Two-Door Prototype

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1932 Marmon HCM V-12 2-Door Sedan Prototype

Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2013

1932 Marmon HCM V-12 2-Door Sedan Prototype

Remember: this car is from 1932. It’s a full-bodied car – there aren’t any running boards and yeah, the front wheels kind of have their own fenders – but for the most part, this thing looks way ahead of its time. But it’s pretty advanced under that strange, tan bodywork too.

The engine is a 151 horsepower 6.0-liter V-12 (Marmon had just started production on their V-16 powered car. This was essentially a V-16 minus four of the cylinders). The suspension set-up was different from most production cars of the day, ending in low un-sprung weight. The body was designed by an M.I.T. student and the car cost Howard Marmon about $160,000 of his personal fortune to build. His company went bankrupt the following year.

So Marmon shopped the prototype around, hoping someone else would put it into production, but no one took the bait. So he brought it home and packed it away. Marmon died in 1943. It passed through a few hands before it was given to Brooks Stevens, who painted it blue. It was purchased (with money, for the first time in the car’s history) in 1999 and completely restored in 2001. This car is one of one and failed to sell at an RM Auction in 2011 for $475,000. I guess the owner wants more than that if it is to sell this time around. Click here for more info and here for more from RM at Amelia Island.

Update: Sold $407,000.

Update II: Sold, RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island 2015, $429,000.

Crosley Farm-O-Road

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1949 Crosley Farm-O-Road Prototype

Offered by RM Auctions | Madison, Georgia | February 15-16, 2013

1949 Crosley Farm-O-Road Prototype

Photo – RM Auctions

Powell Crosley’s cars are all really tiny and all really cool. The Farm-O-Road is one of the stranger cars the he built. It looks like a miniature version of the Jeep that helped America win the war that had just ended. But its purpose was that of a utility tractor, as Crosley “had an interest in farming.” There were all sorts of attachments for this thing: plows, mowers, skis. It was also intended for road use. They were available for three model years: 1950-1952. About 600 were made. This is one of two factory prototypes and the one that was used in factory sales literature. It uses the 724cc COBRA straight-four making 26.5 horsepower. It should sell for between $20,000-$30,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $32,775.

Vespa Ape

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1963 Vespa Ape Model C

Offered by RM Auctions | Madison, Georgia | February 15-16, 2013

1963 Vespa Ape

Photo – RM Auctions

The iconic Vespa scooter was introduced by Piaggio in 1946. It was great for transporting people cheaply around the windy streets of Italy. It was not so great for transporting things. So Piaggio sent their designers back to the drawing board and in 1948 the Ape came to market. This Model C has an enclosed metal box at the rear and a bench seat up front. Payload was 770 pounds – about all the 5.8 horsepower 145.5cc single-cylinder can handle. The controls are still scooter-like and the rear box actually tips. It’s a useful little commercial vehicle. It should bring between $5,000-$10,000. Click here for more.

Update: Sold $25,300.