Tag Archives: rm sothebys

Alfa 6C 2300B Mille Miglia

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1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Mille Miglia Berlinetta by Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

We’ve featured two examples of Alfa Romeo’s pre-war 6C 2300 B before, and both looked quite different from this car, which resembles a hardtop version of the Touring-bodied 8C 2900 B Lungo Spider. The 6C 2300 was built between 1934 and 1938, with the B version first offered in 1935.

The Mille Miglia version of the B was powered by a 2.3-liter inline-six fitted with triple Solex carburetors for a rating of 95 horsepower. It was essentially the best version of the model. Only 107 examples of the 2300 B Mille Miglia were produced, most looking like this or the Touring-bodied convertible counterpart.

This car has known ownership history back to 1946, showing time spent in Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands before coming stateside in 2008. While this car won’t carry the nearly $20 million dollar price tag of an 8C Lungo, it still won’t come cheap. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Sold, RM Sotheby’s Paris 2023, $943,202.

57C Aravis Special Cabriolet

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1939 Bugatti Type 57C Aravis Special Cabriolet by Gangloff

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Among the most valuable Bugattis – and pre-war cars in general – are variations of the Bugatti Type 57. This particular car is a rare version called the Aravis Special Cabriolet with coachwork by Gangloff, who were also responsible for the Stelvios.

This is a Type 57C, which indicates a racing chassis powered by a supercharged 3.3-liter inline-eight capable of 160 horsepower. This car is one of three Gangloff-bodied Aravis cars in existence, of what is thought to be six built (in addition to six from Letourneur et Marchand). Only two of the remaining three were factory-supercharged examples, with this being one of them.

In 1959, the coachbuilder Graber was hired to put a fixed roof on the car, a configuration it was rescued from after being purchased by its current owner in 1993. It has a replacement engine, but of the correct type. You can read more about it here.

Update: Sold $1,545,000.

6C Villa d’Este

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1952 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 GT Villa d’Este Cabriolet by Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The 2500 version of Alfa Romeo’s 6C was really the best version of the model. Produced from 1938 through 1953 (with a break for the war), the car featured various improvements over its predecessors, which dated back to 1927.

There were some excellent coachbuilt versions of this chassis, including one-offs. But a few of the more “standard” variants also featured bodies from top European coachbuilders. One such model was the Ville d’Este, with bodies by Carrozzeria Touring. It’s powered by a triple-carbureted 2.4-liter inline-six that was rated at 110 horsepower.

The Villa d’Este was a coupe in standard form. It was also the final hand-built Alfa Romeo. Just 36 were built, with only five of those being cabriolets, which makes this one pretty special car. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $456,000.

Ferrari 500 TRC

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1957 Ferrari 500 TRC Spider by Scaglietti

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Ferrari Monza was a series of sports racing cars from the early 1950s. Unlike the V12 Testa Rossas, the Monzas were powered by Lampredi four-cylinder engines. The Monzas started with 1953’s 625 TF and included the 500 Mondial and 750 Monza.

In 1956, Ferrari entered the 500 TR, which replaced the Mondial, in World Sportscar Championship races. The following year, that car was upgraded to be the 500 TRC, which was powered by an upgraded 2.0-liter inline-four good for 190 horsepower and 153 mph.

Only 19 examples were built, with this (0706 MDTR) one being #18. Its competition history includes:

  • 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans – 29th, DNF (with Francois Picard and Richie Ginther)
  • 1958 12 Hours of Sebring – 44th, DNF (with Gaston Andrey, Bill Lloyd, and Dan Gurney)

Later, the car was powered by a 289 Ford V8 before being reunited with its factory engine. No pre-sale estimate is provided, but you can read more about it here.

Update: Sold $7,815,000.

Uhlenhaut Coupe

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1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe

Sold by RM Sotheby’s | Stuttgart, Germany | May 5, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

We rarely feature a car after it sells, but this one sort of snuck up on everybody. The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart owned both examples of the “Uhlenhaut” coupe until recently, when they decided to part with one of the two. Why? Who knows. Maybe Daimler is cash-strapped. It’s kind of a weird situation when a well-funded museum decides to do a quick cash grab for a priceless piece of automotive history. Supposedly there were conditions on this private auction, like that the new owner isn’t allowed to re-sell it.

Anyway, a little history. This is not a 300SL Gullwing coupe. The 300 SLR was a full-fendered open-cockpit racing car based on the W196 Formula One car. The SLR was the company’s entry into the World Sportscar Championship. The cars won the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio before the program was quickly shuttered after the 1955 Le Mans disaster.

Meanwhile, motorsport chief Rudolf Uhlenhaut designed a road-going coupe version of the SLR, later dubbed the Uhlhenhaut coupes. Two were built. The engine was a 3.0-liter straight-eight that made about 305 horsepower. This coupe could do 180 mph. In 1955.

This one was the second one built and has been owned by Mercedes-Benz since new. It was restored in the 1980s and has been displayed and demonstrated on various occasions over the years. So how did it fare?

Sold: $142,000,000.

AMC AM Van Concept

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1977 AMC AM Van Concept

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Highland Park, Illinois | June 1, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Well look at AMC, predicting the minivan yet somehow also treating their futuristic minivan prototype with all of the gaudiness of late-1970s van life culture. This thing is kind of like an inflated Pacer, with some styling cues definitely carried over.

There’s no engine – never was – but it has “Turbo” and “4×4” badging, so they were definitely thinking outside of the box. The body is fiberglass, and those turbine wheels look great with white-letter BFG tires. Oh, and side pipes! On a van!

Too bad it never made it past this prototype roller stage. It’s been part of a concept car collection for the last 35 years. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Volpini Formula Junior

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1958 Volpini Formula Junior

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 14, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Gian Paolo Volpini joined forces with Egidio Arzani in 1954 to form Arzani-Volpini. They intent was to make the Formula One grid, which they did for once race in 1955 with driver Luigi Piotti in a modified, used Maserati.

Eventually Scuderia Volpini dropped the name of engine builder Arzani and stuck to the lower open-wheel rungs. This Formula Junior single-seater is powered by a 1.1-liter Fiat inline-four that has been tuned to put out 90 horsepower.

This car had a long history in the U.S., with one of its more recent owners campaigning it at historic events over the last 20-ish years. It’s now offered at no reserve. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $48,491.

F430 Scuderia Spider 16M

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2009 Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16M

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 14, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Ferrari’s F430 was the follow up to the relatively similar looking 360 Modena. Like the Modena before it, the F430 got some spicy special editions as production neared its end. The F430 was offered from 2005 through 2009, and it got a Spider variant during that span. Later came the 430 Scuderia, which was a track-focused special that for some reason lost the “F” prefix.

Then, for the final model year, Ferrari dropped the entire “F430” name for the model’s last hurrah: the limited-edition Scuderia Spider 16M, the latter part of the name in celebration of Ferrari’s 16th Formula One constructor’s title, which they won in 2008. Think of it sort of like a drop-top version of the track-ready Scuderia.

The 4.3-liter V8 puts out 503 horsepower, and the car got a lot of lightness added by way of carbon-fiber bits. It could do some serious hairdo rearranging at its 196-mph top end. Only 499 were built, and they look better in black than red. You can read more about this one here.

Update: Not sold.

Grand Prix Masters Reynard

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2005 Reynard-Cosworth 2KI

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 14, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Grand Prix Masters was a short-lived racing series intended for retired Formula One drivers to compete in what were essentially re-bodied Champ Cars. The series held one race in its first “season” in 2005 and two the following year. All of the cars were Reynard 2KI chassis.

They featured a Cosworth-derived 3.5-liter V8 that made more than 650 horsepower (the engine was actually built by Nicholson McLaren). This particular chassis is owned by Nigel Mansell, who actually won two of the three races ever contested in the series in this car. The complete Grand Prix Masters competition history for this chassis includes (all with Mansell):

  • 2005 Kyalami South Africa – 1st
  • 2006 Losail Qatar – 1st
  • 2006 Silverstone England – 15th, DNF

So, pretty dominant. Although with that DNF, it allowed Eddie Cheever to technically win the championship. Since then, the car has been on display, so it needs a mechanical freshening. It’s being sold at no reserve. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $60,614.

LaFerrari Prototype

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2012 Ferrari LaFerrari M6 Development Prototype

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 14, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The LaFerrari was one of the three major hybrid hypercars to debut in the 2010s along with the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder. But each of those cars underwent heavy development cycles, and not all of them were pretty.

What we have here is a “LaFerrari Prototype” that is actually a heavily modified Ferrari 458 Italia that gave its dignity to be fitted with a bunch of test equipment and essentially operate as a development mule. This car was from the first phase of testing and was codenamed the M6.

It has a version of the LaFerrari’s hybrid powertrain stuffed in its modified chassis. It sounds as if it has a version of the Enzo’s 6.0-liter V12 paired with an F1-derived KERS system and an electric motor. Ferrari sold this car, complete with its factory camouflage, to a private owner in 2016.

It’s a runner, but can’t be registered (or apparently used on public race tracks). But for someone with a private Ferrari collection (or a private race track), the purchase could make sense. No pre-sale estimate is available, and you can read more here.

Update: Not sold.