Tag Archives: rm sothebys

Pagani Huayra

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2014 Pagani Huayra

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | New York, New York | December 6, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The vowel-laden Huayra is Pagani’s most recent model, going on sale in 2012. Only 100 coupes were built, with a Roadster version supposedly going on sale this year. That means, if you buy this car, you will own 1% of all Pagani Huayra Coupes.

Horacio Pagani‘s engine deal is with Mercedes-Benz’s AMG division and they supply the 6.0-liter twin-turbo V-12 that sits behind the driver. Horsepower is rated at 720 and the top speed is 238 mph. This 4,900 mile example is #78 of the 100 built. Huayras feature gullwing doors and active aerodynamics that make it a supercar that can do more than just fly in a straight line.

Pretty much each example was built-to-order and no two are quite alike. This one was delivered new to San Francisco and is being sold by its first and only owner. Costing around $2,000,000 when new, this is (I think) the second one to come up for auction (Gooding & Company has another one in Arizona this coming January and RM had one a few months ago in Monterey). The estimate is $1,900,000-$2,300,000… so with the as-new price in mind, it will be interesting to see if this brings a solid return on investment. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $1,850,000.

Chrysler D’Elegance

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1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | New York, New York | December 6, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The relationship between Chrysler and Ghia resulted in quite a few different designs during the 1950s. There were a series of Chrysler Specials including this one and this one. There were concept cars and the relationship bore fruit for DeSoto as well. Ghia benefited too, with Chrysler powering the Dual-Ghia and Ghia’s sports cars.

The car you see here, the D’Elegance, was a show car bodied for Chrysler by Ghia on a shortened New Yorker chassis. It’s a gorgeous two-seater with a built-in spare tire where the trunk would be. The engine is a 280 horsepower, 5.8-liter Firepower V-8.

This car has been listed as a 1952 or 1953 in various places, but it was built in 1952 and debuted at the 1952 Paris Auto Show. Each of these Italian-bodied 1950s Chryslers is different, bringing their own heightened sense of style and flair to what was already a stylish automotive landscape in the 1950s. This is definitely one of the best-looking of the lot and it should bring between $900,000-$1,100,000 at auction this December. Note: it sold for $946,000 in August of 2011. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $885,000.

October 2017 Auction Highlights

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Welcome to October, though we’re starting in September with Mecum’s Louisville sale. We didn’t get to feature anything from this one, but this 1968 Shelby GT500 was the top sale, bringing $90,500. Click here to see what else sold.

Photo – Mecum

Onward to Bonhams’ sale at the Simeone Foundation in Philadelphia. This is always a good one, and their top sale here was $1,001,000 paid for this 1913 Rolls-Royce 40/50HP Silver Ghost London-to-Edinburgh Sports Tourer by Reuters.

Photo – Bonhams

We featured a number of cars from this sale and some of those failed to sell, including this Stearns-Knight, the Mobile Steam car, and a previously-featured Humber. The Stoddard-Dayton Raceabout sold for $106,700 and the 1917 Mack C-Cab truck was a steal at $8,800 (because that’s probably about what the paint on it cost). Click here for everything else.

RM Sotheby’s was also in Pennsylvania in October, in Hershey to be exact. Sadly the most interesting car of the entire auction, the Gasmobile, was withdrawn (as was the Derby). The top sale was this 1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow for $2,310,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Some big dollar feature cars included the Belgian-bodied Duesenberg for $1,485,000, the other Duesenberg for $549,000, the White Yellowstone Bus for $165,000, and the Stearns-Knight Touring for $132,000.

Other feature cars that sold included a pair of Stanleys, with the older one bringing $55,000 and the newer one $36,300. The Moon Roadster sold for $66,000. The Apperson Touring sold for $24,750 and the Sears Motor Buggy $35,200. Click here for complete results.

How about some results from Coys? This 1926 Bugatti Type 37 was the top seller at their Blenheim Palace sale back in July. It brought about $968,950. We didn’t feature anything from this sale but you can see more from it here.

Photo – Coys

Finally, Motostalgia’s McPherson Collection sale in Texas. We featured a Zimmer Quicksilver that ended up selling for $15,400. The top sale was this 1958 Facel Vega FVS Series 4 for $190,000. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Motostalgia

1904 Stanley

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1904 Stanley Model C Runabout

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 6, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Stanley brothers founded their first car company in 1897 but ended up selling the rights to that design to someone else. In 1902 they were back with a new, more modern-looking design. This 1904 Model C is a pretty early Stanley, but it’s not the earliest we’ve featured here on this site.

The Model C was offered in 1903 and 1904. It features a 6.5 horsepower twin-cylinder steam engine. It was the only 1903 model listed, but was the baby Stanley for 1904 (as there were two more powerful cars offered). The Model C cost $695 in 1904.

This particular car is fairly original. It has been repainted and a new boiler was installed within the last five years. It’s been sitting idle for almost that entire time, but with little effort it should be made roadworthy by its new owner. This car is expected to bring between $45,000-$65,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of RM’s Hershey lineup.

Update: Sold $55,000.

Stearns-Knight Seven-Passenger Touring

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1929 Stearns-Knight J-8-90 Seven-Passenger Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 5-6, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Frank Stearns sold his company to John North Willys in 1925. From 1925 through 1930, when the Stearns-Knight brand was shuttered, it operated under the corporate umbrella of Willys-Overland.

This 1929 model, one of the last Stearns-Knight cars built (as 1930 production was minimal if it occurred at all), is an example of what is probably the greatest car the marque ever sold. It looks like a large Packard of the era and is powered by a 112 horsepower 6.3-liter straight-eight sleeve-valve engine.

Only 388 of this model were built between 1928 and 1929 – only 11 survive today. This chassis originally sported a sedan body, but by the time the restoration began, the body was in too bad of shape to restore. So a factory-correct seven-passenger touring body was constructed for it. And it’s gorgeous. The J-8-90 was the pinnacle (and sort of the end of the line) for the decades of Knight-engined automobiles in the United States. You’re unlikely to come across one of these for sale in the wild because they are that good. Click here for more info and here for more from RM Sotheby’s.

Update: Sold $132,000.

September 2017 Auction Results, Pt. II

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We’re back, this time starting with Mecum’s Dallas sale. The top sale was this 2006 Ford GT for $270,000.

Photo – Mecum

We featured a big Cadillac from this sale and it sold for $130,000. Check out everything else that sold (or didn’t) here.

Bonhams held their Chantilly sale in Paris in September and the top sale was this pretty 1953 Aston Martin DB2 Vantage Cabriolet for $485,415.

Photo – Bonhams

A previously-featured Horch failed to find a new buyer at this sale, but the Frazer Nash Shelsley did, selling for $242,707. And that crazy Ferrari 328 Conciso sold for $138,690. Click here for more results.

Let’s go to Italy for RM Sotheby’s all-Ferrari sale held at Ferrari. Ferrari actually auctioned off some stuff they had lying around (like a LaFerrari Prototype and a wind tunnel model of their newest model). The top sale was actually a 2017 LaFerrari Aperta – a car I was excited to feature, but Ferrari didn’t release what it was going to look like until right before the sale, so there weren’t any available photos. It brought an eye-watering $9,947,425. To be fair though, it was sold to benefit charity, so someone probably bought a nice, big tax write-off (depending on where the buyer was from).

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Two cars sold at this auction that we’d featured: a 195 Inter (for $1,078,636) and a one-off 250 Europa by Vignale for $3,440,850. Click here for complete results.

Moving on to Historics at Brooklands September sale, we’ll find that the Allard M-Type we featured sold for $29,097. The top sale was this 1966 Maserati Sebring Series II for $364,284. Click here for more results.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

Finally, the Aguttes sale held at Montlhéry. The Georges Irat Cabriolet we featured failed to sell, but this 2003 Maserati 4200 Trofeo brought more money than anything else – $324,471. Click here for the rest of the results.

Photo – Aguttes

1937 Yellowstone Park Tour Bus

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1937 White Model 706 Yellowstone Park Tour Bus by Bender

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 5-6, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Cleveland, Ohio’s, White Motor Company was the Chosen One when it came to being the National Park Service’s vehicle of choice for toting tourists through America’s parks in the pre-WWII era. We’ve featured an earlier version of the White Yellowstone Park Bus before, and it too was quite interesting.

Like its predecessor, this Model 706 is also a convertible, with a giant canvas top that can be peeled back. It does not retain its original engine, but instead has been updated with a 4.9-liter Ford straight-six and some other modern running gear. But it does retain one excellent piece of originality: a ridiculous number of doors!

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

White built 500 examples of this bus for the National Park Service. Yellowstone was given 98 of them and eight of those have been restored and are still in service (Glacier National Park still operates 33 of their original 35 White Model 706s).

This one escaped government service and can be yours. As a piece of American history, it will be a talking point wherever it goes. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $165,000.

Sears Model J

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1909 Sears Model J

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 5-6, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

If you think it’s crazy that people ordered a car from a catalog, it isn’t – people buy cars sight unseen on the internet every day. And don’t worry, Sears had a 10-day return policy on their rugged automobiles. Sears sold cars between 1908 and 1912 and most of them looked pretty similar, but there were a number of different models.

This Model J looks similar to this Model H we’ve featured before. It, like all other 1909 Sears motor buggies, is powered by a 10 horsepower, flat-twin. What separates the J from lesser models is the fact that it has running boards.

When new, this car cost $395 – or roughly 51 shares of modern day Sears stock. They sold nearly 3,500 cars in that five model year period and quite a few are still around as they were relatively well-built and sturdy. Unfortunately, the entire experiment was a financial failure for Sears. You can click here for more info on this car and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $35,200.

Moon Cloverleaf Roadster

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1918 Moon 6-45 Cloverleaf Roadster

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 5-6, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Moon Motor Car Company was founded in 1905 in St. Louis, Missouri, by Joseph W. Moon. When I think of Moon cars, I always picture their touring cars and sedans from the early 1920s that featured solid rims. This little Roadster was produced during WWI.

The 1918 Moon line consisted of three models, with the 6-45 being in the middle of the range. It’s powered by a 45 horsepower, Continental straight-six engine. It was missing from their 1919 line, but reappeared in 1920 (albeit, with three more horsepower) when it was dubbed their “Victory” model. This “Cloverleaf” Roadster is so named because it seats three and looks like a three-leaf clover when viewed from above.

When new, this car cost $1,575. The current owner had it restored and the auction catalog dubs it “One of the finest Moons in existence” – which likely means it will be one of the more expensive Moons to be sold at auction. It is also one of only a handful of Moon motorcars to ever been displayed at Pebble Beach. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $66,000.

1900 Gasmobile

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1900 Gasmobile Runabout

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 5-6, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

This Gasmobile is a great example of early American motoring. This car was built by the Automobile Company of America, which was founded in New York City in 1899 by John H. Flagler. The cars were marketed under the “American” brand name for 1899 and Flagler changed the name to Gasmobile for 1900 because it was “more descriptive.”

Cars built in 1899 and 1900 were identical except for the badging. The final cars were built in 1902 (which included a 35 horsepower six-cylinder car shown at the New York Auto Show). That six-cylinder car was a long way from this three horsepower, single-cylinder Runabout built only two years earlier.

This chassis was discovered in a warehouse in the 1950s and restored. No word on if the current restoration dates to the 1950s or not, but it looks quite nice, if a little dated. It’s something you could use (lightly) and show – and draw a crowd wherever you go. The Gasmobile was considered one of America’s finest early cars but the company folded anyway (Flagler moved on to the short-lived Panam car). This is one of only a few survivors and you can check out more about it here. Click here for more from this sale.

Update: Withdrawn.