Duesenberg Model Y

1927 Duesenberg Model Y Phaeton Prototype by McFarlan

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 6-7, 2016

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Never heard of the Duesenberg Model Y? Well it’s a very important car – and as we here are Duesenberg fanatics, it is a brilliantly exciting one as well. The Model Y was the prototype for the legendary Model J. Two were produced and only this one survives (the other one was actually sold to Frank Morgan of The Wizard of Oz and subsequently lost to time).

This prototype originally used a 6.8-liter straight-eight engine that reportedly put out about 200 horsepower. This engine was based on the Model A’s 88 horsepower, 4.2-liter straight-eight (which this car is now powered by). This car was given to August Duesenberg and he was told he had to destroy the chassis. So he put the engine in a race car and put the body (which was styled and built by McFarlan, the automobile company that shut down around the time this car was built) on a Model A chassis and sold it to a local businessman.

This amazing car has been in the ownership of the same family since 1957. It was last restored prior to their purchase and has been on display at the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum for a long time. This is the first time it has been offered for sale in six decades. It’s a milestone automobile and the price it brings will be very interesting. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $340,000.

An Underslung Regal

1912 Regal Model T Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 6-7, 2016

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Detroit’s Regal Motor Car Company isn’t the most remembered automobile manufacturer to come out of Michigan, but boy did they produce some attractive cars. Brothers Charles, J.E., and Bert Lambert teamed up with Fred Haines to form the company in 1907. In their 11 years they produced some more traditional-looking (for the day) cars as well as this hot new thing called the Underslung.

An Underslung chassis is defined as a chassis where the chassis itself is suspended from the axles which lowers the car dramatically. Improvements from this include a lower center of gravity and awesome handling (for 1912 anyway). Because roads were more of an afterthought in the  day, larger wheels could be fitted to maintain ground clearance. The most famous example of these cars are the beautiful American Underslungs. Regal’s version went on sale in 1910.

This car is powered by a 25 horsepower 3.3-liter straight-four. The Model T (Ford’s trademark lawyers were apparently not quite as ruthless in 1912 as they are today) was the Touring model, although you could get a Roadster or Coupe with this engine. This is one of two survivors of this model and would be about as much fun as you can have driving a car from 104 years ago. Click here for more from RM Sotheby’s and here for more about this car.

Update: Not sold.

Monteverdi 375/L

1971 Monteverdi 375/L High Speed Coupe by Fissore

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | London, U.K. | September 7, 2016

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Peter Monteverdi’s Swiss car company never built models in huge numbers. In fact, only a handful of the cars he built ever made it to the production stage. Among them is the High Speed 375 line of cars that was built between 1967 and 1970 (with a few sedans built after that).

The 375/L was the second car in the High Speed line and it was a 2+2 four-seater on a slightly longer wheelbase than the preceding 375S two-seat coupe (there was also a 375C convertible and a 375/4 sedan). The engine is a Chrysler 440 (7.2-liter) V-8 making 375 horsepower. The body on this car is by Fissore of Italy.

A car with an American engine and an Italian body made for instant success. This particular example is being sold by its original owner. Monteverdis don’t trade hands often and that’s probably because they are awesome cars – on par with the other big Italian muscle car/tourers of the day (think Ghia SS and Maserati Ghibli). Production numbers are unknown, but it wasn’t many. You can read more here and see more from RM Sotheby’s here.

Update: Sold $210,112.

Morgan Plus 4 Plus

1964 Morgan Plus 4 Plus

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | London, U.K. | September 7, 2016

Photo - RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Morgan is a car company steeped in tradition – all their cars are assembled by hand and even today, in the 21st Century, they sell cars with an ash frame. Many of their cars sport styling that was introduced in the 1960s and they even sell a three-wheeler that’s just an updated version of a car that dates back 100 years.

So in 1963 when Morgan introduced the Plus 4 Plus at the Earls Court Motor Show, the technologically advanced car was met with a predictably cool reception and the company went back to focusing on their bread and butter. This car has a fiberglass body – a long way from ash frames. The striking closed coupe body has a greenhouse that is large enough for two human heads, but not much more. The engine is a 2.1-liter straight-four making 105 horsepower.

Restored in 2007, this example has spent most of its life on the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada where it had a string of only five owners. This is the fifth Plus 4 Plus built out of a production run of only 26 cars. It is among the rarest cars Morgan has ever built and one of the most instantly recognizable. It should bring between $156,000-$182,500. Click here for more info and here for the full RM Sotheby’s London catalogue.

Update: Sold $172,592.

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.

July 2016 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

We’re back with more highlights from July, beginning with Mecum in Harrisburg, PA. We featured a 1940 International Pickup that failed to meet its reserve with a high bid of $26,500. The top sale was this 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 Fastback for $220,000. Click here for full results.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

H&H Classics held a sale at Donington Park and this 1972 Jaguar E-Type Series 3 Coupe was the top sale at $54,550.

Photo - H&H Classics

Photo – H&H Classics

The Mini Scamp we featured failed to sell but you can see all of the results here.

And to continue the theme of unsold feature cars, the Arrows-Megatron we featured from Silverstone Auctions’ Competition Car Sale also failed to sell. The top seller was this massively-priced 1981 Porsche 924 Carrera GTR that sold for $654,660. Click here for more results.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

On to RM Sotheby’s Motor City auction where our featured Duesenberg was far and away the top sale at $1,540,000. Second behind that was the Saleen S7 for $632,500. For our “Most Interesting,” we’ll go with this gorgeous 1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet for $187,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Glas Isard we showed here on our site went for $24,200 and the Detroit Electric Brougham sold for $66,000. Click here for complete results. The last sale for this post is Brightwells’ Modern Classics sale. We weren’t able to feature anything from this sale, but the top seller was this 2002 Bentley Arnage R – one of our absolute favorite Bentleys. It sold for $25,890. Click here for more results.

Photo - Brightwells

Photo – Brightwells

Two Valuable Alfa Romeo 8Cs

1939 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Spider by Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2016

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Alfa Romeo 8C was Alfa’s largest, most powerful, pre-war road car. It was available from 1931 through 1939 and came in a few different models, beginning with the 8C 2300 and culminating in the 8C 2900B. They were powerful, fast, and sporty. In fact, RM says that it was sportiest car money could buy in 1939 – on par or above the Bugatti Atlantic.

This car is powered by a 180 horsepower, supercharged 2.9-liter straight-eight – enough to allow this car to cruise along at over 100 mph all day long. The Carrozzeria Touring-built body is aluminium and it is beautiful. This is a “Lungo” 8C, meaning it has the longer of the two wheelbases offered.

The earliest known history of this car goes back to 1949, when it was racing in Brazil. The body was separated from the chassis and for the next few decades they remained apart in hands of separate owners. By some miracle, they were reunited in Switzerland in the early 1990s. The restoration was completed by the end of 1997 and, remarkably, the current owners have driven more than 12,000 miles in this car – which is a huge number for a car this rare and valuable.

Only 32 8C 2900 chassis were built and twelve of those are Touring Spiders. Of the 12, only seven are on the long-wheelbase chassis. This is where it gets even more mind-blowing: the pre-sale estimate is between $20,000,000-$25,000,000. Incredible all around. Click here for more info and here for more from RM Sotheby’s.

Update: Sold $19,800,000.


1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 20-21, 2016

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

The 8C 2300 was the initial Alfa Romeo 8C offered and it was introduced in 1931. It was a sports car, through and through, and they were raced heavily in their day – both by the factory and privateers and winning Le Mans four times (in a row!).

The 8C 2300 Monza is a short-chassis model based on a car Alfa ran at Monza in 1931 (basically they just cut some length out of a Spider chassis and put the exhaust down the side of the car). The first Monzas were just shortened Spiders, but for 1932 and 1933, the Monza was a model unto itself. Alfa didn’t build many, but race teams – like Scuderia Ferrari – converted some Spiders into Monzas.

And what we have here is an actual, Alfa Romeo factory-built 8C 2300 Monza. It carries a Brianza-built body and was sold new in Italy. It is one of the last Series 3 Monzas built and is powered by a supercharged 2.9-liter straight-eight making in excess of 180 horsepower (when new, it would’ve have a 2.3-liter engine). Only about 190 8C 2300s were built and very few were factory-build Monzas. This one should bring between $12,000,000-$15,000,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Gooding & Company.

Update: Sold $11,990,000.

Alfa 8C 2900B Lungo Spider

1939 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Spider by Touring

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2016

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Alfa Romeo 8C was Alfa’s largest, most powerful, pre-war road car. It was available from 1931 through 1939 and came in a few different models, beginning with the 8C 2300 and culminating in the 8C 2900B. They were powerful, fast, and sporty. In fact, RM says that it was sportiest car money could buy in 1939 – on par or above the Bugatti Atlantic.

This car is powered by a 180 horsepower, supercharged 2.9-liter straight-eight – enough to allow this car to cruise along at over 100 mph all day long. The Carrozzeria Touring-built body is aluminium and it is beautiful. This is a “Lungo” 8C, meaning it has the longer of the two wheelbases offered.

The earliest known history of this car goes back to 1949, when it was racing in Brazil. The body was separated from the chassis and for the next few decades they remained apart in hands of separate owners. By some miracle, they were reunited in Switzerland in the early 1990s. The restoration was completed by the end of 1997 and, remarkably, the current owners have driven more than 12,000 miles in this car – which is a huge number for a car this rare and valuable.

Only 32 8C 2900 chassis were built and twelve of those are Touring Spiders. Of the 12, only seven are on the long-wheelbase chassis. This is where it gets even more mind-blowing: the pre-sale estimate is between $20,000,000-$25,000,000. Incredible all around. Click here for more info and here for more from RM Sotheby’s.

Update: Sold $19,800,000.

Voisin C28 Aérosport

1935 Voisin C28 Aérosport

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2016

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Avions Voisin was Gabriel Voisin’s car company that he set up in 1919. He had already sort of conquered the air with his planes, so he switched his focus to the earth and its roads. If Voisin built cars today, they’d be called wildly impractical and flashy. But because he did it in the 1930s, they are called gorgeous. All of these words are correct, but gorgeous is the most correct.

Interestingly, Voisin chose the Knight-type sleeve-valve engines for use in his cars – the true engineer’s choice. This car uses a 3.3-liter straight-six making 102 horsepower. This was not the fastest car of its day (it’ll do 90+), but good lord, once you start looking at the details and the flawless design, power and speed cease to matter.

Something to note about Voisin’s cars: there aren’t a lot of them that have some fancy coachbuilt body. In fact, Gabriel himself designed this body and it exceeds what you will find from most coachbuilders. It’s Art Deco from front to rear and this two-door sedan has an unbelievable retractable sunroof that opens the entire top above the driver and front-seat passenger. As is the case with most Voisin’s, the interior is outstanding.

This was the first of two C28 Aerosports built. This one was actually damaged in WWII and rebuilt as a four-door sedan afterward. Discovered in 1980, the car was restored to its original glory after the current owner acquired it in 1998. With this car you are buying a moving, driving, piece of art. Click here for more info and here for more from RM Sotheby’s.

Update: Withdrawn from sale.

1971 Maserati Quattroporte Prototype

1971 Maserati Quattroporte Prototipo by Frua

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 19-20, 2016

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The original Maserati Quattroporte was a sedan built between 1963 and 1969. Maserati was out of the sedan game until 1976. But in those years between, something strange occurred. And it resulted in two amazing cars.

The story is that Frua designed this prototype Quattroporte sedan and showed it at the 1971 Paris Auto Salon. A second was built for Aga Khan IV and that was it. This is one of the rarest Maseratis outside of cars like the Boomerang. It is powered by a 4.7-liter V-8 making 290 horsepower (from the Maserati Indy). This car is rumored to have been owned and used by the Spanish royal family. Most recently, it’s been in the Riverside Automotive Museum and should sell for between $175,000-$225,000, which seems like a steal. Click here for more info and here for more from RM.

Update: Sold $88,000.