Tag Archives: RM

Duesenberg J-487

Posted on by
1

1930 Duesenberg Model J LWB Dual Cowl Phaeton by LeBaron

Sold by RM Auctions | Phoenix, Arizona | January 19, 2012

Photo – RM Auctions

We somehow missed featuring this Duesenberg during the hype and excitement leading up to the auctions in Arizona in January. And since one of my goals here is to feature every Model J that comes up for sale, here it is.

This is actually my favorite bodystyle – the LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaeton. It is also the coachwork most commonly associated with the Model J. And this is the only long-wheelbase Dual Cowl Phaeton built by LeBaron and it is the original body.

The engine, however, is not. When this car was delivered to a Mr. J. Clarke Dean of Chicago, Illinois in 1930, it had engine J-320 under the hood. The second owner discovered, in 1948, that the engine had been replaced with J-487 – an engine with no known previous history in another car. As always, the straight-8 makes 265 horsepower.

The sweep panel two-tone paint scheme is also my favorite. Black and red is the most common I’ve seen although most combinations are attractive (green and black is how I will have mine, please). LeGrande also built sweep panel Dual Cowl Phaetons that looked more or less the same. The way to tell the difference is that, on a LeGrande, the sweep of color extends farther down, halfway through the door.

This car was estimated between $900,000-$1,200,000. With this desirable, original coachwork, known history and coming from the John O’Quinn collection, it is definitely worth that. It sold for $880,000. Well bought. To read the complete catalog description, click here.

Update: RM Auctions, Amelia Island 2015:

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Sold $1,155,000.

Update: RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island 2019:

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Sold $1,650,000.

RM in Arizona Highlights

Posted on by
Reply

RM’s big sale in Arizona (almost two weeks ago… we’ve kind of had a backlog of auction results to publish and they were the last to publish their results online). As I’m looking back at it, we featured a number of cars from this auction including their top seller: this 1957 Ferrari 410 Superamerica that sold for $1,815,000. The second highest-selling car was the first car we featured, the most fantastic looking BMW 507 Roadster I’ve ever laid eyes on. It sold for $990,000. RM sold 90% of their cars for a total of $25.6 million.

A trio of pre-1905 American cars all sold, including our featured 1901 Duryea Four-Wheel Phaeton that was purchased by Mr. Car Crazy, Barry Meguiar for $96,250. Also sold were the 1903 Waverely Electric Surrey for $110,000 and the 1903 Stearns Suburban for $82,500. One of two cars we featured that did not sell was the 1913 Pathfinder Touring car, which was bid to $90,000.

A giant 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham Town Car Concept sold for $258,500, missing its reserve by $50,000. This car came from the John O’Quinn collection and had gone unsold at at least one other RM event.

From the 1950s we featured a 1953 Nash-Healey and a 1954 Allard K3. The Nash-Healey brought $71,500, just short of my projection and the Allard was a relative steal at $57,750 – less than half of what a similar car (or the same one) was listed as “for sale” for a few months back.

Other pre-war cars that sold were the very rare Brewster-Knight that sold for $88,000. And that wonderful, purple Isotta Fraschini sold for $407,000 – dead on what I said it would bring (no I’m not bragging). Also sold was this amazing 1937 Cord 812 SC Sportsman Convertible Coupe. One of 64 – yours for $385,000.

Supercar fans could have had their choice of our featured Tom Walkinshaw Racing prepared 1993 Jaguar XJ220 S that sold for $230,000. Or the always popular Ferrari F40, this a 1991 model that brought an astounding $781,000.

The other Ferrari we featured, a 1983 512 BBi sold for $96,250. And the other Jaguar, a 1967 Series I E-Type went unsold. There was another very rare old Ferrari at this sale, a 1952 342 America Coupe Speciale by Pinin Farina – one of six built and one of only three coupes built by Pinin Farina. It sold for $632,500.

There was a Duesenberg Model J sold at this sale and I’ve said previously that we’d feature every Model J Duesenberg that comes up for sale if at all possible. Well, we ran out of time before the sale. Once we clear the backlog and get caught up we’ll be sure to have a rundown of that car.

For complete auction results, click here.

1903 Waverley Electric

Posted on by
1

1903 Waverley Model 20a Electric Surrey

Offered by RM Auctions | Phoenix, Arizona | January 20, 2012

Photo – RM Auctions

Waverely existed in a few different uninterrupted iterations between 1898 and 1914. The company can trace its roots back to Chicago-based American Electric Vehicle Company which merged with Augustus Pope’s Indiana Bicycle Company in 1898. This is when the Waverely name first appeared. Pope pulled the marque into his own mini automotive empire, creating Pope-Waverely in 1903. This was one of what had to have been very few Waverelys produced in 1903 before the name change. After the Pope Manufacturing Company went bust, Waverely became its own marque once again in 1908.

This 1903 Model 20a features two DC electric motors creating a whopping three horsepower each with overload capacity of the same amount. A number of Waverelys still exists as the company was relatively successful in the early days of electric motoring. An advertisement for the company said: “No complications. Turn on power and steer.” As you can see from the picture below, it is relatively spartan and simple. A company that lived up to its word? Shocking.

1903 Waverley Electric Surrey

Photo – RM Auctions

RM estimates this car between $50,000-$80,000. For more info click here and for more on RM in Arizona click here.

Update: Sold $110,000.

1901 Duryea Phaeton

Posted on by
1

1901 Duryea Four-Wheel Phaeton

Offered by RM Auctions | Phoenix, Arizona | January 20, 2012

Photo – RM Auctions

Charles and Frank Duryea built the first gasoline-powered car in the United States, doing so in 1893. Two years later, Frank won the first American motor race and the brothers began selling copies of their Duryea Motor Wagon.

Production never reached astronomic proportions – in fact, the cars were so expensive that not many were sold at all. Some early cars were three-wheeled in nature and the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada has a three-wheeled Duryea that looks remarkable similar to the car pictured here. The craftsmanship on both cars is fantastic.

This car features a 10 horsepower three-cylinder engine and tiller steering. It is being offered from the estate of mega-collector John O’Quinn. RM estimates this car will sell for $40,000-$60,000. It’s rare, beautiful, interesting, and worth it.

For more information, click here with more on RM in Arizona here.

Update: Sold $96,250.

Brewster-Knight Model 41

Posted on by
1

1915 Brewster-Knight Model 41 Landaulet

Offered by RM Auctions | Phoenix, Arizona | January 19, 2012

Photo – RM Auctions

Here’s something you don’t see everyday. Brewster & Co. were a famous coachbuilding company based in New York as well as the American importers of French Delaunay-Belleville cars (rare enough in their own right). They were also the largest coachbuilder for Springfield, Massachusetts-based Rolls-Royce of America (and British Rolls-Royce once their American arm shut down in 1931).

During the First World War, Delaunay-Bellevilles were hard to come by and Brewster turned to building their own cars. This 1915 Model 41 was from the first year of manufacture and it featured the sleeve-valve Knight engine – as did so many other [Company Name Here]-Knight branded automobiles. The 40 horsepower four-cylinder engine was quiet – and expensive. Perhaps too expensive as Brewster-Knight built roughly 500 cars before Rolls-Royce of America acquired the company in 1925.

The pre-sale estimate on this car is $60,000-$80,000. I’ve seen some Brewster-bodied cars (notably those Brewster-Fords with that curvy, pointed grille) sell here and there but I don’t recall a Brewster-Knight.

The auction catalog says this car was probably built in 1916, even though it is title differently. Read for yourself here and find out more about the auction here.

Update: Sold $88,000.

1903 Stearns Suburban

Posted on by
1

1903 Stearns Suburban Rear-Entry Tonneau

Offered by RM Auctions | Phoenix, Arizona | January 19, 2012

Frank B. Stearns organized F.B. Stearns & Company in 1898 with his brothers and they began producing automobiles out of their family’s barn in Cleveland. This 1903 Suburban model featured an 11 horsepower single-cylinder engine. Stearns sold his company to Willys in 1925 and Willys scuttled the company in 1929. In their day, Stearns automobiles were among America’s best – on the same level as Packard. But there are far fewer Stearns’ left in existence.

The car was tracked down in Michigan in the 1950s and restored in 1993. The car has not been driven much since the full restoration and still looks great. It is offered from the estate of John O’Quinn – a massive car collector who died a few years ago and RM has been parting the collection out since.

RM’s pre-sale estimate is $80,000-$100,000. Learn more about the car here (including the possible Astor-family connection). RM’s Arizona sale details are available here.

Update: Sold $82,500.

Pathfinder Touring Car

Posted on by
1

1913 Pathfinder Series XIII A Five-Passenger Touring

Offered by RM Auctions | Phoenix, Arizona | January 19-20, 2012

This 40 horsepower Pathfinder is described as “the only one of its kind in existence,” meaning it is the only 1913 Pathfinder in existence – making it sound rarer than it is. It’s a Series XIII Five-Passenger Touring model with attractive, but average for the time, styling.

This model was originally spec’d with all available electrical equipment – but as you can see, there is a hand crank hanging out the front of the car. At this time, the electric starter had only been on Cadillacs for a year. While this car is quite interesting and worthy of being collected, it is not a Cadillac.

Pathfinder was in production for five short years, from 1912 until 1917, as a sub-marque of the Parry Automobile Company of Indianapolis, Indiana. Later cars became more luxurious with V-12 engines, but this early model has a 281 cubic inch L-head 4-cylinder.

This particular car sold this past summer at an RM Auction for $115,500. You have to wonder when a car pops up at auction twice in a year. Either the new buyer wanted to hurry and try and flip it for a quick profit and that plan went south and they needed to just get rid of it. Or there is something wrong with it. I’m guessing the former. With only six months since it’s last sale, I doubt the market for 1913 Pathfinder’s has changed all that much. More about it here, with auction info here.

Update: Not Sold.

Update II: Sold, RM Sotheby’s Arizona 2016, $121,000.

Jaguar XJ220 S

Posted on by
1

1993 Jaguar XJ220 S Coupe

Offered by RM Auctions | January 19-20, 2012 | Phoenix, Arizona

The Jaguar XJ220 was the fastest production car in the world at the time of its debut, topping out at 213 mph with a twin-turbocharged V6 engine. It was a sensation – a half-a-million dollar sensation with celebrity owners from Elton John to the Sultan of Brunei (of course). 281 cars were built.

Tom Walkinshaw Racing was there from the beginning to aid in development. They developed the XJ220C race car that competed at Le Mans in 1993 – where it won the GT Class with drivers John Nielsen, David Brabham, and David Coulthard. That win was later revoked because the car that competed didn’t have catalytic converters.

Anyway, TWR built 6 road-going versions of the XJ220C dubbed the XJ220S. Power was upped from the standard 542 horsepower to a staggering 680 bhp. Top speed also jumped, this by 15 mph to 228 mph.

There are only a few of these cars, so they don’t sell too often. The last one I can find was at a dealer a few years ago for $295,000. More info on this car is available here with more on the auction itself, here.

Update: Sold $230,000.

Purple Isotta Boattail

Posted on by
Reply

1927 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Boattail Tourer

Offered by RM Auctions | Phoenix, Arizona | January 19-20, 2012

Look. At. This. Car. It’s mindblowing. First of all, how many two-tone purple cars do you see? Now, how many two-tone purple cars do you see that grab and hold your attention quite like this. Look at that grille!

This is the second Tipo 8A that we’ve featured that’s being offered in Arizona this January. It is by far the more awesome. The car is immaculate and I’d by dying to put a bid in on it, had I not been aware that RM sold this car back in 2007 for a touch over $390,000. At that time, it undercut the lower end of the estimate by a cool $60,000 – so, by definition it’s a steal. (The car lacked the current grille-work that it has now at that time).

It’s got a 135 horsepower, 7.4 liter Straight 8 engine which isn’t Duesenberg power but it’s no slouch, able to hit 100 mph. The Boattail bodywork is by Carrozzeria Italiana Cesare Sala (not a household name by any means) and it cost $6,000 back in 1927 – on top of the $8,500 chassis price. They weren’t exactly giving these cars away.

RM doesn’t have an estimate handy as of this writing, but $400,000 sounds about right, we’ll see. I’d pay it, conditions willing. More info can eventually be found here and more about RM in Arizona here.

Update: Sold $407,000.

410 Superamerica by Scaglietti

Posted on by
1

1957 Ferrari 410 Superamerica

Offered by RM Auctions, Phoenix, Arizona, January 19-20, 2012

Sergio Scaglietti, whose Carrozzeria Scaglietti bodied this outstanding Ferrari 410 Superamerica, passed away about two weeks ago. Ferrari built less than 35 410 Superamericas, and this is the only Scaglietti-bodied car.

The stainless steel of the roof and amazing looking tailfins are quite striking. There is much sparkly, shiny silver chrome and steel on this otherwise red car that it makes a grand statement just sitting there.

The 410 used a 5.0 liter V12 that produced 335 horsepower in Series I guise. This Series II car (just one of six) makes even more. In their day, these were the exclusive Ferraris – costing more than twice the amount of a brand new 300SL Gullwing.

That price difference is evident today when Gullwing Mercedes’ are bringing closer and closer to a $1 million each. This car is estimated to fetch between $1.75 million and $2.25 million. More info on the car is available at RM’s site here and more information on the auction, here.

Update: Sold $1,815,000.