Aalholm Automobile Collection Sale (RM Auctions, 8/12/12)

Posted on August 18, 2012 by classiccarweekly

RM Auctions no-reserve sale of the Aalholm Automobile Collection in Nysted, Denmark was one of the most awesome sales of the year, opportunity-wise. There were some obscure old cars to be had and, although they were all museum cars they were still able to bring some serious money. None of the cars appeared to be in concours-level condition and some were hardly better than barn finds, but most just seemed to have been sitting in their current state for years if not decades.The top sale was a 1938 Maybach Zeppelin DS8 Roadster for $1,687,000.

There are also a boatload of other cars I wanted to feature, but the proximity of this sale to those at Pebble Beach precluded this. So, instead of a feature article of each of them, here’s a rundown (with photos) of the more interesting cars. First, this pair of three-wheelers. This yellow 1934 BSA Model 9 sold for $10,200.

1934 BSA Model 9 Three-Wheel Runabout

And our featured 1921 Darmont-Morgan sold for $41,700. There was also a pair of nearly-identical microcars, both license-built versions of the Isetta. First, this 1958 Trojan sold for $9,200.

Then its German cousin, the strangely purple 1963 Heinkel Kabine sold for $18,500

A couple of other German cars included this 1939 Adler 2.5-Litre Convertible by Karmann for $64,900.

1939 Adler 2.5-Litre Convertible by Karmann

This 1931 DKW F1 Roadster brought $16,700.

1931 DKW F1 Roadster

One of my favorites from this auction is this 1926 Hanomag 2/10 PS “Kommissbrot.” It sold for $27,800.

1926 Hanomag 2/10 PS “Kommissbrot”

This 1965 NSU Wankel Spider was one of the few post-1960 cars at this sale. It sold for $55,600.

1965 NSU Wankel Spider

A couple of the German cars on offer were also military vehicles. The most interesting of which was this 1939 Volkswagen Schwimmwagen. It’s amphibious, although, from the photos, I’d say it might need a little attention paid to it before the new owner takes it out for a swim. It sold for $139,100.

1939 Volkswagen Schwimmwagen

This 1940 Horch Kraftfahrzeug 15 Command and Control Car was also on the expensive side, bringing slightly less than the VW at $111,300.

1940 Horch Kraftfahrzeug 15 Command and Control Vehicle

The final military vehicles may not have ever been used by the military at all. It was produced in the inter-war years, but in all likelihood was used by some military or other. It’s a 1926 Citroen Kegresse Half-Track and it’s awesome. It sold for $38,900.

c. 1926 Citroën Kegresse Half-Track

There were plenty of other French cars at this sale and many of them started with the letter ‘D.’ Like this 1904 Delahaye Surrey-Top Tourer for $111,200.

1904 Delahaye Surrey-Top Tourer

Then there was a 1900 Decauville Roadster for $204,000.

1900 Decauville Roadster

And this 1909 Delaunay-Belleville Belvalette for $269,000.

Don’t forget the biggest of early French automakers, De Dion-Bouton, who were well represented at this sale. I really liked this 1909 Tourer for $78,800.

And another French ‘D,’ the somewhat less-spectacular 1925 Donnet Type G Saloon that sold for a comparatively diddly $16,700.

1925 Donnet Type G Saloon

One of our feature cars was French, the out-of-this-world 1896 Léon Bollée. It sold for $129,800. Another unusually laid-out car is this super-rare 1902 Lacroix de Laville La Nef tyicycle. It sold for $60,200.

c. 1902 Lacroix de Laville La Nef Tricycle

Panhard et Levassor was also represented. Of the two offered, this 1908 Type X1 Coupe Chauffeur by Rothschild was the more impressive. It sold for $153,000.

1908 Panhard & Levassor Type X1 Coupé Chauffeur by Rothschild

And, of course, Renault. This 1925 Type NM 40 CV Coupe de Ville by Kellner brought $278,200.

1925 Renault Type NM 40 CV Coupé de Ville by Kellner

And this 1903 10 CV Limousine sold for $222,500.

Other cars of note included this 1911 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Roi des Belges Tourer. It was the second-highest selling car of the auction at $871,700.

1911 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Roi des Belges Tourer

This very strange (I’ve never seen one before) 1954 Arnott Lea Francis Sports sold for $55,600.

1954 Arnott Lea Francis Sports

American cars at this sale included this 1906 Cadillac Model M Light Touring for $70,400.

c. 1906 Cadillac Model M Light Touring

There was also this 1927 Falcon-Knight Sedan for $20,400.

1927 Falcon-Knight Sedan

There was a 1902 Holsman High-Wheel Runabout. It went for $48,200.

1902 Holsman High-Wheel Runabout

This 1914 Packard 2-38 Seven-Passenger Touring car looks great in two-tone blue. It brought $102,000

1914 Packard 2-38 Seven-Passenger Touring

Another car more than 100 years old is this 1902 Rambler Model C Runabout. It was hammered away for $64,900

And this simple-looking 1915 Metz Model 25 Touring sold for $18,500.

Our other feature cars were the 1906 Ford Model N and the 1914 Benz 18/45 Four-Passenger Runabout. The Ford sold for $37,000 and the Benz $370,900. Now on to the weird stuff. We’ll start with this Russian copy of a Cadillac. It’s a 1954 Zim Limousine. It was sold in a lot of five cars, so judging what the buyer thought they were paying for this could vary on which car he/she actually wanted. But a fifth of the lot price comes out to $742. A steal.

1954 Zim Limousine

Next up is the 1905 Invisible Eight. It was not built in 1905, as it has a modern chassis and a Flathead Ford V8. It’s weird, that’s what it is. It cost $46,300.

And finally, a really fun car. This 1965 Hannibal Eight Special was one of four built for the film The Great Race, starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and a stunning Natalie Wood. The Hannibal Eight was driven by Jack Lemmon’s character, Professor Fate, throughout the movie. It sold for $77,900.

For complete results, click here.

Bonhams’ Collectors’ Cars at Goodwood Highlights (06/12)

Posted on July 21, 2012 by classiccarweekly

Bonhams’ sale held during 2012’s Goodwood Festival of Speed had some impressive results. Like, really impressive. The George Daniels Collection was responsible for over $12 million worth of sales alone. Top sale came from said collection – it was this 1929-31 Bentley 4.5-Litre Supercharged “Blower” Bentley Single-Seater. This car held the Brooklands Outer Circuit lap record. It remains, some 80 years later, a seriously fast car. It sold for $7,900,000.

The Bentley just edged out this glorious 1912 Rolls-Royce 40/50hp Silver Ghost Double Pullman Limousine by Barker. Known as “The Corgi,” this all-original Rolls is about as awe-inspiring as they come. It brought a world-record price for a Rolls-Royce at $7,300,000 (the Bentley above was also a record setter for the marque).

The next two highest-selling cars were two of our feature cars. First, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 with Le Mans history brought $4,200,000. Then there was the 1908 Itala Grand Prix car, which sold for $2,725,000. The only other million dollar sale was $1,200,000 for a 1928 Bentley 4.5-Liter Supercharged Tourer, which was my personal favorite Bentley of the handful on offer.

Top sale among the large collection of Lotuses went to the 1962 Type 19 “Monte Carlo” with Buick V8 power (below). It sold for $248,000. One of our feature Lotuses didn’t sell – the 1984 Etna Concept. The other one did: the ex-works 1956 Eleven Le Mans brought $239,000.

Our other two feature cars both sold. The 1951 HRG 1500 brought $57,000. And the 1907 Daimler Type TP Tourer sold for $564,000. Other interesting sales included a rare 1963 Sunbeam Alpine Harrington hardtop for $30,600.

Two other cars I liked (and would’ve featured had there been time) were this 1924 Ballot 2LT/2LTS Torpedo with coachwork by Lagache & Glaszmann (top) for $61,000. And this 1926 Amilcar Model G (bottom) for $54,000.

And finally, and this might have as much to do with the picture as the car, an ex-Elton John, 1985 Aston Martin V8 Vantage. It sold for $122,600. This has to be the most reflective shade of purple I’ve ever seen. It looks awesome. For complete results, click here.

H&H Rockingham Castle (6/16/12) Highlights

Posted on July 1, 2012 by classiccarweekly

H&H Auctions held a small but profitable sale at Rockingham Castle in Northamptonshire, England on June 16. The sale seemed to be mostly Rolls-Royces and Bentleys – and in one instance, a combination of both. Top sale went to a 1926 Bentley 6.5-Litre Le Mans-style Tourer at about $575,000. “Le Mans-style” means that this isn’t the original body – but it is a popular style commonly fitted to period Bentleys because everyone wants to feel like Woolf Barnato or one of the other Bentley Boys. The original body was a sedan, so changing it to this open tourer did not hamper the price.

One car that I had actually planned on featuring before I ran out of time prior to the sale, was this 1904 Renault Type T Tonneau. It’s a rear-entry tonneau and, because the body sits so high on the chassis, the back door is rather tall, resembling a full size door – for an open bodied car. This one has been in the same family since 1959 – which might seem like a long time, but it’s less than half of the life of the car, which is pretty amazing. It brought about $100,000.

And finally, the oddball of the show: a 1985 Rolls-Royce Bentley Jankel – which sounds like something that was built in someone’s backyard. It began life as a 1985 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur sedan. A little while later it was converted into a limousine by the coachbuilder Jankel. In about 2002 it was again converted – this time into a Bentley – meaning the badges, grille and wheels were replaced with the appropriate Bentley parts. All I can think of are those people who turn their Chevy pickups into “Cadillacs” by strapping the grille of an Escalade to the front of their Silverado, which is probably where I made the backyard connection. It sold for a little less than $25,000 and doesn’t look too bad.

For complete results, click here.

Osenat Fontainebleau Highlights

Posted on April 3, 2012 by classiccarweekly

French auction house Osenat held a sale of automobilia, motorcycles and cars at the Chateau de Fontainebleau just outside Paris. The Top sale was a 1934 Rolls-Royce 25HP Fernandez & Darrin Convertible with a storied history that sold for about $263,000.

While the above Rolls-Royce was far and away the top seller, there were quite a few interesting lots – especially to someone on this side of the pond. The second top seller was a 1900 De Dion-Bouton Type E Vis-a-Vis with 3.5 horsepower and a seating configuration that would confuse me immediately upon entering the vehicle. It brought $89,000.

While there were quite a few very interesting cars that did not sell, there were will many that did, beginning with this 1923 Rolland-Pilain Type RP, a little known company that produced only about 5,000 cars from 1905 until 1932. This one definitely needed some work and was presented in barn-find like condition but it still managed $26,300.

Then there is this: a Willys army Jeep manufactured in France under license by Hotchkiss. This 1962 Hotchkiss M201 looks just like the thousands of US military Jeeps that trundled around the French coast and countryside back in the 1940s. About 27,000 were produced and this one cost a bidder $13,100.

The 1929 Ballot RH3 (below) had known ownership history from new – including a period of time when the car was abandoned at a hotel near Lyon. It’s an 8-cylinder car with respectable performance and it sold for $63,900.

And finally, another Jeep. This one was began life as a Citroen 2CV but was converted into a sort of replica-Jeep by the Martinez Brothers. The lot description lists it as a 1967 Citroen Mini Jeep MF (the “MF” standing for Martinez Brothers, but in French). It was aimed at the Mini Moke and less than 40 were built. It sold for $13,100.

For complete results, click here.

Auctions America Ft. Lauderdale Highlights

Posted on April 2, 2012 by classiccarweekly

Auctions America recently offered a boatload of cars at their Ft. Lauderdale, Florida auction (seriously, it felt like it took forever to sift through the results). The top sale was $341,000 for this 1933 Chrysler CL Phaeton. It is one of only 36 built.

The second biggest sale went to a muscle car: a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS LS6 Convertible. It’s one of the best looking muscle cars of the era and it’s equipped with the monster 454cid V8 underrated at 450 horsepower. It sold for $198,000.

And the third biggest sale was a more-or-less brand new (391 miles) 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Off the lot examples are supposed to cost about $190,000. This one sold for $178,200. Basically, they just bought a new car.

We featured a few really interesting cars from this sale including the 1959 Berkeley SE492 Twosome that ended up selling for $16,500. Another featured microcar was the 1957 David Convertible built in Spain. It sold for $25,300. And the final featured microcar was the tongue-twisting 1952 Kleinschnittger F125 Convertible that brought $44,000. There were two other very rare microcars at this sale that I was supposed to feature on the site but for whatever reason didn’t. First was this 1959 PTV 250 Convertible that brought $20,900.

The other was this street-legal but spartan 1955 Kapi JIP Convertible for $8,500.

Other interesting lots included a 1952 Chevrolet Styleline done up in period-correct taxicab livery. It’s really sharp and sold for $36,300.

There were also some coachbuilt American cars from the 1970s and 1980s that included this 1979 Cadillac Le Cabriolet. It was 1 of 200 built by Hess & Eisenhardt for GM, as GM was still in their “no convertible” days. It looks good and could’ve been yours for $15,400.

The other was a 1985 Oldsmobile Toronado Caliente Convertible converted by the American Sunroof Corporation (ASC), who appear to have built more aftermarket convertibles than most automotive companies did in the 1980s. It sold for $10,175.

While we’re on the subject of Oldsmobiles, allow me to point out this 1984 Hurst/Olds. It isn’t exactly exotic, but I really like it and for $7,040, it’s quite affordable – which is the big draw to auctions like these where you can find yourself a real steal.

The other apparent steal that I would’ve liked to have snatched up was this 2000 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. They were only made from 1998 until 2002 and they cost over $220,000 when new. And now you could’ve bought one for $35,200! That’s 3-Series money! Maintenance nightmare waiting around the corner? Maybe. But it’s a small price to pay for rolling around town feeling like Jay-Z.

The 1999 Shelby Durango we featured sold for $13,750 – which is about as cheap as you’re going to find something with Carroll Shelby’s name on it. The 1912 Clement-Bayard Torpedo we featured was apparently withdrawn from the sale, as it is not listed as either sold or unsold in the auction results. For complete results, check out Auctions America’s website.

Bonhams Scottsdale Highlights

Posted on January 27, 2012 by classiccarweekly

We featured a few cars from the January 19, 2012 Bonhams auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. One of them, this 1967 Fiat Abarth TC Berlina Corsa, sold for just under it’s auction estimate at $46,800. One of the big sales of the auction was this 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Transformal Phaeton by Hibbard & Darrin.

Once owned by actress Marlene Dietrich, it sold for $524,000. The car was given to her as a gift from director Josef Von Sternberg. The coachwork is slightly unusual with the convertible top that comes down between the windows. Interesting and pretty cool.

Another top sale was the 1924 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8 Torpedo Phaeton that we featured last two weeks ago. Estimated between $425,000-$525,000, it ended up in the middle at $447,000. Two more of our feature cars did not sell: the 1967 Porsche 906 factory race car and the 1929 Duesenberg Model J Murphy Convertible Sedan. So if you missed them, there’s still time!

However, the interesting 1954 Cramer Comet that we did feature fell right in the middle of it’s pre-sale estimate of $100,000-$150,000 at $122,500. It has a 1350 horsepower Allison aircraft V12. Somebody’s going to have some tire-melting fun.

The top sale of the auction goes to this 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet C. This 180 horsepower German beauty is a very desirable car. RM Auctions sold a few pre-war Mercedes “K” cars back in Monterey for millions and millions of dollars. Comparatively, this was a steal at $667,000.

And look at the detail of the dashboard. These cars are magnificent.

And finally, the final car we featured from this auction was a 1947 Delahaye 135M Three-Position Drophead Coupe by Figoni et Falaschi. It blew the doors off its estimate of $250,000-$350,000 and sold for $474,500. Looking back, that estimate was pretty conservative given the ravenous appetite for pre-war French classics (not to mention anything containing the name “Figoni et Falaschi”) that existed only a few years ago. Times and tastes change and auction houses have to be aware of that. But in this case it seems that good taste prevailed.