Marion Bobcat

Posted on January 22, 2013 by classiccarweekly

1911 Marion Model 33 “Bobcat” Speedster

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 7, 2013

The Marion Motor Car Company of Indianapolis, Indiana, was founded in 1904. You might be thinking “This car sure looks like a Stutz Bearcat.” And you’d be right. Harry C. Stutz was the chief engineer at Marion until he left to form his own company in 1911.

And by that time, he had already designed the Model 33 (or “Bobcat”) Speedster for Marion. He changed some things on his original design and built the car under his own name as the Bearcat beginning in 1912. The idea was simple: power was available, but cars of the period were heavy and had virtually no performance attributes. So Stutz stripped away those big heavy bodies and invented the sports car. The Marion Bobcat was produced from 1911 until 1913 and Marion was out of business in 1915.

It’s a four-cylinder car and it has that super-cool “monocle” windscreen, with the third spotlight below it. These are legitimately rare cars and while a Stutz Bearcat will set you back about $300,000 – the prices for these cars are all over the place. I’ve seen one sell for $165,000 and one sell for less than $30,000. This one was restored over 30 years ago and is expected to sell for between $26,000-$39,000, which seems like an absolute steal. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams in Paris.

Update: Sold $67,800.

Kissel Gold Bug

Posted on November 5, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1920 Kissel 6-45 Gold Bug Speedster

For Sale at Hyman Ltd | St. Louis, Missouri

Tracing the evolution of sports cars is fairly easy until you get back to about 1945. Cars of the Post-War sports car craze are easy to distinguish from more mundane automobiles. Trying to trace it back before the war gets a little trickier. Sure, there were race cars and specials and cars you could drive to Le Mans, race, and drive home. But as far as the earlier cars go, you’re looking at Genesis (or one of a few that qualify for that title).

The Mercer Raceabout and the Stutz Bearcat are two of America’s first sports cars. The Kissel 6-45 Speedster, nicknamed “Gold Bug” (due to it’s signature color) is the third. The Kissel Motor Car Company was founded by Louis Kissel in Hartford, Wisconsin in 1906. They built high-quality cars, trucks, and emergency vehicles. After WWI ended, they saw a market niche they could fill for the exciting decade to come. So in 1919 they introduced the Gold Bug Speedster and it was far and away their most popular model.

The low-slung two seater – with two additional seats that extend out of the body over the running boards for the crazy and/or brave – is powered by a 61 horsepower six-cylinder engine. Performance is sporty – thus it being known as an early sports car. Kissel closed shop in 1930 after producing some 35,000 vehicles. Only about 150 are known to exist today. This one can be yours for $159,500. For more information and photos, click here.

Here are some videos of a similar car:

Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Highlights

Posted on April 14, 2012 by classiccarweekly

A special Saturday edition! There are so many unbelievable cars coming up for auction that we’ve decided to push auction results to weekends just to leave us more time to feature individual cars.

Barrett-Jackson held their second sale of the year last weekend in Palm Beach, Florida. This might be the most “up-to-the-minute” auction recap we’ve ever done. The top sale was our featured Spyker C8 that sold for $220,000.

Other top sales included a 1959 Porsche 356A Convertible D with less than 500 miles on it since restoration. It sold for $148,500.

There were many (and I mean many) late-model imports at this sale. There were a slew of 5-10 year-old Porsches, Jaguars and Mercedes-Benz SLs. And in addition to the Spyker, there were a number of other exotics – Aston Martins, Bentleys, Ferraris and this 2008 Rossion Q1 that sold for $79,200.

As is the case at a Barrett-Jackson auction, there were muscle cars galore. Among the best was this 1970 Boss 302 Mustang Fastback in bright Calypso Coral paint. It sold for $110,000.

Of our other feature cars, the 1947 Standard Eight sold for $10,450 and the 2003 Commemorative Edition Z06 Corvette brought and impressive $90,200. Yes, there were a handful of $100,000+ cars, but there were some steals to be had as well. Chief among them was this 1959 Edsel Corsair:

It would appear to be a survivor (never restored) and it could have been yours for $11,550. That is a steal. And finally, the only true bizarro-rarity was this 2006 GDT Speedster. It’s a one-of-one engineering and styling exercise was built on a 1994 Corvette. And I’m sure the build cost exceeded the sale price of $39,600 (which is about $14,000 more than it brought when it was sold by Auctions America at their 2011 Auburn, Indiana auction).