Audi Sport Quattro

1984 Audi Sport Quattro

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Phoenix, Arizona | January 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Audi’s two-door Quattro went on sale in 1980 and arrived in North America in 1983. It is not the same car as the similarly-styled Audi Coupe. It was powered by an inline-five that varied in capacity depending on model year. But the Quattro hung around until 1991. Audi also used it as their Group B rally car.

Group B was an insane time in rallying, where manufacturers were pulling out the stops to try and win, producing some truly ludicrous cars in the process. So Audi developed the Sport Quattro, a four-wheel-drive monster powered by a turbocharged 2.1-liter inline-five that, in road car form, was rated at 302 horsepower.

Yes, they made about 214 road versions in order to homologate the car for Group B competition, where it won two championships. This one has less than 6,000 miles and was sold new in Japan. The pre-sale estimate here is $575,000-$700,000. Click here for more info.

Ermini Sport

1954 Ermini 1100 Sport Competizione

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 2, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

I’m not sure if Ermini or Bandini are the definition of “etceterini,” but I’d have to lean toward Ermini. The cars are named for their constructor: engineer and racing driver Pasquale Ermini. He built his first cars in 1949 and shifted from full cars to bodies for specials in the mid-1950s. By 1962, it was all over.

Only a small number of Ermini cars were actually built, with some sources estimating total output of less than 40 examples. This car is powered by a 1.1-liter Fiat twin-cam inline-four. This car had a fairly extensive racing career in Italy with its first owner through 1959.

It’s been in Italian collections of the last few decades. This is a ticket into historic racing and rallying events worldwide. It’ll cost the next owner between $405,000-$460,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Chiron Sport

2019 Bugatti Chiron Sport

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Miami, Florida | December 10, 2022

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Chiron is the last of its kind. The last full-out gasoline-burning chaser of speed. It debuted in 2016 and followed up on the Veyron with a version of that car’s quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W16. In 2018, Bugatti introduced the Sport variant, which is said to be “track-focused.” It’s like 40 pounds lighter than the base Chiron, which already weighed 4,400 pounds. Hard to think anything that heavy really belongs on a track.

But I guess, if you have to overcome some heft, an output of 1,480 horsepower would help do the trick. This was the same output as the base car. You were basically paying an extra $400,000 for the Sport, which brought some carbon-fiber bits, a stiffer suspension, and a torque vectoring system.

This is one of 60 Chiron Sports built. Well, Bugatti said they would build 60, but who knows if they actually did. What’s fun is that you can forget zero-to-60 times and instead note that it will hit 100 mph in 4.4 seconds, which is crazy. The pre-sale estimate is $3,000,000-$3,500,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $3,305,000.

1926 Lorraine-Dietrich

1926 Lorraine-Dietrich A4 Torpedo Sport

Offered by Aguttes | Neuilly, France | March, 27, 2022

Photo – Aguttes

Lorraine-Dietrich cars came about when their parent company, a locomotive manufacturer, branched out into automobiles in 1896. Initial cars were an Amedee Bollee design, and by 1902 the designs were by a young Ettore Bugatti. Later events saw a short-lived merger with Isotta Fraschini and a sweeping of the podium at the 1926 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This A4 is also from 1926. It’s powered by a 12-horsepower, 2.3-liter inline-four and served as the company’s entry-level model. This car was restored in the last decade, starting that time out as a bare chassis and pile of parts.

So the body is a new one, but it looks the part, especially in French racing blue. The pre-sale estimate is $39,000-$60,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $47,234.

Bandini Siluro

1953 Bandini 750 Sport Siluro

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | March 18, 2022

Photo – Artcurial

The Siluro: the most famous of all Bandini models. The cars were produced in 1100 and 750cc form, the former between 1947 and 1949, and the latter between 1950 and 1956. The 750cc Siluro won multiple SCCA championships and saw racing success on both sides of the Atlantic.

The 747cc inline-four was a modified Crosley unit capable of pushing out 71 horsepower. Bodywork varied car to car, but it followed general trends over the years. For example, 1953 cars received fenders that blended into the body in lieu of more cycle-style fenders or cars that were fender-less altogether.

This car arrived in the U.S. prior to 1957 after having raced in Italy. It later returned to Italy where it was acquired by the Bandini family and restored. It’s been a part of three historic Mille Miglias and now carries an estimate of $285,000-$400,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Bandini 750 Saponetta

1957 Bandini 750 Sport Internazionale Saponetta

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | March 18, 2022

Photo – Artcurial

Ilario Bandini’s little car company was founded in 1946 and was pretty popular in the 1950s, taking SCCA class championships in the middle of the decade. They built a number of models over the years, some as late as the 1990s, and it seems that very few were all that similar.

This particular car features a streamlined body and similar mechanicals to the company’s 750 Siluros. The engine is a 747cc inline-four that made 68 horsepower when new. A total of nine Bandini Saponettas were built. The competition history for this chassis includes:

  • 1957 Mille Miglia – DNF (with Carlo Camisotti and Giovanni Sintoni)

Bandini himself campaigned this car for years thereafter, selling it in the late 1960s. It was restored in the late 1990s/early 2000s and has been used in the Mille Miglia Storica. It now carries an estimate of $675,000-$1,000,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $707,815.

S.P.A. Torpedo

1913 S.P.A. 25HP Sport Torpedo

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 3, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

Societa Piemontese Automobili was founded in Italy by Matteo Ceirano and Michele Ansaldi in 1906. The Ceirano family was involved in various early Italian marques, including Itala, SCAT, Ceirano, and others. S.P.A. was taken over in 1925 by Fiat, who phased the marque out.

S.P.A. had some sporting credentials, winning the Targa Florio in 1909. This 25HP model is powered by a 4.4-liter inline-four. The bodywork, while sporty, is described in the auction catalog as a passenger car with a speedster-style body. The coachbuilder is unknown.

This car was delivered new in France and later spent time in the Le Mans Museum before being purchased by its current owner in the 1990s. Not many S.P.A. cars still exist, and this one appears rather nice. It is expected to sell for between $230,000-$270,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $450,469.

Flavia Sport Zagato

1965 Lancia Flavia 1800 Sport Zagato

Offered by Bonhams | Online | November 19-29, 2021

Offered by Bonhams

Lancia, once one of the world’s foremost manufacturers of interesting cars, is now reduced to a single hatchback. The Flavia was introduced in 1961 and was offered in sedan, coupe, and cabriolet form at different times throughout its production run, which wrapped in 1971, at which time the model transitioned to the 2000.

For 1963, Lancia upped the Flavia’s engine from 1.5 to 1.8 liters. The flat-four was mounted way out ahead of the front axle and produced 104 horsepower in the dual-carburetor Sport model. Alloy bodywork here is by Zagato, and this car is one of just 670 bodied by the firm.

A restoration was carried out on this car in the Netherlands in the 2000s, and it’s been in France since 2006. The pre-sale estimate is $57,000-$69,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Entire auction disappeared from Bonhams’ website.

Alfa 6C Sport Berlina GT

1952 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Berlina GT

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie Toffen | Toffen, Switzerland | March 27, 2021

Photo – Oldtimer Galerie Toffen

We’ve featured a number of variants of Alfa’s 6C over the years. The model was a mainstay of Alfa’s lineup from the late 1920s through the mid-1950s. The 6C 2500 was built between 1938 and 1952, and quite a few different sub-models were offered across a range of power ratings.

The auction catalog notes that this is one of 188 6C 2500 Sport models produced with a 105-horsepower 2.4-liter inline-six from the Super Sport. It features a two-door Berlina GT body that was styled in-house by Alfa Romeo.

Somehow, the car was delivered new to a fire department in Milan. It was restored in the 1990s and came to Switzerland in 2015. It was later refreshed and is now offered with a pre-sale estimate of $210,000-$230,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Renault Clio V6

2002 Renault Sport Clio V6 Phase 1

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Online | March 5-6, 2021

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

In the 1980s, the French were doing some crazy stuff with their hatchbacks. Renault and Peugeot produced some monsters. Twenty years later, Renault decided to go crazy again and produced probably the coolest hot hatch of the 21st Century (yeah, I said it).

The second-generation Clio went on sale in 1998 and somehow lasted through 2012. It was available as a three- or five-door hatchback and a four-door sedan. Some of them actually looked okay for what they were, but they were all largely sad in the power and front-engined, front-wheel-drive departments.

In 2001, Renault designed a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive version of the Clio (okay, it was a pretty different car, but shared the name and corporate face). It was based on the Clio V6 Trophy race car of 1999 and was powered by a 2.9-liter, 24-valve V6 located in the rear hatch area, like the Renault 5 Turbo.

This is a “Phase 1” example, meaning output was rated at 227 horsepower and that the car was actually assembled by Tom Walkinshaw Racing in Sweden. Later cars were built by Renault themselves and made more power. Top speed was 146 mph. Only 1,513 Phase 1 cars were built through 2003.

These cars will only appreciate with time, and once they are eligible for U.S. import, I expect them to be grabbed up and hard to get for a good price. Check out more about this RHD example here, and see more from Silverstone here.

Update: Sold $41,240.