Tag Archives: sports cars

Lancia 037 Stradale

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1982 Lanica 037 Stradale

Offered by RM Auctions | Paris, France | February 4, 2015

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Here’s another wonderful homologation special brought to you by the legendary Group B Rally regulations. Group B has been responsible for some pretty epic road cars from the 1980s. This is one of the coolest.

When Lancia threw its hat into the almost-anything-goes-as-long-as-you-build-a-road-version ring, they called in Dallara, Abarth, and Pininfarina for assitance. The body is made out of Kevlar reinforced fiberglass and it looks sort of like a badass version of the rust bucket Lancia Montecarlo.

The engine is a version of the one found in the Fiat-Abarth 131 – it’s a supercharged 2.0-liter straight-four making 205 horsepower. It is mid-engined and its on-track success was legitimate: Lancia won the 1983 World Rally Championship constructors’ title with the 037. It’s one of the last great RWD rally cars.

Only 207 road versions were built, with this one being #45. It’s being sold by its original owner with less than 14,000km on the clock. While the power output might not be extreme, this is one of the coolest, rarest cars from the 1980s that you can buy. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Paris.

Update: Sold $384,720.

Perana Z-One

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2012 Perana Z-One

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 10-18, 2015

Photo - Barrett-Jackson

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

The Perana Z-One debuted at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show in concept guise. The car was style by Zagato – which is what the “Z” stands for. Perana is a South African company, formally known as the Perana Performance Group.

This car uses a 6.2-liter Corvette V-8 making 436 horsepower, although the owners can upgrade to an LS7 for up to 630 horsepower. These cars have a confusing history – originally, only 10 pre-production coupes were built with the lofty goal of 999 cars to be built per year. Instead, AC Cars acquired the rights to the car to build it as the AC 378 GT Zagato, with production beginning in 2012.

I don’t know how many cars, if any, AC has sold, but Perana has sold a few after that 2012 rights sale. So how many have been built and by which manufacturer? I’m not sure. Is it still in production? Probably not, but there are two of them at this year’s Barrett-Jackson sale. They were supposed to cost up to $150,000 for a high-horsepower version. This one likely won’t top $100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $73,700.

Venturi 400 Trophy

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1992 Venturi 400 Trophy

For sale at DPM Motors | Monaco

Photo - DPM Motors

Photo – DPM Motors

If you haven’t noticed, we tend to feature a fair amount of supercars around here. We especially like the low-volume ultra-rare kind you only find squirreled away in Europe somewhere – just like this Venturi 400 Trophy.

Venturi still exists, though their main focus today is more on electrifying existing vehicles today than on supercar production. There were two 400 models: the GT and the Trophy. While the GT was the rarer, road-going version, the 400 Trophy was actually built for a one-make racing series.

The Trophy cars were built between 1992 and 1994, with 73 being created. They are powered by a mid-mounted twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 making 400 horsepower. This particular car is fitted with a passenger seat and lacks any sort of decals that mark it as a racing car.  This leads me to believe that it can probably be road-registered in Europe (Venturis were never sold in the States). At any rate, it won’t come cheap. But you can find out more here.

Intermeccanica Italia

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1971 Intermeccanica Italia Coupe

For sale at Hyman Ltd. | St. Louis, Missouri

Photo - Hyman Ltd.

Photo – Hyman Ltd.

The sports cars built by the tiny Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica company in Turin looked fairly similar over the years. They started with the leftover Griffith, which was the same as the Apollo before it – a car Intermeccanica designed. Their version was the Omega. Next came the Torino, which was later renamed Italia. You can easily see the influence of earlier cars from the company in this design (not to mention the Ferrari 365).

It has a 5.8-liter Ford Cleveland V-8 under the hood making 310 horsepower. When new, it cost a few bucks less than $8,000 and is for sale today – but you’ll have to ask Hyman Ltd. about the exact price.

Around 600 Italias were built between 1967 and 1973, most of them convertibles. Only 56 coupes were constructed. Convertibles can run as high as $150,000, but coupes tend to cost less, even if they are rarer. You can check out more here.

November 2014 Auction Recap, Pt. II

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First up here is Silverstone Auctions’ NEC Classic Motor Show sale. Our featured Mercedes CLK DTM sold for $196,650. The top sale was this 1994 Jaguar XJ220 formerly owned by the royal family of Brunei. Check out full results here.

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Osenat’s sale in Lyon had two cars that tied for the top sale – both at $120,280. First, this 1965 Alfa Romeo 1600 SS…

Photo - Osenat

Photo – Osenat

…and the other was this 1972 Maserati Bora.

Photo - Osenat

Photo – Osenat

Our featured Aries B4B sold for $14,880 while the Traction Avant Cabriolet failed to sell. Check out full results here. The third auction we’re covering in this rundown is RM’s sale of the Sam Pack Collection where this 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 Roadster was the top sale for $1,292,500.

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

We featured six concept cars from the Ford Motor Company that were offered in this sale. The top seller was, surprisingly, the Ford Sport Trac Adrenalin Concept which more than doubled the high end of its estimate, selling for $173,250. At the other end of things, the Ford Focus Kona Wagon brought $8,250. In the middle was the Lincoln MKS Concept for $27,500.

The two Thunderbird Prototypes sold – the Sports Roadster for $55,000 and the Supercharged for $57,750. The T-Bird-based Lincoln Mark X brought $129,250. Click here for full results. Next up, Mecum’s Anaheim sale. The #1 seller, far and away, was this 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Short Nose that brought $2,150,000.

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

Our featured Jowett Jupiter sold for $26,000. Check out full results here. Finally, Bonhams’ Bond Street sale where our featured Porsche 908/02 was the top sale at $3,437,744. Two of our feature cars failed to sell: the Mercedes-Simplex and the Benetton-Ford. Interesting sales were topped by the huge price ($495,645) paid for this spotless 1929 Brough Superior SS100.

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Fiat-Abarth racing prototype sold for $213,767 and the Talbot Alpine Racer brought an impressive $2,169,294. Click here for full results.

A Pair of T-Bird Concepts

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Ford Thunderbird Concepts

Offered by RM Auctions | Farmer’s Branch, Texas | November 15, 2014

 2001 Ford Thunderbird Sports Roadster Concept

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Ah, the retro styling craze of the early 2000s. Ford decided to bring back the Thunderbird for the 2002 model year. The car’s introduction was preceded by a slew of concept cars, including this Sports Roadster.

These Thunderbirds had soft tops or removable hard tops. This car is topless and has a fiberglass tonneau cover that fits nicely against the back of the head rests. You could’ve gotten a similar look on a 1960s T-Bird.

The engine is a standard 280 horsepower 3.9-liter V-8. This car was acquired from Ford by Sam Pack in 2010. It’s the only one like it and should sell for between $60,000-$80,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $55,000.

2003 Ford Thunderbird Supercharged Concept

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

The Ford Thunderbird F-Code from 1957 was a mean, powerful machine. This car was meant to be the spiritual successor to that car. Ford never put it into production. But they should have. The last Thunderbird was a dud and perhaps a hot rod version would have helped.

The engine is a supercharged 3.9-liter V-8 making 390 horsepower. That’s sports car territory. It has a vented hood and other minor details to set it apart. This car was also acquired by Sam Pack from Ford in 2010. It should sell for between $50,000-$80,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of the sale of the Sam Pack Collection.

Update: Sold $57,750.

CLK DTM Cabriolet

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2007 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG Cabriolet

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Birmingham, U.K.| November 15-16, 2014

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class was purchased in convertible form mainly by South Florida former-trophy wives now in their 50s. It was built between 1996 and 2009, preceded and succeeded by the E-Class Coupe. But this ain’t your aunt’s CLK.

Mercedes in-house tuner arm AMG always got their mitts on all of the Benz model lines. And they built some pretty stout versions of the CLK, none more menacing than the CLK DTM (CLK GTR supercar notwithstanding).

Mercedes campaigned the CLK in the DTM series in Germany, so they decided to build a short run of road cars inspired by these awesome machines. There were 100 coupes built, and for 2006, 80 cabriolets. They all used a 582 horsepower supercharged 5.4-liter V8. The convertibles were “limited” to a 192 mph top end.

These cars were popular with F1 drivers of the period, with Mika Hakkinen and Juan Pablo Montoya being among their purchasers. It’s the ultimate overly-powered Monaco cruiser. This example has 26,000 miles on it and should sell for between $175,000-$200,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Silverstone’s auction lineup.

Update: Sold $196,560.

1992 Porsche 911 RS

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1992 Porsche 911 Carrera RS

Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | November 2, 2014

Photo - Artcurial

Photo – Artcurial

This generation of Porsche’s 911 was dubbed the 964. Introduced in 1989, it was a big step forward for the 911 line. It was replaced after 1994. Recently, special variants of the 911 have skyrocketed in price.

The Carrera RS was built for 1992. It was the first time the RS name had been used since the legendary 2.7 RS of the early 1970s. This new special edition was a homologation model so Porsche could go racing. It was a factory lightweight and was fitted with a special 3.6-liter flat-six making 260 horsepower. It was only sold in Europe.

Only 290 were built and this one has had only two owners since 1992 and has only covered about 31,000  miles. It’s been a French car all its life and is being sold in France. It should bring between $290,000-$350,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Artcurial’s lineup.

Update: Sold $341,024.

Buick GNX

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1987 Buick GNX

Offered by Mecum | Chicago, Illinois | October 9-11, 2014

Photo - Mecum

Photo – Mecum

You’re looking at the coolest American car of the 1980s. Also, one of the most collectible. Isn’t it kind of strange that one of the most desirable American cars of the last 25-ish years is a Buick?

The second generation Regal entered production in 1978. It was Buick’s entry into NASCAR for the early 80s and its success on track allowed Buick to offer a Grand National version for road use. The 1986-1987 Grand National is a sought after car – as they look quite aggressive. Slotted above the Grand National, the GNX was a 1987-model-year-only bad ass machine.

A GNX started as a Grand National and then it was sent to McLaren Performance Technologies/ASC to be turned into a monster. The engine is a turbocharged 4.1-liter V-6 underrated by the factory at 245 horsepower. Performance is fantastic, with a 0-60 time of less than five seconds.

Only 547 GNXs were built and you could only get them in black. There are many low-mileage examples out there as apparently quite a number of people stashed them away after buying them. Few, if any, have fewer miles than this one as it has only 45 miles on the odometer. Low miles GNXs have been known to crack the $100,000 barrier. This one certainly ought to. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $97,500.

Ginetta G15

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1971 Ginetta G15

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Silverstone, U.K. | September 20, 2014

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Ginetta Cars has been around since 1958 when it was founded by four brothers with the name Walklett in Suffolk. The company began by building kits to turn boring, high-production automobiles into sports and race cars. As time went by, they turned to building complete road-and-race-ready cars.

The G15 was launched in 1967 and is based around a Hillman Imp. As time went on, you could buy a G15 as a kit or as a completed car. About 800 were built before Ginetta moved on in 1974. The engine is an 875cc straight-four making 51 horsepower.

This car won the 1977 Silverstone Production Sports Car Championship, winning 17 of 19 races that year (among other career triumphs). The G15 was the first Ginetta to really sell in serious volume and it allowed the company to grow. This would be a very fun car to acquire for only $15,000-$20,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of this sale’s lineup.

Update: Sold $21,557.