1950 Fiat-Daniela 750 Testa d’Oro

Offered by Bonhams | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | October 7, 2019

Photo – Bonhams

Small Fiats were the basis for many Italian sports cars after WWII. What quite a few enterprising individuals did was take a Fiat 500, bore it out to 750cc, replace some other internals, and go racing.

Daniela built five or six cars powered by 750cc Fiat engines. This car’s original engine went missing, and it’s now powered by a 105 horsepower, 1.1-liter Fiat inline-four. It hasn’t really been used much since the 1990s and is begging for restoration.

A previous owner had the car from 1958 through 1990, during which time it was raced in Nassau, Watkins Glen, Bridgehampton, and Lime Rock. It’s a pretty cool little thing and should sell for between $35,000-$45,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $106,400.

1989 Ferrari Testa d’Oro by Colani

For sale at Purosangue Maranello | Maranello, Italy

Photo – Purosangue Maranello

Um. I bet you’ve never seen one of these driving down the expressway. One, because there is only one of them and two, because it looks pretty crazy, doesn’t it? Would you believe it if I told you that this used to be a Ferrari Testarossa?

That is, it was based on a Testarossa. It has a modified version of the base engine, in this case it’s a 5.0-liter twin-turbo flat-12 making 739 horsepower. The insane streamlined body was designed by industrial designer Luigi Colani. Look how much glass there is. It looks like a life-size Hot Wheels car.

It had one purpose: break a land speed record for its class (cars with catalytic converters) at Bonneville. And it did, reaching 218 mph on the Salt Flats. This car has shown up here and there over the years and is currently for sale in Italy. Click here for more info.