Russo & Steele Scottsdale Highlights

Posted on February 6, 2012 by classiccarweekly

This is our final Scottsdale auction recap. It’s been weeks since it happened but we finally caught up. Russo & Steele sold a wide variety of cars from the affordable (the lowest seller was a 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500 Convertible that sold for $4,675) to the super expensive – the top sale was this 1968 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Roadster that sold for $687,500. It was one of only 216 built during three years of production.

The second top seller was a 1965 Shelby GT350 that was once used as a race car at the Carroll Shelby School of High Performance Driving. It has a fresh restoration and looks amazing. I could easily imagine myself tearing around a racetrack in this car. But for $467,500, it’s a little out of my range.

Our two featured cars from this auction, a 1973 Mercury Cougar XR7 Convertible and a Ketchup & Mustard-liveried ’96 RT/10 Viper both sold. The Cougar brought $17,600 and the Viper $39,050.

Other highlights included a pair of rare Mopar’s: this 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona:

sold for $118,800. And a blue 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda sold for $115,500. And finally, probably the rarest car in this sale was this 1984 Knudsen Baroque Cabriolet – 1 of 2 such cars built. Knudsen built 11 total Baroques in Nebraska in the late 70s and early 80s in a variety of bodystyles. When new, these cars cost between $80,000 and $225,000. According to the consignor, this car cost $86,000 in 1984. It sold for only $12,100.

For complete results, click here.

Bonhams Harrogate Highlights

Posted on November 30, 2011 by classiccarweekly

Bonhams recent motorcycle and car auction at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate, U.K. featured a few interesting sales. Unfortunately, three of our featured vehicles here on the site did not sell: the Triumph 1800 Roadster, Bristol Beaufighter and the Brough Superior SS100.

Some of the highlights include a 1963 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. The 40 Series of the Land Cruiser range were made from 1960 until 1984 (and even longer in Brazil. These cars – er, uh, Jeeps – are much beloved by the off-road community. This particular model looks brand new and was owned by the Rover Car Co as an “evaluation” vehicle. It sold for about $26,000. Bonhams has these pictures locked, but I’ll do what I can for the other cars.

At most British auctions, there is a large selection of British cars. Two that I’d like to focus on are a 1946 Hillman Minx Drophead Coupe and this 1934 BSA Scout Roadster.

This isn’t the exact car – the exact car had striking red brakes and wheel caps. BSA, Birmingham Small Arms Company, is known primarily as a motorcycle manufacturer but they built cars from 1909 until 1926 and again from 1929 until 1940. Some of these cars where sporty three-wheelers but they built a number of four-wheeled variants as well. This 8.9 horsepower Scout uses a 1,075cc engine that was rebuilt about three years ago. It sold for about $12,000.

The Hillman Minx was produced from the early 1930s through 1970. The immediate postwar Minx (the example sold at Bonhams a 1946) did not differ much from the pre-war Minx. The model is commonplace but the Drophead Coupe body style is quite rare. A driver in nice black paint sold for about $5,700.

There were two interesting old trucks that passed across the block at this sale: a 1925 Autocar 27KS 5-Ton Truck in original running condition sold for about $10,000. And a 1927 International SF24 1.5-Ton Flat-Bed Truck in restored-as-necessary condition with an engine rebuild at some point brought about the same price.

Check out the complete results here (with pictures!).

Triumph 1800 Roadster

Posted on November 10, 2011 by classiccarweekly

1948 Triumph 1800 Roadster

To be offered at Bonhams, Yorkshire, November 16, 2011

(Photo not of actual car. Imagine if this was blue and looked like a daily driver.)

This was the first car Triumph put on sale after the end of the war. It was originally fitted with a 1.8 liter straight-4 (although those were replaced by a 2.0 liter unit beginning in 1948). A total of 2,501 of both models were produced, making this car fairly rare compared to it’s successor, the TR2 (of which more than 8,000 were built).

The 1800 had a top speed of 75 mph and could hit 60 in a sprightly 34.4 seconds. The car had the pre-war looks to match its pre-war performance and was the end of the line for classical styling before the arrival of the TR2.

The car being sold by Bonhams is blue and was apparently used as a daily driver by its owner (who bought the car in the early 1960s). It’s described as being in “rolling restoration” condition – but driveable. It’s an attractive classic British design and it can be had cheap with a pre-auction estimate of £8,000-£10,000 ($12,000-$16,000).

More info on the car (and the actual picture) can be found here. More info on Bonhams Harrogate sale can be found here.

Update: Not Sold.