1929 Duesenberg Model J Convertible Coupe by Murphy
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Auburn, Indiana | September 1-3, 2022
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
Another week, another great Model J. This one is not a sedan, but instead is a very desirable convertible coupe by the Walter M. Murphy Company of Pasadena, California. About 25 such bodies were applied to Model J chassis by Murphy.
The car features a naturally aspirated 6.9-liter inline-eight that was rated at 265 horsepower. The most interesting aspect of this car is one of its previous owners: Maurice Schwartz, of Bohman & Schwartz, a coachbuilder that had their fair share of Model Js come through their studios. Prior to his own company, Schwartz worked for Murphy. He owned it in the 1950s while working for Bill Harrah.
This particular chassis remained with a single owner for almost five decades. It was restored after he sold it in 2014 and went on to win various awards. Read more about it here.
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Auburn, Indiana | September 3, 2022
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
There have been some great Duesenberg sedans coming out of the woodwork this year. This four-door sedan features blind rear quarters (no rearward side windows), which was sometimes called a Club Sedan. Derham called theirs the “Arlington,” which sounds much more dignified.
Five Derham Arlington sedans were built, four of them on the short-wheelbase Model J chassis like this one. And power came from a 6.9-liter inline-eight rated at 265 horsepower. This one was purchased new by a Peruvian singer who likely kept it at his New York home before taking it to other countries. It later spent time under ownership in Paris and Cairo. Exotic.
The car came back to the U.S. in 1957. It has not been restored but was apparently repainted at least once, though it isn’t made all that clear in the catalog when that happened. No estimate is available, but you can read more here.
1932 Chrysler CH Imperial Cabriolet by Bohman & Schwartz
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 26, 2022
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
The Imperial name first appeared on a Chrysler in 1926, and the eight-cylinder Imperial debuted in 1931. The following year, the model was upgraded from CG to CH/CL spec, the latter being the Imperial Custom.
The CH is powered by a 6.3-liter inline-eight rated at 125 horsepower. Factory body styles included a roadster, sedan, and convertible sedan. In all, 1,402 CH Imperials were built. Only nine were delivered as a bare chassis for coachbuilders to work with.
This car carries a cabriolet body by Bohman & Schwartz. It was the first car bodied under the Bohman & Schwartz name, and it won its class at Pebble Beach after its restoration in 1995. You can read more about it here and see more from this sale here.
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 26, 2022
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
Chalmers-Detroit lost the “-Detroit” suffix beginning in 1911, making this a first-year stand-alone Chalmers automobile. The Model 30 was a carryover from the prior year, but now with updating branding, revised running boards, and a new dashboard.
Power is from a 30-horsepower inline-four. Six body styles were offered, including the $1,500 roadster. Not super cheap, but then again the Chalmers was not an entry-level automobile.
This example was restored as needed over the years, the last 20 or so of which were spent in a private collection. It is now offered at no reserve and without a pre-sale estimate. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Auburn, Indiana | September 3-4, 2021
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
Packard’s Model 18 went on sale for 1909 and would remain in production through 1912. Launch-year body styles included a limousine, landaulet, touring, and demi limousine, in addition to the runabout. While Packard was known mostly as a luxury car manufacturer, this one has a twinge of sportiness.
It’s powered by a 5.3-liter inline-four rated at 18 horsepower. The two-seat body is finished in white, with a matching fuel tank, trunk, wheels, and tires. It’s a lot of white. I can’t imagine it was ever this clean back in the day.
Only 802 Packards were produced for 1909, and this is said to be one of a dozen Model 18s known to exist across all model years and body styles. It would’ve cost $3,200 when new and will sell at no reserve for much more next month. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Auburn, Indiana | September 3, 2021
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
Packard was one of America’s grandest automobiles around the start of WWI. But they were also producing some pretty heavy-duty commercial vehicles at that time as well. We’ve actually featured a 3-ton variant of the Model E in the past, but this earlier 2.5-ton variant features a C-cab design.
Power is from an 8.6-liter inline-six good for about 60 horsepower. This truck was built in 1916 – the first year for shaft drive after Packard ditched its drive chains. This thing is pretty massive and sports a cool period-style corn starch livery.
Old commercial vehicles are always a treat as their survival rates are dismal at best. This one is coming out of a Packard-focused museum and will sell at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Auburn, Indiana | January 23, 2021
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
Monarch was sort of Ford’s attempt to sell Mercurys in Canada. The marque was in existence between 1946 and 1957, although it reappeared again in 1959 and lasted through 1961. While they largely mirrored their American Mercury counterparts, Monarchs did have Canadian-market-specific trim.
Model names varied depending on the years, and between 1949 and 1951, there really weren’t model names. Just body styles hanging off of the marque. Four body styles were offered in 1950, and the two-door station wagon – which was always a woodie – are among the rarest. Well, they’re all rare, as just 6,056 Monarchs were built in 1950 in total, 43 of which were wagons. Only three of those are known to exist.
Power is from a 4.2-liter flathead V8 rated at 110 horsepower. This car was restored in the 1990s and is now offered at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
1947 Mercury Series 79M Marmon-Herrington 4×4 Wagon
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Auburn, Indiana | January 23, 2021
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
Mercury’s immediate pre- and post-war models consisted of the “Eight.” They are often referred to by their series name, and 1947’s was the 79M. You could go downtown and buy a Mercury or two. Or five, as that’s how many body styles of the 79M were offered, including a station wagon.
The wagons were rare. Only 3,558 were built for the model year. They were all powered by 3.9-liter V8s rated at 100 horsepower. What makes this one special is also the reason this one looks so incredibly badass. Two words: Marmon. Herrington.
Marmon-Herrington was the successor to the Marmon Motor Car Company. Walter Marmon teamed up with Arthur Herrington to create this new company, and they bought the old Duesenberg plant in Indianapolis to make the magic happen (part of this building can be seen in one of our rotating header banners). Their business was focused on turning station wagons into 4x4s. It started in the 1930s, and they were popular in the 1940s for turning cars like Ford wagons into mid-century monster trucks.
Ford even sold them through their dealerships. The price included a whopping 100% markup. Meaning this car would’ve cost $4,414 when new. Only three 1946-1948 Marmon-Herrington Mercurys are known to exist. This one was once part of the Nick Alexander collection and is now selling at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
We start near the end of August with Shannons where the Australia-only Statesman sold for $21,486. The top sale was this 1972 Porsche 911E coupe that brought $224,695… which seems like a lot. More results are available here.
Photo – Shannons
Mecum had a sort of Kissimmee bonus sale trying to make up for a bunch of canceled events (hey, you can do anything you want in Florida, pandemic or not). This 2018 Ford GT topped the charts at $935,000.
Photo – Mecum
The Nash Statesman (another Statesman, really?) we featured brought $19,800. Click here for complete results.
Finally, for August, was Dorotheum’s sale in Austria. The top sale here was this 1973 Dino 246 GTS for $521,053. We wrote up a few cars from this one, and the Austro-Adler led the way at $149,515.
Photo – Dorotheum
The Glas 1300 Cabriolet sold for $81,747, and the early BMW brought $23,843. The Tatra went for $20,436, and the Steyr-Fiat brought up the rear at $8,174. Click here for more results.
Another sale, this one in early September, that we featured quite a few lots from was RM’s Auburn sale. Three of those cars were among the top four highest sales: the Duesenberg ($632,500), the Kurtis 500B ($550,000), and the Epperly-Offy ($407,000), but the biggest money was reserved for this 1935 Auburn Eight Supercharged Speedster. It brought $770,000.
Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
The other Kurtis, the 500E, sold for $68,200, and the Murena GT went for $41,250, which, for its rarity, seems like a helluva deal. It was actually consigned to their Palm Beach sale, but the entire collection it came from got shifted to this sale instead.
$18,150 would’ve brought home a fairly original Franklin Airman sedan, while a check for $17,600 ended up being good enough for a 1922 Studebaker. The fact that I could’ve had this Chalmers for $10,725 is upsetting. The Moskvitch brought $5,225, and the CitiCar $2,200. Click here for final results.
To wrap up this rundown, we head down the street to Worldwide Auctioneers’ Auburn sale. The only car we featured from this one was the Faraday Future prototype, which appears to have been withdrawn. Womp womp. You can look at more from this sale here.
Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Auburn, Indiana | September 5, 2020
Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers
Faraday Future was (is?) one of quite a few electric vehicle startups that have recently promised big things and, well, have yet to deliver. Electric car companies are to 2020 what exotic supercar startups were to 2005… and 2020. Named for 19th-century scientist Michael Faraday, Faraday Future was founded in Los Angeles in 2014 by Jia Yueting.
The FF 91 was introduced in 2017. I think it’s a crossover. Power is from three electric motors that combine for 1,050 horsepower. Sixty mph was supposed to arrive in 2.4 seconds courtesy of an all-wheel-drive system. Sound too good to be true? Faraday Future has been in the news more for their financial issues than for the creation of tangible products.
Production has been delayed a few times (see financial issues above… it’s like car startups don’t realize the capital involved in bringing an automobile to market… this isn’t 1909). Most recently it was pushed to “late 2020.” The fact that Worldwide is offering not one but two FF 91 prototypes at no reserve does not signal good things.
What it does signal is that this may be your best chance ever to acquire one of these cars, although some of the interior leaves a bit to be desired, like exposed switchgear. No word on if you would be able to road-register this, but probably not. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
