Two Single-Seaters at Rétromobile
1952 Gordini Type 16
Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 9, 2018
Photo – Artcurial
Amédée Gordini started working on cars in the 1930s. He built his first single-seaters right after WWII and now the Gordini brand is owned by Renault. As a team, Gordini competed in Formula One between 1950 and 1956. This is their 1952 racer… or at least that’s when it debuted.
The Type 16 was developed as a Formula 2 car for the 1952 season, which was what the regulations were for the World Driver’s Championship that year. It’s powered by a 2.0-liter straight-six and it was the third example built, debuting at the 1952 French Grand Prix. This car’s lengthy race history includes:
- 1952 French Grand Prix (Reims, F2) – 1st (with Jean Behra)
- 1952 French Grand Prix (Rouen, F1) – 7th (with Behra)
- 1952 Italian Grand Prix – DNF (with Maurice Trintignant)
- 1953 Argentinian Grand Prix – DNF (with Carlos Menditeguy)
- 1953 Dutch Grand Prix – DNF (with Harry Schell)
- 1953 Belgian Grand Prix – DNF (with Behra)
- 1953 French Grand Prix – DNF (with Trintignant)
- 1953 British Grand Prix – DNF (with Trintignant)
- 1953 German Grand Prix – DNF (with Trintignant)
- 1953 Swiss Grand Prix – DNF (with Trintignant)
- 1953 Italian Grand Prix – 5th (with Trintignant)
- 1954 Argentinian Grand Prix – DQ (with Behra)
- 1954 Belgian Grand Prix – DNF (with Behra)
- 1954 French Grand Prix – 6th (with Behra)
- 1954 British Grand Prix – DNF (with Clemar Bucci)
- 1954 German Grand Prix – DNF (with Paul Frère)
- 1954 Swiss Grand Prix – DNF (with Bucci)
- 1954 Italian Grand Prix – DNF (with Bucci)
- 1954 Spanish Grand Prix – DNF (with Jacques Pollet)
- 1955 Argentinian Grand Prix – DNF (with Pablo Birger)
Wow. That’s a lot of F1 races for one chassis over four different seasons (with some pretty big names from the era as well). The car was not necessarily competitive at the end of its career as F1 advances at a pretty breakneck pace, but it was still out there, grinding laps. The car was acquired in the 1970s by Christian Huet, who wrote the book on Gordini. The car was offered to him by Gordini himself before passing away.
It’s well-documented and currently has a different engine installed, although a 2.0-liter F2 engine does come with it. Apparently, Gordini only built 33 single-seater cars and 14 of those are in the Schlumpf hoard. This one should bring between $1,100,000-$1,700,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Update: Not sold.
1950 AGS Panhard Monomill
Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Paris, France | February 7, 2018
Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Here’s a strange, one-off single-seater. Called the Atelier Guérin Special, or AGS, this car was built by Pierre Guérin in Grenoble, France. It’s based around a Panhard car of the era and, quite unusually for an open-wheel race car, features front-wheel drive.
It’s powered by an 850cc Panhard twin. Apparently it was raced in period, but it isn’t really known where, though it did compete in some hillclimb events in Italy more recently and that’s probably where its specialty lies.
It finally left its hometown in 1990 and its then-new owner kept the car for 20 years. A few others have enjoyed it since then and now it’s on the open market. It’s a unique, period-correct time attack car waiting for a new owner to take it to the track. It should bring between $30,000-$40,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Update: Sold $39,452.