My personal top 50 Cars sold/ offered so far this year #11 – 20

#11 – Ferrari 250LM 1964 #5891, POA but maybe $7 million

http://www.collection-cars-sales.com/sale-file.php?id=750

Antonio Nicodemi 1964 Targa 1965 Nicodemi/ Lessona 14th, Mugello 1965 Nicodemi/ Casoni 1st, Trento – Bondone HC 1965 Casoni 8th, Coppa Enna 1965 Casoni 1st, Monza 1966 Facetti/ Nicodemi Ret., Targa 1966 Nicodemi/ Lessona 15th, Mugello 1966 Facetti/ Nicodemi 1st > Scuderia Filipinetti, Switzerland 1966 Paris GP 1967 Garant 3rd, Coupe de Paris 1967 Garant 3rd, GP de Paris 1968 Garant 2nd, Enna GP 1968 Garant 3rd, LM 1968 Muller/ Williams Ret. > engine #5905 fitted > Paris 1000KM 1968 Garant/ Muller Ret., Coupe de Salon 1968 Garant 2nd > Jean – Pierre Rouget, France 1969 TDF 1969 Rouget/ Gosselin Ret. > Pierre Bardinon 1969 > Philipp Vernholes 1970 > Thuysbaert 1971 > Albert Prost 1972 > Jean Guikas 2000 paid 15 mil. FF >  GTC asking ??

Amazing car, great history, clear ownership, no stories. Cant ask for more than that.

 

#12 – Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato 1961 #DB4GT/0184/R, POA but maybe US$7 million or more.

http://www.fiskens.com/pages/showroom/model.aspx?pid=1572

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
Unveiled at the 1960 London Motorshow, this was Aston Martin’s ultimate development of their DB4 GT model. Zagato took the DB4 GT and created a smaller, more aerodynamic, super lightweight car for Aston Martin to attack the might of Ferrari with.

Finished new in Aston Martin’s racing colours of Almond Green, chassis 0184 was retained by the factory for nine months and used as their test and development car. At the time, Aston Martin were working very closely with Dunlop on the development of disc brakes. Aston Martin agreed to sell 0184 to Dunlop to continue this work, who completed about 25,000 miles in it until they sold it in 1967. The new owner, Rob Owen, was well known in Aston Martin circles having already owned a DB3S, and was soon competing in a variety of events throughout the 1967 and 1968 seasons. It then joined the significant collection of Sir Anthony Bamford, who asked Owen to race it at the 1969 Birkett six-hour relay race at Silverstone for him.

Sir Anthony Bamford had the Zagato extensively overhauled by the factory, and the next owner, Ernie Miller – again, a well known figure in the Aston Martin Owners Club racing scene, having regularly competed in his DB4 GT’s –decided that 0184 was too original to race, so entered it into the 1970 AMOC Fort Belvedere autumn concours, where it won its class. Miller used 0184 as a road car until 1975, until 0184’s next custodian once again started regularly racing the Zagato in AMOC events all the way through until 1980.

More recently, 0184 has been maintained by marque specialist RS Williams and has competed in The Goodwood Revival. Like its arch rival, the Ferrari 250 GTO, DB4 GT Zagato’s were a superb dual purpose GT car, as capable on the race circuit as it was on the road, and as such 0184 has also competed on numerous tours and rallies including the Gstaad Classic.

Still retaining its achingly original interior, 0184 is one of the most original examples of Aston Martin’s prettiest ever GT car. 

DB4 Zagato. Does it get any better looking ?……

 

#13 – Ferrari 625TRC #0680, SOLD US$6.155 million

http://www.rmauctions.com/FeatureCars.cfm?SaleCode=MC12&CarID=r310

1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spider  
 

Estimate:
€3.000.000-€3.700.000
Chassis No. 0680 MDTR
AUCTION RESULTS: Lot was Sold at a price of €5.040.000 
 
 
 
 
 
320 bhp, 2,953 cc Tipo 128 SOHC per cylinder bank V-12 engine, six Weber 40 DCN twin-choke carburettors, alloy four-speed manual gearbox, independent front suspension with unequal-length A-arms, coil springs and anti-roll bar, nine-inch differential, live rear axle with parallel trailing arms and coil springs, and four-wheel hydraulic finned aluminium drum brakes with steel liners. Wheelbase: 2,250 mm (88.6″)

• One of only two stunning, factory-built 625 TRCs ever built; fully documented provenance
• Bought new by famed racing driver and pioneering American Ferrari importer, John von Neumann
• Successful period and vintage-racing history, including such luminaries as Richie Ginther
• Single ownership in California for over 30 years; expertly restored and race-ready
• Accompanied by original, very rare, matching numbers Type 625 2.5-litre Ferrari racing engine

To call Ferrari’s TRC for 1957 “one of the prettiest Ferraris built”, as preeminent Ferrari historian Richard F. Merritt put it, is surely an understatement. It is a design without fault—a timeless, downright breath-taking execution of Italian motoring passion, married to one of the greatest sports racing chassis of all time, and in this particular car, complemented by an aggressively unmistakable, shiver-inducing exhaust note that the trained Ferrarista’s ear will immediately peg as that of a proper “Testa Rossa”.

Ferrari Importer Extraordinaire

John von Neumann’s life story was the stuff of adolescent fantasy. Born to an Austrian family, he arrived in the U.S. as a student in 1939, joining the military during wartime and promptly beginning his sports car racing career, associating with the future ‘who’s who’ of Southern California’s car culture and co-founding the California Sports Car Club. While he ramped up his dealership activities on the West Coast with his wife Eleanor, importing the most famous (and, decades later, priceless!) European sports cars from Porsches to Ferraris, he continued his successful international racing career. On the dealership side, a young Richie Ginther helped him manage Ferrari Representatives of California, and indeed, his influence on Ferrari history cannot be underestimated.

0680 MDTR

The Ferrari on offer stands in a class all its own. Offered from single ownership for the past 30-plus years, its presentation at auction may very well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It is one of only two 2.5-litre 625 TRCs ever built by Ferrari, each specifically ordered by the larger-than-life West Coast Ferrari distributor Johnny von Neumann.

According to Bill Rudd, crew chief Harold Broughton and others, the 625 TRC was von Neumann’s favourite Ferrari, partly because of its superior handling—this from a man who owned a pontoon-fendered Testa Rossa, nearly 10 four-cylinder Ferraris in all, Porsche 550 Spyders and every other imaginable world-class sports car. In fact, the December 1957 edition of Road & Track asserted, “both von Neumann and Ginther say that [the 625 TRC] is the best handling and easiest of all Ferraris to drive in a race”.

Chassis 0680 MDTR is highly documented with complete history from new. It is the ninth of only 19 TRCs of all kinds built by Ferrari in total for 1957, including the Type 500 cars. Completed on 26 June 1957, it was finished in Dark Grey Metallic with a Maroon Stripe and purchased the following month, along with its sister car 0672 MDTR, by von Neumann.

Although 0680 MDTR raced mainly in California, its first two outings were in Europe, after von Neumann personally collected it from the Ferrari factory. He first took it to Salzburg, Austria in August, 1957, where he competed in the famed Gaisberg hill climb (“Grosser Bergpreis von Östererreich”), winning his class in only the car’s first outing. The incredibly fast and agile Ferrari performed equally well in Switzerland, finishing second in the Grosser Bergpreis der Schweiz in Tiefencastel-Lenzerheide in central Switzerland. Extraordinary period images attest to this car’s successful early outings, as it powered up the mountain, leaving Maseratis, Porsches and other Ferraris in its wake.

Having conquered its Alpine competition, 0680 MDTR was transported to California, where Appendix C rules did not yet apply. The car was modified during September/October 1957 with a single wraparound windscreen and metal tonneau cover. Its first race in the U.S. was at the very first race held at the famed Laguna Seca race track, which had been built for 1957 after the Pebble Beach road races were deemed too dangerous. Again, von Neumann skilfully piloted this car to a podium finish, 2nd, once again.

It raced nine more times during the remainder of 1957 and 1958 at Pebble Beach, Pomona, Hawaii and Santa Barbara, with von Neumann scoring two victories and three podiums during this prolific period. Other notable race outings include Laguna Seca on 15 June 1958, with future Ferrari Formula 1 driver Richie Ginther winning with 0680 MDTR. Josie von Neumann, the daughter of John and Eleanor and an accomplished racer in her own right, drove 0680 MDTR at the Vaca Valley SCCA National race in October, 1958, finishing 5th overall and 1st in class. Surely the arrival of the grey-liveried, von Neumann-entered 625 TRC at any start/finish line on the West Coast must have utterly disappointed the competition.

The 625 TRC was raced by John von Neumann at Pomona on 1 February 1959. On 26 April, Richie Ginther, the reigning 1958 Pacific Coast Sports Car champion, drove the Ferrari to a fifth-place finish at Avandaro, Mexico. Unfortunately, and despite all the success on both road and track, von Neumann’s marriage came to an end and the Ferrari dealership was sold. As such, 0680 MDTR was sold without an engine to successful owner-driver Stan Sugarman in Phoenix, Arizona, who had just sold his Maserati Birdcage.

A Chevrolet V-8 and a Borg-Warner four-speed gearbox were installed while in Sugarman’s ownership in 1960. 0680 MDTR was often driven in qualifying races by Jim Connor and handed over to car owner Sugarman for main events. The duo frequently placed on the podium in the races they entered. In fact, the car’s provenance is well documented throughout the 1960s as its owners successfully campaigned the car in and around the West Coast.

Single Ownership for Three Decades

Between 1969 and 1978, the car passed through a known succession of owners until Phil Sledge sold it to Bob Taylor. In 1981, 0680 MDTR was acquired from Mr. Taylor by the current owner, who commissioned its restoration, which was performed during 1982 and 1983 by David McCarthy at Phil Reilly in Corte Madera, California, where a Ferrari V-12 engine to Testa Rossa specification was fitted, and the car was painted red and fitted with a full-width windscreen.

Following its restoration, 0680 MDTR was shown at Pebble Beach in 1985, where none other than Jackie Stewart introduced the car to the hundreds of onlookers as “a car that has quite a record behind it. Many west coast races. Von Neumann himself drove it”. The roar of the V-12 engine was greeted by applause on the 18th green at Pebble Beach, from where the car resumed its competition career the same year at the prestigious Monterey Historic Automobile Races. (Extraordinary period video captures this event and is available for review by interested parties upon request or on RM’s website.) In fact, the dedicated owner has returned to Laguna Seca for this event annually ever since, except for 2002 and 2010. Notably, 0680 MDTR finished most often ahead of the pontoon-fendered Testa Rossas in attendance.

In all, the current owner raced 0680 MDTR on 113 occasions during a post-restoration vintage-racing career even more prolific than the car’s extensive period racing history.

What’s more, the car competed in the Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge and was entered in a number of classic touring events. In 1999, at the 25th annual edition of the Monterey Historic Races, the 625 TRC won the Chopard Award for Presentation and Performance. In 2005, the Ferrari returned to the show field with another appearance at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Most recently, the Ferrari V-12 engine was completely rebuilt and fitted with new cylinder heads by world renowned noted Ferrari expert Patrick Ottis prior to the 2011 Monterey Historic Races. The brakes were also serviced with a rebuild of the brake hydraulic system and new carbon-fibre brake-shoe linings.

The car is powerful yet flexible and non-temperamental, harkening back to the long-lost era when high-performance cars were driven to the track, raced all-out and then driven back home afterward. It is most enjoyable and exhilarating in both environments today. With known history from new, 0680 MDTR has enjoyed coverage in several publications, including the 1957 Ferrari Yearbook and several editions of Cavallino, as well as such books as American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s and Antoine Prunet’s Ferrari: Sports Racing and Prototype Competition Cars.

Professionally maintained, both cosmetically and mechanically, 0680 MDTR is in excellent condition. As the owner stated,

Every year I buttoned the car up for the winter, drained the fluids, covered it snugly and completely such that its shape did not even show. Then months later when spring came around, and I’d pull all the covers off and see the car gleaming there in its sleek curves, even after 30 years of owning it, driving it, touching it, and looking at it, I would be astounded all over again at how beautiful it was. Then I would open the door, slip into the corduroy seat, turn on the ignition and fuel pump, give the 6 Webers a few pumps of the gas pedal, and push the starter button. Blam! It jumps to life, with that gorgeous smooth ripping sound of the V12 that is never ear-splitting, while at the same instant you not only hear it, but you also feel it, as it resonates and vibrates in your chest and body as well as your ears.

Perhaps most attractively, 0680 MDTR is offered at auction with its original, matching numbers 2.5-litre Ferrari Type 625 LM racing engine, which since its separation from its original chassis over 50 years ago, led an interesting life of its own, passing through Luigi Chinetti and on to Pete Lovely, who installed it in a Cooper Formula One racing car. Now, decades later, the remarkable original engine, which is exceptionally rare and desirable in its own right, has been reunited with its chassis to complement the prodigious power of the V-12 currently in the car.

As such, the possibilities for this Ferrari are virtually limitless. The new owner may choose to thoroughly enjoy the V-12 engine car as is or utilize its original four-cylinder motor and with relatively little effort, refinish the car in its original grey livery with dual hood bulges, thereby returning it to its von Neumann-era appearance and surely delighting the judges and fellow drivers at future Pebble Beach, Le Mans Classic or Mille Miglia retrospectives and concours events.

With an incredibly rich and highly documented provenance to match, potential interested parties should see an RM representative to view the extensive history file, containing restoration receipts, historical images, vintage magazine articles and even period video. 

A great sports racer, worth lots of money. Good history

 

#14 – Ferrari 250 Monza 1954 #0466, Asking US$6.155 million

Franco Meiners

54 – Franco Cornacchia, Milano, I – Scuderia Guastalla  > 54/jul/11 15th OA 4th IC VIII. Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti Franco Cornacchia/ Chico Landi #107   > 54/sep/19 acc. Bologno-Raticosa hillclimb  > 55/jun/12 3rd or DNF Parma-Poggio di Berceto hillclimb Franco Cornacchia > 55/jul/23-24  IV. 10h di Messina (Notturna Messinese) Franco Cornacchia/ Chico Landi #5 > 5. – Juan Rezende Dos Santos, VEN  > 56/apr/28-29 79th OA 6th IC Mille Miglia Juan Rezende Dos Santos/               Araujo #559 Red Arrows p156, 260 > 57 – Enrique Casini, Rio de Janeiro, BR > 57 – repainted blue metallic > 57/feb/11  unknown race in South America Enrique Casini #6  > 57/mar  Petropolis Circuit Enrique Casini #6 > 57  Interlagos Largada #9 > 57/jun/23  III. Prova Cinquentenario do ACB, Interlagos Enrique Casini #6 
57/sep/01  Interlagos Alvaro Varanda #12  > 57/dec/08  GP de Rio de Janeiro Enrique Casini > 58 – Celso Lara Barberis, Rio de Janeiro, BR > 58/nov/30  Prova Prefeito Ademar de Barros, Interlagos  > 70 – Falvio Marx, Sao Paulo, BR > 7. – original engine installed in 0180ET > .. – ……………., UY > 77 – Bernardo Favero, Parma, I – found in Uruguay in need of the mother of all restorations, no engine   > 01 – original engine sold to Bernardo Favero via Garry Roberts  > 11 – Frank Erich Meiners, Bergamo, I & French partner  > 12/feb/01-05 – restoration project displayed at Retromobile, Paris, F – asking €5,0mio
 Courtesy of www.Barchetta.cc

One of the great sports racing Ferraris mating the Monza chassis with the 3 Litre engine. Needs the mother of all restorations, but will be a winner when done.

 

#15 – Porsche 936/76 #936/76-001, unknown but US$6 million +

 

Private Sale

Porsche Ring 300KM 1976 Stommelen 5th > Joest Le Mans 1976 Joest/ Barth Ret. > Porsche Dijon 500KM 1976 Mass/ Ickx 1st > 936/77 Le Mans 1977 Barth/ Haywood/ Ickx 1st > 936/78 Le Mans 1978 Wollek/ Barth/ Ickx 2nd, Le Mans 1979 Wolleck/ Haywood/ Barth Ret.Bruce Morse > 936/81 Le Mans 1981 Mass/ Schuppan 12th > Dave Morse > RM Auction 2002 > Canepa Design 2003 > Julio Palmaz, USA 2004 > Carlos Monteverde 2012

One of the greatest cars ever, worth all of the money and more. Le Mans win is hard to argue with.

 

#16 – Jaguar D – Type 1955 #XKD520, POA but roughly US$6 million

http://www.kidston.com/kidston-cars/2212/1955-Jaguar-D-type–

 

1955 Jaguar D-type
Chassis no. XKD 520

•One of the most successful and iconic sports cars of all time
•Extensive early racing record and well documented subsequent provenance
•UK registered (EU tax paid), immaculately presented and with a detailed history file
•Not merely eligible but highly in demand by organizers of the world’s most exclusive events
•Chris Keith-Lucas: “In my opinion the car remains one of the best production D types in existence”

On only a few, rare, occasions do automobile design, performance and competition success coalesce into sublime expressions of form following function.

The list is short: Mercer Raceabout, Zagato and Touring’s Alfa Romeo 6C and 8Cs, Touring’s Alfa Romeo 8C 2900s, Giuseppe Figoni’s Talbot-Lago T150 CSS Le Mans ‘Teardrops’, Ferrari’s 330 P3/4.
And Malcolm Sayer’s D-type Jaguar.
‘XKD 520’, the seventh production D-type, was ordered through Brysons in Melbourne, Australia in June 1955 by up-and-coming driver Bib Stillwell, who later recalled: “I purchased the car new from Jaguar and it arrived in Melbourne, Australia in January 1956. I competed with the car for two seasons and had numerous successes with it.” These included the Bathurst 500, where ‘XKD520’ set the outright fastest sports car speed ever, also setting a new sports car record in the Rob Roy Hillclimb and winning the South Australia Trophy at Port Wakefield. After a brief hiatus when the car was prepared for the Australian Land Speed Record attempt it resumed racing in the Bathurst Road Racing Championship for Sports Cars, winning outright. A second place at Lowood in the Queensland TT and fifth in the Australian TT at Albert Park during the Australian GP meeting followed.
At the end of the ’56 season ‘XKD 520’ was sold to Ampol, the Australian Motorists Petrol Company, for Jack Davey, a colourful figure if ever there was one. The D-type was left in the care of Bill Murray in Surfer’s Paradise to prepare for the 6,000 mile Ampol Trial including a repaint in bright red and addition of a passenger windscreen. While driving the D-type to the start Murray lost control at high speed and smashed into an articulated lorry. Both the D-type and Murray were grievously damaged. In mid-1957 ‘XKD 520’ was sold to racer Frank Gardner who undertook its repair. In its April 1963 issue, which featured ‘XKD520’ on the cover as part of a feature entitled ‘Our Fastest Road Car?’, Australian magazine Sports Car World recalled: “The car was painstakingly rebuilt and all necessary parts crack tested. Alan Standfield made repairs to the alloy bodywork and the car returned to racing in 1958. Gardner’s choice for body color was white- the same as his previous racing cars.”
Gardner then proceeded to add further laurels to ‘XKD 520’s history including a second at Bathurst, first at Mt. Druitt, third in both heats at the Orange Racing Car Scratch Races (both bettered only by GP cars) and first in the over 1500cc race at Schofields.
David Finch acquired ‘XKD 520’ in November 1958 and continued to race it for the next three years, eventually fitting a factory-supplied 3.8-litre block after the original 3.4-litre added its expiration to the fitting name of Bathurst’s engine-testing Con Rod Straight. He earned a first place in the 1961 Queensland TT with the new engine. In 1961 an encounter with a fence at Warwick Farm exceeded the ductility of the original bonnet and Alan Standfield created a distinctively-shaped version of Jaguar’s long nose bonnet.
Ash Marshall acquired ‘XKD 520’ in May 1962 and commenced a plush restoration with chromed accessories, XKSS style side exhaust and heat shield, polished aluminum, a fully-carpeted interior and “a glass-like finish” as described in Sports Car World, complemented by the registration number ‘ASH 222’. Later owners in Australia include Peter Bradley and Richard Parkinson.
In 1967 ‘XKD 520’ was acquired by former Jaguar apprentice and future Le Mans 24 Hours winning racing driver and car dealer Richard Attwood in the U.K. He had it attended to by Jaguar’s Brown’s Lane facility and then displayed it in his Wolverhampton Mercedes-Benz showroom, ultimately selling it to Sir Angus Spencer-Nairn in 1977.
Jaguar expert and restorer Chris Keith-Lucas recounts its later history as follows:
“[It] came to us at Lynx on behalf of its new owner, Angus Spencer-Nairn. The car was generally quite well presented at that time, but required straight-forward recommissioning before being sent out to the Channel Islands….
“Over the next quarter century I maintained a regular acquaintance with the car…. He used it quite lightly; a few track days, some tours, a Mille Miglia, but no races….
“In 2004 the car sold to a new owner … who kindly brought the car to me [at CKL Developments] again for recommissioning. It is now [2005] in good usable condition and pains have been taken not to spoil the pleasing patina of the car.
“… The car has retained its original tail, monocoque and the 3.8 engine supplied by the works early in the car‘s life. However, on working on the car…we decided to put right one outstanding feature which we felt had been unsatisfactory for many years. This was the bonnet: the one it had worn since its accident in Australia around ’57 was a locally-produced item, and was not any too beautiful, being a rather flattened semi-long nose, semi short-nose affair.
“The aim was to return it to its original body plan, and this we achieved with a genuine original short-nose bonnet which I managed to acquire for the project. This bonnet had at one time been fitted to an XKSS and had been discarded decades ago when that car was rebuilt…. The removal of the rather oddly-shaped tail fin improved the look of the car and was authentic for the car’s early appearance. It also gave us the chance to view the paint layers underneath, red and white, which were found to accord perfectly with the Andrew Whyte description.
“In my opinion the car remains one of the best production D types in existence, having had a long-term owner through the period when many other cars were spoiled by unsympathetic restorations and unfortunate ownership changes. To the very best of my knowledge the car has retained its principle components since the end of the 1950s. It is one of my favourite D types….”
In addition to fitting the original style short nose bonnet, CKL Developments’ work in 2005 included detail work to de-chrome plate and restore ancillaries and suspension elements to factory appearance.
Subsequent owners have been Joel Laub in the U.S., a well-known and highly regarded U.K enthusiast and the current European collector. It has been maintained in recent years by David Brazell and is being freshly serviced by Chris Keith-Lucas at CKL Developments before being placed in the hands of its next keeper.
‘XKD 520’s appeal is endorsed by both Bib Stillwell and Richard Attwood who at various times expressed their desire to re-acquire it.
Also included in the sale are the Australian-built semi long-nose bonnet and tail fin – both important attributes of the car’s continuous and significant history from new – a passenger windscreen, spare clutch and spare wheel. During its long term ownership by Angus Spencer-Nairn a substantial quality of documentation was accumulated including its FIA Historical Technical Passport, correspondence with Jaguar historians Andrew Whyte and Philip Porter, correspondence with Bib Stillwell and between Stillwell and the Jaguar works, old registration documents and ancillary correspondence and restoration and maintenance invoices which conclusively document ‘XKD 520’s history and originality.
Sympathetically preserved, restored and maintained, ‘XKD 520’ is one of the best D-type survivors of the 53 customer cars built, a choice example of the art of Sir William Lyons, Bill Heynes, Malcolm Sayer.

One of the greatest cars ever made. Good condition and no stories.

 

 

#17 – Ferrari 250 GT California LWB 1959 #1283 SOLD US$5.93 mil.

Moteur n°1283GT
Internal n°0326D

 

 

– Unique and extraordinary provenance
– Mythical model, matching numbers, covered headlights
– Extremely rare, one of 47 examples, the 22nt built
– The Roger Vadim’s California
– factory hard-top
– former Jean-Claude Bajol collection

We are delighted to present here the very car that turned heads while in the hands of one of the most famous playboys from the South of France.

Ferrari’s destiny was changed by the 250. Starting as a small-scale constructor, it took on an industrial dimension and gained the international reputation that it enjoys today. Centred on the famous V12 3-litre engine, which had nothing further to prove, two Ferrari families were born: one destined exclusively for the track and the other, offering a level of comfort and equipment missing until that point, for the road. The racing line gave birth to such legendary cars as the Testa Rossa, Tour de France berlinetta, 250 GTO and the 250 LM. Meanwhile stars, tycoons and amateur enthusiasts fought over the road-going line which produced splendid coupés and cabriolets. A constant characteristic of Maranello was the strong link between these two groups, which meant that the road-going cars were never far from the race track…The 250 GT California Spyder is the child of this perfect marriage. Indeed, while the 250 GT cabriolet by Pinin Farina is derived from the GT coupé, the California Spyder is drawn from the competition berlinettas. So much so that the brilliant design by Pinin Farina was bodied by Scaglietti who built all competition cars for Ferrari. The Spyder used the same chassis with 2.6m wheelbase as the Tour de France, had a comparable engine and featured the same rear wing styling as the closed version. Being geared less towards racing, it was a little heavier than its counterpart, but still lighter than the cabriolet. Also, there were certain models, specially prepared with a stopwatch in mind, that distinguished themselves on the circuit : Ginther and Hively finished first in the GT category and ninth overall in the 1959 Sebring 12 Hour race, and Grossman and Tavano took fifth place in the Le Mans 24 Hour race the same year, at the wheel of a spyder from the NART team belonging to enthusiast Luigi Chinetti. The aforementioned Chinettii was involved in the ” California ” title of the 250 GT Spyder : originally from Milan and a close friend of Enzo Ferrari, he was largely responsible for the widespread and efficient distribution of Ferrari throughout North America. This became an important market for the model that evolved alongside the competition versions, and enjoyed great commercial success with demanding wealthy amateur drivers. In all, forty-seven examples were sold in under two years, with surprisingly just six going to California. Two further Californias left the Scaglietti workshop at that time, a ” Boano ” coupé and a Pinin Farina cabriolet, both rebodied after accidents. And one must not forget the 52 short-chassis examples which followed on between 1960 and 1962. An exclusive and high-performance model, the California Spyder holds a special place in the history of Ferrari, as it embodies an unrivalled fusion of qualities for road and track, the two paths on which Ferrari built its global success. The open versions of this marque are particularly rare, which explains the growing success across the decades of the California, the most expensive road-going Ferrari today.

Leaving the factory on 11 April 1959, this was the 22nd Ferrari California to be built, including the prototype. Finished in lacquered silver grey, with black leather interior, black fabric hood, a hard-top and the preferred optional covered headlights. The Pubblico Registro in Modena indicates that 1283GT was first registered on 15 April 1959 as MO 51012, to Franco Mattioli from Sassuolo, the neighbouring district to Maranello. Clearly, this 25-year old youngster did not pay the five and a half million lira needed to complete the transaction. He was simply the frontman for a certain Roger Plemiannikow, alias Roger Vadim. Accompanied by his second wife, the Danish actress Annette Stroyberg, Vadim drove this Ferrari for nearly six years without changing its Italian plates. In 1959 he returned the car to the factory to have the drum brakes replaced with the Amadori disc brakes that were standard on models produced from that year. He then ordered the new short-chassis California model, and chassis number 2175GT was delivered to him at the start of 1961 by the garage Montchoisy, the Swiss Ferrari importer based in Geneva. According to Marcel Massini, the ” long ” California was re-sold in 1965 by the same garage Montchoisy to Georges Lang, a shipper from Annecy. The car was registered in the Haute-Savoie department, 10 FY 74, and was repainted Bordeaux red. In 1967, Lang acquired a Lamborghini Miura from the Atomic Garage in Lyon, trading in the California at the same time. A friend of the vendor remembers seeing the car for sale for 7,000 F, and later in 1973 in a neighbouring garage in Pont-de-la-Caille, on the road from Annecy to Geneva.

It was rediscovered in 1993 and sold to an important American dealer who had it transported to Amsterdam for export. However, Jean Guikas, on discovering the car at the docks, bought it and took it to Marseille where he kept it until 1997. When Jean-Claude Bajol realised that this was the actual car owned by Vadim that he had dreamed about for so many years, he wrote a cheque to the dealer immediately. He undertook a nut and bolt restoration of the car which was carried out in Modena, so thorough that it even included replacing the Luppi leather upholstery with period Ferrari leather. Bajol recollected driving with Vadim with an eye to buying the car, but his many attempts at that time failed. Forty years later, he finally fulfilled this dream, and was able to park the car alongside his 250 TdF, 512 BBLM and other cars from his collection that will also be offered in the sale.

This exceptional Ferrari contains all the ingredients that make up a work of art: a mythical marque, powerful and highly developed engine, matching numbers, beautiful styling with desirable covered headlights, designed by a major coachbuilder, easy to use in summer or winter with its factory hard-top, unrivalled driving sensations, superb condition and, the part that makes all the difference, a continuous and fascinating provenance. A very rare opportunity.
French title

 

Estimation 2 800 000 – 3 200 000 €
Sold for 4,507,104 €

THE 250GT California with amazing history, great ownership, and a cast iron history.

 

#18 – Ferrari 312PB 1972 #0886, POA but maybe US$ 5 million

http://www.collection-cars-sales.com/sale-file.php?id=798

72 – Scuderia Ferrari > 72/jan/09 1st Buenos Aires Peterson/Schenken > 72/mar/25 2nd 12h Sebring Peterson/Schenken > 72/apr/25  3rd 1000km Monza Peterson/Schenken > 72/may/28  1st 1000km Nuerburgring Peterson/Schenken > 73/may/06 4th OA 1000km Spa Merzario/Pace #2 or 0896 > 73/may/13 practice car  dns Targa Florio Ickx > 76 – Harley Cluxton, Paradise Valley, AZ, USA  > Dr. Ron Finger, GA, USA  > 8. – Jeff Hayes, USA > 90 – George Palby, Melbourne, AUS  
> 95 – sold for $600.000 > 95 – Robson S. Walton, Bentonville, AR, USA > 96/jun – offered by Mark Ketcham for $1.2m > 97/nov – offered by GTC Harley Cluxton, $1.4k  > 98/mar/31 – Axel Urban/Modena Motorsport, Langenfeld, D  > 01/may/25 – NS – Poulain Le Fur/Sotheby’s Monaco > ProTrade 2005 asking > Irvine Laidlaw > Guikas 2012 asking ??

A Great Ferrari, clear history, won Buenos Aires and the Nurburgring in ’72. Would win most historic races.

 

 

 

#19 – Bugatti Type 55 1932 Jean Bugatti Tourer  #55-208 POA, but at least US$5 million, maybe closer to $10 million.

http://www.fineautomobiles.nl/for_sale/Bugatti/T55_Jean/t55_jean.html

1932 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport Roadster
Chassis no. 55208
Engine no. 12
By the early 1930s Ettore Bugatti had established an unrivalled reputation for building cars with outstanding performance on road or track; the world’s greatest racing drivers enjoying countless successes aboard the Molsheim factory’s products and often choosing them for their everyday transport. In 1927 Bugatti had produced the Type 43 Grand Sport – the first 100mph Grand Prix-engined sporting chassis suitable for everyday road use. It was in effect a close-coupled four-seater touring model powered by the supercharged Type 35B Grand Prix engine. Because of its lengthy run of success, Ettore Bugatti remained stubbornly committed to this single-cam engine, only adopting the more advanced double-overhead-camshaft method of valve actuation, after much prompting by his eldest son Jean, on the Type 50 of 1930. From then on Jean Bugatti took greater responsibility for design, his first car being the exquisite Type 55 roadster, a model ranking among the finest sports cars of the 1930s.

The Type 55’s 2,262cc, supercharged, twin-cam, straight-eight engine was carried over in slightly de-tuned form from the successful Type 51 Grand Prix car – successor to the legendary Type 35 – and fitted in the Grand Prix Type 54’s ladder frame chassis. The precocious Jean Bugatti added his own individual touch, designing a sublime two-seat roadster body that is universally acknowledged as one of the finest ever to grace an automobile. Unlike the Type 43, this new model was invariably a two-seater that was often referred to, quite justifiably, as the ‘Super Sport’. Aimed at only the wealthiest clientele, the Type 55 sold in commensurately limited numbers, a mere 38 being built between 1932 and 1935, the vast majority of these in the first year of production. Indeed, it truly was the ultimate exclusive supercar of the early 1930s. Even its closest rival, the 8C Alfa Romeo, was produced in far greater numbers, the majority of which were in long-chassis form and often fitted with four-seater coachwork. In contrast, almost half of the 38 Type 55 Bugattis built were fitted with Jean Bugatti-designed roadster or closed coupé coachwork, the classic roadster being considered by many cognoscenti to be by far the most outstandingly attractive sports car ever offered to the motoring public.

Chassis number ‘55208’, fitted with engine number ‘12’, was completed in chassis form in February 1932 before being invoiced by the factory on 14th April 1932 for delivery to their Parisian agent Dominique Lamberjack. Priced at 72,500 francs, it was one of five Type 55 chassis delivered to Lamberjack. According to the factory records it was fitted with ‘Roadster Luxe’ coachwork executed presumably either by the factory or by their close associates Gangloff of Colmar, no doubt to the order of its original owner who is thought to have been the French amateur racing driver Charles Brunet.

A photograph of the newly delivered car, surrounded evidently by members of the Brunet family, shows it with the temporary registration number ‘4954 W12’. The next record of the car is when it took part in the 1934 Le Mans 24-Hour race, entered by Brunet who shared the driving with Freddie Zehender. Allocated race No. 14, the Bugatti was running in a strong 5th place when, on its 75th lap at around midnight, it spun out of contention when avoiding a crashed competitor. A photograph of the car with No. 14 on its door and Brunet at the wheel before the start shows that it had been fitted with leather bonnet straps for the event but was otherwise unchanged in appearance. A later photograph of the car in Hugh Conway’s Bugatti book shows it with the temporary registration number ‘4452 W12’ and still with the bonnet straps and race No. 14 on its radiator core.

Over the next few years the car’s history becomes less clear. It was reportedly left standing in Monaco for a long period, possibly throughout the war years, before being acquired by a Frenchman named Pijer living near Lyon. A photograph of the car on file during that period shows it fitted with completely different wings with built-in headlights. It was then registered with the number ‘2178 AB5’, which was issued circa April 1949 in the Ain region of France to the north east of Lyon. In the late 1950s the car was taken to Nice for restoration by Riviera Bugatti agent, Friderich, who was at the time also restoring Type 55, chassis number ‘55218’, a Jean Bugatti roadster. During the restoration it was decided to unite the more attractive and better condition body of ‘55218’ with the wonderfully original and complete chassis of this car, and a straight switch of coachwork was performed. ‘55218’ eventually sold to the Schlumpf Collection where it remains in this form to this day.

In 1960 ‘55208’ sold via Baer in Switzerland to Edward Gilmour, of New York who overhauled the engine, fitting a new cylinder block and pistons. Then, in 1980, it passed to renowned Bugatti collector Bill Serri Jnr, of New Jersey. ‘55208’ retains its original major components, including the front axle, engine, gearbox and rear axle, all of which are numbered ‘12’. The roadster coachwork is numbered ‘27’ inside one bonnet panel, so matching the original engine number of the car from which it was taken almost 50 years ago. Likewise ‘55208’ retains just about all its other original parts including the radiator, road wheels, instruments and electrical equipment.

The Type 55 was in presentable overall condition, although a non-runner, when acquired by the current owner at the Rétromobile Sale in Paris in 2003 (Lot 51). Since then it has been treated to a no-expense-spared full mechanical rebuild by renowned marque specialists Novo Restauration Automobile (Frederic and Jean Novo) of Marolles en Hurepoix, France and comes with all the relevant invoices. Presented in perfect running order yet still retaining its delightful patina of age, ‘55208’ offers the unbeatable combination of a complete set of authentic running gear allied to an original example of what is generally acknowledged as the most desirable coachwork ever fitted to this rare and highly sought after model.

One of THE greats, ticks all of the boxes, design, chassis, engine and history. How often does a 1934 Le Mans entrant come up for sale ?.

#20 – Ferrari 375 MM 1953 #0362/ 0374 – NOT SOLD, Estimate US$4.5 million +

 

http://www.rmauctions.com/CarDetails.cfm?SaleCode=MC12&CarID=r394&Currency=EUR

1953 Ferrari 375 MM Spider by Pinin Farina  
 
 LOT: 338  
 
Estimate:
€3.300.000-€4.100.000
Chassis No. 0362 AM / 0374 AM
AUCTION RESULTS: Lot was Not Sold at a high bid of €2.900.000 
 
 
 
 
 
340 hp, 4,522 cc SOHC V-12 engine, three Weber 40 mm 1F/4C carburettors, four-speed manual transmission, independent front suspension by double wishbone and coil springs, rear live axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs and trailing arms, four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 2,640 mm (104″)

• The second of only 15 Ferrari 375 MM spiders bodied by Pinin Farina
• Winner of two national championships in Argentina in 1954-55
• 18 podium finishes, including 11 wins, between 1954-57
• Discovered in Uruguay in 1983; restored in Italy 1984-86
• Two Mille Miglia Storicas and four Monterey Historics, four Colorado Grands
• Ex-Count Vittorio Zanon, Yoshiho Matsuda, John McCaw

The World Sports Car Championship was in its infancy in 1954, yet the characters, races and cars involved have become the stuff of automotive legend and racing fantasy. The world’s most famous drivers were bravely risking life and limb and travelling round the world to secure victory at the great racetracks and road courses, from Sebring and Le Mans to the Mille Miglia in Northern Italy and the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico. It was in these early, formative years that the great European sports car manufacturers competed head to head, not only with professional works drivers (many with Formula 1 experience) but also with countless privateers and self-financed gentlemen drivers who were pitted against the factory entries on the starting grids, and held their own.

The ‘54 season comprised six endurance races, contested by the likes of Jaguar’s C- and D-Types, Maserati’s A6GCS, Porsche’s 550 Spyder, Cunningham’s C-4R and Aston Martin’s DB3S. The Scuderia Ferrari won three of the six races that season, beginning with the 1000 Km of Buenos Aires on 24 January. The starting grid of this race read like a who’s-who of sports car racing: “Fon” de Portago in a Ferrari 250 MM, Maurice Trintignant, Louis Rosier, Roy Salvadori and the Americans Masten Gregory, Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby in an Allard, each of whom were early in their careers and had yet to make a start in Formula 1. Joining those sports car heavyweights were about 15 local Argentinean privateers, including the polo player Carlos Menditeguy and, in the case of the Ferrari offered here, José Maria Ibáñez, a 33-year-old with experience in racing Ferraris who enjoyed considerable success in 1953 with a Ferrari 225S Vignale Spyder as well as an Allard in a Buenos Aires event, setting fastest lap. Ibáñez started the year first in a Ferrari single-seater at Rio de Janeiro before he returned to Buenos Aires for the first race of the World Sports Car Championship, which took place at the two-year-old Autódromo 17 de Octubre in conjunction with a stretch of nearby highway.

The car he entered was a brand-new Ferrari 375 MM powered by Aurelio Lampredi’s Formula race-proven and very powerful 4.5-litre V-12 engine, which had been purchased new by Enrique Diaz Saenz Valiente, a fellow racing driver and competitive Argentinean sport shooter who won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in 1948. With top speed approaching a blinding 180 miles per hour, 0-100 mph in 11.5 seconds and a shiver-inducing exhaust note, this car demanded the highest driving skills. This 375 MM had been completed in December the previous year after Pinin Farina built the svelte sports racing body. Finished in the Argentinean colours of pale blue with a yellow stripe, the car was shipped to South America with 10 other Ferraris and 10 Maseratis with the identity of chassis number 0374 AM—a switch made by the factory from its originally designated 0362 AM to satisfy a client willing to pay for the car immediately. Such identity changes were not uncommon by the Ferrari factory for a variety of reasons, including tax savings. In fact, of the fifteen 375 MMs built, a remarkable four cars received different chassis numbers.

By the time the raced started, Ibáñez diced successfully with Nino Farina and Umberto Maglioli, in the winning factory 375 MM, and held his own against the Porsches, Maseratis and other Ferraris in the race. Unfortunately, on lap 11 of the race, his co-driver Ignacio Janices flipped 0374 AM at speed at the Avenida de la Paz roundabout, escaping injury. Despite this unsuccessful outing, it should be noted that Ibáñez returned to the same venue the following year, winning the race outright in a Ferrari 375 Plus.

Following the damage to 0374 AM, the Ferrari was repaired and repainted red with a black hood and white nose. Ibáñez entered two more races before Diaz Saenz Valiente got behind the wheel and, in testament to his tremendous skill, won seven races in the rest of 1954 and the Argentine Sports Car Championship. Diaz Saenz Valiente won the Argentine 500 Miles at Rafaela on 23 May, the Buenos Aires Autodrome Handicap on 27 June, the Gran Premio Inverno on 4 July, the 1st Gran Premio Independencia on 11 July and the 4th Gran Premio Bodas de Plate on 5 September—an extraordinary achievement for a Ferrari chassis that was less than one year old!

Diaz Saenz Valiente’s greatest victory, however, was in the Turismo Carretera road race, organised by the Tres Arroyos Club on 11 September. It was a rigorous 368-kilometre loop of paved and dirt roads, six hours south of Buenos Aires, that had to be covered twice. Juan Manuel Fangio excelled at this kind of stock car racing, and the club decided to admit a sports car class.

Diaz Saenz Valiente drove his race car the 1,168-kilometre round trip to the 736-kilometre race and won at an average speed of over 210 km/h. His time of three hours, 28 minutes and 24 seconds was 25 minutes ahead of the closest Turismo Carretera entry and his speed on the straights exceeded 275 km/h—this, in a sports racing car with a low-cut windscreen, minimal driver protection and a rip-snorting V-12 under the hood.

In an interview in El Grafico, he described how he had persuaded a friend to fly his plane in front of the Ferrari to frighten away birds, but the idea hadn’t worked, because his car was faster.

“During the first lap, I was passing the first control point at 245 km/h, and I found it difficult to see the instruments, because the car vibrated—and because I had my head in the wind. The birds proved quite a problem because at the high speed I was driving, I did not give them time to fly away, and I crashed into them. There were feathers all over, and the Ferrari finished the race with its bodywork full of dents”.

Saenz Valiente would drive s/n 0374 AM once more at the Buenos Aires Spring Races, which he won, then ordered a 375 Plus and sold s/n 0374 AM to Castro Cranwell. Cranwell resold the car to Cesar Rivero and Raul Najurieta, who would do most of the driving. Najurieta’s first race was against none other than Diaz Saenz Valiente in Buenos Aires and he finished second.

Najurieta and Rivero teamed up at the Buenos Aires 1000 Km on 23 January 1955 and finished second to Diaz Saenz Valiente again. Najurieta hit his stride, trading first and second places with Diaz Saenz Valiente through the rest of the season, finally winning the Argentinean championship, the second straight championship for s/n 0374 AM.

Najurieta could not repeat his success in 1956 and 1957, with one exception. He won the 500 Miles of Argentina at Rafaela in June 1956, with a plaster cast on his broken right leg. The car’s race history ended with a 1957 crash, and it was modified with an American V-8 for street use.

Discovered in Montevideo in 1983, s/n 0374 AM was shipped to Italy and bought by Count Vittorio Zanon di Valgiurata, then-president of the Italian A.S.I, who commissioned its restoration between 1984 and 1986. Zanon purchased a correct 375 MM engine, number 0376, from noted Ferrari historian Richard Merritt in Bethesda, Maryland and entered the car in the 1987 Mille Miglia Storica. He then sold the car to Giorgio Perfetti of Switzerland, who entered the 1988 Mille Miglia.

In August 1989, 0374 AM came to the U.S. before being acquired by noted collector Yoshiyuki Hayashi in Tokyo, and then Yoshiho Matsuda. Subsequent owner and Ferrari collector Chris Cox raced and showed the car between 1998 and 1999 at such venues as the Monterey Historic Races and the famed Cavallino Classic in Florida before its acquisition by yet another well-respected Ferrari collector, John McCaw. McCaw enjoyed the car on multiple driving events, having it overhauled and maintained mechanically by Ferrari specialists DK Engineering and John Pearson. Having since been refinished in red and black, the car was finally acquired by its present owner in 2006, a recognised Ferrari authority and enthusiast. Since that time, the car has proven to be an extraordinary event car, participating and successfully completing four Colorado Grand events. RM specialists can confirm the extraordinary performance and pavement-pounding acceleration of this race-bred 375 MM, as it wound its way through the sinuous Rockies. Its exhaust note is simply intoxicating, and the power from its 340-horsepower big block, triple four-barrel carburetted and magnetoed, racing Lampredi 12-cylinder engine is nothing short of spine-snapping.

For the dedicated vintage racer and rally event participant, the offering of 0374 AM is an opportunity not to be missed. It has been featured in numerous publications, from Classic & Sports Car to Cavallino, and is well documented with period images and an extensive history file. It is, of course, at its core a stunning example of Ferrari’s most potent model in 1953: an all-conquering sports racing car piloted in period by Argentina’s most successful gentlemen drivers with back-to-back Argentinean championships. The new owner now has the privilege of writing the next chapter of its glorious history, from the corkscrew at Laguna Seca to the starting grid in Brescia.

SOME Jiggery Pokery with chassis numbers and stuff, but it has all of the markings of a great car for the big events, like the Colorado Grand or Mille Miglia, that big 4.5 Litre V12 and long bonnet. Great stuff.

 

• August 6, 2012
• Uncategorized
• 2 Comments