The Ford Mustang II doesn’t get a lot of respect. They were born during an oil crisis and when they debuted as 1974 models, they did so without a V-8 engine option. Still, their styling, size, and fuel economy made them a sales success. While their ‘70s engines and suspensions don’t do them any favors when compared to more modern Mustangs, the underlying design is worth celebrating.

Brett Behrens used a fastback from the final year of Mustang II production, 1978, to show what could be done with a lot of vision and even more talented fabrication. Now in its second iteration, this custom street machine is up for sale at Mecum’s Tulsa Auction set for June 8.

The custom build, handled by A-Team Racing in Bend, Oregon, used a C6 Chevrolet Corvette suspension front and rear, a totally custom interior, a host of body modifications, and a custom chassis. A 12-inch stretch to the wheelbase is the most striking change. It made a massive difference to the Mustang II’s troubled proportions, righting one of the most egregious wrongs in the car’s original design. The rear wheel opening was enlarged and looks like it was shifted back a bit, but most of the change came by coaxing the front wheel opening forward. The increased wheelbase drastically shortened the front overhang and had a huge impact on the car’s balance, as the engine is well behind the front spindles.

Despite plenty of custom bodywork, including new wheel openings and flares inspired by the fifth-gen Mustang, this ambitious custom still has the best bits of ‘70s style that the original Mustang II offered. The result is a purposeful stance that looks appropriate for a sporty car and it still works well 10 years after it was completed, not an easy task for a custom car this ambitious.

When this car was first built, it was painted Kona Blue and powered by a 6.8-liter Ford V-10, the kind you’d find in a Super Duty truck. The iron-block engine made a statement and although we never got to hear it driven in anger, it had to make a unique sound as it produced just shy of 400 horsepower. This version of the car is a more iconic Mustang color, Grabber Blue. We think it suits it nicely and better highlights all of the custom bodywork. The other welcome change is the switch to Coyote V-8 power. Yeah, the V-10 was interesting, but the Coyote is shorter, lighter, and more powerful. That’s tough to argue against.

We hope this car finds a new owner who will appreciate its interesting melding of Mustang styling trends and can inspire others to put some effort into rehabilitating some unloved classics, Mustang II or otherwise. It’s already got us thinking about how this sort of treatment could transform a Chevy Monza Spyder or even an AMC Gremlin. What other Malaise-era coupes would you consider?

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The post Is This the Coolest Mustang II Ever Built? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Toyota Land Cruiser probably belongs in the pantheon of automotive greats for at least two reasons: How prolific it’s been throughout history, and how charming just about every iteration has been. Even the newest one, back in the North American market after a brief hiatus, carries with it the sense of go-anywhere adventure that seems to permeate the cabin of every previous Cruiser.

But those early models, engineered to imitate the original Willys Jeeps, carry a unique appeal. Launched in 1960 and first imported to the U.S. in 1963, the FJ40 was a no-nonsense machine built to get the job done, not unlike a farm tractor with a closed cabin. It offered four-wheel-drive, relatively little in the way of creature comforts, and the now-famous all-day dependability. Rust was more likely to kill your FJ40 than any mechanical malady. The Cruiser’s rugged durability made it the prime candidate for service all over the globe; regardless of the climate, the infrastructure, or the terrain, a Land Cruiser was often—and still is—your best bet.

As a result, the vehicle grew a cult-like following that, once enough time had passed, began to celebrate those early Land Cruisers as collectibles—some of the earliest SUVs to deserve the moniker. Nowadays, we see FJ40s in collections worldwide, some bone stock, others the subjects of six-figure restorations.

This example, a 1974 FJ40, located in Beverly, Massachusetts, and currently listed on Hagerty Marketplace, wears many of the traits that make this platform so charming. According to the listing, this green and white two-tone FJ40 was imported from Colombia. (In the Land Cruiser world, your car hailing from another country—particularly one with an interesting history—can score you bonus points.)

Power comes from a 3.9-liter “F series” (No, not that F-Series) inline six with a cast iron block. Interestingly, the F series engine drew a lot of engineering inspiration from GM’s inline-sixes (think Chevy’s Stovebolt Six and the like). This FJ40’s engine mates to a three-speed manual transmission that drives the rear wheels, or all four corners through a dual-range transfer case. The simple 15-inch steel wheels feature Pirelli Scorpion S/T tires and there’s a matching spare out back.

Inside, you’ll find a vinyl-upholstered bench seat up front and two folding benches facing each other in the rear. This one has the “ambulance” doors at the rear that open sideways to offer better ingress/egress. Other features include an aftermarket Kenwood stereo, sliding rear windows, gauges for oil pressure, coolant temp, amperage, and fuel level, a locking fuel door, and more.

According to the listing, the FJ40‘s five-digit odometer shows roughly 19,400 kilometers (around 12,000 miles), but the true mileage is unknown. On a vehicle this straightforward and reliable, we’re inclined to think that’s the number that matters the least here. The sale will include the Land Cruiser owner’s manual, a set of four keys, and a clean title. At the time of this writing, the leading bid sits at $5000 with six days remaining in the auction.

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These days, almost any vehicle on the road with even a hint of off-roading pretense sports some combination of boxy styling, tall tires, and hoisted bumpers front and rear. They’re dirt-aggro, in all—or most of—the right ways.

But that wasn’t always the case. Back in the 1990s, things got a little, erm, weird. Case in point: The two off-road oddballs you see here.

Meet contestant number 1, a 1998 Mitsubishi Pajero Jr. Flying Pug, a boxy, topply little thing with a face best fit for radio. The one seen here is part of Mecum’s Indianapolis auction, slated to cross the block on Thursday, May 16.

The Pajero Jr. was an off-road SUV produced for the JDM market exclusively between 1995 and 1998. Riding on the platform that underpinned the contemporary Mitsubishi Minica, a tiny little hatchback also only sold in Japan, the Pajero Jr.’s svelte footprint allowed it to fit under the “small size car” limitations of the Japanese government, thus lowering the tax burden owners would face when they bought the little two-door ute.

Despite the tiny proportions and a 1.1-liter, 79-hp four-cylinder engine, this thing had real off-road chops. Power routes through a wee three-speed automatic transmission that turns the rear wheels by default, but the real four-wheel-drive system offers high- and low-range capabilities.

To drum up interest in the little dirt devil, Mitsubishi created several special-edition versions of the Pajero Jr., including the Flying Pug. (Brief moment of appreciation for the idea of a snub-nosed dog cruising through the air. Probably with a cape, because these little cars are nothing if not optimistic.)

The Flying Pug was the third special-edition Pajero Jr., styled to look like a classic British car. Built from September 1997 to June 1998, the Flying Pug was Mitsubishi’s attempt to capitalize on the rising popularity of older British cars in Japan. The results were … well, not great. The contemporary motoring press criticized the Flying Pug for having an ugly face, and although 1000 units were planned, a mere 139 saw the light of day before Mitsubishi axed the thing due to slow sales.

Styling notwithstanding, this little fella is in remarkably good condition, with the wine-colored paintwork still shining brilliantly, and the gray interior showing very few signs of wear. According to Mecum’s listing, this one has plenty of nice features, including air conditioning, power locks, power windows, tinted glass, and a folding rear seat that gives our little Pugger quite a bit of cargo capacity. The odometer displays 116,044 kilometers, which translates to about 72,100 miles. Our regards to the brave soul(s) who bopped about in this thing.

Tea-time trucklet not really your vibe? Might we interest you in contestant number 2: The 1996 Heuliez Intruder convertible? This one-of-one concept, which debuted at the 1996 Paris Salon, will cross the block tomorrow at Bonhams’ Miami auction, and woof is it a sight to behold.

The shapely convertible bodywork comes courtesy of French coachbuilder Heuliez, a shop founded in the 1920s that spent decades designing buses and commercial vehicles through the 1970s but then turned to cars. Among Heuliez’s body of work are two ’80s rally icons: the Renault 5 Turbo, a mid-engine, boost-huffing, flared-fender Group 4/Group B monster, and the Peugeot 205 T16, a similarly riotous little hatch that nabbed two World Rally Championships in Group B.

This beast, however, is very much not of that ilk. The Intruder rides on the chassis of a Mercedes G320 off-roader—that’s right, there’s a G-Wagen under there. The bodywork is unique from the floorplans up, styled by and constructed under the watchful eye of designer Marc Deschamps. It’s part Tonka truck, part contemporary SLK, part G-Wagen, all absurdity.

Power comes from the G320’s M104 3.2-liter twin-cam inline-six, which is rated for 208 hp. The Intruder retains all the G320’s other running gear as well, including the four-speed automatic transmission; the live front and rear axles; and the locking front, center, and rear differentials. There’s a full 12 inches of ground clearance under there, meaning this thing could really get down and dirty if you needed it to.

The interior is mostly off-the-shelf Mercedes parts, including the seats, although those now wear wild blue leather. The convertible top is fully functional, according to the listing, and can either be stored in the trunk or removed entirely.

After a tour of the show circuit, where the Intruder wore many different paint jobs, including red, white, and the silver you see here, it arrived at DK Engineering, a restoration firm in England. There, the Intruder was treated to an extensive restoration that reportedly cost around $300,000. It was imported to the States earlier this year and is now offered for sale with promotional brochures, extensive documentation of the restoration, and much more.

You could have any old Bronco, Wrangler, or 4Runner for your off-roading exploits, but where’s the fun in that? If you want to go that extra step, perhaps you need a little Flying Pug or (a lot of) Intruder in your life. Variety is the spice … well, you know the rest.

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“Collecting” can mean a lot of things when it comes to car-related artwork. It could be a 12-year-old boy with two Ferrari posters on his wall or a multi-millionaire with a warehouse full of Grand Prix posters and hood ornaments—passion is passion. Auto art can be had at any price point. It also doesn’t take up much room, nor does it require any real upkeep the way a real car does. If you have limited space, you can even switch up what you’re displaying at any given time. That’s probably what we’d do with this group of period Bertone blueprint drawings, currently up for auction online in Italy.

According to the listing the 1/10-scale drawings, printed on semi-transparent acetate tracing paper, came from a long-term Bertone employee who kept them in his own collection before giving them to the seller’s grandfather about 40 years ago. They are each supposedly one of only three prints made from a paper master, and they range in size with the largest ones roughly four feet wide.

The group totals 14 drawings and features various (mostly Italian) cars and designers. Two of the largest illustrations show the Lamborghini Miura and Lancia Stratos (both by Marcello Gandini at Bertone). Other Bertone-designed pieces include a Citroën GS, Fiat Dino Coupe, and ISO Rivolta GT. A Lancia Delta (by Italdesign) and an Alfa Romeo Junior Z (by Ercole Spada) are included as well. Finally, there are two renderings of the short-lived postwar Bugatti 101, both signed by Giovanni Michelotti at Ghia.

Different cars, different designers, different sizes. Sounds like a great way to kickstart an automotive art collection. Bidding for the 14 drawings ends on Tuesday, May 7. What they’ll sell for isn’t easy to guess, but that’s the beauty of auctions like this. We’ll find out what it’s worth once people stop bidding.

The post Snag These Bertone Blueprints And Start Your Automotive Art Collection appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Barrett-Jackson has been coming to Palm Beach (technically, West Palm Beach) at the South Florida Fairgrounds since the mid-2000s, making this the auction house’s most enduring auction that’s not in Arizona. B-J’s sale here consistently brings over 600 vehicles and dozens of vendors to the venue for a smaller version of the collector car fanfare we’re used to seeing in and around Scottsdale. This year, total sales were a solid $45M and average price was rather high at more than $74,000, but there were plenty of budget-friendly four-figure classics as well.

Indeed, Palm Beach usually offers a wide range of vehicles at a wide range of prices, and this year was no different, although offerings at the top end were less diverse. Five of the top 10 sales were a Ford GT of some sort, and eight of the top 10 were built after the year 2000. Only a 1966 Corvette restomod and the replica Dodge Daytona from Joe Dirt brought some American muscle into the top 10.

We examined some of the more interesting cars and significant sales in detail below.

Lot 692: 1972 DeTomaso Pantera

Sold for $176,000

Chassis no. THPNMB02424. Red over black vinyl. Visually maintained, largely original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 351/330hp, 5-speed, Campagnolo wheels, Becker Europa radio, power windows, air conditioning.

Condition: Represented with 1592 actual miles and its preservation is impressive. It shows careful ownership and only light age inside and out, although the paint does not look original.

Bottom line: An early Pantera that hasn’t been cut up or modified is already impressive, doubly so when it is as well preserved as this. The car has been to auction a few times, and bidders have always appropriately recognized its originality by paying a premium price for it. Its auction history also does a good job of tracing the market for these Italo-American sports cars over time. At Mecum Indy in 2014, it sold for $86,400. At Indy again six years later and in a hot 2020 market, it sold for $148,500. At Kissimmee 2022 and in an even hotter market, it brought $181,500, while in 2024 among softer but still high prices it took a small step back in price.

Lot 677: 1987 Buick Regal GNX

Sold for $156,200

Chassis no. 1G4GJ1174HP451735. Black over black and gray cloth. Unrestored original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 231/276hp, automatic, Goodyear Eagle tires.

Condition: Number 438 of 547 built. Showing 1309 miles and the tires are represented as original. Very well kept and preserved.

Bottom line: The GNX was one of the fastest and most desirable American cars of the 1980s. They’ve never really fallen out of favor, but it wasn’t until the last few years that they became six-figure modern collector cars. Way back in 2000, this one sold at RM’s Phoenix auction for just $30,800. Its odometer showed 534 miles and it was in essentially the same condition as it is today. It really is worth five times as much as it was 24 years ago.

Lot 745: 2005 Ford GT Twin-Turbo by Hefner Performance

Sold for $374,000

Chassis no. 1FAFP90SX5Y400061. Midnight Blue with white stripes over black.

Equipment: Twin-turbocharged, Ford Performance exhaust, shorty headers, Penske shocks, transmission oil cooler, removed rear bumper, 6-speed, painted calipers, McIntosh stereo, BBS wheels.

Condition: Paint shows some swirling and scratching but no major issues. Oddly, neither the mileage nor the horsepower numbers are represented.

Bottom line: This is an early production GT modified by an outfit in Florida, and although there are no dyno sheets, it is surely very fast. To drive, it’s probably a blast. As a collector car, though, the mods and the signs of use are knocks against it, and there are cleaner 2005-06 GTs to choose from that hit the auction block every month. Or even the same day, as the 597-mile car Barrett-Jackson sold 20 lots earlier than this brought $451,000.

Lot 440: 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet by Gemballa

Sold for $110,000

Chassis no. WP0CB2965LS472097. Black over black leather. Original, #3+

Equipment: 3.6, 5-speed, whale tail, Gemballa wheels, Michelin Pilot Sport tires, white gauges, Pioneer stereo, carbon fiber dash.

Condition: Showing 75,514 miles. Some minor paint blemishes on the nose and mirrors. A few small cracks in the headlight covers. Clean wheels. Clean, straight top. Good interior with stretched upholstery on the driver’s side. Pretty understated for a Gemballa.

Bottom line: Uwe Gemballa founded a tuning company in 1981 and became a big name in modern coachbuilding, at least until he was murdered in South Africa in 2010. Gemballa-modified cars (mostly Porsches) are distinctive at best and ugly at worst, but they’ve never been boring, even if this is one of the more understated body kits they ever did. Body-kitted and tuned exotics like Gemballas, Koenigs, early AMGs, etc. were a bit passé for a while but collectors of a certain age are coming around to them. The bidders recognized this one for what it is, and that it isn’t just a 911 with a kit slapped on at the local body shop. Despite its use, the car sold for a big price. A regular 964-generation Carrera 4 cabriolet would never sell for this much, even in perfect condition.

Lot 356: 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II

Sold for $27,500

Chassis no. SRK38123. Chestnut over biscuit leather. Visually maintained, largely underneath.

Equipment: Automatic, wheel covers, narrow whitewalls, power windows, air conditioning, original AM/FM.

Condition: Supposedly bought “nearly new” for talk show host Jack Paar as a gift from his wife. Represented with $30,000 worth of work over the past six months. Old repaint with a few blemishes but nothing serious. Lightly aged bumpers. Excellent interior. Tidy underneath. The recent mechanical work is very reassuring on any old Rolls-Royce, and the celebrity connection, while not super-relevant, is a nice bonus.

Bottom line: Jack Paar was a TV pioneer, but the number of people who really remember his tenure at The Tonight Show (1957-62) can’t be big. He also wasn’t known as a big car person (at least not the way later host Jay Leno is), and he owned this Rolls well past the peak of his career. The celebrity appeal here, then, is limited. The price, however, is on the high side for a Silver Shadow—one of the avenues to getting a true Spirit of Ecstasy on your hood. Credit the $30,000 worth of recent service, which isn’t usually lavished on affordable Rolls-Royces like this one.

Lot 675.1: 1999 Shelby Series 1

Sold for $165,000

Chassis no. 5CXSA1817XL000039. Silver with blue stripes over black and gray. Original, #2- condition.

Equipment: 244/320hp Oldsmobile V8, 6-speed, Nitto tires.

Condition: Some chips on the nose and dirt behind the headlight covers. Paint crack behind the left headlight. Very light wear on the driver’s seat. Showing 1360 miles and showing very light signs of age.

Bottom line: Despite its looks, the Series I wasn’t quite the Cobra successor it could have been, and people have been holding that against it ever since it came out. Original specifications called for a carbon-fiber body, Corvette transaxle, and 500 horsepower, but the reality was more modest. It got heavier, and the Olds V8 offered up less power, and the price climbed higher than anticipated. Objectively, it’s a great-looking car that’s plenty fast, but it’s always been undervalued relative to its rarity (249 built) and the famous name attached to it. Only in the past 10 years or so have prices really started to climb. In Palm Beach two years ago, this one sold for $126,500, which was on the modest side. The 2024 price is a better match for its mileage and condition.

Lot 788: 1961 Renault 4CV Jolly Beach Wagon

Sold for $36,300

Chassis no. 3607757. Cream yellow with yellow and white cloth top over wicker seats. Older restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: 747/21hp four-cylinder, 3-speed, hub caps.

Condition: Represented as one of 50 exported to the U.S. and Caribbean, and bought new by the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas. With the same family for the past 40 years and restored 10 years ago. Good paint. Light pitting on the chrome, including on the edges of the exterior grab bars. The wicker is all original and in solid shape aside from a few cracks. The dash and steering wheel are mostly clean, but the ignition around the keyhole is pitted. The top is a little dirty and aged. A perfect beach car with all the charm of a Fiat Jolly but for a lower cost.

Bottom line: Most of coachbuilder Ghia’s beach car, aka “Jolly”, bodies were on Fiats. The Italian cars are better known and more highly prized. Well-restored ones have sold for well over $100,000. But this Renault has all the charm and similar performance, or lack thereof, for a much lower cost. Are there cheaper ways to hit the beach in style? Certainly, but this is still so much charm and fun per dollar.

Lot 767.1: 2020 Porsche Boxster 718 Spyder

Sold for $126,500

Chassis no. WP0CC2A8XLS240606. Chalk with red top over red and gray. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 4.0/414hp, 6-speed, black wheels, red calipers, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.

Condition: Showing 8086 miles and no real age or wear.

Bottom line: Six figures for a Boxster just sounds wrong, but the 718 Spyder is not your hairdresser’s Boxster. Essentially an open version of the Cayman GT4, it has aero bits on the body, suspension bits and brakes from a 911 GT3, and a much more powerful engine than the base car. It can hit nearly 190 mph. A 2020 718 Spyder started at a little over $97K, so with options this has always been a six-figure car, and the fact that a high-performance Porsche didn’t depreciate after four years and 8000 miles isn’t really surprising.

Lot 370.1: 1970 AMC Rebel Machine

Sold for $69,300

Chassis no. A0M190Y171202. White, blue and red over black vinyl. Older restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: 390/340hp, 4-speed with Hurst T-handle shifter, limited-slip and Detroit Locker, Magnum 500-style wheels, BFG Radial T/A tires, high-back bucket seats, console.

Condition: Decent paint with some scratches and touch-ups on the nose and a spot of surface rust under one of the headlights. Decent chrome, but the rest of the brightwork is original and tired. Clean wheels and tires. Upholstery looks newer while the dash and switchgear looks original, and overall the interior looks good. Inconsistent presentation, but a rare piece of AMC muscle that always makes a statement, and a patriotic one at that.

Bottom line: The Rebel was a short-lived model, only lasting from 1967 to 1970, and for its final year Hurst developed a high-performance version called the Rebel Machine. Based on a Rebel SST, it had the most powerful engine available in an AMC product and was dressed up with red, white, and blue reflective stripes. For 2326 buyers, it was an economical way to get in on the peak of the muscle car craze. They’re still economical, at least relative to their style, performance, and rarity. This result is realistic for the condition of this example.

Lot 791.1: 1996 Nissan Skyline GT-R LM Limited

Sold for $105,600

Chassis no. BCNR33023215. Championship Blue over gray cloth. Original, #2- condition.

Equipment: RHD. 2568/276hp, 5-speed with aftermarket shift knob, alloy wheels, Brembo brakes, aftermarket radio, aftermarket exhaust.

Condition: One of 188 LM Limited GT-Rs. Showing 118,190 km (73,440 miles) but recently serviced and looks quite good with a recent detailing. The paint and wheels are blemish-free. It’s clean underneath and the interior looks great as well.

Bottom line: Built briefly in the spring of 1996, the LM Limited was built to celebrate Nissan’s efforts at Le Mans with the R33-generation GT-R, even though those efforts were unsuccessful after four tries at La Sarthe. All 188 cars got Championship Blue paint, special decals, a carbon spoiler blade, different cooling ducts, and a bonnet lip. This is one of the more valuable variants of the R33 (1995-98). The price here seems a bit modest given the mileage and condition, but this auction was also very light on JDM favorites and the right bidders may just not have been in the room.

Lot 731: 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Mk I Vantage Coupe

Sold for $238,700

Chassis no. DB62805R. Fiesta Red over gray leather. Older restoration, #3+ condition.

Equipment: RHD. 3995/325hp, 5-speed, wire wheels, Vredestein tires, wood rim steering wheel, radio.

Condition: Restored in the late 1990s in the UK by RS Williams. Good older paint and chrome. Tidy, visibly but lightly run engine. Lightly aged and wrinkled leather. Older paint. Grimy underbody. Lightly aged restoration on a well-equipped Aston.

Bottom line: This DB6 isn’t perfect and the RHD is a knock to its desirability, but it’s a genuine Vantage wearing a high-quality (if older) restoration by a well-known specialist. It sold for $240,00 on Bring a Trailer just a few months ago in February, with unanswered questions and a lien on the car putting off bidders there. A $240K sale price is very low, low enough that taking it straight to Barrett-Jackson for a flip probably seemed like easy money. But it wasn’t, and given the fee structure of Bring a Trailer vs. B-J, the seller actually lost quite a bit of money here.

Lot 742: 2022 Ford GT Alan Mann Heritage Edition

Sold for $1,292,500

Chassis no. 2FAGP9EW4NH200027. Alan Mann Red, gold and white over black. Original, #2 condition.

Equipment: 213/660hp V6, paddle-shift 7-speed.

Condition: 16 miles, looks new, and pretty much is.

Bottom line: Ford spun off 10 different special editions of the 2016-22 GT, many of them playing on the theme of “Heritage.” The Alan Mann version is a tribute to Alan Mann Racing, the English team that raced GT40s in the ’60s as well as other Ford products like the Falcon, Lotus Cortina, and Escort. Alan Mann also gave the Mustang its first race victory in 1964. Just 30 examples of this special edition GT were produced for 2022. There were seven different Heritage Edition GTs, and whereas base cars typically sell for just under $1M these days, somewhere around $1.2M is more the norm for the Heritage cars.

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Ol’ Pete Brock sure had a way with a pen, didn’t he? His Shelby Daytona Coupes are some of the most gorgeous race cars to grace a track. What’s more, with the mechanical backing of Carroll Shelby-fettled 289 Ford V-8s and the underpinnings of a Cobra, these beauties carved their name in racing lore by cruising to the 1965 FIA World Manufacturer’s Championship, besting the likes of Ferrari by a longshot. In just two short years, the Daytona Coupes had amassed a pedigree more stunning than their bodywork. Just six Daytona Coupes were made, however, and with a reputation like that, they’re all but unobtanium now.

Luckily, a few small-scale manufacturers have tried their hand at recreating this iconic silhouette. Perhaps the most well-known is Factory Five, the kit-car company many turn to for replicas of not only the Daytona Coupe, but also the Cobra. Factory Five calls its Daytona rep the “Type 65,” and it’s a convincing tribute to the real deal.

If the idea of rolling to your next meet-up or track day in this nod to racing royalty sounds like something you could get down with, check out this 2016 Type 65, currently up for sale on Hagerty Marketplace.

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Factory Five began offering the Type 65 back in 1999, and in 2016 released the third-generation kit. Updates included additional cockpit space, an improved body shape, and a completely revamped, modernized space frame. According to Factory Five’s website, the third-gen car does not share a single chassis, panel, or body component with the previous gen-one and gen-two cars.

This third-gen Type 65, sporting Serial No. 180 out of the 482 built in 2016, was originally assembled by Wayne Presley of Very Cool Parts in Enterprise, Alabama, and was then acquired by the Hagerty collection right after. The car has remained in the Hagerty garage in Traverse City, Michigan, seeing only light use since arriving, according to the listing.

Features include a black powder-coated chassis, body cutouts, standard-width front lower control arms, coupe nose scoops, and air conditioning. Power comes from a Ford 347 cubic-inch small-block V-8 with Holley Sniper electronic fuel-injection system and dual side-exit exhaust pipes on either side of the vehicle. The engine mates to a Tremec T5 five-speed manual transmission, which spins the rear wheels through a 2015 Mustang differential with 3.55:1 gears.

Braking hardware is similarly stout. All four corners feature discs clamped by Wilwood calipers. Koni coil-over shocks handle damping duties. The Halibrand-style 18-inch wheels are wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport tires measuring 275/35 ZR18 up front and 315/30 ZR18 at the rear, and a matching spare wheel and tire are included.

The car’s cabin features aluminum race seats with Simpson five-point harnesses, a factory roll cage, a fire extinguisher, and a quick-release steering wheel, meaning it should be ready to go if you were looking to tackle track days in it.

Recent service items include a new power steering pump and new gas struts for the engine cover. Known imperfections include a few paint chips and a small chip in the windshield.

With just 10,966 miles recorded at the time of the listing, this low-mile Type 65 might be your ticket to vintage racing delight, or, if nothing else, the perfect conversation starter at your next cars & coffee event. At the time of this writing, the leading bid sits at $15,500. The auction ends Monday, May 6, and with no reserve put on the car, it’s bound for someone else’s garage no matter what.

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The world’s only brown-on-brown McLaren F1, which sold for a stunning $20,465,000 at auction in 2021, is up for sale once more.

The three-seater supercar was originally sold to an owner in Japan in 1995, and was delivered with a selection of stylish accessories, including a set of custom-fit luggage trimmed in the same leather as the car’s cabin. A FACOM tool chest, a tool roll, and a bespoke Tag Heuer 6000 chronometer watch inscribed with the chassis number 029 were also provided.

After its time in Japan the F1 spent its life in the U.S.A. where it accrued only 390 km (242 miles) in 25 years. The F1, in its unique combination of Creighton Brown over a Light Tan/Brazilian Brown, has added just three miles to its odometer in the three years since it set a world record at Gooding & Company’s Monterey Car Week auction.

After its 2021 sales smash Hagerty’s Andrew Newton predicted that the F1’s rise is far from over, suggesting that it could reach the dizzying heights of the Ferrari GTO.

“Today, this king of the 1990s is one of the most valuable cars in the world. F1s officially became eight-figure cars in the mid-2010s, and their condition #2 values in the Hagerty Price Guide rose 497 percent from 2011-21,” he explained. “It’s a big jump, but Gordon Murray’s magnum opus still has plenty of room to grow. Consider another, more established god-tier collector car – the Ferrari 250 GTO, which is worth between $36M and $70M in the Hagerty Price Guide. Despite their age difference, the two have so much in common (dominance on-track, very limited production, apex status for the era, naturally aspirated V-12s, usability, and active/exclusive owners’ clubs) that it’s easy to view the Ferrari and the McLaren in a similar light and as cars that could carry similar values in the not-too-distant future.”

Now the car is being offered by Sotheby’s Sealed in New York on May 13. As the name suggests this is a sealed bids auction and the final price paid won’t be revealed, but you can bet it will be big.

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Pontiac’s beautiful 1964 prototype, unceremoniously dubbed XP-833 during its development, is one of our favorite concepts out of GM’s talented design department of the era. Just two were built, one with a retractable soft top, and one with a removable fastback hard top. The latter is currently up for sale with an asking price of $1.2 million.

We featured the soft-top XP-833 a few years ago and our author got to spend some time behind the wheel. Rather than a show car that was cobbled together to be a static sculpture, the prototypes, while rushed, were built to highlight how such a car could be affordably built using GM’s vast parts bin. As such, they’re quite well-built and roadworthy.

The car’s overall look is reminiscent of the C3 Corvette that debuted for the 1968 model year, and it also features a fiberglass body. However, some significant cues differ. Up front, its hidden headlights seemed to preview the Opel GT, which concealed its beams by rolling the housings longitudinally. The rear of the car transitions into a tail that more closely resembles the 1970 Firebird. The example up for sale is the hard-top version, featuring a sleek removable fastback, another detail that differs from the Stingray, which featured a tunneled backlight in coupe form and a removable hardtop that closely mimicked the convertible top. We must say, the fastback suits it.

Of the two prototypes, this is the only one powered by Pontiac’s OHC inline-six engine. The overhead cam architecture was still novel for an American car engine at the time, and Pontiac was the only GM division to use it. It made its production debut in the 1966 Tempest and was also used in the Firebird. Never as muscular as the V-8, the OHC engine was still capable, and Sprint versions produced more than 200 hp. It would have made an excellent base engine considering the XP-833 was expected to weigh less than 2500 pounds.

All too often, GM gets vehicles ironed out just before pulling the plug on production. In the case of the XP-833, its designers got the lines just right and it never even got the chance to hit showrooms. It’s easy to imagine a Pontiac lineup that included this shapely convertible as its halo car as a lighter, inline-six alternative to the more muscular Corvette, and of course a V-8 would have been optional as long as John DeLorean hat his way. This beautiful experiment would be the centerpiece of any Pontiac fan’s collection, or anyone who values mid-century American design. We hope it finds a proper home.

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Welcome to This Week on Hagerty Marketplace, a new and recurring recap of the previous week’s most noteworthy cars and significant sales from the Hagerty Marketplace online auctions.

The bulk of cars sold with Hagerty Marketplace over the last seven days come from a collection out of Boca Raton, Florida. Vintage luxury was the dominant flavor, with the occasional Ford hot rod, Cobra replica, and Beetle convertible thrown in for good measure. It wasn’t all Florida flavor, though, as we witnessed some JDM charm crossing the virtual auction block as well. Here are the standout sales:

1969 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE Coupe

Sold for $48,150

Mercedes-Benz sold the W111 platform in numerous versions from 1959-71, an era when the company delivered some of its most timeless, handsome models and constructed them like tanks. The two-door 280SE is the arguably best-looking, most well-known, and most highly prized of the series; this two-tone coupe is reportedly a U.S.-market car upgraded to European spec with single-piece glass headlights and removed side reflectors. It moved for solid, condition #3+ (Good) money.

1937 Rolls-Royce 25/30HP Park Ward Landaulette

Sold for $41,302

The 20/25 was the bread-and-butter Rolls-Royce from 1929 to 1936. And although it was technically the entry-level model, it was still a Rolls-Royce. As such, many examples received wild bodywork from premier coachbuilders. This one was skinned by Park Ward of London as a landaulette (sometimes written as landaulet), which is a closed car over the front seats but has a folding roof over the important folks riding out back. It also has a sliding division window, rear jump seats, and vanities. Vintage Rolls-Royces are rarely cheap, but even ones with rare, interesting coachbuilt bodywork like this can be surprisingly inexpensive to buy.

1991 Nissan Figaro

Sold for $17,120

There aren’t many cheaper ways to turn heads than one of these quirky, retro-styled JDM gems. Available exclusively to Japanese customers over three batches in 1991, the Nissan Figaro was deliberately old school with its wide grille, circular headlights, soft curves, thin steering wheel, and vintage-style gauges and switchgear. It was so popular that Nissan sold all 20,000 units via a lottery system. Since turning 25 years old and therefore gaining exemption from U.S. import restrictions, American enthusiasts have gotten to enjoy the Figaro, too.

Figaros were available in four paint colors to represent the seasons: Topaz Mist (autumn), Emerald Green (spring), Pale Aqua (summer), and Lapis Grey (winter). This one wears the wintry Lapis Grey with a white retractable top. Figaros are easy to fall for and their prices are up a remarkable 68 percent over the last five years, but the $17K sale price here shows how unusual, fun cars are still out there at entry-level prices.

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Six feet, four inches: That’s the height of actor Tom Selleck, who debuted in the CBS detective series Magnum, P.I. on December 11, 1980. Selleck was so tall that padding had to be removed from the driver’s seat cushion of his Ferrari 308 GTS so his head wouldn’t stick out of the top of the car during filming.

At 79, it’s unlikely Selleck could leap into his Ferrari the way he did through the show’s eight-year run. But for many of us who grew up during Magnum’s tenure in Hawaii, posters of his appropriately Rosso Corsa red Ferrari hung on our bedroom walls, forever imprinting the coolness of the Prancing Horse brand.

So you may be excused for a bit of primal blood-rush when you see this Auction Pick of the Week: A Euro-model 1982 Ferrari 308 GTSi, finished, of course, in Rosso Corsa.

The Ferrari 308 GTB, designed by Leonardo Fioravanti, was first shown to substantial acclaim at the 1975 Paris Salon. It was a successor to the Dino, but it wore true Ferrari badges, and this example is powered by the comparatively durable 2.9-liter V-8 with the Bosch K Jetronic fuel injection, paired with the syncromesh five-speed manual transmission with a gated shifter.

By the end of 1977, Ferrari had added the 308 GTS model, which it called a Spider, but it was really a targa roof, with a vinyl-covered removable panel that could be stashed behind the seats. The GTS quickly outsold the fixed-roof GTB, and the design allowed owners to experience fresh-air motoring and still be able to lock up their 308 without having to deal with a soft top.

This particular car comes with multiple options, including fog lights,16-inch, five-spoke wheels with Continental ExtremeContact Sport tires, and air conditioning, which is currently inoperable. It’s a desirable Euro-market model, fitted with U.S.-spec bumpers and side marker lights. The car has an aftermarket Kenwood sound system.

Last August, the engine was the subject of a major timing belt and ignition service which also included a compressor conversion, full fluids change, and a new exhaust system.

Known imperfections are minor rock chips on the front bumper and spoiler, minor paint bubbles on the lower passenger-side door, and headrest leather that is “dry and creased.” The current owner says that he has found no evidence of rust.

This Ferrari is no trailer queen, with just under 80,000 miles showing on the odometer. “Every car I own, I drive, and I have great folks locally that help me make sure a car will do everything it was originally designed to do, and this car does exactly that,” says the owner. “I do not trust the cars that have not been driven, maintained and enjoyed.”

Want to relive those Magnum, P.I. dreams? Bidding ends Tuesday, April 16, at 3 p.m. ET.

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Collectively, we pity the fool (but be careful using that phrase—it was trademarked by the man who made it famous, Mr. T) who tries to replicate the charcoal GMC van from his series The A-Team, the oddly-non-Emmy-winning NBC television show from the mid-1980s.

Not because it’s so hard to do—after all, there’s a YouTube video on how to build a replica of the A-Team van—but because it’s so much easier just to buy one at auction.

Which, incidentally, will be possible this Saturday at Mecum’s auction in Houston. The van is part of the 10-vehicle Texas Movie Car Collection, which will be sold consecutively, likely in the afternoon, judging from the lot numbers.

It appears, however, that none of the vehicles have ever actually been in a movie, or on a TV show. They are all replicas, except for two of the four NASCAR Cup cars, which apparently are very real. Besides the A-Team van, they include:

The Flintstones Flintmobile Golf Cart, which features “simulated wood construction” and “decorative front and rear rollers”—decorative in the sense that the Flintmobile actually motors along on golf cart tires. It’s powered by four batteries. Yabba, dabba, don’t try to operate it on public roads.

The 1923 Ford Munsters Koach Replica, certainly the most ambitious of the offered vehicles. Its V-8 engine has an “ornamental multi-carb setup placed on top of air cleaner,” which sits atop an Edelbrock four-barrel carburetor. A bonus: It’s signed by Butch Patrick, the actor who played little Eddie Munster. Patrick is 70 now.

A 1952 Chevrolet Ice Cream Truck, which apparently isn’t modeled after a movie or TV vehicle, but does have a Tecumseh 110-volt refrigeration compressor located behind the rear axle, along with a Honeywell 110-volt fan in the fiberglass freezer box.

The 1966 Chrysler Imperial Custom Sedan, which is “built to resemble the Black Beauty from The Green Hornet TV series.” It’s powered by a V-8 with an automatic transmission. This may turn off some potential buyers: Front and rear missile launchers and trunk-mounted machine guns are “simulated.”

This 1984 Chevrolet K5 Blazer, “built to replicate Chief Jim Hopper’s Blazer from the TV show Stranger Things,” sort of comes from left field. It includes “simulated bullet holes and Hawkins Police Department graphics.”

The four stock cars include replicas of a Darrell Waltrip 1987 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS and a Richard Petty 1982 Pontiac Grand Prix Aerocoupe, which is signed by Petty. The real stock cars are a 2007 Chevrolet Impala which was (“purportedly”) driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and a Tony Stewart 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Both of those cars are powered by 850-horsepower V-8s. The dashboard of the Tony Stewart car bears a sign that says, “KEEP YOUR HAND OUT OF THE SNAKE’S MOUTH.” We aren’t sure what it means, but it seems like good advice.

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So many Smokey and the Bandit tribute cars have crossed the auction block in recent years that it’s difficult to keep track of them all. What’s different about this one? According to Barrett-Jackson, the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SE being auctioned at its April 18-20 Palm Beach event was the last one personally owned by Burt Reynolds.

As the story goes, Smokey and the Bandit was such a runaway hit that General Motors promised Reynolds a new car every year for life. Reynolds, who died in September 2018 at age 82, later joked that when the cars stopped showing up he was told that the deal was not for the rest of Reynolds’ life but “the president’s life—and he’s dead now.” That didn’t stop Reynolds from owning several Bandit Trans Ams, however, including a custom 1979 model that sold for more than $300,000 in June 2019.

Barrett-Jackson describes this ’77 Trans Am, painted black with gold and emblazoned with its iconic screaming chicken, as “the only currently licensed and tagged Burt Reynolds’ Trans Am left,” and it says the car has been authenticated by Reynolds’ estate. “Carefully restored by Bandit Movie Cars in Florida to Mr. Reynolds’ specifications, every detail was thought out and discussed with Mr. Reynolds, from the correct antenna to the proper tires from the movie.”

VIN 2W87Z7N146448 is powered by a 6.6-liter 8-cylinder engine paired with a three-speed automatic transmission. Since Reynolds passing, the car has been cared for by Reynolds’ friend and business partner, Gene Kennedy. It has 45,330 miles on the odometer and wears Reynolds’ famous “BAN ONE” Florida license plate.

A 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SE in #1 (Concours) condition carries an average value of $124,000, but considering Reynolds’ ownership and his second-place standing on the Hagerty Power List, it should go for much more than that.

Reynolds was Hollywood’s top-grossing star for five consecutive years from 1978–82. In addition to Smokey and the Bandit (and Smokey and the Bandit II), he was best known for Deliverance, The Longest Yard, and Semi-Tough. Of course, it was the original Bandit movie that struck a chord with American moviegoers for its rebellious theme and hilarious banter, and it catapulted Reynolds to superstar status. 

And, although technically Smokey and the Bandit starred Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, and Jackie Gleason, Reynolds admitted that the real star of the 1977 comedy was the Trans Am.

“When we saw that car, we all fell apart,” Reynolds once told Powernation. “I’d never seen one; Jerry’d never seen one; the whole crew was amazed. And then we got in it, and I had fun with it … It was a rush to drive that car.”

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Bill Shea is at it again. The Massachusetts collector, who specializes in automotive, movie, and World War II items, is the winning bidder for a very rough 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that was used as a stunt vehicle in Steve McQueen’s final film, The Hunter.

The dilapidated Poncho set Shea back $99,750 including fees, which is about six times the average value of a similar model in #4 (Fair) condition, proving once again the power of McQueen’s stardom—and Shea’s love for Hollywood icons. In 2011, he paid more than $500,000 for a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 that appeared in all three segments of the Back to the Future trilogy.

“I’d buy more,” Shea said in a six-year-old YouTube video about the DeLorean, “but I like being married.”

Shea, who owns several McQueen motorcycles, wrote “HELL YEAH BABY!” in the comments section when the McQueen Firebird auction closed and he was declared the winner. Congratulatory messages from other users followed, as did notes of surprise from some about the amount that Shea was willing to pay for a car in that state, McQueen-adjacent or otherwise. This is just the latest sale among many that shows how strong the McQueen factor can be—as we’ve noted in the Hagerty Power List. This Trans Am was, after all, the last special car associated with the noted-car-guy actor; The Hunter was released in August 1980, and McQueen died three months later.

According to Bring a Trailer, VIN #29N100008 remained in the Pontiac Motor Division show car fleet following its assembly in November 1978, but it was sold a year later to Paramount Pictures and used as a stunt vehicle in the McQueen film. It was one of two cars used for an explosion scene, explaining its condition (including missing body panels and burns to the passenger side of the dashboard), and it was gifted to a farmer in Illinois as compensation for aiding the crew in the production of the movie. The Firebird was stored in the farmer’s barn for nearly 40 years before it was obtained by the seller in 2018.

Among the car’s features are a non-running 403-cubic-inch V-8 mated to a three-speed automatic transmission and Safe-T-Track limited-slip differential, along with the WS6 Special Performance Package, which added power-assisted four-wheel disc brakes, a quick-ratio steering box, and a larger sway bar.

The Firebird’s camel-colored vinyl dash features a 100-mph speedometer, a 6000-rpm tachometer, auxiliary gauges, inset analog clock, and a five-digit odometer that shows 1300 miles. The Firebird also has bucket seats and snowflake-style, 15-inch wheels with gold accents and 225/70 Goodyear Polysteel Radial white-letter tires. (The seller notes that the front right tire does not hold air, though we expect that’s not a major concern.)

Originally painted Nocturne Blue, the car was repainted black for The Hunter; the factory paint is visible on the rear fascia. The frame rails were modified with slides, hooks, and chains at the firewall to prepare for the explosion scene. After filming was complete, the car was stripped of its rear spoiler, side mirrors, wheel center caps, and badges. Other defects include a damaged three-spoke steering wheel (which is missing its adjustment lever), rust holes in the floor, and rodent damage to the rear bench seat. The car is also missing side panels, carpeting, overhead lighting, seat belts, and AM/FM radio. Of course, these are all likely of little concern, as restoration is probably not on the docket for this car.

Sale of the Firebird includes the build sheet, a copy of the original window sticker, documentation from Paramount Pictures and Pontiac Historical Services, a 30-foot-long dual-axle trailer, and large vinyl banners and cardboard cutouts of McQueen, which the previous owner displayed at car shows.

The Firebird does not have a title, but it likely won’t need one, since its “as-is” movie condition is likely of considerable value to Shea, who is clearly thrilled with his new acquisition. “We love our movie crash cars!” he wrote, to which one BaT commenter joked, “Good luck with your wife.”

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Although January is the busiest month on the auction calendar, early March isn’t exactly sleepy. The first weekend of this month, there were four auctions in Florida (OK, a couple of them happened on February 29), with everything from new exotics with delivery miles to a 1903 Mercedes changing hands. Our team took a look at all the public sales from Florida and then we gave each of us a theoretical stack of $100k to spend. These were the cars we would have taken home. Which would you pick—or did another sale catch your eye?

1963 Ford Galaxie 500 NASCAR, $70,000

First of all, I have no idea what I would do with this thing, but who cares? I want it! This 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 NASCAR is just too cool! It’s a survivor and has the scars to show for it, and names like Bobby and Donnie Allison on the list of drivers just adds to the cool factor. I think the selling point for me was when they fired it up and drove this behemoth onto the turntable at the Ritz. The noise was intoxicating. I think it would fit snugly in my one car garage in town and would be the perfect means to make new “friends” in my neighborhood on the days when I start it.—Greg Ingold, Hagerty Price Guide editor

1971 Alfa Romeo Montreal, $50,400

After picking a string of big-block C3s, I’m going to change things up with this 1971 Alfa Romeo Montreal. It’s an Italian V-8 coupe with a dog-leg transmission that came in well under our price threshold. Plus, just look at that wonderful Marcello Gandini design. How can you not love those semi-hidden headlights? I’ve only got about five minutes of seat time on one of these, but I still remember the little V-8 sounded amazing. If I had this in my garage, I would suddenly have all kinds of excuses to drive to Malibu, Ojai, and any other destination that happened to be on the other end of a canyon road.—Brandan Gillogly, senior editor

1991 Mercedes-Benz 300TE AMG 3.4-24, $75,040

Since Brandan took my first pick, I’ll happily settle with this backup—a 1991 M-B 300TE AMG 3.4-24. $75k might seem like a lot for a W124 wagon with 106k miles on the clock—and it is. In fact, this is the second-highest sale for a W124 wagon ever. Then again, it’s a steal compared to the top W124 wagon sale of all time, this 1988 300TE 6.0 AMG nicknamed “The Mallet” that sold at RM Sotheby’s the same weekend for $467k. Inline-six or V-8? When we’re talking about an 84% discount to drop two cylinders, I’ll take the inline-six every time. Besides, there is only a 34 horsepower difference between the two and 276 horsepower is more than enough for this early-merger AMG sleeper. The only downside is that the rear facing jump seats are missing.—Adam Wilcox, senior information analyst

1965 Jaguar E-Type SI 3.8 Coupe, $56,000

My pick is the stereotypical red with black interior Jaguar E-Type that Bonhams sold for $56,000 at Amelia. However, this one is not quite so typical. It comes from someone who’s owned it for 46 years. The car needs a refresh to get it running and driving, and possibly a lot more, but we got $100K to play with, so there’s still $44,000 in the budget! That should at least cover the cost of getting the engine out and dropping the rear subframe. Besides, it is a neat late 3.8-liter car with some features overlapping with the later 4.2L versions. The interior is nicely worn but not too scruffy. Once it runs and drives, it’ll be a great, usable E-Type that can extol the virtues of the brand on the open road.—John Wiley, manager of valuation analytics

1951 Chevrolet 3100 “Five-Window” Pickup, $47,600

I was in the room when this ’51 Chevy hit the block, and couldn’t help but text my wife. She’s into flowers—each year, we plant over 400 dahlias in our front yard, along with a bunch of others that serve as accents to fill out bouquets. We’re not really in the market for an old truck, but if we were, this would be the perfect flower delivery vehicle.

This 3100 appears immaculate, and should have no problem chugging around the back roads with some carefully-packed bouquets in the back. And, at a final price of $47,600 with fees, we’d have plenty left over for a mountain of dahlia tubers (and some go kart parts for me).—Eddy Eckart, senior editor

1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale by Bertone

It’s always a fun exercise after big auction weekends (or weeks, or months) to spend fake money on real cars. Several from the March sales strike my fancy, including a 7000-mile 1997 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 that sold for $64,400 at Broad Arrow. I’d love to have it, but its long-term owner went to great pains to keep that immensely complicated, oft-overlooked Japanese sub-supercar in mint condition, and all I’d do is drive the pants off it, break things, kill its value, and then try to off-load it in a few years for a fraction of the price. There are no winners in that scenario.

Instead, I’m putting my money into a 1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale that sold for $67,200 at RM Sotheby’s Miami sale. There are no bad lines on this Alfa, and I fully appreciate its understated BAT concept-car DNA. It comes from the long-term ownership of a knowledgeable Alfa Romeo collector who took great care of it, and it certainly appears to be in very fine shape inside and out. It hammered sold for $30K under the low estimate, and about $40K under our #3 (Good) condition value, which I can only guess was because of its replacement (but correct) engine, although that still feels like a big penalty here. Hey, not my problem! I’ll take a cheap gorgeous Alfa any day of the week.—Stefan Lombard, senior editor

1977 Ferrari 308 GTB, $86,800

I remember when a decent 308 cost 25 grand. Sure, I was in middle school, but I still remember. In my mind, these should still be the cheap ticket to a set of Ferrari keys. Alas, there’s no such thing as time travel, so I’ll just have to accept that 308 prices are very different these days (up 251% over the past 10 years).

The 1977 308 GTB sold by Gooding & Co. this month seems like a good choice. An early steel-bodied, carbureted car, it’s a GTB so it doesn’t offer the wind-in-your hair driving of the targa-top GTS, but it’s both rarer and better-looking. It’s also a well-maintained, three-owner car and its 33,000 miles are low enough to be reassuring but not so low that it would be guilt-inducing to put more ticks on the odometer. The $86,800 sale price would have been shocking to middle school me, but in 2024 it’s right at the car’s condition #3+ value.—Andrew Newton, senior auction editor

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There’s nothing quite like a concept car—the promise it holds, the way it can capture the imagination. The seeds of enthusiasm and inspiration it can spread to all corners of the automotive landscape. Even more dramatic is when such a visionary project amounts to more than a pure flight of fancy; a running, driving show car that looks near-ready for production only heightens the thrilling sensation that the future is right around the corner.

Chrysler built a legendary run of concept cars in the first half of the 1950s, perhaps none more dazzling, promising, and seemingly production-ready than the 1954 Dodge Firearrow IV roadster concept. Chrysler big-wigs ultimately did not green-light the car for the masses—a missed opportunity to take on the Corvette and Thunderbird that Hagerty senior auction editor Andrew Newton considers one of the greatest automotive “what-ifs” of the 1950s. A one-off sold to a buyer in Venezeula, this phenomenal show car survived. Now, 70 years later, it’s crossing the block with Broad Arrow at this weekend’s auction at The Amelia in Florida.

The Firearrow IV was the final so-named two-seater concept, following the first, Firearrow I, which debuted at the Turin show in November of 1953. (That first Firearrow was a static display car.) Based on the standard production Dodge Royal 119-inch-wheelbase chassis, these cars were coach-built by Italy’s Carozzeria Ghia, whose ties with Chrysler and “Forward Look” designer Virgil Exner began in 1951 with the Chrysler K-310 concept. Exner’s influence on Chrysler styling in the 1950s and beyond was far-reaching, and such “Idea Cars” were essential for testing public reaction to new design language as well as specific features. Spectacular, iconic ’50s designs ranging from the Chrysler 300 to the De Soto Adventurer and the ’57 Imperial owe much to Exner’s “Forward Look,” a gutsy effort to inject some life into Chrysler’s stalling postwar momentum.

Facing declining sales and a reputation for stodginess in the late 1940s, Chrysler’s big bet with the “Forward Look’s” was to establish the automaker as a design leader. It was a risky tack given that the company was still a bit gun-shy following the flop of the design-intensive Chrysler Airflow in the 1930s. The concept cars of the early 1950s proved immensely popular, however, and part of their appeal was that—unlike many of Ford and GM’s exercises at the time—they were mostly drivable.

Firearrow IV was the most production-ready of the Firearrow series, incorporating functional elements like a manually foldable convertible top, roll-up side windows, and exterior door handles. More fanciful were the quad exhaust tips that poke through the rear fenders, as well as the eye-popping black-and-white diamond-pattern interior scheme. There was even a 16-jewel, Swiss-movement “Dodgematic” clock positioned in the steering wheel. The hardware was all state-of-the-art, incorporating the top shelf of performance technology Chrysler had to offer: 150 horsepower from a “Red Ram” 241-cubic-inch Hemi V-8 with a four-barrel carburetor, a then-new PowerFlite two-speed automatic transmission, Safeguard hydraulic brakes, Oriflow shocks, and Safety Rim wire wheels.

Though there is plenty of chrome to elevate the sense of glamour, the Firearrow IV’s fundamental beauty is its smooth shape and clarity of design. The four-seater’s prominent front fenders rise above the curved hood and create a line that extends the full length of the car, terminating in subtle rear fins. The square-ish, grid-pattern grille evolved to be wider and more trapezoidal in shape in Chrysler’s later production cars, but the effect here is sophisticated when framed in a ring of chrome between four recessed headlights. In the Firearrow IV, European taste and craftsmanship meets American exuberance.

Though Firearrow IV was never produced en masse, the general idea of it did reach limited production. Businessman Eugene Casaroll purchased the rights to the design from Chrysler and contracted with Ghia to build the Dual-Ghia. Between 1956 and 1958, Ghia made 117 of them at a hefty price of $7646 (about $88,000 today). As writer Richard Dredge noted, “the V-8-powered Ghia soon became the luxury car of choice for the wealthiest film stars, with Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan each buying one of these drop-tops.”

What came of the Firearrow IV show car is a tale all its own. Following its U.S. press tour, the car was apparently sold to a dealer in Venezuela and on to a private owner in late 1954. A decade later it found itself on a used car lot in Caracas, after which it appeared for sale in the pages of the December 1964 issue of Motor Trend. It vanished for a bit after that, resurfacing in the 1980s at a hacienda about 90 miles outside of Caracas. The images below show it in that era finished in silver with a tan convertible top, along with years of dust and from being stored—complete—in a barn. Once rediscovered, Firearrow IV received a comprehensive restoration in the early ’90s that brought back its original Regimental Red paint scheme and diamond-patterned interior. From there it bounced around between several noted collectors, got another round of extensive mechanical restoration, and won the Chairman’s Award in Memory of David L. George II at the St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance in September of 2021.

Broad Arrow estimates that Firearrow IV will sell for $1.5–$2M. For context, Hagerty senior auction editor Andrew Newton points out: “Back in 2007, Barrett-Jackson sold Firearrow IV as a package with Firearrow II for $1.1M. Firearrow III sold in Monterey in 2011 for $852,500, and Firearrow II sold again in Monterey in 2021 for $1,050,000.”

This is a one-of-a-kind car, with the flash and panache of a chromed 1950s concept but the utility and drivability of a real car from the era. For a passionate fan of Italian coachbuilding, post-war American optimism and automotive leadership, or Chrysler design in particular, the Firearrow IV is an utter dream machine. Seven decades after it first appeared, it promises to inspire considerable admiration when it drives up on the stage at The Amelia this weekend.

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The Mustache Muscle era of the late-1970s through the early ’80s was a bit of a mixed bag for car fans. Many nameplates that had become steeped in legend during the muscle-car heydays of decades prior were still hanging around, but they were shells of their former selves. These nameplates—Mustang, Regal, Camaro, Charger—offered attractive styling but still lacked substance thanks to buzz-kill safety regulations, fuel-economy concerns, and the smog-reduction tactics of the early 1970s.

Chevy’s Monte Carlo was no exception. The fourth-generation car, which debuted in 1981, was underpinned by GM’s mid-size G-body platform, the same bones that formed the likes of the Buick Regal, the Olds Cutlass, and more. The coke-bottle-styled sheetmetal was attractive, in a distinctly ’80s fashion. In 1983, a high-performance variant—the Monte Carlo SS—finally returned to the order sheet.

Initially, the 305-cubic-inch V-8 produced just 175 horsepower and 225 lb-ft of torque. Five additional ponies arrived in 1984. In 1985, a new axle ratio (3.73:1 vs. 3.42:1) and a TH200-4R four-speed automatic helped liven up the Monte a bit. Peak sales came in 1986, with 41,164 Monte Carlos leaving dealer lots across the nation.

One of those 41,164 happens to be this week’s Hagerty Marketplace pick of the week. The 1986 Monte Carlo SS seen here is no ordinary car, however; this one has been fitted with a 406-cubic-inch V-8, built by Lingenfelter Engineering and believed to have been installed shortly after the car was first purchased.

In the comments, the seller notes that they were told the car produced 500 horsepower from the V-8, although he notes that he has no data to support that. Either way, it feels safe to bet the Lingenfelter motor handily outstrips the 305 that came stock in this car. There’s even a little blue bottle of surprise juice in the trunk, should you feel the need to really drop someone at a stop light.

That belter of an engine is fitted with an aluminum intake manifold, a four-barrel carburetor, and dual exhausts. It mates to a three-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic 350 automatic transmission, shifted by a B&M lever.

The five-spoke wheels that were new for the 1896 model year on these cars have been replaced with 15-inch rollers from Enkei Racing that wear meaty Goodyear Eagle GT tires up front and Hoosier Quick Time tires out back. (The seller recommends the tires be changed soon due to age.) To help keep the rear from breaking loose, this car also has SSM rear traction bars.

The black paint coating the exterior is believed to be original and looks to be in quite good condition. Red “Monte Carlo SS” decals accent the sides and a pinstripe graphic runs the entire circumference of the car, adding a nice break in the black-on-black scheme.

Inside you’ll find a cloth interior with removable glass roof panels offering that classic T-top vibe. This was a relatively high-optioned car when new, as it includes power windows, cruise control, air conditioning, and more.

While the odometer currently displays just over 2100 miles, the listing does note that the true mileage is unknown. The CARFAX report accompanying the listing shows that the current owner purchased the car in June of 2018 with a mere 1733 miles reported, but the first registration noted on the car in 1992 shows an odometer reading of 10,451 miles.

With five days left to go in the auction, the leading bid currently stands at $17,000. If you’ve been craving a piece of Mustache Muscle–era styling with about four times the expected punch, this Monte Carlo might be your golden ticket.

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The 914 debuted in 1970, and for too much of its existence, the mid-engine Porsche lived a life of ignominy in the eyes of casual car enthusiasts, and even among some Porschephiles. “Not a real Porsche” went the refrain for the car jointly developed with Volkswagen. Priced as such, said the value trends.

Well, the refrain and the trends have changed in the last decade or so, as people have woken up to the fact that, actually, these things are terrific. With their VW-derived 1.7-liter (and later 2.0-liter) four-cylinder engines making roughly 80–90 horsepower, 914s were never blistering performers, but their mid-engine layout and light weight always made them nimble.

Porsche addressed the power issue to some extent with a run of 914s powered by the 125-hp carbureted 2.0-liter flat-six from the 911 T, but the 914/6 makes up just a fraction of the nearly 100,000 914s built through 1976. Still, from the very beginning, Porsche knew what it wanted to do with the 914/6: take it racing.

In 1970 and ’71, the factory built a dozen 914/6 GT race cars to be used as works (or werks) entries for various endurance races and rallies, plus another 47 examples for privateers. The race-prepped cars differed in numerous ways from production 914/6s, of course, including their Type 901/25 engine, which was tweaked with polished intake and exhaust ports, dual ignition, Carrera 6 cams, Weber 46 IDA carbs, and more to deliver significantly more power—around 220 hp at 8000 rpm. The body was widened with steel fender flares, a roll cage was fitted inside, and four large Cibie lights were mounted on the nose. Suspension was courtesy Bilstein rally shocks at all four corners, and vented discs from the 911S provided the stopping power. These purpose-built 914s were quick, too; one of the customer cars won its class and finished sixth overall at Le Mans in 1970.

The 914/6 GT shown here, Project No. 914/58, was the final of the 12 factory cars built, completed in December 1970—just in time for the Monte Carlo Rally the following month. Porsche fielded a trio of 914/6 GTs there, all of them finished in Signal Orange, and all piloted by true hot shoes. In an effort to earn extra points in the rally, competitors were able to begin in far-off locales, and the French duo of driver Gérard Larrousse and co-driver Jean-Claude Perramond strapped into 914/58 in Warsaw, then headed southwest across the continent to the French Riviera.

It proved to be a particularly attritional event, with nearly 90 percent of the 248 competitors failing to finish, including all the factory 914s. This car succumbed to a broken clutch lever, and that was that; no glory for Porsche after three successive Monte victories with 911s.

Vic Elford next made use of 914/58, when he drove it to Sicily in the spring as reconnaissance car for May’s Targa Florio, in which he shared a 908/03 with Larrousse. The trip was not without incident, however, and “Quick Vic” had something of a shunt. In a letter to a Mr. Fiegl in the Experimental Department, Elford wrote: During the Targa Florio pre-practice I had a slight accident with another car. The car involved was an Opel Olympia… [Fellow Porsche racer] Mr. Herbert Muller arrived shortly after the accident and explained to [the Opel’s owner] that the Porsche insurance would cover everything, although it was obviously 50/50 since both cars were in the middle of the road. The Opel had damage to all the body panels on the left side and some mechanical damage to the steering. The damage to the Porsche you are aware of.

Whatever the damage, it was minor, and after two years spent as something of a test mule in the engineering department, the car was then sold to Porsche engineer Walther Näher, with whom it stayed for 30 years. Näher began a restoration on the car in 2002, making liberal use of rare parts and expertise from Porsche to correctly return 914/58 to its “as raced” Monte Carlo spec. As one of its Monte stablemates had long ago been scrapped by the factory, and the other converted in period by racing safety pioneer Herbert Linge into a safety car, Näher’s efforts to preserve his 914/6’s history were admirable.

Jeff Zwart acquired the car in 2010. Anyone whose Instagram algorithm has ever served them classic car content has likely seen Zwart’s photo and video work. The commercial film director, photographer, racer, and Porsche collector showed his Monte Carlo 914/6 GT at events like Rennsport Reunion IV and at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours, where it won best in class.

A spot on the lawn at Pebble Beach last year as part of the Porsche 75th Anniversary class is the final feather in the cap of this otherwise unremarkable race and road car’s rather remarkable journey. “A real Porsche indeed,” goes the new refrain. When it crosses the block this week, it is estimated to sell for $1.2M–$1.5M. And if it sells, what might the value trends say then? Priced accordingly, we suspect.

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The go-anywhere Unimog is an odd truck with an odd name, but it’s much more than an automotive oddity. The German-built utility vehicle, designed shortly after World War II as a self-propelled agricultural machine, is part truck and part tractor. And more than 75 years after the first model rolled out, it’s still going strong—and evolving.

The Unimog (pronounced YOU-nuh-mog) gets its name from the motivating force behind its design; it’s an acronym for the German word “UNIversal-MOtorGerät,” or universal motor carrier. Developed as a highly adaptable vehicle that could serve all the needs of a farmer—including, most notably, possessing the ability to flawlessly transition from field to the road—the demand for the vehicle increased along with its uses. Boehringer began production in 1947 and built the Unimog for four years before Mercedes-Benz took over in 1951 and continues to build them to this day.

According to the 2016 book Der Unimog: Arbeitstier und Kultmobil [in English, The Unimog: Workhorse and Cult Vehicle], the Unimog was designed with rear-wheel drive and switchable front-wheel drive, along with equal-size wheels, in order to be driven on roads at higher speeds than standard farm tractors. With high ground clearance and a flexible frame (which is essentially part of the suspension), Unimogs are not designed to carry as much load as regular trucks, but buyers have been sweet on classic and modern versions of the rig for years.

That brings us to this fully restored 1959 Mercedes-Benz U411 Unimog, which is listed at Broad Arrow Auctions’ sale at The Amelia, taking place on March 1–2.

A copy of the original Data Card shows that this particular U411 completed production in Gaggenau, Germany, on April 9, 1959 and was designated for export to the United States. The truck is powered by a correct 1.7-liter OM636 inline four-cylinder diesel engine, mated to a six-speed manual transmission, featuring standard synchronized gears. The original, numbers-matching block is also included.

It is believed that this Unimog (chassis 411.110.9500596) and one other were initially sold to equipment dealer A. Fassnacht & Sons of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The seller purchased the truck, which had already received a mechanical rehab, in Georgia in 2012, and immediately began a complete cosmetic restoration. The vehicle received bodywork and rust repair from Chris Radbill Automotive of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and was given a new grille, doors, cab floors, front and rear fenders, front wheel arches, cab sides, and battery box. The frame, axles, and transmission had been painted black prior to professional painting of the wheels (red) and body (DB 6286 Unimog Green). New oak boards in the bed (painted on the outside, with natural stain on the inside) offer an attractive contrast. Similar contrasting colors were used in the interior, with the seats reupholstered in black vinyl and the surfaces finished in matching Unimog Green.

In addition, the vehicle received a new folding canvas roof, and numerous factory labels were reapplied in yellow to indicate towing capacity on and off-road, as well as the operation of each lever just to the right over the driver. The Unimog also received a new wiring harness, headlights, taillights, clutch, starter, oil bath air cleaner, and door windows, while the front portal axles were rebuilt with new seals and bearings. The truck is outfitted with the optional wide 18×10-inch wheels, which wear 10.5-18 BKT tires.

The odometer shows only 462 kilometers (287 miles), all since completion of the restoration. Actual mileage is unknown.

When outfitted with a camper for overlanding, Unimogs can easily climb into the six-figure range; without them, they go for much less. This 1959 Mercedes-Benz U411 Unimog is being offered at no reserve and has a pre-auction estimate of $50,000–$60,000, a number that reflects a first-generation truck in freshly restored condition. However, if two eager collectors at The Amelia are both looking to fill a hole in their Mercedes-Benz collections, it could go higher.

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A 2018 Jaguar I-Pace originally bought by King Charles III will soon be going under the gavel at Historics Auctioneers.

The top-spec EV400 HSE  reportedly arrived painted in Eiger Grey, but, at the King’s insistence, was sent back to Jaguar to be repainted in his favorite color, Loire Blue. The cabin is trimmed, appropriately, in Light Oyster Windsor leather. The sticker price, when new, was around £60,000 (roughly $84,000).

Well-known for his environmental conscience, Charles has previously converted an Aston Martin to run on bio-fuel, but the Jag was his first electric car.

It wasn’t, however, the first EV to feature in the Royal Family garage. At the turn of the 20th century, the Royals were remarkably carbon-neutral, with Queen Alexandra owning a 1901 Columbia, which was capable of achieving 40 miles on a single charge. “Her Majesty is delighted with the ease and simplicity of control and manipulation,” said The Autocar at the time.

That car is now on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu and is unlikely to hit the road again.

Meanwhile, the King’s EV has seen plenty of use. Charles drove it for some 3,000 miles before returning it to Jaguar in 2020, after which it was sold through Jaguar North Oxford.

The current owner, Karen French of Bampton, had no idea of its royal provenance when she bought the car and it didn’t stop her from covering an additional 30,000 miles.

“This I-Pace was exactly what I was looking for and pretty much on my doorstep,” she said. “It was only when I agreed to buy it that I discovered its extraordinary history—I was absolutely thrilled.”

She will, no doubt, be even more thrilled if the car achieves its estimate of £55,000–£70,000 ($69,400–$88,300) when it goes to auction at Ascot Racecourse, where royal fans also have the chance to bid on a 2003 Bentley Arnage R that was bought new by Princess Anne. With a presale estimate of £26,000–£32,000 ($32,800–$40,300), it’s less than half the price of the King’s Jag as well!

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There’s a chapter in the story of the Group B homologation special 959 that Porsche would rather be not there at all. In fact the German sports car maker did everything it could to avoid it.

The 959’s awesome all-wheel-drive system proved its potential by winning the grueling Paris-Dakar rally outright and coming first in class at Le Mans in 1986. Even though the cancellation of the Group B category meant it could no longer race Porsche had committed to building around 300 examples and, across the world, Nissan was watching.

The Japanese firm was working on an all-wheel drive system of its own and a close-up look at the 959’s drivetrain would certainly speed things along. With its traditional Japanese respect for proper process and decorum Nissan initially attempted to order a car direct from the factory, but, after Porsche rejected it, Nissan took a more Ninja-like approach. The car—a 1988 959 Komfort, chassis number 022—was eventually bought by an intermediary from Belgian distributor D’Ieteren Brothers and then shipped to Yokohama for study.

Nissan never registered the car in Japan, instead disassembling it to discover its intricate inner workings. By 1987 Nissan had perfected its Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All terrains and Electronic Torque Split (ATTESA-ET-S) and installed it in the R32 GT-R. In race trim the GT-R won every All-Japan Touring Car Championship race from 1990 to 1993 and a legend was born.

With no further use for the 959, Nissan put it back together and sold it to a Nissan engineer who also refrained from registering it. Eventually the 959 found its way to the U.S.A. where, in 2019, the owner took it to specialist Bruce Canepa for a transformation under his “959 SC Reimagined” program. It took four years, 4000 hours, and $950,000 to convert the car, much of which went into upgrading the 2.8-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six engine from 444 hp to more than 800 hp. It’s now said to be capable of reaching 60 mph from a standstill in 2.5 seconds and topping out at over 230 mph.

The original shade of Oak Green paint and gunmetal gray for the 18-inch wheels were retained but the cabin was re-trimmed in tobacco brown leather with matching square-weave carpets modeled on those of the Porsche 356.

This remarkable car with an even more remarkable backstory will be for sale at Broad Arrow’s Amelia Auction on February 29 where it’s estimated to fetch up to $3.75 million.

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Few cars represent American racing success on the world stage quite like the Ford GT40. Sure, that famous 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans in 1966 cemented the GT40’s place in our collective vehicular memory and kicked off a four-year run of dominance at the French circuit. But during their heyday, in the hands of factory and privateer racers alike, GT40s also scored victories around the globe—from Italy to Rhodesia, Canada to South Africa, Belgium to Brazil.

And while we won’t go so far as to say that the mighty sports racers also made for adequate grocery-getters, in accordance with period homologation rules that required production of at least 50 cars, some GT40s were built for street use. This car, chassis no. P/1069, is one such grocery getter.

Total GT40 production, from Mk I to Mk IV variants, is estimated to be 105 examples. This includes 289- and 427-powered Mk I and Mk II cars, as well as the more radical racing Mk IV, or “J cars,” of which 12 were built. And it includes the seven Mk III cars, which were designed from the start for road use, with extra headlights, softer springs, a detuned V-8, and extended rear bodywork to allow for cargo space, among other changes. The GT40 Mk I and Mk II, therefore, comprise the bulk of production, and that includes 31 Mk Is produced for the street. Few have a history as colored—literally and figuratively—as P/1069, also known as “the Hostage Car.”

Built alongside its racing counterparts at Ford Advanced Vehicles in England, the car was completed in mid-February 1967. Finished in Opalescent Silver Blue, it rode on Borrani wire wheels and was powered by a small-block 289 “Hi-Po” V-8, breathing through four Weber carburetors and mated to a five-speed ZF transaxle. It was one of 20 Mk I GT40s earmarked for Ford’s Promotion and Disposal Program—a press loaner, essentially—and was originally one of six Mk Is slated to go to Shelby American for use among the firm’s field managers. That never happened. In fact, this car wouldn’t reach our shores for decades.

Instead, the car went to Switzerland, as a loaner for the dealership run by Georges Filipinetti, who, in addition running the Scuderia Filipinetti racing outfit (with which he campaigned a GT40 and a Cobra Daytona coupe at Le Mans in 1965) had become the official Swiss distributor for Ford Performance. Filipinetti had P/1069’s color changed to Metallic Borneo Green and displayed it that March at the Geneva Motor Show. Then, it seems, he just kind of kept it for the rest of the year, despite increasing protestations from fellow racing principal John Wyer, who understandably wanted the car for his own promotional purposes. This minor feud earned the car its captive nickname.

Back in England by early 1968, P/1069 got road registered as AHK 940F, the designation it still wears today. The car made the rounds, serving as a tester for various motoring journalists, including Denis Jenkinson, who in Motor reported the car’s ZF five-speed to be at the top of his list of “desirable gearboxes,” but only after proclaiming to a friend who’d asked about parking it in London: “I wouldn’t want to take it to London, let alone park it there.” Jenks, you see, had the car for “motoring with a capital ‘M’ not for parking.” He had the right idea.

It was back on the Geneva show stand in ’69, before British businessman and fine motorcar aficionado Anthony Bamford purchased it and had it color-changed again, this time to yellow. The car changed hands at least five times over the next three years, and was painted yet again, this time dark green. At some point in 1972, it suffered fire damage at the hands of its newest owner, the result of an errantly fitted fuel cap as he drove it home for the first time. The subsequent owner had the car restored, which included another color change, back to yellow.

It finally made its way to the States in 1999, and into the hands of Connecticut collector Barney Hallingby, until he traded P/1069, along with a 289 Cobra, a Ferrari 330 GTS and 275 GTB, plus some cash, for an Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. Quite the transaction, that.

Back to Europe it went, back through a series of hands, until this street GT40 was given a proper retirement racing in vintage events throughout the 2000s and 2010s, including the Goodwood Revival in 2012 and ’13. Under its current ownership, GT40 P/1069 is once again painted Opalescent Silver Blue. And at the 2024 Amelia Island auctions, it is once again for sale.

Eighteen separate owners over the years is no small feat, but perhaps that is the fate of a street car you don’t want to park. How this one will fare when it hits the auction block in Amelia Island in early March is anyone’s guess, although its full documentation from new, and the colorful history it all encapsulates, is sure to boost its appeal. With so few street-going Mk I GT40s produced, ownership opportunities don’t arise often, although, curiously, Mecum just sold a 1966 Mk I in January for $6,930,000, including fees. If P/1069 sells within its presale estimate of $4M–$5M, you might even call it a bargain.

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Consigning interesting and varied live auction lots can be a tricky business these days, especially in the mid-range of the market that has been so dominated by online sales over the last few years. Which is why Iconic Auctioneers’ Race Retro sale catalog is so refreshing.

The sale takes place February 22–23  at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry, in the UK, and Rob Hubbard and team have brought together a fascinating collection of cars both on day one, which focuses on competition vehicles, and on day two, which caters to mainstream classics.

For anyone still looking for an appropriate car for the Hagerty Hillclimb on May 11, there are some tempting prospects. A 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI with hillclimb championship wins in 2017–18 looks like a lot of car for the £23,000–£27,000 ($29,000–$34,000) estimate, but if you have a little more in the bank, a 1987 ex-works Peugeot 309 GTi (estimate £70,000–£80,000, or roughly $88,400–$101,000) that gave Richard Burns his first “factory” seat at the 1991 RAC Rally would certainly draw the attention of the Shelsley crowd.

If fast Fords are your thing, Iconic is offering a great selection, from a seemingly very usable 1972 Escort Mexico fitted with a red-top Vauxhall 2-liter engine mated to a Quaife five-speed gearbox (estimate £18,000–£22,000, or $22,700–$27,800), right up to an ex-Valentino Rossi/Henning Solberg 2007 Focus M-Sport WRC (estimate £340,000–£380,000, or $429,350–$479,850).

If you’re more inclined toward Hagerty’s RADwood, a celebration of 1980s and ’90s turbo-era cars, the Saturday sale is for you. There are a couple of Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworths and even an unused factory engine to go with them. Estimated at a strong, although not unexpected), £120,000–£140,000 ($151,500–$176,800), there is also an extremely low-mileage, one-owner 2004 BMW (E46) CSL that could easily set a record. One of the five Mitsubishi Evo VI RS Tommi Mäkinen Monte Carlo Edition cars, possibly the ultimate Evo, is also for sale, with an estimate of £100,000 to £120,000 ($126,300–$151,500), as is one of Hagerty UK’s 2024 Bull Market picks: a low-mileage 2002 Honda S2000 GT that Iconic believes may hit £40,000.

But they’re only the teasers. The 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B-STI, number 29 of 400, may have been given a tempting low estimate of £190,000 ($240,000). For those whose pockets are not quite so deep, there’s also an Impreza P1 and an STi 555 Version 2 on offer. There are famous cars, too, including an ex-Richard Burns 1998 Mitsubishi Lancer GSR Evo V with fewer than 800 miles on the odometer (estimate £100,000, or $126,300) and a 1996 Honda NSX-T that was the UK press car. It is described as being in excellent condition, but its high estimate of £85,000 ($107,350) is still lower than the top Hagerty Price Guide value.

Then there’s an ultra-rare 1984 Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 (estimate £235,000–£275,000, or $334,650–$347,300) and—for me—the star of the show, the #002 1987/2001 BMW E30 M3 Enhanced and Evolved by Redux. As anyone who follows Redux on social media knows, these cars have been re-engineered to a phenomenal level, and this is the very first time one has hit the open market. Currently the lone UK-registered road version, this may be the only opportunity to buy one (estimate £200,000–£250,000, or $252,550–$315,700) given that Redux’s order book is reportedly full. Stoneleigh Park may be a busy place.

But in amongst these modern-day collectible icons, a very unusual car also caught my eye. Tucked away in the competition sale is a kit car, a Formosa 120GR, estimated at a fair £22,000 to £26,000 ($27,800–$32,800). Based on a 2-liter 1963 Triumph Vitesse and clad with a fiberglass body, “kit car” seems unfair, as the lines on this thing are superb, reminiscent of an HWM Jaguar or even a Ferrari 750 Monza. Created by a team who cut their teeth building Sunseeker yachts, it’s the sort of car that would draw attention whenever you drove it, for all the right reasons. I love the look of it; we’ll see if bidders agree.

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Millennials and Gen Zers might say the front end on this Range Rover has a cyberpunk look, based on a recent revival of interest in the visual genre. And with its genesis in the late 1970s, this Rangie even arrived around the same time as science fiction media like Judge Dredd first brought the concept to life.

But as the extensive patina and slightly disheveled look of this 1977 Wood & Pickett conversion suggest, the ‘Sheer Rover’ that sold online through Bonhams for $27,700, including fees (£21,951), comfortably over its $19,000 upper estimate, is firmly rooted in the past. And it has a previous famous owner to prove it.

That owner was Peter Sellers, known in automotive circles almost as much for his spectacular taste in motive metal as his acting and comedic roles. Over the years, Sellers owned everything from the de rigeur celebrity choices of Rolls-Royce and Jaguars, to a Ferrari 250 GTE, a Bristol 407, and a Buick Riviera.

Sellers is also known for his distinctive Radford-converted Mini with its wicker-style sides, but for the Range Rover he bought in 1979, he went to another well-known coachbuilder of the era, Wood & Pickett. Known as the Sheer Rover and developed in conjunction with British department store Harrods, the car was delivered to Sellers at his home in Gstaad, Switzerland, but he owned it for only a short period before his untimely death in 1980, aged 54. Since then, it has been in the ownership of one family.

Unusual nose aside—with its surprisingly 1980s-style angled grille covering the traditional Range Rover front end down to the bumper—the exterior is otherwise much as Range Rover designed it, though at one point it did wear polished Wolfrace alloy wheels, which are decidedly un-Range Rover. The similarity should make restoring it a little simpler, with plenty of specialists out there only too willing to revive these classic 4x4s.

The interior, however, is rather different, from its red Draylon-trimmed Recaro seats to the extended dashboard top incorporating extra dials, extra vents, and stereo equipment. Down by the driver’s side is a distinctly 1970s-looking Pioneer graphic equalizer panel.

The car’s history file includes recent bills for just shy of $3800 (£3000) to get it running and driving, but it’s not yet ready for the road, so should the new owner want to get it going properly before any kind of restoration, they’ll need a deep breath and a willing bank manager.

Wood & Pickett’s experience with the Sheer Rover subsequently led to the development of an ‘In Vogue’ special edition—a name that might sound familiar, since Land Rover has offered Vogue trim on its Range Rovers ever since.

No modern Rangie looks like this one, though. Maybe it’s time to get on the phone to Jaguar Land Rover chief creative Gerry McGovern and suggest he looks to Judge Dredd, Blade Runner, and Akira for some stylistic inspiration.

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The beautiful thing about the 25-year rule is that it just keeps on rolling right along. That foreign car you’ve always loved but could never import will come of age sooner than you know, and then, if you’ve got the funds and your hoop-jumping shoes properly laced up, you can park it in your garage.

The law has cleared a path for some truly remarkable and bonkers machinery to make its way to these shores, and overwhelmingly, those vehicles have come from Japan. Home to Skylines of all stripes, borderline WRC-spec Imprezas, luxo-barge Crowns, and the cutest little kei cars, JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) cars have always fascinated American enthusiasts of a particular bent. Our auction pick of the week, this 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR, is one such fascinating JDM machine.

Mitsubishi first homologated its Lancer sedan for Group A rallying in 1992, and as its arms race with Subaru intensified throughout the ’90s, subsequent versions—or Evolutions, 10 in all—of the car gained more power, more sophistication, and more blistering pace.

None of them really left Japan until Mitsubishi’s motorsports arm, Ralliart, started exporting them for European markets in the late ’90s. American fans, however, could only imagine the driving experience through Gran Turismo.

The Evo IV hit the streets in 1996, with a fresh chassis and a more powerful 4G63 turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4, now making 276 horsepower. Perhaps the biggest news was the introduction in top-spec GSR models of Mitsubishi’s Active Yaw Control (AYC), which deftly regulated torque to the left or right side of the car to cope with loss of traction in corners. It seemed pretty handy, and in 1997, Finnish driver Tommi Mäkinen put it to good use as he piloted his Evo IV to a driver’s title in the World Rally Championship, capturing 4 of the 14 rounds that season.

The right-hand-drive Evo IV GSR currently listed on Hagerty Marketplace has had its Scotia White paint professionally refinished, and the car includes all the bells and whistles—the AYC, yes, but also power windows, Recaro seats, a Nardi steering wheel, A/C, PIAA fog lights, vented disc brakes, an aftermarket HKS turbo timer package, and a stainless exhaust. Power runs through a five-speed manual transmission to all four 17-inch EVO five-spoke wheels, each shod with Bridgestone Potenza performance tires, which will need replacing. Current mileage shows 103,215 km (64,135 miles).

This car was imported to the U.S. from Japan in July 2023 and carries a clean North Carolina title. Offered through seller AutoBarn_Classic_Cars, the bidding closes Tuesday, February 20, at noon.

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The world lost a musical great last year when Jimmy Buffett passed away at the age of 76. While he was known for songs about a laid-back life on the water, he was also a big fan of cars and pickups. One piece of his fun car collection is currently up for bid on GAA Classic Cars. Buffett’s 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint convertible looks ready for top-down summer cruising and features some interesting modifications.

When it was purchased in 2002, the Falcon reportedly had just 8578 miles on the odometer. In the 20 years since, it has racked up only 3300 more. The listing doesn’t specify, but we assume that with that mileage the engine is the original 260 that came with the car when new. The Falcon was not offered with any rowdy powerplants in 1963; those would come later as the 289 debuted for 1964.

The small-block convertible was hot-rodded by Buffett, who added a four-barrel intake and a matching Holley carb for a bit more power. The most noticeable addition to the car is a roll bar that serves as a surfboard rack, proving that you don’t need a surf wagon, or even a hardtop, to bring your board to the beach. On that subject, a board is included in the sale, as pictured on the car. We sort of expected Buffet to be a long-board guy, so maybe we shouldn’t have judged a surfer by his chill beach music. Buffett also added a sound system, with a trunk-mounted amplifier and subwoofer. A Fender Squier Stratocaster with Buffet’s autograph is also a part of the auction.

A look at the Hagerty Price Guide shows 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint Convertible prices down just a bit over the year, with a #2 (Excellent) condition worth $27,800 currently. That said, this car’s provenance should come into play. We asked valuation specialist and Hagerty Price Guide Publisher Dave Kinney to weigh in. “Jimmy Buffett might not be remembered as a car guy in the same vein as Paul Newman or other celebrities, but he was, through and through,” Kinney said. “That, and since Parrotheads are an enthusiastic bunch, I expect bidding for Buffett’s Falcon is likely to go well above its condition value.”

This well-kept convertible seems to be ready for another surf-loving owner, and we hope it goes to one of Buffett’s many fans who will appreciate it, as we’re sure he would have wanted. We fully expect the custom stereo system to be put to proper use playing Buffett’s expansive catalog of albums.

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Bad news, van-lifers, bus-lifers, and all the in-between-lifers among us: Someone just beat all of you for the coolest home on wheels.

Yesterday in Paris, at Bonhams’ Les Grandes Marques du Monde sale, someone scored this 1955 Alfa Romeo T10 Autotutto Romeo Campervan, and with it, the all-natural flower crown for the most unexpected vehicle you’ll share a campground with. Final hammer price: €75,900 ($81,844), including premium.

And just what did those euros get our buyer? Gaze upon the pea-green and off-white two-tone paintwork. Marvel at the slender Alfa Romeo grille seemingly slapped directly overtop the larger, color-matched grille. Did we mention the wicker picnic hamper and the folding camper table?

In the 1950s, Alfa Romeo was busy making a name for itself with more sporting cars such as the Giulietta Sprint and the Giulietta Spider. But it also dabbled in building a small commercial delivery van, dubbed the “Autotutto” (“all-purpose”). Its first iteration, the T10, was launched at the Turin motor show in 1954. Notably, the T10 was Alfa’s first commercial vehicle to offer left-hand drive.

Power came primarily from a de-tuned 1.3-liter twin-cam four-cylinder borrowed from the Giulietta, although a supercharged two-stroke diesel two-cylinder was also offered, including in this very example. Thanks to its front-wheel-drive configuration, as well as four-corner independent suspension with a transverse torsion bar at the rear, the T10s had commendably large and low load areas, perfect for commercial applications.

The van in question is extensively documented, with an official Alfa-issued certificate of origin which shows that this fella left the factory on January 7, 1955. It changed hands in 1963, then became part of an Italian collection for many years, until it was purchased by the seller, who embarked on an extensive restoration of the bodywork and interior to convert it to the campervan you see here. Impressively, the T10 retains its original two-stroke diesel motor.

Inside, there’s a bench that folds out to a double bed, a foldable table, multiple storage cubbies, a sink with fresh and gray water systems, a gas stove, and more. The van was offered for sale with all the necessary paperwork, including a photographic record of the restoration and campervan conversion.

Sure, you can go the more conventional route and try to grab a Volkswagen Type 2 campervan, or drop around six figures to get a modern Mercedes-Benz Sprinter or a heavily upfitted Ford Transit Trail, but the latter two lack the charm of this vintage Alfa and the former feels like a crowd-following move. Even if it ends up leaving you stranded, at least this van will allow you to bed down in style until the flatbed arrives.

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To paraphrase the popular refrain from Zoolander, the greatest movie ever made about male models: “That Trump is so hot right now.”

The former president and current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination has a unique tendency to dominate news cycles, and that makes him a magnet for observers far and wide. Last week, in Scottsdale, Arizona, that tendency reached a frenzy on the auction block at Barrett-Jackson, when Trump’s 1997 Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster sold without reserve for $1,100,000, including the 10 percent buyer’s premium. It is a world record for the model.

The current Hagerty #1 (Concours) value for the very best of these Italian stallions is $506,000, so a result more than double that figure is noteworthy.

Just 132 Diablo VT roadsters came to these shores between 1997 and 1999. Trump special-ordered this one in ’97 in a pretty Blu Le Mans paint over a black and cream leather interior. As a final bit of personalization, a small “Donald Trump 1997 Diablo” plaque is affixed to the door. Like all Diablos of this ilk, the car is powered by a 5.7-liter 48-valve V-12 that makes 492 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque. Power is put to the rear wheels (and sometimes the front, thanks to that viscous traction system) through a five-speed manual transmission. Trump sold the Diablo in 2002, and it’s unclear how many miles he put on the car, but between his ownership and the two owners since, the odometer shows 15,431 miles.

This isn’t the first time a car once owned by Trump has come to auction. At its 2021 Kissimmee auction, Mecum sold his 2007 Ferrari F430 F1 coupe, which had also been purchased new by the real estate magnate. That car had no such custom touches, but Trump’s touch was enough to take the selling price to $330,000, more than 2.5 times the $121,000 #1 value at the time.

The effect of celebrity (a broad term, but for these purposes, we mean general “famousness”) ownership on collector car values is nothing new, of course. Witness any number of rock star–owned vehicles that have brought bigger-than-normal money at auction: Queen rocker Freddie Mercury’s 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, in merely #4 (Fair) condition, is a prime example. It sold in London in November 2022 for £286,250 ($340,500), though it was otherwise a $5000 car; this was a 3717 percent spike. Similarly, Princess Diana’s peppy but pedestrian 1985 Ford Escort RS Turbo, in #3 (Good) condition, sold for £722,500 ($873,000) in August 2022, when anybody else’s would have struggled to hit $30,000. And in 2015, RM/Sotheby’s sold the 400th and final Ferrari Enzo, a gift from the Italian carmaker to Pope John Paul II, for $6.05 million, against a #1 value at the time of $2 million. And he never even drove the thing!

Presidential cars—both their personal machines and the limos in which they were chauffeured—always have a certain appeal with collectors. After he left office, Harry Truman owned and drove a 1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe, an elegant ride perfectly suited to a former president’s daily runabouts. That car has been for sale via Classic Auto Mall for at least 18 months now, offered first at $83,500 and now reduced to $69,000. Although the Truman premium isn’t so striking as that of Trump’s Diablo, it’s still more than double our #2 (Excellent) valuation of $30,700. And, in November 2022, the 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible driven by LBJ at his Texas ranch sold on Bring A Trailer for $172,000. The figure was nearly $100,000 over our #2 value for a similar Conti without the presidential connection.

As in real estate, one important factor associated with any car’s ability to bring maximum bucks is location, location, location. Selling a car in the wrong place, at the wrong time, can severely impact its return. “This sale shows how much difference the right venue can make,” says Brian Rabold, Vice President of Automotive Intelligence at Hagerty. “Trump cars haven’t traded at such a high premium in the past, and this one reportedly sold on eBay in 2016, before he became president, for $460,000. Barrett-Jackson’s bidders were clearly the right audience for the Trump name.”

@thestradman Crazy price for a Diablo VT Roadster #Lamborghini ♬ original sound – TheStradman

Clearly. Video from the sale captures the electricity in the room as the car was quickly bid up past its average sale price and into record territory until it was SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! to raucous applause. Whether the buyer will ever be able to recoup the investment—or even make some profit—is anyone’s guess, but with the Trump name forever linked to this Blu Le Mans Diablo, we wouldn’t be surprised at any trajectory this car takes in the future.

The post Celebrity “Trumps” Reason in Ex-President’s World-Record Diablo VT Sale appeared first on Hagerty Media.

With enough money and time, it’s possible to fix almost any car, no matter how rare or valuable. Break a tiny piece of unobtanium plastic trim, and there’s probably someone out there who can 3D-print a new one for you. And if you stick your McLaren F1 into a ditch, then McLaren itself will be only too happy to build you a new carbon-fiber tub.

Even so, repairing the old fiberglass body of a classic race car can involve a lot of trial and error. Unless, that is, you have the original molds—and if you have a Lola in your collection, then you may well want to keep an eye on this upcoming W&H Peacock auction in the U.K.

The collection of molds and fiberglass tools covers several race-car bodies constructed by Lola from the 1960s to the 1980s, including the Lola Mk1, Lola T70 Mk2, the Lola T70 Mk3 and Mk3 B, and a selection of other single- and twin-seat bodies.

The molds are used to standardize the manufacture of the fiberglass panels used on the cars, ensuring each one is as close as possible to the last. More importantly, the fact that they survive means that skilled modern hands can, in theory, create a body as good as identical to the original models from the 1960s.

As well as the molds, which cover everything from panels and smaller components to nose cones, the auction listing includes plenty of other related tools and equipment from T W Mouldings (TWM), the British fiberglass specialist pending liquidation.

TWM has owned the molds since 1990, when it purchased them from Lola’s founder, Eric Broadley. Lola itself officially ceased trading in 2012, and the company’s assets and its name were snapped up by various other firms. A company called Broadley Automotive, meanwhile, currently builds authentic replicas of the original Lolas, including the T70, T76, and the Can-AM T160.

The collection of molds and tools will be sold through a timed online auction taking place on February 7. No estimates are listed, but each lot will be subject to both a 20.5 percent buyer’s fee, and a value-added tax (VAT).

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One of the best parts of keeping tabs on old cars for a living is the immense variety of weird stuff you encounter: Dymaxions, Isettas, Amphicars, Cybertrucks, Olds Jetway 707s, just about every Citroën ever. In addition to hosting the usual gaggle of Detroit muscle or red cars from Italy, collector car auctions are often excellent repositories for the wild and wonderful of the automotive world, and Artcurial’s upcoming Rétromobile sale in Paris does not disappoint.

This 1967 Maserati Quattroporte fire truck, s/n AM1071452, is on the roster for next week’s auction in the French capital, with a presale estimate of €150,000–€250,000 ($164,000–$274,000).

The car left the factory in July ’67 as a regular old Quattroporte, a four-door luxury sedan finished in Argento Auteuil (silver) with Girling disc brakes, a 4.2-liter 260-hp V-8 up front, and a black leather interior. An accident ended its days of executive transportation, and in 1972, Italian fire suppression company CEA Estintori purchased the car along with four others (AM1071296, 2184, 2210, and 2290), then brought them to Carrozzeria Grazia in Bologna for transformation into “the world’s fastest fire tenders.” They were used throughout the ’70s as emergency vehicles at Italian race tracks, including Monza, Imola, and Varano.

We’ve written plenty here in the past on the great Italian coachbuilders of that era—Pininfarina, Zagato, Touring, Bertone, Frua—but nary a word on Grazia, likely because their specialty was promotional vehicles, emergency vehicles, and hearses, and we’ve just never gotten around to that big feature on the Grazia-bodied Ebano shoe-mobile …

For CEA, Grazia worked its magic by transforming this and the other Masers into pickup trucks by removing the rear doors (Dueporte?) and converting the entire space behind the front seats into a platform, upon which fire suppression equipment—a big red water tank, a pump, a water cannon, various hose reels, maybe a dalmatian—was mounted. The auction catalog notes that the internal compartment, with its sporty ZF five-speed manual transmission, “was closed behind both front seats and benefited from the luxury specific to the Quattroporte, including air conditioning.”

The catalog further states that the cars earned great publicity for CEA, “and until the end of the 1970s, they were used as guardian angels on the greatest Italian circuits.” There seems to be a great deal of misinformation out there about them (like that dalmatian bit above…), but the Quattroporte registry site Tipo107.com notes that this car and its fire truck friends changed hands a few times in the late 1980s.

This one was then offered for sale by Swiss dealer Christoph Grohe in the early 2000s. In 2011, a German collector purchased it from a dealer in Marseille and began an extensive restoration to return the car to original specs (of its firefighting life, not its stately sedan life), with paint and interior work done at the old Maserati factory in Modena, just before the company moved to Turin. The work was completed in 2017, and in December 2018 it was listed for sale—but never changed hands—at $442,500. In that regard, Artcurial’s estimate of $164,000–$274,000 kind of makes the car seem like a bargain.

“It’s hard to think of a better trackside accessory for vintage racing than this thing,” says Hagerty senior auction editor Andrew Newton. “Even better that it’s a Maserati, which wears the trident of a water god on its nose.”

Quattroportes of this era are rare in any configuration or condition with just 763 built, so these fire trucks are on a different level of rarity. But for the Maserati fan who has everything, or the fire apparatus enthusiast who’s looking to downsize, or indeed the vintage racer who takes fire safety to the next level, this rare, fast, meticulously restored Quattroporte might be just the thing.

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Any and every vehicle has a story; some are just more interesting than others. The most fascinating car at a cars and coffee, a formal show, or even a auction preview is not guaranteed to bring the highest sale price, though. Example number one is this 1974 Ford Econoline Bell service van that sold on Bring a Trailer last week. If the sheetmetal of this van could talk, it would probably have more than 50 years’ worth of stories to tell, but the only one we know for sure is how it ended up for sale.

The listing caught my eye for two reasons: The price was still under $1000, so I figured the van had to have something interesting going on, good or bad. Second, I have always thought vans were cool. I’ve owned a couple over the years, including a 1961 Corvair Greenbrier. When reading up on the history of my flat-six-powered surf wagon, I learned of the Bell service vans that Chevrolet built. These models could often be found hiding in the wild by those who knew to look for the panel on one side and windows on the other. The two Corvair 95 van models were either Greenbrier sport vans, which had full windows, or panel vans with no windows. The combination of a panel down the driver’s side and windows on the passenger side were unique to the vans ordered by the Bell telephone company for its fleet.

There are a bunch of other features unique to Bell service vans, but I didn’t learn most of it until I watched the video in the listing. The paint colors are a giveaway, but those colors are often hidden under a repaint given to a van in its second life, after it had retired from the service industry. Just hints of the paint were showing when Shervin Nakhjavani saw this crusty van listed on Craigslist and decided he had to have it. He dedicated the following year and a half to carefully removing the layers of junk covering both the outside and inside.

Carefully, he scraped, sanded, and polished away all that had been layered atop the original Pacific Northwest Bell paint scheme. Like anyone who takes on such an ambitious project, Shervin was enabled by his friends and family: They let the van occupy space in their driveways and storage spaces, and in the process, the van was recorded on Google Maps.

While the process of reviving the original appearance of the van is interesting, it is actually the research and documentation of the history of these vans and how they came to look the way they did that is most compelling to me. A lot of car enthusiasts document the specific history and production story of their specific car with items like Marti reports or build sheets, but rarely do we dive further back like Shervin did.

He dug into the history of the designer who created the rebrand of the vans for Bell. Saul Bass was the designer with a golden pen brought in by Bell to revive the image of the company. Bass decided what colors would be used, how the stripes would be laid out, and more. He was behind a total revamp of the company image, a monumental task that would change Bell from drab to stylish. How many of us know the name of the person who created the color code for our favorite vintage car?

This van still needs heaps of love and work, a need that is reflected in the final sale price of just $4000. I may not have chosen to return this van to its former glory, but I sure respect the work done to not only save an interesting piece of history but also to document that history in an interesting and well-presented manner. Shervin’s story is a prime example of never knowing where the history thread could lead when you start pulling.

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It’s a who’s who of hypercars at a brace of upcoming auctions in Paris. Think of a headline-grabbing machine from Modena, Stuttgart, Molsheim, Detroit, or Woking and you’ll find it on the roster. Collectors with a need for speed will be spoiled for choice as the star cars of the last two decades all go under the hammer.

Topping the bill at RM Sotheby’s, by estimate at least, is a Ferrari LaFerrari (top) that is classified as still brand new. Built in 2016, it wasn’t registered by its keeper until 2018 and has been driven fewer than nine miles. It’s finished in Bianco Avus with a Nero Alcantara interior that adds contrasting Rosso stitching and seatbelts for a dash of color. Seemingly every option was ticked when the car was specified including a sports exhaust, front suspension lift, telemetry, and track packs. Behind black 21-inch rims sit red brake calipers. The very limited mileage would appear to be mostly down to regular servicing, which has included the fitment of a new hybrid battery and an upgraded lithium-ion auxiliary battery. One of 499 LaFerraris built between 2013 and 2016, the 6.3-liter V-12 hybrid hypercar is estimated to sell for up to €4.8 million ($5.2M).

If you fancy its forebearer then, as luck would have it, there’s a 2003 Enzo up for grabs for €3–3.5M ($3.3–$3.8M). It’s had a bit more use than the LaFerrari, with around 9,000 miles on the clock, but it does come with Rosso Corsa paintwork, a Nero leather cabin, and a Ferrari Classiche “Red Book” certifying its origins. If you miss out at RM, then another Enzo will be on the block at Bonhams in Paris just a day later, although the 2004 Nero black example (one of just 12 in this hue) is pitched to hit as high as €4.5M ($4.9M),

The related Maserati MC12 Versione Corsa from 2007 cuts quite the dash in its bright orange hue. It’s one of just 12 streetable versions of Maserati’s GT1 racer. Unhampered by FIA racing rules, the roadgoing MC12 was able to eke 745 horsepower out of its six-liter, dry-sump V-12 motor. It cost a cool one million Euros when new, but is now expected to match the Enzo and sell for up to €3.5M ($3.8M).

Just down the road at Sant’Agata Bolognese Lamborghini had some celebrating to do in 2018. To mark 100 years since the birth of founder Ferruccio, the company launched the Centenario. Only 20 coupes and 20 roadster versions, based on the venerable Aventador, were built and it’s an open-topped edition that’s being offered by RM Sotheby’s. The one-owner car has a shade over 40 miles on the odometer and comes in a fetching combination of Rosso Efesto, Nero Ade Alcantara, and Rosso Alala. Anticipated to sell for between €3-€4M ($3.29-4.38M), it is described as “an unblemished example of arguably the most extreme and advanced Lamborghini ever produced.”

For similar outlay by RM’s estimate, you could become the keeper of a 2017 Bugatti Chiron ‘La Mer Argentée’. It’s quite the bobby dazzler with its factory chrome wrap covering an original Nocturne over Argent Metallic color scheme. The car had some $130,000 spent on a Performance Package in 2019 and the owner actually made some use of the upgrades as the Molsheim monster has covered almost 3,000 miles. It should fetch somewhere between €2,750,000 and €3,500,000 ($3–$3.8 M) according to the auction house.

Next to these, a 2014 Porsche 918 estimated at €1.6–€1.8M ($1.75–$1.97M), a 2005 Carrera GT at €1.3M ($1.42M), a 2015 McLaren P1 at €900,000–€1.2M ($985,000–$1.3M) and a 2022 Ford GT Carbon Series at €750,000–€1,000,000 ($821,000–$1.1M) seem almost like bargains.

Porsche fans could face an interesting conundrum as two 1990s rarities vie for bidders’ attention. Racing aficionados will be tempted by a 1991 962C that finished tenth at the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours and is expected to achieve up to €1.5M ($1.64M), but hot on its heels is a 1996 911 GT2 that’s just been fully restored. One of 194 road cars built, it has had just two owners and is tipped to sell for up to €1.4M ($1.5M).

Step further back in time and there’s plenty of fascinating machinery under the million-dollar mark. For €300,000–€400,000 ($328,000–$438,000) you could pick some pre-war coachbuilt excellence in the form of a 1930 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Transformable Cabriolet or a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Coupé Chauffeur. Perhaps a Rolls-Royce is more to your taking, in which case a 1920 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Tourer, a 1936 Phantom II Saloon, or a 1933 Phantom II Continental Berline could all be yours.

Other highlights of these sales include awesome oddballs such as a 1980 BMW M1, a 1991 Alfa Romeo SZ, and a 1981 Rolls-Royce Camargue. and even a 1994 Lamborghini LM002. If Porkers with flat-nosed snouts are up your strasse then you can pick from a one-of-a-kind 928 GT from 1989 or a 1986 911 Turbo Flachbau. Choices, choices.

Of all the eclectic and exotic on offer, however, it’s two Italian oddities that have captured our hearts. A 1958 Fiat 500 Spiaggina Boana beach car is simply bellisimo. Only two were built by Mario Boano and this stunning original example was first registered to none other than Gianni Agnelli himself. If it gets to its €290,000 ($317,500) estimate, that will be a lot of money for not a lot of metal. A 1955 Alfa Romeo T10 Autotutto camper is a delightful deviation from the de rigeur VW buses. Powered by a two-cylinder supercharged diesel engine, it is anything but ordinary, which is reflected in the price estimate of €90,000–€110,000 ($98,500–$120,400).

The bidding for all of this automotive art begins on January 31 at RM Sotheby’s at the Salles du Carousel in the Louvre Palace of Paris and on February 1 at Bonham’s sale at The Grand Palais Éphémère.

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Kevin Sergent, who assembled one of the country’s premier collections of Chrysler muscle cars, really had no choice.

“Mopar is all I ever knew from the time I could walk,” the Pennsylvania resident says. “And even as a teenager I wanted a Mopar product.”

Well, he sort of got his wish. “Unfortunately, my first car was a Dodge Omni, which I bought for 800 bucks. I wasn’t in a position to buy high-end anything back then.”

Mopar, of course, refers to Chrysler products. The name was coined in 1937 for the company’s brand of antifreeze.

Though Sergent’s relatives raced Mopars, he couldn’t afford to buy a real race car. “But I could come up with a few hundred bucks to buy myself a Chrysler Newport or Imperial and run it in a demolition derby. It was a hobby I kept at until I was in my early 40s, and I finally quit after breaking a couple of bones and catching on fire a few times. I got pretty good—I actually retired as the track champion.”

Fortunes have changed for Sergent, who grew up riding in the back seat of his father’s 1968 Plymouth Road Runner. He began working in the automotive industry as a car salesman when he was 21, and 18 years later, “I cashed in my retirement account, the kids’ college fund and I triple-mortgaged my house to buy a car dealership.” Now he owns 11 dealerships in Western Pennsylvania that operate under the Tri-Star banner.

Today, 25 of his best Mopars will cross the stage at the Mecum 2024 Kissimmee auction in Florida. Though the collection includes some mint Plymouth Road Runners and Hemi Cudas, it’s the 11 “wing” cars that are getting the most attention.

The wing cars, shorthand for Plymouth Superbirds and Dodge Daytonas that were built in 1969 and 1970, had a purpose: Chrysler had to manufacture some street cars with the pointed, wind-cheating nose and huge rear wing in order to race with the same features in NASCAR, where the cars dominated.

The design was so radical that the cars did not sell well when new. “I had a friend who was a dealer and he had one on the lot, and he said that after two years, ‘I had to take the damn wing off it and the nose off it and put the Road Runner front back on it so I could sell it.’” They sell for a lot now: The 20 wing cars that were offered at Mecum Kissimmee in 2023 ranged from a low of $308,000 to a high of $1.43 million.

Sergent’s wing cars are 10 Plymouth Superbirds, and one Dodge Daytona, which is rarer than the Plymouths. His Mopar collection is being offered at no reserve, so he won’t be taking any of them back home.

“After the kids got through school, I finally had some extra money and, rather than invest it back into stocks or something else I didn’t understand, I started buying classic cars. And the Superbirds—I think if you are a Mopar collector, you should have at least one. I was very fortunate to find that many of them. That’s where all my extra money went—into the wing cars, Hemi cars, Road Runners—it was fun collecting them but it’s time to change course.”

A central reason for that was some life-changing news Sergent got last year. “I was diagnosed with cancer, and I knew my kids didn’t want these cars, and dropping these on them is something I didn’t want to do—honestly, it changed my attitude towards the cars a little bit.

“I went through successful cancer surgery, went through all my radiation treatments, and my first follow-up is February 1, so I’m hoping to get good news there. I’m not looking for sympathy selling these cars—they’ll take care of themselves. But it’s just something I didn’t want my family to deal with in case something happens.

“This is the cream of the crop. When this is done I will have no wing cars, no original Hemi cars. I still have a 90-car collection, but I’m probably going to start paring that down soon.”

As a Chrysler and Dodge dealer, Sergent says he’ll miss the Hemi-powered Dodge Challengers and Chargers, and the Chrysler 300C, all of which went out of production at the end of last year.

“Everybody’s pushing the electric stuff,” he says. “I’m fortunate that Dodge came around with the Demon 170 one more time.” He has one of those 1025-horsepower Challengers coming, possibly replacing his daily driver, which is a Challenger Hellcat convertible. “It should be waiting for me when I get home from Kissimmee. I’m sure one of my kids will love to have that car—they like the modern stuff. But it is sad to see them going away.”

Does he expect to get a little emotional as the auctioneer’s gavel starts falling today? “I hope not. I’ve been preparing for this a long time. It’s time for them to go where they’re really appreciated, hopefully to fulfill a dream that some of the buyers have. I’ve been doing this for 41 years, and these are the best cars I’ve ever had.”

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If, as the saying goes, a high tide lifts all boats, then the 1968 Dodge Dart can give some credit to the legendary, wedge-shaped, second-generation Dodge Charger for giving it a lift. While the 1968 Charger’s crisp redesign and badass persona made it an icon, the less-expensive Dart also had some punch, particularly in GT form.

Driving a Dart GT equipped with a 340-cubic-inch V-8 engine, Hot Rod magazine managed 0–60 mph in six seconds and a quarter-mile in 14.38 seconds at 97 mph—heady stuff for the era. Now turn that up a notch.

This week’s auction pick of the week, a Dark Green 1968 Dart GT two-door hardtop with a black vinyl top over a black vinyl interior, is powered by a 425-hp, 408-cu-in V-8 that’s dressed as a 340-cu-in unit. Offered on Hagerty Marketplace, it has been bid to $7777 with less than a week to go before the auction closes on Wednesday, January 10 at 3 p.m. EST.

While the 1968 Dart GT came with front bucket seats, a padded dash, full wheel covers, squared front-end styling, and cool concave glass in the rear, buyers could make the car their own by choosing from a long list of colors and performance options. Although a number of V-8 engine choices were available from the factory, many Darts have been restomodded with larger-displacement engines and other performance modifications—like this one.

Among the car’s highlights: four-speed manual transmission with floor-mounted Hurst shifter; new Holley 650-cfm carburetor, distributor, and fuel pump, which were installed in December 2020; TTI headers and Dynomax dual exhaust; 8.75 Posi-Traction rear end; dash-mounted tachometer; under-dash-mounted oil pressure, water temperature, and voltmeter gauge pack; power-assisted drum brakes; and body-color 14-inch wheels with Fratzog-branded “dog dish” wheel covers. The Dart’s five-digit odometer shows 55,065 miles; the true mileage is unknown.

Additional features include round side-marker lights, pivoting vent windows, manually operated windows, dual sun visors, dome light, center console, three-spoke steering wheel, lap seat belts, rear bench seat, heater/defroster, fully carpeted floor, rubber floor mats, cigarette lighter, locking glove box, independent front torsion bars, and rear leaf springs.

The car’s aftermarket Pioneer stereo (with aftermarket speakers installed in the rear package tray) does not work. Other imperfections include peeling clearcoat on the passenger side fender and both rear quarter panels, minor dents in the rear chrome trunk lid trim, and some patina on the undercarriage.

Included in the sale are a spare wheel and tire, jack, and two sets of keys, along with invoices and receipts.

On offer from a consignor in West Chester, Pennsylvania, this Dart GT looks equally comfortable cruising Detroit’s Woodward Avenue or squaring off against similar muscle machines on the drag strip.

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One thing you can likely expect when you buy a car once owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan: The driver’s seat probably goes way back.

You have an opportunity to bid on two vehicles that once resided in Jordan’s garage, one of them rarer than the other. That car, on Bringatrailer.com, is a 1991 BMW 850i with a six-speed manual transmission. The other vehicle, on Ebay.com, is a 1999 Land Rover Range Rover 4.6 HSE.

First, the Range Rover: It’s a two-owner vehicle, being sold now by an exotic car dealer in Illinois. It has 115,598 miles but received a new dealer-installed 4.6-liter V-8 engine 500 miles ago. The transmission is a four-speed automatic. The exterior is bright red, with a tan leather interior. It appears to have most every feature that was available on a 1999 Range Rover. Jordan, the listing says, was the first owner.

The BMW has a 5.0-liter, 296-horsepower V-12 engine, which breathes through a Magnaflow exhaust. A previous owner added some AC Schnitzer body components, and it also has 17-inch two-piece Schnitzer wheels. It has 30,000 miles on the clock, of which 22,000 were added by the present owner. Paint is Mauritius Blue Metallic. The air conditioner apparently needs work.

“This E31 is offered by the seller on behalf of the owner with documentation bearing Michael Jordan’s signature, manufacturer’s literature, a stamped service booklet, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Illinois title in the owner’s name,” says the listing.

Bidding on the BMW ends on Monday, and on Tuesday for the Range Rover. At this writing, the high bid on the Rover is $25,900, and $60,023 on the BMW.

We all know Jordan is an avid car collector; he recently dropped $3.5 million on a Hennessey Venom F5 roadster. So how potent is the Michael Jordan past-ownership? Pretty potent, if we’re judging from the 1996 Mercedes-Benz S-class S600, which sold through the Beverly Hills Car Club in 2020 for a then-record $202,200. That was more than five times the previously-recorded high bid for an S600.

So you have two chances to own a genuine MJ vehicle, one likely expensive, the other less so. If you want to “Be Like Mike” (a reference to a 1991 Gatorade advertising campaign, for you youngsters), happy bidding.

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After unprecedented growth and routinely broken record prices in 2022, things mostly looked calmer in 2023. That’s not to say the auction market was sleepy, though. Total sales over North American collector car auctions (live and online) observed by Hagerty are likely to fall within two percent of last year’s $3.5B total. The Monterey auctions had their second-highest sales totals ever (after 2022), while online auctions grew over last year in terms of both dollar total and vehicle count.

The super-expensive stuff, however, is still reserved for the large live auctions. Some mouth-watering, wallet-draining cars crossed the block this year; here are the 10 most expensive.

1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB

Sold by Gooding & Co. for $9,465,000

The successor to the 250 Tour de France (TdF) and the precursor to the 250 GTO, the 250 Short Wheelbase (SWB) was a true GT that could be driven to the track, take the checkered flag, and driven back home again. Ferrari built barely 160 examples and they’re all special.

This one lacks race history but makes up for it in originality. A four-owner car, reportedly never before offered for public sale and almost entirely original, it sold for just shy of eight figures but also slightly over its condition #1 (Concours) value.

2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Roadster

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for $10,235,000

With just 20 coupes and six roadsters built, Mercedes-Benz’s CLK GTR isn’t just a thinly-veiled FIA GT Championship-winning, 6.9-liter V-12-sporting race car for the road. It’s also one of the most rare modern exotic cars—there are four times as many McLaren F1s as there are CLK GTRs.

They come to auction very, very infrequently, and when they do, each sale price is drastically higher than the last. Eleven years ago, a coupe sold for $1.1M. The last roadster to sell at auction was in 2015, and it brought $1.9M. Then, another coupe brought $4,515,000 in 2018. At $10.235M, this 170-km (106-mile) roadster is the new benchmark until another one of the 26 CLK GTRs comes out of hiding.

2022 Bugatti Chiron Profilée

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for €9,792,500 ($10,691,569)

The word “unique” gets tossed around a little too much in the collector car hobby (how many times have you heard “my Corvenbahn 7000GTN is one of one in Testosterone Blue over Matte Crimson Emu hide with Stereosonic speakers that was built on a Tuesday”), but this Bugatti is truly quite different from the rest. While based on the already-exclusive Chiron, it has a different shape than the standard car as well as special interior features like woven leather for the dash, door panels, and center console.

Bugatti had planned to sell a special version of the Chiron like the Profilée, but when the original run of 500 build slots for the “regular” Chiron quickly sold out, the company canceled the plans and just the one Profilée was completed. It blew past its €4.2M–€5.5M estimate window as bidders battled for a chance to secure the last Bugatti with the acclaimed W-16 quad-turbo engine. In the process, it also became the most expensive “new” car ever sold at auction.

1972 Ferrari 312 PB

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for €12,042,500 ($13,028,780)

It’s a multi-race winning Ferrari, campaigned in a year when the company won its last World Sportscar Championship. It has a Formula 1-derived flat-12 engine so it sounds great, and it doesn’t look half bad, either. In other words, it’s no surprise that this 312 PB was one of the most expensive cars sold anywhere this year.

The final evolution of Ferrari’s “P” series of cars that dated back to 1963, the 312 PB was also one of the most successful of that series. The chassis won every race it entered in the 1972 World Sportscar Championship (Scuderia Ferrari skipped Le Mans that year), and this car was a big part of that effort. It won the Buenos Aires 1,000 Kilometres and the Nürburgring 1,000 Kilometres, and also took second at Sebring and third at Monza.

1957 Jaguar XKSS

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for $13,205,000

Little more than a Le Mans-winning D-Type race car with bumpers and a windshield, the XKSS is one of the prettiest, rarest, and most valuable road cars around. Jaguar built it to offload the expensive cars and parts that littered the factory after it pulled back from factory racing in 1956, and had enough stock to build 25 units. The infamous fire at the factory meant that just 16 were completed.

Like most of the 16 original XKSSs (Jaguar has since completed those missing 9 cars as XKSS “Continuations”), this one sold new to North America but it eventually passed through several U.K. collectors, one of whom snagged the registration plate “JAG 1.”

XKSSs tend to stay in long-term ownership and are rarely seen at auction. The last real one we saw cross the block was in 2017, and that car failed to sell at an $11.9M high bid. This one’s $13.2M final price puts it right within its $12M–$14M estimate range.

1964 Ferrari 250 LM

Sold by Artcurial for €15,771,200 ($17,120,268)

With just 32 built, the 250 LM is a very rare car, even rarer than a 250 GTO. It’s also a pretty car. One of the prettiest, really. It gave Ferrari its last overall win at Le Mans until the company’s triumphant return in 2023. Important and expensive, then, but the sale of this car was surprising not for how high it was—it was surprising for how low it was.

This car, chassis #5901, crossed the block in February, failed to meet reserve at a €20M reported high bid, and then went back home. French auction house Artcurial then brought it out for its own single-car sale in July. At this smaller affair, the high bid that eventually won the car was lower than where bidding opened back in February. In USD, it’s also less than the last 250 LM sold at auction, which was a $17.6M sale way back in 2015. Chassis #5901 boasts its original body, engine and gearbox, and certainly looks great, but it never raced once in period. In the bidders’ eyes, glory (or lack thereof) apparently trumped originality.

1962 Ferrari 250 California Spider

Sold by Gooding & Co. for $18,045,000

This was the most expensive car at the Amelia Island auctions this year by a factor of more than three. And for good reason, as it’s a short wheelbase (SWB) California Spider with covered headlights, which is the most attractive configuration and quite rare with 37 built. It’s also reportedly the only one finished in Azzurro Metallizzato, which is a shame because it’s a stunning color. There aren’t any major market implications here, just a top-quality car deservedly bringing top dollar.

2013 Mercedes-Benz W04 F1

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for $18,815,000

Modern F1 cars have been showing up at collector car auctions more often over the last few years. Top-quality cars with a good history are also bringing more money. With the sport more popular now than ever (thanks Netflix!), modern F1 cars broke into the top three auction sales in both 2022 and 2023. That’s never happened before. In 2022, the car on the podium was Michael Schumacher’s 2003 title-winning Ferrari F2003-GA, which sold for $14.9M. In 2023, it was Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes W04 from 2013, his first season with the team. While another Mercedes—Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 W196—is still the most expensive Formula 1 car ever sold at auction, Hamilton’s is now the most expensive F1 machine of the modern era.

1967 Ferrari 412P

Sold by Bonhams for $30,255,000

The most expensive and most beautiful lot of the Monterey auctions, this 412P caused little commotion on the auction block and sold for about what most people thought it would. That said, it’s still an incredible car for an incredible sum of money.

The 412P came about at the height of the Ford/Ferrari wars in 1967. After a disappointing 1966, when Ferrari’s 330 P3 played second fiddle to the GT40, Ferrari clawed back some glory in 1967 by finishing first, second, and third at the Daytona 24 Hours, along with securing the World Sportscar Championship title. While the factory team was racing 330 P3s/P4s, Ferrari built four of these 4.0-liter prototypes to customer specs for private teams and called them 412Ps. This one sold new to British team Maranello Concessionaires and wears the team’s signature red with light blue stripe livery. It had decent but unexceptional results in period with its original body and then with temporarily-fitted spyder bodywork, and eventually made it to the West Coast where an owner registered it for street use(!) before selling it on to somebody for just 10 grand(!).

Total production of the 412 P, 330 P3, and 330 P4 series numbers fewer than a dozen examples, so not many have been seen for sale. One of the P4s, cut up and modified for Can-Am racing in period, came to auction in 2009 and was a no-sale at a €7,250,000 high bid. The last confirmed public sale of one of these beauties was in 2000 when Christie’s got $5.6M for a P3.

1962 Ferrari GTO SII 330

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for $51,705,000

After last year’s shocking $142M sale of a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupe, things came back to normal in 2023, with an Enzo-era Ferrari taking the top auction spot of the year. And what a Ferrari it is.

It’s the first GTO to come to auction since 2018, when a car with less desirable bodywork but a clean history sold for a then-record $48.4M.

This car is one of a handful of cars fitted in-period with a larger 4.0-liter engine, which technically made it a “330 LM” despite its GTO bodywork. After some decent performances as a factory car, though, it was sold to private Italian owners, converted to 250 GTO spec, and then raced as a 250 GTO, hence RM Sotheby’s labeling it as a “330 LM/250 GTO.” It has since been shown in a featured GTO class at Pebble Beach and taken part in the ultra-exclusive 250 GTO Anniversary Tour, so it’s part of the club.

Other GTOs have reportedly sold for more on the private market, but this is now the most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction and the second most expensive car sold at auction, ever.

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You’d be wise to not underestimate a ’68 Road Runner, even one with a tame, quiet idle. However, you certainly wouldn’t expect even a potent muscle car engine of the era to be capable of producing 1000 hp without a rough, staccato idle that would announce its presence from a block away. Don’t be fooled. This blue-on-blue 1968 Plymouth, looking every bit like a restored show car, is packing 426 cubic inches of Gen III Hellephant crate engine under its hood. It’s slated to cross the auction blocks at Mecum’s Kissimmee, Florida, sale in January 2024.

For some Mopar fans, the thought of a 426 Hemi conjures up images of E-bodies with shaker hood scoops, or perhaps a lightweight 1968 Barracuda prepped for drag racing. For us, it’s the Dodge and Plymouth B-body that is most synonymous with the V-8 Elephant that became such a revered engine on streets, dragstrips, and on NASCAR’s superspeedways.

The magical 426 cubic-inch displacement is synonymous with the Gen II Hemi of the muscle car era, but there’s also an impressive late-model crate engine that took a different approach to getting that kind of displacement. Just 100 Hellephant crate engines were built at sold by Mopar, and the recipe for their ground-pounding 1000 hp and 950 lb-ft of torque was an aluminum Gen III Hemi block—all production cars and trucks sold with at Gen III Hemi used iron blocks—with a 4.125-inch bore and a 4.0-inch stroke. Like the Hellcat V-8 that it was developed from, the Hellephant’s aluminum heads were topped by a sizable supercharger and charge cooler. In retrospect, this engine was likely the beneficiary of a lot of the engine development that went into the 1025 hp, 6.2-liter Hemi that powered the Demon 170.

When Mopar first showed the Hellphant crate engine at SEMA 2018, we were hoping for builds like this, although we didn’t expect a builder to start with an already restored beauty. Before its transformation, this Road Runner was a hit at the Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals, where it scored 990 out of a possible 1000 points thanks to an incredibly detailed restoration that retained the factory interior. Its original four-barrel 383 engine was rated at 335 hp and the big bore, short-deck big-block was capable of much more. However, the 1968 Road Runner was also available with the legendary 426 Hemi, so perhaps this well-muscled coupe, even in its restored glory, always had a chip on its shoulder. Not anymore.

Aside from its monster motor, the Road Runner also received a set of subframe connectors to help the body keep up under the strain of 950 lb-ft of torque. Inside, the otherwise original interior was upgraded with a Vintage Air air conditioning system and what looks like a Dakota Digital dash to help keep tabs on the V-8. The dash blends in nicely and still uses three 180-degree-sweep analog gauges on either side of a small display. The factory floor shifter, once connected to a four-speed manual transmission, is now a Lokar piece that shifts a GM 4L80E. The four-speed automatic trans is a popular choice for high-powered drag-and-drive cars and is known for being able to stand up to lots of torque while letting big engines loaf around at highway speeds thanks to its 0.75:1 overdrive.

We’ll be watching this auction at next month’s Mecum sale, as we’re interested to see how collectors respond to a well-restored car going under the knife to accept a modern powerplant. If there was a modern engine worth dropping into such a classic, it would have to be the Hellephant.

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Our auction pick of the week is this stately piece of British luxury, a 1970 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Long Wheelbase Saloon. This model marked several major changes for Rolls-Royce, as it was the company’s first model to ditch a solid rear axle in favor of independent rear suspension while also becoming the first to evolve from body-on-frame to unit construction. The former provided an improved, compliant ride, while the latter allowed for the Silver Shadow to offer increased interior room than the longer, wider Silver Cloud it replaced. Of course, part of that efficiency can be chalked up to the Silver Shadow also ditching its predecessor’s prominent fenders and tumblehome to become more upright. The Silver Shadow also became the first Rolls-Royce to ditch drum brakes in favor of discs, helping the heavy coach with a major boost to stopping power.

The luxo-cruiser is powered by Rolls-Royce’s long-lived 6.75-liter V-8 which routes its power through a rugged and reliable column-shifted GM Turbo-Hydramatic 400 three-speed automatic transmission. The gearbox isn’t the only bit of borrowed kit, as its cushy hydro-pneumatic self-leveling suspension was licensed from Citroën. Rolls-Royce wasn’t big on touting power levels at the time, although when pressed, the company listed the output of the twin one-barrel V-8 at 189 hp. That’s not a particularly impressive figure, although the big V-8 was tuned for quiet, low-speed torque and delivered in that regard.

To give its rear-seat occupants even more posh seating accommodations, this model is equipped with a stretched body that added four inches to the wheelbase compared to a standard Silver Shadow. Only 2,780 versions of the 123.5-inch-wheelbase Silver Shadow were built over the model’s nine-year run from 1969–1977, less than 20 percent of total production. Inside, the cushy seats are upholstered in tan Connolly leather, with wool Wilton carpets and contrasting solid wood trim covered in walnut veneer. Rear seat passengers can enjoy their extra legroom and ride in comfort with wool floormats and fold-down footrests, while the driver and front seat passengers are treated to comfortable seating of their own, with individual armrests.

This fine example of Rolls-Royce craftsmanship is being offered by the Petersen Automotive Museum, which received the car in 2020. It has just over 33,000 miles on the odometer. Included in the sale are the original owner’s manual and a tool kit that includes a pair of pliers, a spanner (wrench, for us Yanks), and some spare bulbs. Given its unique implementation of a Citroën suspension and rather uncommon engine, we imagine the car will require a specialist’s care and a more comprehensive toolset, to say the least. However, aside from a few paint blemishes, some worn trunk carpet, and a crack in the dash trim, the car appears to be in good shape given its age and should give its next owner plenty more miles of quiet, elegant motoring.

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The last time we flipped our calendars over to a new year, we looked back on a 2022 full of record-breaking car auctions, price-guide-breaking sales, and previously-unseen growth for seemingly everything four-wheeled and fun. As we roll our calendars to 2024, things are a little different. Prices are still high in general, and higher than some of us would like. Some cars are still appreciating, but the lines on the graph aren’t as sharp, and quite a few cars actually decreased in value. The Hagerty Market Rating, our measure of overall activity in the collector car market, just dropped for the eighth month in a row. Though this year saw far fewer common trends spanning this massive hobby of ours, several segments offered compelling storylines that stood out to us. Here they are, below.

Momentum among Japanese collector cars appears to be slowing

Japan is the Land of the Rising Sun, of course, and cars from that country have been doing some rising of their own the past few years. Mk IV Toyota Supras are worth roughly double what they were in 2018. So are first gen (AP1) Honda S2000s and (NA) Mazda Miatas. Nissan’s Skyline is on its own monstrous trajectory.

This year, though, hasn’t been as drastic. Of all the Japanese collector vehicles in the Hagerty Price Guide, the average appreciation in 2023 was 4.5 percent. Still growing and still higher than inflation, then, but last year the number was 15.6 percent.

Some Japanese classics have taken a dip. From May 2015 to April 2022 the 1970-73 Datsun 240Z grew 163 percent, but during 2023 that game-changing sports car took a four percent drop. The aforementioned first gen Honda S2000 shed ten percent in 2023, and the third gen (FD) Mazda RX-7 dropped 16 percent.

Some Radwood cars are up, some are down

This segment has some overlaps with the Japanese cars above, and Radwood-era cars (collector vehicles built during the 1980s and 1990s) were another group that spent much of the pandemic boom shooting up, only to slow down during the past 12 months.

Over the course of 2022, all 1980s and 1990s vehicles in the Hagerty Price Guide experienced an average appreciation of 14.5 percent. For 2023, the number is 4.5 percent. Fox-body Ford Mustangs kept up their multi-year growth spurt, with 5.0 convertibles appreciating an average of 15 percent in 2023, while 1991-92 GMC Syclones grew 6.7 percent and 1981-83 DeLorean DMC-12s grew by a movie-appropriate 18.8 percent. On the flip side, 1986-92 BMW M3s dropped 12.9 percent, 1987 Buick GNXs dropped 5.6 percent, and 1987-91 Ford Broncos dropped 12 percent.

Ferraris had a good year

If we ignore Formula One for just a sec, 2023 was quite kind to Italy’s most famous carmaker. Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the tenth time, and its first since 1965. Its Q3 revenue rose 24 percent from a year ago while profit jumped 46 percent. The company shipped more vehicles and its stock (ticker: RACE) is riding high. There’s even a movie about the man himself coming out. As for older Ferraris, they had a good showing in 2023, too. As of Q3, Hagerty’s  Ferrari Market Index saw higher year-over-year growth than any of the other six indices in the Hagerty Price Guide.

At the top of the Ferrari ladder, despite some headline cars falling short of estimates at auction this year, several sales both public and private confirmed that the market hasn’t dropped for Enzo-era Ferraris, especially ones with pedigree. Five Ferraris sold for over $10M this year. Although six brought $10M or more back in 2014, most years don’t see more than one or two, and some years don’t see any. And, after 2022’s shocking $142M sale of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, Ferrari wrested the top auction spot of 2023 with a $51.7M GTO, the most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction.

With a wide range of performance, vintage and price point, the overall Ferrari market is nuanced. Naturally, not all the cars move together. Many gained value in 2023. Many of them didn’t. While median #2 (“Excellent”) values for some models like the 1968-73 Daytona (-4 percent), 1975-85 308 (-3 percent) and 2004-09 F430 (-12 percent) took notable steps back, the 1962-64 250 GT Lusso (+7 percent), 1968-76 246 Dino (+6 percent) and 1994-99 F355 (+11 percent) saw sizable gains.

Modern exotics were mixed

Exotic cars from the 1990s and 2000s, particularly the kind with a stick shift between the seats, were all the rage in 2022. We noted record sale prices every few weeks. Monterey saw records break for both the Ferrari F40 and F50, while even underappreciated exotics like the Jaguar XJ 220 gained a following. That car gained 26 percent in value over the course of last year. In 2023, however, not everything with carbon fiber and a clutch pedal was guaranteed to get more expensive.

Some did continue their momentum. Ferrari F50s, which more than doubled in value from mid-2021 to late 2022, saw a 3.5 percent gain in 2023. Lamborghini Diablos, which jumped 26 percent in 2022, gained 18 percent in 2023. Lotus Esprit V8s, which gained 18 percent last year, made an even larger 21 percent gain this year. At the same time, others retreated but remain higher than they were in 2021. Values for Porsche Carrera GTs surged 25 percent from Jan. 2022 to Jan. 2023. From then to now, Carrera GTs are down seven percent.  The rise and fall of Bugatti EB110s is even more stark. These cars shot up 54 percent in 2022, only to fall 15 percent in 2023. Ford GTs, meanwhile, had a modest two percent gain in 2022, and their current median #2 value of $408,000 is actually a few grand lower than it was last January.

Taken as a whole, the supercar market still grew in 2023, but it slowed down.

Modern F1 cars are showing up more often, and for more money

While this is an admittedly tiny, tiny slice of the collector car market, we can’t help but notice the proliferation of modern (early 1980s to today) Formula One cars coming up for sale as well as higher and higher prices for the most significant cars. All this despite these cutting edge computers on wheels not getting any easier to run or maintain. Modern F1 machines took a podium—landing among the year’s top three auction sales—in 2022 and 2023, something that’s never happened before. In 2023, there were two collector car auctions attached to Grands Prix. That has never happened before, either.

It all makes sense. F1 has been the pinnacle of motorsports for a long time, but it is more popular than ever right now. Owning a rare and drivable (albeit with great difficulty) piece of the series has big appeal for certain collectors, and the market for the best modern F1 machinery had a big showing in 2023. Highlights included Michael Schumacher’s 1991 Jordan for $1.63M, Kimi Raikkonen’s 2006 McLaren-Mercedes-Benz MP4/21 for $2.76M and Lewis Hamilton’s 2013 Mercedes-AMG W04 for $18.82M, the new record for a modern Grand Prix car.

Online auctions kept growing, and aren’t going anywhere

Online collector car auctions are sort of like remote work. They were around before 2020, but they flourished and matured during the pandemic, and now they’re here to stay.

During the 2020-22 period, it seemed like there was a new online auction company popping up every other week trying to cash in on the boom. That was no longer the case in 2023 and several of those upstarts are no more, but the space kept growing as people are no longer buying cars from the keyboard out of necessity, but out of convenience.

The post These are the collector car segments that stood out in 2023 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Ewan McGregor isn’t just a Hollywood heavyweight—he packs quite a punch when it comes to cars. The Scottish-born actor has eclectic taste, as well as the money to buy pretty much whatever he wants, but he doesn’t always hang onto his automotive treasure.

Two years ago, McGregor sold a 1927 Buick Master Six sedan for $28,000 on BringATrailer.com because, he says, he moved to a house on a hill and the car struggled to make it up the incline. Now he’s back on BaT with a 1972 Porsche 911T Targa that he acquired in 2020.

McGregor has also owned a number of other classics, including a 1969 Aston Martin DBS, which he sold in order to buy a 1967 split-windshield VW Westfalia Camper.

So where did McGregor’s love of classic vehicles come from? He told Top Gear that he likely caught the bug from his grandfather, since his dad wasn’t much of a car guy. Volkswagen Beetles were the family’s car of choice when McGregor was growing up, but he was first attracted to motorcycles. He started with a 1978 Moto Guzzi T3, and later moved on to a Ducati and some Spanish Ossa dirt bikes. Cars came later.

“I bought my first ‘proper’ car when I was in Australia doing Moulin Rouge,” he told Top Gear. “A member of the crew had a 1972 Ford Mustang fastback, and he always parked it outside my dressing room because he wanted me to buy it. Anyway, for some reason I found out about another Mustang that was being sold in Sydney at the time—a 1965 convertible. It was the color of vanilla ice cream with a light blue roof. I fell in love, bought it and shipped it back to Britain because it had been converted to right-hand drive. That was my only car for a long time because I was always on my bikes.”

McGregor began collecting cars when he moved to the United States in 2008. Among his many purchases: a 1960 Silver Cloud II, Porsche 718 Cayman, two rat rods (one based on a 1920 Dodge and and the second “a ridiculously slammed 1927 Ford Tudor”), a 1937 Wolseley that served as the family car in the 2018 film Christopher Robin, and several VW Beetles, one of which is an electric-converted 1954 model that he commissioned from SoCal specialist EV West. McGregor also plans to buy a Volkswagen ID Buzz when it hits dealerships in 2024.

As for McGregor’s 1972 Porsche 911T Targa, bidding has reached $93,000 with three days remaining in the BaT auction.

According to the vehicle description, the Targa had been stored from the late 1970s until 2019, and it was acquired by McGregor the following year. Finished in black paint over black leatherette and Pepita fabric, the German sports car is powered by a 2.4-liter flat-six that’s mated to a five-speed 915 manual transaxle.

Features include a removable roof panel, stainless-steel Targa bar, 911S-style front spoiler, four-spoke leather-wrapped steering wheel, driver’s sport seat, right bucket seat, fold-down rear seats, staggered-width 15-inch Fuchs alloy wheels, and factory air conditioning. A timing chain update kit, Porsche Classic radio (with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, satellite radio, and USB charging ports), and replacement speakers have recently been installed. Performed maintenance includes a valve adjustment, resealing the transmission, and replacing the clutch, flywheel, shifter bushings, various engine oil seals, and ignition components.

This 911T Targa comes with a Porsche Production Specifications certificate, as well as the owner’s manual, recent service records, spare parts, and a clean California title in the owner’s name.

The Porsche’s left front fender was repainted prior to McGregor’s ownership, and the antenna has been relocated to the right front fender. The front has rock chips, and the paint has other imperfections as well.

The car wears 185/70 Vredestein Sprint Classic tires and retains its factory-equipped ventilated disc brakes. The rear shocks were replaced in 2020.

The five-digit odometer shows 38,000 miles, but the car’s true mileage is unknown. Also unknown is why McGregor has decided to part with the car. Perhaps he has his eye on another Westfalia.

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From 1963 through 1967, Chevrolet built 117,966 of its second-generation, or C2, Corvettes. And while they all look like a million bucks, the vast majority have always been generally accessible to mere mortals. Some, however, either because of the way they were spec’d from the factory or because of owned them, have always remained out of touch.

The 20 race-ready 1967 L88 Corvettes, for example, are a prime example of such stratospheric positioning, with their 427/430 engines and suite of heavy-duty go-fast bits. They consistently populate “most expensive Corvette” lists, and indeed the most expensive Corvette ever sold at auction was a ’67 L88 coupe, at Barrett-Jackson in 2014, for $3.85 million.

As for the Corvettes that bring big money because of their ownership history, welp, the two listed here are hard to beat, and both are on the docket for Mecum’s 25th annual sale in Kissimmee, Florida, January 2–14, 2024.

1963 Harley Earl Styling Car

Outside of Zora Arkus-Duntov, no one was more influential in bringing the Corvette to life than Harley J. Earl, who served as head of the Art and Color Section (later renamed the Styling Section) at General Motors from 1927 until his retirement in 1958. Well-known in the Corvette world, including within the hallowed halls of Bloomington Gold, this car was gifted to Earl as a retirement present, and he drove it regularly around Palm Beach, Florida, in his golden years, even lapping the Daytona Speedway in it in 1965 when he served as Grand Marshal of that year’s 500.

The car is finished in metallic blue paintwork (not offered in ’63) with a white stripe starting at the “stinger” and running the length of the car. It is complemented by a matching blue-and-white leather interior. And though Earl’s Corvette is fitted with a rather tame 327/300 V-8 and four-speed manual, this unique car sports dual-circuit four-wheel disc brakes (not offered until ’65) as well as a passenger-side gauge cluster with accelerometer, altimeter, and two thermometers. The most notable custom touch, however, are the pair of fantastic four-branch polished stainless steel sidepipes, which were never offered on production Corvettes.

This car is not new to market. It sold at Barrett-Jackson in 1999 for $152,300, and then also 11 years later, at Mecum Indy, for $980,500. In 2013, it sold again, this time for $1.65 million, at a Mecum auction in Chicago. Then it failed to sell for a high bid of $1.7 million in Kissimmee in 2019, when it was paired with another famous blue C2 styling Corvette once belonging to another famous GM designer…

1964 Bill Mitchell Styling Car

Bill Mitchell was hired on at Art and Color by Harley Earl in 1936, and when the latter retired in 1958, Mitchell succeeded him as head honcho of GM design. As such, it was Mitchell who breathed life into the 1963 Corvette (through the pencil of Larry Shinoda). Mitchell had a 1964 Corvette constructed to his liking, which he then drove as his personal car.

Though less flashy than Earl’s simply for its lack of sidepipes, the Mitchell Corvette does not lack for custom touches. Outside, the car is finished in special Bright Blue Metallic paint, with unique chrome knock-off wire wheels and an egg-crate grille, while the doors lack wing windows. The side vents are chromed, and the rear end features six taillights rather than the standard four. Inside, the entire interior—seats, dash, glovebox door, door cards—is clad in blue leather.

Underhood is a 327/365 V-8 putting power to the rear wheels through a three-speed Turbo Hydramatic 400, which didn’t make its way into production Corvettes until the 1969 model year.

The upcoming Kissimmee auction presents a great opportunity for Corvette collectors looking for something different. There will be dozens, if not hundreds, of Vettes among the 4000 cars consigned, but these two styling cars, with their impeccable ownership histories and their special connection to two greats of GM design, could anchor just about any collection of Corvettes, or American cars, or sports car, or one-off cars.

The Earl Corvette is estimated at $750,000–$1,000,000, the Mitchell Corvette at $500,000–$600,000. If you had the means to bring one home, which would it be?

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If this 1970 Pontiac GTO could talk, oh the stories it might tell. Drive-ins and date nights, cruises and wrenching sessions … perhaps even some street racing on Woodward Avenue. A one-owner car for 51 years, it finally changed hands in 2021, and its second Detroit-area owner has given it a new lease on life. Perhaps its next home will be yours.

Offered on Hagerty Marketplace, the iconic GTO is powered by its original, numbers-matching, 366-horsepower, 400-cubic-inch V-8, mated to a four-speed manual transmission with Hurst shifter. 

Far from living a pampered life, the nearly all-original Ram Air III survivor has almost 100,000 miles on the odometer and some visible flaws, but over the last two years, it has received second-owner upgrades like rebuilt cylinder heads and new exhaust system, replacement floor, carpet, and vinyl roof.

As for that GTO swagger, that’s been there all along.

The Gran Turismo Omologato was born when Pontiac engineers John DeLorean, Bill Collins, and Russ Gee inserted a 389 engine into a 1964 LeMans and created what is generally considered the first muscle car. Offered as an optional package on the LeMans in 1964 and ’65, the GTO became a separate Pontiac model in 1966 and sold nearly 100,000 units that year. After the GTO averaged almost 85,000 in sales from ’66-69, the market began to move away from muscle machines and toward smaller cars—think Plymouth Duster, Dodge Dart, and Ford Maverick—and 1970 GTO sales plummeted to 40,149, just over half as many as the previous year.

The ’70 GTO, which received a slight facelift over the previous year’s model, had a base price of $3267 for the hardtop and $3492 for the convertible, equivalent to $25,854 and $27,635 in today’s money. 

The standard engine was the 350-horsepower 400-cubic-inch V-8, paired with a floor-shifted three-speed manual gearbox. The legendary Judge package added an extra $337.02 ($2667 today), and the most popular engine upgrade was the Ram Air III, which could be had for an additional $168.51 ($1334). A total of 2380 buyers selected the RA III with an optional four-speed manual, which added $143.50 ($1136) to the bottom line. One of those 2380 was the original owner of today’s featured car.

According to the build sheet, the Granada Gold-over-brown GTO (chassis/VIN 242370P173928) was purchased on December 28, 1969, from Red Holman Pontiac in Wayne, Michigan. With options that included a Cordova top, 14-inch Rallye wheels, and power-assisted front disc brakes, it carried a retail price of $4199.58 ($33,234).

Among the car’s features: a three-spoke steering wheel, power steering, dual bucket seats, adjustable headrests, frameless doors, aluminum door sills, manually-operated windows, center console, AM radio, 140-mph speedometer, cigarette lighter, heater, fog lights, and hood pins.

While the bodywork retains large portions of its original paintwork, it has multiple imperfections and some minor retouching. Other known flaws are a cracked dash, wear on the driver’s seat, and minor rust on the inside bottom of the doors.

The sale includes the original build order sheet, a copy of the original window sticker, and Pontiac Historical Society documentation. The car has a clean title.

With just under two weeks remaining in the auction, bidding has reached $16,000. Considering the GTO’s iconic roots, classic design, and legendary performance—plus its documented ownership from new—this 1970 Pontiac GTO Ram Air III should draw a lot of interest before the auction closes on Wednesday, December 27 at 3 p.m. EST. Could its third owner be you?

The post Auction Pick of the Week: 1970 Pontiac GTO Ram Air III appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s Corvette Jeopardy! Here are your answers: Riverside Red. Ermine White. Silver Blue. Tuxedo Black. Sebring Silver. Saddle Tan. Daytona Blue.

The question: What are the seven colors Chevrolet painted its 1963 Corvette Split-Window coupes?

We mention this because, at the Corvette-heavy Mecum Kissimmee auction to be held January 2–14 in Florida, one of the most coveted groups of cars among the 4000 to be sold features seven Split-Window coupes, one in each available color. Mecum is calling it the Colorama Spilt-Window Collection, but we hesitate to call it a collection because it’s basically a group of Corvettes assembled by a dealer, ProTeam Corvette Sales, to sell through Mecum as individual lots. But the cars are getting a lot of traction in the Corvette-centric media, and with good reason.

Bill Mitchell’s design team, which included talented designers such as a very young Peter Brock and Larry Shinoda, designed a fastback Corvette that looked—well, marvelous. For the rear window, they decided to use two pieces of glass, split by a few inches of body-colored fiberglass and framed by aluminum strips. That was in 1963. For 1964, the split window was replaced by a solid piece of curved glass, thus making the 1963 Split-Window an immediate collectors’ item. They dubbed it the Sting Ray (two words; it wasn’t one word until 1969).

Some 10,594 Split-Window Corvettes were built, as well as roughly the same number of convertibles. There have been plenty of collectible Corvettes built in the car’s 70-year history, and the Split-Windows are near the top of the list.

So what kind of money are we talking about here?

The most expensive of the seven Split-Windows is likely to be the Daytona Blue one. It has the coveted Z06 performance package, as well as an interesting backstory: It was exported new to Australia, where it was converted to right-hand drive. All the Colorama Corvettes have some version of the 327-cubic-inch V-8 and four-speed manual transmissions; this one has 360 horsepower. (The 327 also came in 300- and 340-horsepower versions, and all are represented in this group.) Mecum is valuing the Australian Z06 at $450,000–$500,000.

The Riverside Red Split-Window carries Mecum’s lowest estimate at $225,000–$275,000. It’s a lovely numbers-matching car, with low-mileage (47,844), and was the subject of a body-on restoration and an engine rebuild. However, it doesn’t have fuel injection (four of the seven cars do), and it doesn’t have the provenance the rest have, such as a Bloomington Gold certification.

The remainder of the cars are valued slightly higher than the Riverside Red representative, and less than the Z06. Perhaps the most interesting of that lot is the Ermine White model ($250,000–$275,000). It was a present from Jesse James (West Coast Choppers, Monster Garage) to actress Sandra Bullock, presumably during their marriage, which lasted from 2005 to 2010. Bullock subsequently donated the Corvette to charity (sigh). As for James, he is currently married to adult film star Bonnie Rotten. Bullock never remarried.

Click here for the Mecum listing of the Colorama Split-Window Collection. You can also click here to look at the spilt-window Corvettes that ProTeam Corvette Sales has in stock, starting at $149,000 for a Riverside Red model.

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Though he was primarily known for the high-flying, tire-roasting antics of his Gymkhana stunt driving videos, Ken Block frequently competed in high-level rallying, too. Block, who passed away in a tragic snowmobile accident early last year, took the green flag at plenty of national and international rally events over the course of his racing career.

Now, one of his early rally cars is up for auction on Bring a Trailer.

The car in question is a 2004 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS, which the listing says was used by Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino in X Games rally events. The car was prepared for Open Class rallying specifications in 2006 by Vermont SportsCar (VSC), the longstanding technical partner of Subaru of America, which supports the automaker’s factory-backed rallying program.

In the hands of VSC, this thing underwent quite a transformation. The 2.5-liter flat-four was ditched in favor of a smaller-displacement (2.0-liter), turbocharged unit, again of the flat-four variety. The engine is paired with a KAPS five-speed dog-box manual transmission (read: straight-cut gears and no synchros) that sends power to all four wheels via a driver-controlled center differential and Cusco limited-slip front and rear differentials. The engine runs a MoTeC M880 ECU, a GReddy aluminum radiator and intercooler, and a SPAL cooling fan. A Prodrive 34mm Turbo restrictor is also noted; this was likely fitted to ensure the car’s compliance with contemporary rallying specifications.

Suspension hardware includes Öhlins shock absorbers, as well as rear suspension links and 20-mm front and rear antiroll bars from Cusco. You’ll find 15-inch Speedline Corse wheels wearing 215/65 BFGoodrich tires at all four corners, and a full-size spare in the trunk. All of the braking hardware has been upgraded as well, and there’s a Tilton bias adjuster inside the cockpit to fine-tune the car’s behavior when stopping.

That cockpit also features Recaro racing seats, Sabelt six-point harnesses, a roll cage, carbon-fiber dashboard and door panels, and more. The seller does note that the seat and harness certifications have expired, however, so if you want to battle the clock at your nearest rally event, you’ll likely have to pony up for new chairs and belts.

According to the Carfax report that accompanies this listing, the car sustained water damage in 2005, resulting in it being declared a total loss. (That incident is probably what qualified it for conversion to rally car, but we can’t say for certain.) Currently, the car’s Oregon title carries a Reconstructed brand, and previous salvage and no-actual mileage titles were issued in 2005 by New Hampshire and in 2006 by Vermont. While those documentation obstacles will likely make it hard to legalize the car for everyday road use in some states, this Subie might be the perfect candidate for your next ride if you’re looking to get into or are already serious about competing in rallying.

Win the auction, and you’ll get a build book detailing the car’s specifications that has been autographed by co-driver Alex Gelsomino. The car also carries the autographs of Ken Block and Travis Pastrana, both X-Games and rallying legends.

So just what will this thing hammer for when the auction wraps up next Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. ET? As of this writing, the leading bid sits at $46,250. This question is a bit more complex, owing to the car’s connection with one of rallying’s modern-day heroes. Will Ken Block’s ownership push the value of this thing sky-high? Probably not, but the connection could be worth some extra money to certain bidders.

We also have to take into account that this is not an official World Rally Cross (WRC) car, which is a knife that cuts two ways: On the one hand, it is not a bleeding-edge dirt missile that will rebel against all but the best pilots. Even if you’re a moderately skilled driver, you could get plenty out of this thing around a rally stage. On the other hand, those WRC cars are by far the most sought-after from this generation of the sport; we’ve seen WRC Imprezas of similar vintage sell for £610K (nearly $765K USD). While this one’s connection to Ken Block will certainly add to its appeal, don’t go holding your breath for a new rally-car record.

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The 1990s were a fun, playful time at Chrysler. Consumer vehicles such as the spunky Neon and the all-new, entirely dynamic Dodge Ram were introduced for the mainstream, and niche vehicles like the Dodge Viper and the Plymouth Prowler were proof that of all the Detroit automakers, Chrysler was the most willing to take chances.

The original Viper was a brutal, bare-bones performance car that very nearly challenged its fans to take it on a trip, almost guaranteed to be something of an ordeal thanks to the searing heat generated by the big V-10 engine and the side exhausts, the Rube Goldberg-style soft top, and the ultra-firm suspension.

The Prowler—that was a different animal. Though it handled quite well, thanks mostly to its massive-for-the-era tires, and accelerated nicely, it was a cruiser, not a performance car. Unlike the first Vipers it had air conditioning and all the other conveniences you’d expect in a near-luxury car, and rather than a big engine, it had the corporate 3.5-liter, 253-horsepower V-6 matched to an unenthusiastic electronic four-speed automatic transmission.

Similar to the Viper, the Prowler was an acquired taste on longer trips; the suspension guaranteed a firm ride, the narrow footwells were tight for anyone with size 12 or larger shoes, and the clamshell trunk could handle some carefully-placed soft luggage and not a lot else.

But the profile of the hot-rod Prowler, penned in part by a young, up-and-coming designer named Chip Foose, made it the classic it deserves to be. Top-down motoring is fun in a Prowler, and the manual soft top worked much better than the Viper’s. A lot of off-the-shelf parts means maintaining a Prowler is easier than many comparable collectibles.

The Prowler presented here, offered on Hagerty Marketplace, is even more of a collector’s item than the typical example. It has been customized–very few Prowlers were—and benefits from celebrity ownership, passing through the hands first of basketball star Dennis Rodman, then ending up in the collection of boxing great George Foreman, who has an eye for the eclectic.

It was customized by Carlini Design, a Santa Ana, California, a shop better known for its motorcycles than cars. It is one of just 561 Prowlers built in 1999 that were painted the optional Prowler Yellow, a color that really makes the design snap. The interior is finished in black leather. The sound system is a seven-speaker Infinity stereo.

Likely you’ve noticed that the Foreman Prowler is done-up with a cheetah theme inside and out, with special paint trim up front that starts out in cheetah coloration before blending into flames from the front wheel to the rear of the door. Inside, cheetah-like upholstery trim extends even up to the roll bars.

In addition, the front bumper has been deleted, the turn signals were relocated, custom headlights and a custom front grille were added, and custom chrome suspension pieces have been fitted up front.

The Foreman Prowler appears to be in very good condition, with some mild oxidation of the wheels and grille strakes that has likely been caused by static storage, possibly exacerbated by a golf cart battery fire in Foreman’s storage facility. Regardless, a talented detailer should be able to address the issue.

This is a chance to score a genuine collector’s item, made more collectible by the customization. It’s available here on Hagerty Marketplace, with bidding ending Thursday, December 14, at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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Turn back the clock to about 2000. Now imagine that you’re a car company looking to promote your latest frugal, front-wheel drive, fuel-sipping four-banger hatchback. Naturally, your first call is to a racing outfit to completely re-engineer and beef up the little car, yanking out the four-cylinder up front in the process and stuffing a V-6 in the back. You then rush the car to market, sell it in small numbers at a surprisingly low price (which can’t have been profitable), and run a one-make racing series with it for a few years to promote the regular model.

The plan sounds awesome, not to mention completely unnecessary, but Renault used its Clio hatchback to bring this imagined scenario to life from 2001 to ’05. One of the original track cars just sold this week at a sinister $66,666 winning bid ($69,999 with buyer’s premium), which seems like plenty of rarity and track day fun per dollar.

Renault started selling the Clio in 1990, and while we’ve never been able to buy one here in the States, it is consistently one of Europe’s best-selling cars and is a popular commuter car in South America as well. It’s sort of like a French VW Golf. The second-generation Clio debuted in 1998, and at the Paris Motor Show that year, Renault trotted out a sporty mid-engine Clio hatchback as a concept car. It was a clear reminder of the R5 Turbo rally racers of the 1980s, which were themselves reworked mid-engine versions of the Clio’s predecessor, the Renault 5.

Encouraged by the concept car’s reception, Renault worked with British firm Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) of Le Mans–winning and Jaguar XJR-15 fame to develop the car for two purposes. The first was a one-make racing program called the Renault Clio V6 Trophy series. The second was a road-going version of the racer, and TWR built the early road cars at its facility in Sweden. The entire rear of the Clio was reworked, and the inherent practicality of a hatchback was wiped away by the 3.0-liter V-6 borrowed from the Renault Laguna family car that got dropped in place of where the rear seats and cargo space used to be. A six-speed manual was the only available gearbox, and new suspension (MacPherson up front, multi-link in the rear) was added. A Clio V6 is wider, lower, and longer than the standard model, with a squat stance and big butt. Launched in late 2000 and selling for less than £30,000 in the UK, this pocket exotic seemed like a bargain.

But it wasn’t perfect. The TWR connection was reassuring, and having a big engine stuffed into the middle of small car is often a recipe for fun, but early reviewers were a little disappointed and sometimes frightened. First, the Clio V6 was over 600 pounds heavier than the standard Clio, so despite the 227 hp driving the rear wheels, it wasn’t as much faster than the regular front-driver as you might think. The 0-to-60-mph sprint came in a little over six seconds.

Then there was the scary handling. The engine provides plenty of oomph and makes a nice throaty sound, but it sits high up in the chassis. The high center of gravity plus its short wheelbase made this spunky Clio a bit unpredictable. According to Autocar, the “approach to corners went grip, grip, grip, grip, gone,” and the Clio V6 is “at its absolute best when parked.” Andrew Frankel later remembered that people “always bang on about early Porsche 911s as being the trickiest road cars to drive on the limit, but in my experience they’re not even close. A Ferrari 348 is worse than that and worse than the 348 was that Clio.” Ouch.

After about 1500 Clio V6 road cars sold, a new Phase 2 model came out. Production moved to France at the Renaultsport factory in Dieppe, and a facelift ditched the narrow, grin-like grille for larger grilles split by the Renault diamond in the middle. Improvements to the suspension, stiffer subframes, and a longer wheelbase made it friendlier to drive, while different gear ratios and more power thanks to reworked induction and cylinder head made it a little quicker, too.

Even so, Renault stopped selling this imperfect but undeniably cool car after 2005. Only about 3000 examples of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 models were built. If you’re of a certain age, you probably drove one of these in a video game with your thumbs, but Clio fans in the States will have to keep waiting for the real thing—you can’t import one till they’re 25 years old.

As for the race cars, they effectively replaced Renault’s previous one-make championship, the Renaultsport Spider Trophy series, which wrapped up in 1998 before the Clios debuted at Jarama in 1999 (Renault’s 100th birthday year). Compared to the road cars, the Clio V6 Trophy versions had more power (281 hp) and a six-speed sequential gearbox instead of the standard manual.

If the Clio V6 was a flawed road car, that doesn’t mean that it made a perfect race car. The rear end was prone to hopping and there are plenty of reports of poor reliability, though participants noted good support from Renault, and the series attracted talent like Philippe Siffert and Anthony Beltoise (both sons of F1 greats), as well as current F1 safety car driver Bernd Mayländer. It was also a not-so-expensive way to go racing—a new car for the 2003 season cost €45,800. The series tackled famous European tracks like Monaco and Nürburgring, and even served as a support race for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Trophy car sold this week is represented as #79 of the 159 Trophy versions built by Renaultsport. No race history is represented, but it was imported from Japan earlier this year, and the build date is believed to be 1999. Track-prepped with OMP seats, Sparco six-point harnesses and aluminum pedals, digital dash, roll cage, fire system, brake-bias adjuster, and Cromodora wheels, it does not have a title as it is a track car, but it does have a Japanese-assigned VIN.

Like any race car, this eccentric little French hatchback probably needs sorting before being driven in anger. It does run and drive, though, and looks like a very fun way to annoy some Porsches at your local track day. Hopefully the owner does just that. Since he “can’t wait to see it parked next to my street legal Clio V6 =)” he certainly knows what he just bought.

The same seller sold another Japanese–imported Clio V6 Trophy last year for $78,750. This $67K sale price is closer to what good Phase 2 road cars sell for on the other side of the pond, and seems like a decent value. There are certainly more expensive and slower ways to go racing.

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Tony Ierardi knows a thing or two about celebrity cars, having restored the iconic Countach from Cannonball Run for his friend Jeff Ippoliti. Now Ierardi and his team at DeLorean Motor Company in Orlando are back in the collector-car spotlight with their latest project, a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 that once belonged to Tonight Show legend Johnny Carson.

The car, available on Hagerty Marketplace, is the first of two company DMC-12s that John Z. DeLorean shipped to Carson in appreciation for his $500,000 investment in DeLorean’s automaking venture. This one (VIN SCEDT26T8BD002439, generally referred to as 2439) is notable because Carson accidentally locked himself inside it shortly after it was delivered to his California home. (His second DeLorean, VIN 4523, made headlines when Carson was pulled over while driving it in 1982 and charged with drunken driving. That DMC sold for $115,000 on Bring a Trailer almost three years ago.)

Ierardi, who owns one of three official Classic DeLorean sales and service centers in the U.S. (the others are located in Texas and California), has owned five Lamborghini Countachs in his life, but he fell in love with DeLoreans at an early age, years before the car became a time-traveling legend in 1985’s Back to the Future.

“When the first one came out, I was 12. For me it wasn’t about sports and girls, it was about this cool car. I always dreamed of owning one,” Ierardi says. “I know they say don’t meet your heroes, but meeting the DeLorean has been a great experience. The movie was great and brought a lot of attention to the car, but I already loved it before that. It was always about the car.”

This particular car was one of those “special” DeLoreans on Ierardi’s list. It all started when he joined the DeLorean Owners Association in 1990; four years later, Ierardi bought his first DMC-12. In 2003, after meeting DeLorean Motor Company CEO Stephen Wynne, who purchased DeLorean’s entire stockpile of parts and resurrected the company name in the mid-1990s, Ierardi opened the Florida location of DMC in January 2005. His shop is not affiliated with the original car company started by John Z. Delorean.

“We’ve been buying and selling DeLoreans for almost 19 years, and we have a VIN list of what we consider special cars,” Ierardi says. “This one was actually auctioned through a heavy construction equipment site (Vantage Auctions Inc.), and the guy who won it kind of threw out the idea that since he had two DeLoreans he’d be willing to part with one. So, when we saw the VIN and realized it was the first Carson car, we offered to buy it directly from the auction company ourselves.”

The deal was done on September 19, 2022, and Ierardi and his team were in a quandary about their next move.

“We knew it deserved a restoration, but we were trying to decide: Should we sell it as-is and let someone else restore it, or restore it ourselves? So we worked on it in between jobs for six months, then we kind of changed gears and said, ‘Let’s do it all.’”

Engineered in part by Lotus, with an angular form styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, this particular DMC-12 was completed at the DeLorean Motor Company plant in Belfast, Ireland, in July 1981 and delivered to Carson a short time later.

It features DeLorean’s instantly recognizable brushed stainless-steel body and gullwing doors, as well as an optional gray leather interior, louvered rear window, Dolby sound system, air conditioning, power windows, power door locks, power side mirrors, and early digital clock. It is powered by a 2.85-liter V-6 engine—located in the rear—that’s rated at 130 horsepower with 153 lb-ft of torque and mated to a manual transmission. It sits on cast-alloy wheels (14 inches in front, 15 inches in the rear).

The car comes with a 6000-mile or six-month warranty on all the parts, which were sourced directly from DeLorean Motor Company. There are 89,680 miles on the odometer.

In addition to this car and the previously mentioned Cannonball Run Countach, Ierardi has restored DeLorean Prototype-1 (designed by Bill Collins), which resides at the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania; the twin-turbo DeLorean; and the third-built 1983 Delorean DMC-12 Gold Edition.

With more than a week remaining in the Hagerty Marketplace auction, Johnny Carson’s first DeLorean (one of fewer than 9000 DMCs built) has been bid to $31,000. The auction closes on Friday, December 8, at 3 p.m. EST.

“DeLorean is a great car, and had it not been for a couple of missteps, I think it would have made it,” Ierardi opines. “I’m glad it lives on though. I had a five-year-old kid in here the other day who said, ‘I’m going to own one of these someday.’ It definitely has lasting appeal for people of all ages.”

***

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With the Camaro nameplate retiring soon, we’re honoring the beloved two-door with a series of love letters, fun lists, and memories that you can follow here. Many performance cars, especially nowadays, aim for an anodyne version of perfection that only a few can afford. The Camaro is for the rest of us—and it’s always ready to party.

Part of the Camaro’s appeal has always been its accessibility. Chevy made a boatload of them over the decades, and each generation guaranteed a model for everybody who wanted one, from bare-bones six-cylinder coupes to fire-breathing stoplight kings. Inexpensive examples are everywhere; it’s the top dogs that you often have to wait—or fight—for. As the Camaro waves goodbye, and as we close out our deep dive into the beloved pony car, here’s a look at the most expensive Camaros from each of the first five generations. (Some caveats: For this exercise, we’re looking solely at auction sales, we’ve excluded modified Camaros, as well as those sold for charity, and we also ignored the sixth-gen cars—they simply haven’t hit the auction scene yet).

1st Gen: 1969 Camaro ZL1 COPO Coupe, $1,094,500

Just 69 COPO Camaros were produced in model-year 1969, and this original, matching-numbers Hugger Orange car is #59. It’s powered by an all-aluminum 427-cubic-inch V-8 mated to an M22 “Rock Crusher” four-speed manual, stopped by disc brakes. It was the only ZL1 ordered with a chambered exhaust. Rare and desirable cars always bring the money with respect to their “lesser” counterparts. This one had great performance options and also included plenty of documentation, with a complete ownership history. It had sold in 2018 for $770K, but when it sold at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction in January 2020, it went over a million, which was more than $300,000 over our guide price for a #1 (Concours) example at the time. The key to its price jump between sales? The owner had managed to track down the car’s original engine block.

2nd Gen: 1970 Camaro RS Z/28 Coupe, $137,500

In the realm of second-generation Camaros, the 1970–73 “split-bumper” cars tend to bring more than their later counterparts. The elegance of that front end is hard to argue. This car sold at Mecum’s Kissimmee auction in January 2022. The listing says it had been treated to a mild restoration with one repaint in the original Hugger Orange. The matching-numbers 360-hp 350-cubic-inch V-8 was paired with a four-speed manual, with front disc brakes and a 12-bolt Posi rear end. A Hurst shifter and perfect houndstooth upholstery competed the look. At the time of the sale, we valued a #1 condition Z/28 with the RS package at around $86,000. There was a lot to like about this car, and at least two bidders needed to have it, which accounts for the big result.

3rd Gen: 1990 Camaro IROC-Z Convertible, $102,300

Three V-8 engines powered the IROC-Z in 1990: a 305 making 210 hp; a 305 making 230 hp, and a 350 making 245 hp. Ordinarily, the biggest engine attracts the biggest bucks. This particular Camaro only featured the high-output 305 with its 230 hp and an automatic transmission, so why the standout price? Mileage. This one had just 557 original miles and was as clean as they come. Fewer than 1300 ragtop IROCs were built in 1990, and it’d be easy to make the case that this is the best of them. Finished in Bright Red over a gray cloth interior, the car showed a clean black top and was nicely appointed with power options, cruise control, and A/C. When it sold at Barrett-Jackson in January of this year, we valued the best in the world at $56,700, so this price certainly raised some eyebrows. It’s a good reminder, however, what low mileage can add to a car’s value.

4th Gen: 1997 Camaro SS 30th Anniversary Coupe, $95,700

This guy had everything going for it. Anniversary edition, check. Big engine, check. Low miles, check. Original plastic on the seats, check. Double-digit mileage always attracts collectors, and this car’s 76 original miles certainly brought bidders to the table. It was also just 1 of 100 anniversary Camaros fitted with the 330-hp LT4 engine, the most powerful lump offered in a Camaro that year. Finished in white with Hugger Orange stripes over houndstooth upholstery, this car felt as “throwback” as it gets. It sold at Mecum’s Indy sale in May 2021, and at the time we valued pristine examples at a shade over $39,000. It’s hard to imagine the car was purchased to drive, so the next time we see it at auction, it may very well be in the exact same condition. And it will be priced accordingly.

5th Gen: 2011 Camaro SS Indy Pace Car Convertible, $148,500

Camaros have paced the Indy 500 on 9 occasions, including a three-in-a-row stint from 2009 to 2011. This fifth-generation Camaro Pace car was the first of 50 built for the purpose and was driven for the parade lap of the 2011 race, which coincided with both the centennial anniversary of both the 500 and of Chevrolet. Its Summit White exterior with orange stripes and interior accents is a nod to the ’69 Camaro Pace Car, and the inside of the trunk was signed by the ’69 winner, Mario Andretti. When it sold at Barrett-Jackson’s 2012 Scottsdale sale, the 400-hp convertible showed just over 100 miles on the odometer. Regular year-old Camaros were little more than used cars at the time, and the best 2011 Pace Car in the world is still only worth about $46,000 today, but, this particular example, with it’s on-track pedigree and low mileage clearly set it apart.

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Alan Poster, much to his chagrin (and astonishment), has already received more than his 15 minutes of fame, all because his new 1968 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible was stolen less than three months after he bought it.

Actually, the theft of the Corvette wasn’t what made Poster famous; it was the return of that stolen Corvette that made him famous. That’s because the car was gone for 37 years before it was miraculously returned to him.

Now, more than five decades after Poster first saw that C3 in a New York dealership and spent pretty much every cent he had on it, he’s saying goodbye to the car once again. Willingly, this time.

“It’s a crazy story,” Poster says of the Corvette’s wild journey, “… a really crazy story.”

It was January 1969, and the 26-year-old guitar salesman was fighting the winter blues. Fresh off a divorce, the Brooklyn native took solace in driving his blue Corvette ragtop, even on snow-covered roads. Although The New York Times later reported that Poster purchased the C3 to ease the pain of his breakup, Poster says he bought it before his divorce. The sports car, based on Larry Shinoda’s radical Mako Shark concept, rolled off the assembly line on July 16, 1968 and was shipped to a Chevrolet dealer in Great Neck, on Long Island. Poster, perhaps already mourning the demise of his personal relationship—or maybe expediting it—was enthralled with the Corvette and shelled out about $6000 for it. That would be $55,320 today.

“I got the Corvette in the divorce,” he says now, “and she got everything else.”

Poster told The Times in 2006 that it was a financial stretch to buy his dream car. “I didn’t have a lot of money. I went out on a limb to get this thing. It was an egocentric muscle car that just came out. Back then, Corvette was hot as heck. [Owning one] was an absolute fantasy of mine.”

Poster lived in Queens at the time and drove the Vette fast whenever he could. He also liked to impress women with it. In fact, on the night before the car was stolen, he was picking up a date and returned to the car just in time to thwart an attempted theft. “People were yelling, ‘Kill him!’ but I let the guy go,” Poster says. “I actually started laughing. I thought that was a little severe.”

As it turned out, he had only postponed the inevitable.

The following night, when Poster went to pick up the Corvette at a parking garage, the attendant returned and said it was gone. Poster reported it stolen on January 22, 1969. Just three weeks into the new year, his C3 was the 6620th automobile swiped in New York in 1969. By year’s end, that number had risen to 78,000.

Poster never received an insurance settlement for the Vette because he didn’t have the money to insure it. “I was heartbroken,” he says. “It was a big wake-up call. I never thought I’d see it again.”

As the years passed, the odds of recovering the car grew. Poster moved to California and settled in Petaluma, just north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. In 1976, he founded Ace Products Group, which makes gear for musicians—things like bags, cases, cables, stands, adapters, and connectors. His business became a huge global success, and it allowed him to travel around the world “a hundred times,” he says. It also afforded Poster a yellow 1974 Corvette. “I was still trying to live my dream,” he admits. He eventually sold the car and moved on.

Then, nearly four decades after his 1968 Corvette convertible was swiped in New York, Poster received a phone call from the New York Police Department, saying his car had been located. He thought the call was a prank.

It wasn’t. Somehow, Poster’s Corvette had mysteriously followed him to California. Although he hadn’t insured it way back when, the theft had been reported to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which maintains a database of stolen vehicles. Before an automobile can be shipped out of the country, U.S. Customs routinely runs the VIN through that database. On December 7, 2005, as three classic cars were about to be shipped to Sweden, Customs got a hit: One of the cars, a ’68 Corvette, was flagged as stolen in New York on January 22, 1969. There was no other information—no name, no address, not even a record of the police bureau where the theft had been reported.

Contacted by the California Highway Patrol, the NYPD suddenly had a lot of work to do, and they had to do it quickly. If the owner wasn’t found by January 1, the Corvette would be released to its Swedish buyer.

As The Times explained in 2006, Cliff Bieder and William Heiser, two detectives in the auto crimes division in Queens, were assigned the case. “It was the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack,” Heiser said at the time. After four days of meticulously searching through microfilm, “Our eyes were hurting,” Bieder said. Then, on December 23, Heiser scored. “I thought [my partner] was going to pass out.”

Locating Poster didn’t take very long; the two detectives spoke to the buyer of Poster’s last house, who said he had moved to California. They soon found Poster through his company, and on Christmas Eve, Bieder called him at his office.

“He said, ‘You had a car stolen in ’69? A Corvette? We have your car,’” Poster explains. “I thought, ‘This is a scam, a cruel joke.’ They had to convince me that it was true.”

The CHP picked up Poster and drove him to see the Corvette for himself. The media, which had been alerted ahead of time, was waiting for him to arrive.

“It was really something,” Poster says. “When I got out of the police car, there were cameras everywhere. It seemed like 40 or 50 people were asking questions. It was insane. I thought, ‘I’m not built for this.’ In retrospect it was fun, but going through it was not.”

The story was on TV, radio, and in newspapers all over the country, and Poster was inundated with calls and emails for weeks. “The woman that I’d taken on that blind date the night before it was stolen, she called me. I got a call from an old girlfriend that I hadn’t seen in years. I even got a proposal, but I had no interest in that,” Poster says with a laugh.

“My accountant was in Brazil at the time, and he saw my picture on the front of a newspaper there and he thought, ‘Oh, oh. What did he do?’ It was a big deal. That story was everywhere. It was crazy for a while. One day I thought, ‘I don’t want to be famous anymore.’”

Poster initially had big dreams for the car, but it never materialized. “I drove it only once after I got it back,” he laments. “It had been painted silver before it was returned to me, and the interior had been changed to red, so I had it repainted blue like it was (Le Mans Blue Poly 976, to be exact, over a blue interior). I tried to rekindle my excitement for it, but it felt different—that was another life. I was going to take it to shows and tell the story, but it never happened. Everything had changed. Looking back, I should have done something with it; I regret that I didn’t. It was big news.”

Even comedian Jerry Lewis saw the story, and he wanted the car. “His people contacted me and offered me a hundred grand for it,” Poster says. “I told them ‘Nah, I’m going to have fun with it.’”

He didn’t. Instead, the car sat for years. Several months ago, Poster decided to bring the Corvette up to snuff so he could sell it, and he enlisted the help of Nathan Stratton, who assisted him in selling a 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SL years earlier. They refreshed it cosmetically and mechanically, but most importantly they installed an original (but not the original) 327-cubic-inch V-8 engine, since the one with which the Corvette was born had been swapped out somewhere along the line.

“We did our best to make it look like it did before it was stolen,” Poster says, “and I think it does.”

The car’s odometer shows 60,000 miles, but most of those were driven by strangers. The New York Post reported at the time that there were three prior owners of the Corvette dating to 2001, including the person shipping it to Sweden, but since those people apparently had no idea the car was hot, they were not charged. The thief who stole the C3 in January 1969 has never been identified.

Poster’s Corvette will soon be offered on BringATrailer.com, and since a ’68 Corvette Stingray convertible in #2 (Excellent) condition has an average value of $53,700, he will finally get his $6000 back. But that isn’t the reason he has decided to part with it.

“I just turned 80 … 80! I can’t believe that,” Poster says with a laugh. “My life is a lot different now than it was back then. I live on a houseboat in Sausalito—the SS Maggie (built in 1889), which I bought four years ago. I didn’t used to believe in ghosts, but I do now. That thing (the houseboat) is haunted. Plus, I have an apartment in New York. I own a Range Rover. I’m in a different place.

“You know, I’m just so grateful. A lot of great things have happened to me, including getting the Corvette back. Now it’s time for it to go to someone else.”

This time around, however, if Poster wants to check on his old flame from time to time, he’ll know where to find it.

***

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Automotive history is littered with the bones of small-scale manufacturers that, for one reason or another, couldn’t hack it over the long run. That same history is also full of punchy shops that overachieved in their eras, taking the fight to much more established players on some of racing’s greatest stages, which even today seem downright improbable. The Venn diagram of carmakers that achieved racing glory only to fold after a short life, however, is sparsely populated.

That’s where we meet Peerless, a punchy post-WWII British firm that burned hot and fast, only to fizzle out in less than a decade. Oh, the stories this 1959 Peerless GT Phase II, currently listed on Hagerty Marketplace, could probably tell.

First, some backstory: Peerless—no, not the prewar American manufacturer—was a small British shop that sprang up seemingly out of nowhere in the mid-1950s. It was founded by James Byrnes, a decorated club racer tired of off-the-shelf competitors, and John Gordon, a local Rolls-Royce vendor and something of a racing junkie himself. The two tapped Bernie Rodger, a local legend in the engine building and tuning scene, to be the firm’s lead engineer.

Though it shared no direct relation to the American Peerless brand, the Brit variant did graft its name from the former: The founders selected a small facility in Slough as their base, and that facility had in a previous life been used by the American Peerless corporation to build a handful of armored cars during World War I.

Despite the three men’s shared desire to build their own sports car from the ground up, they quickly agreed that a from-scratch creation was probably beyond their reach. Rodger, who owned a local restaurant that was a favorite of top brass from the Standard Triumph company, used his connections to convince those executives to offer up a handful of Triumph TR3 platforms that would serve as the base for the prototype Peerless.

The eventual product that rolled out of the shed doors in Slough only loosely resembled the TR3 upon which it was based. Though it shared the 2.0-liter, 100-hp four-cylinder and the four-speed transmission and Laycock overdrive system with the TR3, the Peerless GT (initially dubbed the Warwick, but eventually changed to GT) was far more racing-focused. The engine sat inside a fully arc-welded tube frame that gave the GT considerable rigidity. It was six inches longer than a contemporary TR3, with a track width 5 inches greater than that of the Triumph. Other differences to the Triumph included a de Dion rear axle design and a sultry fiberglass coupe body that concealed a 2+2 cockpit.

Keen to capitalize on the warm reception the GT received when it debuted at the 1957 Paris motor show, Byrnes, Gordon, and Rodger turned their eyes towards the crown jewel of European motor racing: Le Mans. Two cars, a primary and a reserve, were entered into the grueling 24-hour race in 1958, though only the primary car saw competition. Each one featured a hand-built engine, additional fuel tanks, and a lowered suspension. Shockingly, the Peerless GT took 16th overall, besting far more established players in the process.

The orders poured in following that French triumph. The Slough facility went into overdrive to fulfill them, and, as so many British upstarts had done before, promptly fell behind. Peerless’ leaders wanted to build five cars per week, but that goal quickly got out of reach. Just 325 Peerless GTs were created by the time the shop closed in 1960.

Of the 325 cars, 275 units were built to the original GT spec, which involved a fiberglass body and muted styling. The remaining 50 cars were built to what was known as the Phase II spec, which boasted a number of improvements. Chief among them was a new molded body that eliminated some 60 fiberglass body seams and the need for extensive bonding and riveting.

The car pictured here is one of those 50. It’s also one of just 70 cars built in a left-hand-drive configuration. According to the listing, the car is fresh from a frame-on restoration, completed in October of this year. The body was refinished in silver, and the frame was sealed with POR-15 as part of the restoration.

This example also ditched the Triumph running gear for the 2.6-liter inline-six engine and four-speed manual transmission from a 1974 Datsun 260Z. Both the engine and the gearbox were reportedly professionally rebuilt at some point in their lives. It also features a completely new interior with black vinyl upholstery, Stewart Warner gauges, and more. The odometer currently reads just 10,500 miles as of the time of listing, although it is noted that the true mileage is unknown. This Peerless GT Phase II features plenty of other neat details as well, far too many to list here. Check out the listing for yourself to see them all.

If orphaned British racing royalty paired with stout and engaging Japanese running gear sounds like something you might fancy, allow us to compliment the cut of your jib. The auction listing for this plucky Brit will close next Tuesday, November 28, so you even have a little time to make room in your garage.

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The post Auction Pick of the Week: 1959 Peerless GT Phase II appeared first on Hagerty Media.

What’s that you say, “but it’s only a Ford”?

A Ford that sold for the mind-numbing figure of £596,250 ($714,091) with fees at Silverstone Auctions earlier this year, in fact—a record for the model. But that should come as no surprise: The Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 is no stranger to breaking records. That it became one of the most successful saloon racing cars of all time is only part of the story. What makes it so desirable is that (and the name gives it away) only 500 were built. And although Ford is a colossal company, the RS500 and the car from which it evolved, the Sierra RS Cosworth, were both developed by two very special engineering teams based in Essex.

Ford Special Vehicle Engineering, where the Sierra Cosworth was created, consisted of just 34 engineers. Ford Motorsport, which prepared the racing versions, had only 32. Actually, the Cossie’s core engineering team was much smaller than that, as SVE boss, Rod Mansfield, told me when we met in 1987 to chat about the forthcoming RS500. “For a major project like Cosworth, 4×4 Sierra, or Scorpio,” he explained, “I need 10 engineers and on a rule of thumb basis, a minimum of two years. The most luxurious timing is nearer three, but the Cosworth was under two.”

Why were so few built? The original “Cossie,” with its famous whale tail, was a “homologation special” produced not as a boy-racer road car, but to make it eligible for Group A international racing, which dictated 5000 of the basic car must be built and sold. Taking a couple of standard Sierras and bolting on a huge spoiler and turbocharged engine to go racing just wasn’t allowed. The regulations said the features must be “homologated,” so included as standard on a production version anyone can buy. Group A regulations also allowed an “Evolution” version with further modifications, of which 500 were to be built and offered for general sale.

So the story of the RS500 started in 1987, a couple of years before it was revealed, with the sensation that was the Sierra RS Cosworth. Two men were directly responsible for the hottest Sierra yet. The first was Stuart Turner, the recently appointed director of motorsport at Ford Europe. The second was Mansfield, head of Ford SVE. Both men already had a dazzling track record in delivering word-beating competition cars.

Turner headed the BMC competitions department in the Mini’s heyday when the Cooper S was beating all-comers in world rallying. Appointed Ford director of motorsport in 1970, he was largely responsible for the Mk1 Escort RS1600 (the first Ford RS homologation special) and its road-going spin-offs, the Mexico and RS2000. Later, he headed the special division set up in Essex to build them, Ford Advanced Vehicle Operations (FAVO). In 1983, he became director of motorsport at Ford of Europe and soon after, the Group B RS200 happened.

Mansfield became chief engineer at FAVO in April 1980 and took the helm of the new Special Vehicle Engineering at Ford Europe, based at Ford’s Research and Development headquarters at Dunton in Essex. SVE would develop the high-performance road-going cars, and Ford Motorsport, based at Boreham, would do the full-house race and rally cars. These included the Escort Turbo and Sierra 4×4. SVE had also been responsible for the Capri Injection, the Fiesta XR2, and Escort XR3i.

Roll back the clock to the middle of 1987 again and Rod Mansfield was explaining to me how the Sierra Cosworth story had begun a few years earlier with a meeting in Stuart Turner’s office. “He just said, ‘What can we do?’ He realized SVE was the area to build him his basic vehicles. We had some marketing people there for a brainstorming session. Stuart said he needed something to go rallying with and needed something Escort, so the Escort Turbo was born. Then he asked what else we could do and the marketing people wanted support for Sierra. I mentioned the fact that there was a normally aspirated Cosworth engine around the place that might work for turbocharging and wouldn’t that make a nice car for touring car championships.”

The signature whale-tail spoiler of the Cossie that followed almost became something else. The motorsport people originally wanted it to be doubled-up, with the main wing supplemented by an additional, small, bootlid spoiler. For whatever reason—possibly styling—it didn’t happen and the single version was adopted, producing 20 kg (44 pounds) of downforce at high speed. It was significant because during testing, the standard Sierra body shape, which had never been designed for that pace, generated enough lift to make the car unstable. The single whale tail combined with the low front spoiler fixed that, and fixed it well.

At around the same time, I paid a visit to the hallowed ground of Ford Motorsport at Boreham airfield in Essex, this time to meet Mike Moreton, the project manager of Ford Motorsport Europe. As if “Boreham,” as it was economically known, wasn’t legendary enough, its location in a former wartime RAF airfield and ramshackle appearance made it even more so. Moreton’s office wasn’t located in one of the glass towers you might expect for an operation that had dominated much of the world’s saloon-based motorsport for almost quarter of a century, but in a single-story building made of wood. While the material side of the place may have been shaky, the atmosphere made up for it, and the workshops where cars were prepared were impressively spacious.

The first thing I wanted to know was how powerful would this Sierra Cosworth evolution be. Moreton was coy, saying only that in international touring car racing, “It should completely dominate the class.” He also explained how the difference between it and the Sierra Cosworth wouldn’t be that great in road-going form. “In round figures, the car already does 150 mph, is there any point in producing a car that does much more? A little extra speed was added to the specification, more to justify the extra cost than anything. Most of the changes to the evolution car were made to allow for the requirements of Group A and, as Moreton explained, “the regulations forbid the adding of metal.”

That’s the best clue as to what the RS500 is like to drive as a road car, and in back-to-back testing with my original long-term test Sierra Cosworth, we found it disappointing. Why? Because most of the mechanical additions for Group A didn’t do anything on the road-going version and they weren’t expected to. Only when they were “actuated” in racing car form would the brutal reality of the difference they made hit home.

The double rear spoiler is an example. “The original spoiler wasn’t put there to cope with the 150 mph of the road car,” said Mansfield. It was to deal with the problem we knew we would have at 180-mph-plus on the race track. The spoiler wasn’t engineered for maximum road speed, though we don’t recommend anyone takes it off because it does have a significant effect.”

“All along, Motorsport wanted a spoiler that we never got,” explained Moreton. “Now the two rear spoilers give us an additional 105 kg (231 pounds) downforce at 100 mph and the front spoiler changes give us an additional 20 kg (44 pounds) over the standard Cosworth.”

The re-engineering of the spoiler was typically informal and made at the Ford wind tunnel in Cologne. This was all pre-computer-aided design, remember. “Eberhard Braun, a motorsport engineer, took a car and some bits of card and aluminum into the wind tunnel at Merkenich,” Moreton told me. “From there it went to the design studio, where it was properly designed by Tony Grade. The panels were made by Phoenix, a German company.”

The official maximum power of the RS500 was 224 bhp (221 hp), against 204 (201) for the Cossie, but maximum torque was only 3 lb-ft more. In race trim, though, we now know the engine will make north of 550 bhp (542 hp) in a Group A racer, transforming the quite benign road car into beast. Some crucial bits of “added metal” on the RS500 included a much larger Garrett T31/T04 turbocharger with pressurized bearing lubrication, providing enough air to generate so much power. The turbo went hand-in-hand with a substantially bigger intercooler. It’s the huge turbo and air intake system that dulls low-down punch of the RS500 compared to the original.

On the road car, the boost remained the same as the Cossie, at 9 psi, but in the racers the “wick” would be turned up much higher. More fuel would be needed to generate the extra power, so there was a second row of “yellow” fuel injectors (yellow denoting higher capacity) complete with wiring and pipework to feed them, but on the road car these weren’t active. Rear suspension changes would allow racers to change the angle of the semi-trailing arms to alter camber and tracking as the car cornered hard.

The engine’s iron cylinder block was cast with thicker walls surrounding the cylinders. The bolts fastening the cylinder head to it, rather than simply screwing into the top, ran right the way through to prevent head gasket failures at the awesome pressures it would be running. There were even stronger forged pistons, a beefier oil pump, and oil spray cooling for those pistons. All these mods hinted at the massive potential the engine had.

“This car was designed to be the winning car in Group A,” said Moreton. “And the evolution car has some very significant changes in it. I don’t think anyone realizes how significant they are when it comes to reliable, high-power 24-hour racing.” As a road car though, the RS500 lacks the driveability of the original Sierra Cosworth, only getting going at around 4500 rpm, compared to 3500 rpm, making it feel laggy and less punchy. That compromised flexibility showed up when Performance Car (of which I was the editor at the time) tested it at Millbrook Proving Ground. Against the standard Sierra Cosworth, the RS500 was actually slower from 50 mph to 70 mph in fourth and fifth gears.

So what of the design? My third stop in the RS500 story was a visit back to Dunton and a chat with Ford of Europe’s director of design in 1987, Andy Jacobson. In those days, Ford exteriors were designed in Germany while interiors were penned at Dunton. His opening gambit at our meeting was, “I have two Cosworths, one here and one in Germany.” At the time, Ford execs traveled regularly between the two sites. “The fantastic thing about having one in Germany is being able to use the car at full throttle, at top speed, without going to jail.” Jacobson was chief designer in the UK when the original Sierra Cosworth was designed and recalled, “If you’re designing a car like the RS200, you know damn well all you’re really going to need is a credit card and a tooth brush. With the Cosworth, you can have your cake and eat it. That, to me, is a really good piece of design.”

If it’s the ultimate driver’s car you’re after, don’t choose the RS500, because the original Sierra Cosworth is that much nicer to drive and looks just as good, if not better, with its cleaner rear end. If it’s rarity you’re after, then the RS500 is the choice for collectors. That said, perhaps the value of the RS500 today is not just about scarcity, because it didn’t just triumph over the opposition in world-class saloon car racing—it pulverized it.

The legend is fuelled by numerous videos of the RS500s at Bathurst and elsewhere on YouTube, which are truly gobsmacking to watch. When I met Rod Mansfield for a story on the Sierra Cosworth RS500’s namesake, the Focus RS500, years later, he pondered those days of the Sierra supercars. “Even before it was built, the intention was for it to be the European Touring Car Challenge champion,” he said. “And it was.” And that pretty well sums up why collectors today are willing to pay north of half a million pounds for an old Ford.

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A 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 GTO has sold for $51.7M (including buyer’s premium) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, adding a few more gold stars to the car’s already impressive resume. It’s the most expensive auction car of the year and the second-most expensive car sold at auction, ever. It could have brought more, and other examples of this Holy Grail Ferrari have reportedly sold for more privately, but for now the car is the most expensive GTO sold at auction as well as the most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction.

After its announcement in August, the GTO—Chassis 3765 LM—has been the most anticipated and talked about auction car since last year’s sale of a one-of-two 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe. The Merc became the first car to break nine figures, doing so in dramatic fashion with a world record sale at $142M. That record is likely to stand for quite some time, and if the Mercedes was a “once in a generation” sale, a Ferrari 250 GTO is one of those “just a few times in a generation” transactions. Still exciting, still significant.

A Ferrari 250 GTO receives that characterization because, really, it’s a lot more than just a car. It’s on the very short list of eight-figure automobiles, sure, but it’s also one of the most beautiful and influential designs on four wheels and many consider it to have become more art than vehicle. It’s a piece of history, as well: GTOs have an enviable racing pedigree achieved during some of the best years for a company known for entire eras of greatness at the race track. It’s also a ticket to the most exclusive events in the world—no car show, concours, historic race or rally, or museum exhibition is going to turn away a real-deal GTO. The famous GTO “Anniversary Reunion,” where every five years or so a cluster of GTOs meet up in some postcard-worthy region for a drive, is only open to the three dozen GTOs built. Finally, bringing home a GTO means you’ve reached the peak of car collecting: if you’ve had one, there’s little else to hunt down. And they do take hunting. GTOs tend to stay with their owner for a long time, and just three, including Chassis 3765, have come to auction over the past ten years.

Developed for the 1962 racing season, the GTO was homologated (the “O” stands for Omologato) as the latest and greatest evolution of the well-proven and successful 250 GT. Among its many differences from its predecessor, the 250 GT SWB, was its improved bodywork. Aside from being very easy on the eyes, the more aerodynamic body allowed for higher top speed than the SWB, which was useful at high-speed tracks like Le Mans. The 3.0-liter Colombo dry sump-lubricated V-12 engine also sat lower in the chassis, which helped in the corners. Even against stiff competition from the powerful Shelby Cobras as well as E-Type Jags and Aston Martins, the GTO took Ferrari to the top spot in the over 2.0-liter class of the World Sportscar Championship for 1962, ’63, and ’64.

Just two GTOs have crossed an auction block in recent memory before this week, both for all-time record prices at the time. Bonhams sold one with the more desirable Series I bodywork in Monterey in 2014, and despite a fatal in-period crash and a complete rebuild following, it sold for $38.1M. Four years later in Monterey, RM Sotheby’s sold one with the less desirable Series II bodywork but a cleaner history for $48.4M. Behind closed doors and away from the curious eyes of the public auction world, several GTOs have allegedly changed hands at prices ranging from $40M to $90M.

Like the GTOs sold in 2014 and 2018, and like many old race cars, 3765 has a few caveats. The primary factor is that it is one of a handful of cars fitted in-period with a larger 4.0-liter engine—technically, that makes it a 330 LM—despite its Tipo 1962 GTO body. With that engine, Mike Parkes and Willy Mairesse drove it to a class win at the Nürburgring 1000 KM. After that, its three-carb engine was replaced with another 4.0-liter mill for Le Mans, this one fed by six Webers for an estimated total of 390 hp (90 more than the 3.0-liter 250 GTO). At the 24-hour French race, 3765 started 4th but Parkes locked up the brakes early in the race, slid into the sand, and spent half an hour digging the car out with a shovel. Though he got the car going again, a little past the six-hour mark, the engine overheated and gave up.

After those two races with Scuderia Ferrari, it then sold to private Italian hands, was converted to 250 GTO specs and raced as a 250 GTO, hence RM Sotheby’s labeling it as a “330 LM / 250 GTO.” The Targa Florio in 1965 ended in a DNF, but numerous first, second, and third place finishes made 3765 the runner-up for that year’s Sicilian Hillclimb Championship. In 1967, after the GTO’s competitive racing career was over and before they got crazy-expensive, 3765 sold to a California owner who had it painted yellow. In 1973 it sold to engineer and Ferrari Club of America (FCA) chairman Fred Leydorf. In 1985 he sold it to Jim Jaeger of Ohio, who had it restored in the ’80s and owned the car until this week. It has won its class at the Cavaillino Classic as well as awards at the FCA National Concours d’Elegance, Meadow Brook Concours, and at the Amelia Island Concours, and taken second in the GTO class (out of 23 cars) at Pebble Beach. It also participated in the 250 GTO 45th Anniversary Tour in Sonoma, California. So, despite the naming confusion, the people whose opinions really matter appear to have long since accepted this car as a proper 250 GTO.

Auctioneer Oliver Barker opened bidding at $34M, and over the next several minutes bids arrived in $1M and $2M increments until settling at a $47M winning bid, making for a $51.7M final price. A record-breaking Ferrari, then, as well as the most expensive auction car of 2023 by far—well over the $30,255,000 achieved by the 1967 Ferrari 412P sold in Monterey back in August. But not a blowout price, either. As mentioned, other GTOs have allegedly sold for more privately, and if you account for inflation, 3765 actually sold for less than the Series II-bodied GTO from 2018.

It would be a stretch to call anything dubbed a “world record” price and anything that costs nearly $52M a bargain or a good value. But this car does get into the same races, rallies, and events as those alleged $60M, $70M, and $90M GTOs at a hefty discount.

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For those of us who remain perpetually chin-deep in the metrics of the collector car market, RM Sotheby’s surprise Monterey announcement of its forthcoming 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sale had us scrambling for our smelling salts. It is, for a lack of a better phrase, a Very Big Deal.

Headlines and social media detonated at the news, pegging this as the most significant sale since last year, when RM Sotheby’s sold a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe for a world record $142M.

And with good reason. After all, we’re talking about a 250 GTO here! For many, that jumble of three numbers with three letters signifies wealth supreme. It’s a billionaire’s toy, best approached as a hefty—or often not so hefty—slice of an asset portfolio or historical artifact, and not as something so reductive as a “car.” Having broken multiple sale records over the years and enough times to make headlines not just in car media but mainstream news, the 250 GTO has transcended car culture into global awareness.

In the last 25 years, 250 GTO ownership has become one of the most exclusive clubs in the car collecting world, albeit one without an official charter, website, or publication. Every five years or so, a cluster of GTOs converge on some requisitely picturesque region for the vaunted “Anniversary Reunion.” It’s a status exercise even among those with high status, a car and an experienced that represents a sort of “final boss” of car collecting. For some in this sphere, from the moment you park one in your garage, you’ve won. There’s nowhere else to go other than down.

People understandably tend to hold onto their GTOs for quite a while. Including RM Sotheby’s example crossing the block next week, only three of the 36 built have come to auction in the past ten years. Given the GTO’s bluer-than-blue-chip status, rarity, and position as a weapons-grade investment asset, this one could very well land among the top three public sales of all time if it sells. Regardless of sale price, it will very likely be the crown jewel in any collection or museum it lands.

How high will the hammer strike? We’ll have to wait and see.

Like most 1960s cars that turned a wheel in anger, there’s a lot to unpack about chassis no. 3765LM. Or 3765GT, depending on the document. It gets confusing. But before we go further, let’s get one thing straight—regardless of anyone’s view, 3765 is a fabulously special car.

As the 250 GTO is one of the most written-about, studied, and documented series of cars in history, we’re not going to do a deep dive into what makes it so desirable beyond some broad strokes—there are much more comprehensive and elucidated GTO histories to be found. We suggest starting with Jess G. Pourret’s seminal The Ferrari Legend: 250 GT Competition from 1977, a book widely credited as heavily contributing to the GTO’s rapid ascendance into myth.

Ferrari developed the GTO—or Gran Turismo Omologato—for the 1962 race season as an uprated and heavily revised evolution of the highly successful 250 GT SWB. The GT struggled to breach much beyond the 150-mph mark due to aerodynamics, while powerful Shelby Cobras and slippery Jaguar E-Types were proving quite the challenge in the 250 GT’s popular Group 3 class. The resulting Scaglietti-penned GTO was far more aerodynamic, its top speed now reaching a reported 174 mph.

For three seasons, Ferrari’s new Goat was a force. The GTO claimed the FIA’s International Championship for the over 2000cc class in 1962, 1963, and 1964. In addition to winning the 1963 and 1964 Tour de France, class wins and second-place overall finishes were clocked at 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

That sultry, swooping body made it not just fast, but also drop-dead gorgeous. This, along with stellar competition history during some of the company’s best years put the GTO at the center of the Ferrari Venn-diagram, elevating it in some collector’s eyes as the quintessential Ferrari.

Of course, not all GTOs are considered equal. If you seek the best, you’re going to want one of the 33 Series I cars built between 1962 and 1963. They’re the prettiest and most recognizable of the two series, and carry a hefty price premium over the later Series II.

A true Series I hasn’t come to public auction since Bonhams sold number 3851GT in 2014, breaking the then-sales record at $38.1M. Impressive, but consider 3851 was the subject of a fatal in-period crash, and was completely rebuilt following the tragic accident. The next GTO auction sale moved through the RM Sotheby’s 2018 Monterey sale, dropping jaws with a $48.4M final price for no. 3413. Though lauded as quite original, 3413 is also a Series I rebodied in-period to Series II bodywork, very likely lopping of more than a few mil from that final result.

A few months prior to that Monterey sale, there was also the not-so-private private sale of no. 4153 (an important Series I) that allegedly traded short of $80M. Since then, a handful have also allegedly traded off-market for figures ranging between $50 million and $90 million.

So, it’s more than 10 years since a Series I 250 GTO without an asterisk has crossed the public auction block—and the upcoming sale of number 3765 isn’t going to change that.

Chassis 3765 is one of three 250 GTOs built with a larger 4.0-liter V-12, a full liter up on the standard 3.0-liter heart found in the rest of the family. Designed for a new 4000cc class briefly introduced for Sebring, the Targa Florio, and the Nürburgring 1000 KM, these monsters were officially labeled as 330 LMs, not GTOs. That last bit right there is quite the contentious statement, but hey—we’re just going off of what documentation and Ferrari says, as outlined on its historical website.

To accommodate the larger engine, 330 LMs were built on Ferrari’s type 538 chassis, more colloquially understood as a shortened version of 400 Superamerica frame. Going off of nut-and-bolt DNA, the only thing “GTO” about the original 330 LMs was that bodywork, and outside of 3765, even that isn’t identical. The earliest history of 3765 is a bit murky, but RM Sotheby’s claims it was built as a 250 GTO, and subsequently had its triple-carb 3.0-liter removed for the larger 4.0-liter. Some wonder why would Ferrari use the beefier 538 frame in place of a “true” GTO’s tipo 539 if the car was destined to be a 3.0-liter from the get-go.

In any case, RM Sotheby’s says Ferrari converted 3765 to “true” 250 GTO specs soon after its obsolescence in 1962. A shunt during its run at Le Mans blocked a radiator and caused the big block to overheat, so the subsequent replacement 3.0-liter currently sold with the car is considered its third engine.

For much of its life, 3765 and its fellow large-engined siblings were widely referred to as either 330 LM or 330 GTO, with the shift toward 250 GTO nomenclature occurring sometime in the 1980s and early 1990s. A wildly special car, but it’s not hard to imagine an informed collector car magnate in search of a “true” Series I 250 GTO without caveats or asterisks to remain picky. And despite the GTO’s avoidance of the public auction limelight, it’s been strongly substantiated that there are between one and three 250 GTOs on private offer during any given year, and we’re sure a thick enough checkbook could wrest most GTOs from their hiding places if the “want” is strong enough.

So, is 3765 really “The One” as RM Sotheby’s claims?

Well, we’re happy to report that cognoscenti indeed consider it to be within the fold, and there’s more going for 3765’s potential moonshot sale than against it.

3765 is the only 4.0-liter GTO—or is that 330 LM?—fielded by Scuderia Ferrari itself. A class win and second-overall finish at the 1962 Nürburgring 1000 KM, an appearance at Le Mans, and a string of localized Italian victories gives it serious motorsports pedigree. We know this as, aside from questions about its early life, 3765 is impressively well-documented thereafter—another plus.

If the argument is to be made that this isn’t a “real” 250 GTO, why did it take home a second-place class finish out of 22 250 GTOs at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance’s GTO class? A few months later, it took home the overall win for Amelia Island Concours d’Sport, a field that included a cluster of fellow 250 GTOs. Furthermore, 3765 is on record as a participant in the GTO 45^th Anniversary Reunion in 2007.

That’s some serious provenance, too. Couple this to 3765’s status as new-to-market after 38 years of ownership, and there’s bound to be some really heavy bidding in the room.

Now, how does 3765—or any 250 GTO—stack up against the seemingly indomitable 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut?” It’s definitely apples and oranges, but if we look at it as a numbers game, there were 36 (or so) 250 GTOs against just two 300 SLR coupes. Until last year’s blockbuster sale, Mercedes-Benz was the sole owner of both cars, whereas all GTOs reside in private hands and have for a long time. There may be just too many GTOs puttering around to approach the singular private SLR’s stratospheric water mark. Strange thought, isn’t it?

Then again, consider a public shot at a GTO is a rare chance to ensconce yourself in car collecting lore. You’re paying the most expensive club initiation fee in the world, you might as well make it hurt. As we’ve seen time and time again, it only takes two over-enthusiastic bidders to create an outlier sale.

Our prediction? More than a dollar, and less than a billion. We’ll be watching with champagne on ice.

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In the early 1990s, things looked grim for the large family sedan. The minivan was rapidly gaining territory as the American family hauler of choice, chomping away at a space once utterly dominated by the big-bodied automobile. As the Big Three sought to adapt to changing market tastes, little thought (and money) was granted to the platforms that underpinned four-door, big-motored vehicles with bench seating for six and trunks for another few. They realized that smart money might drag aging platforms into another decade of service, even if it would potentially be their last.

But before the big sedan’s curtain fell, General Motors sought to give its aging B-body platform, which had just been redesigned in 1991, one last shot of sizzle. At the 1992 Detroit auto show, The General debuted the Impala SS concept, resurrecting a name that had been dormant for more than 20 years. The brainchild of designer Jon Moss, the Impala SS concept boasted blacked-out bodywork, big-block V-8 power, and a menacing stance. It was an immediate hit, so much so that GM opted to greenlight production of such a beast.

By the time the Impala SS reached production lines in 1994, the car’s formula had been softened quite a bit. Gone was the 510-cubic-inch big-block; in its place, a detuned version of the 350-cubic-inch LT1 V-8 found in the contemporary C4 Corvette. Though the LT1 lacked the punch of a big-block, it still produced 260 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque, figures good enough to propel the two-ton bruiser to 60 mph from a standstill in around 7 seconds.

Blessedly, the river-stone-smooth bodywork, which was essentially cribbed wholesale from the slow-selling Caprice and treated to heaps of black paint, remained. Underneath that bodywork was a chassis that remained virtually unchanged since it’s inception in 1977 for the third-generation Caprice. To match the performance of the LT1, the Impala SS scored the 9C1 police car package which provided an upgraded and lowered suspension, a high-capacity cooling system, dual exhaust, a transmission cooler, and larger disc brakes for the rear. A limited-slip differential was also fitted, as were gorgeous 17-inch cast aluminum wheels.

The overall proposition of the Impala SS struck a dying, perhaps dormant chord with American buyers. When production ended just three years later in 1996, more than 69,000 units had found their way onto our highways and byways.

Five-figure-production runs do not a rare sleeper muscle car make, but this 1995 example, currently offered on Hagerty Marketplace, boasts a little something extra under the hood that will help it stand out: The car’s LT1 V-8 has worshipped at the altar of Lingenfelter, a storied name in the world of aftermarket GM performance. It now boasts a displacement of 383 cu-in and a handful of other upgrades that juice output to a claimed 440 horsepower.

Other drivetrain upgrades include a Tremec T56 six-speed manual transmission in place of the 4L60E automatic, 4.10 rear gears, a two-stage clutch, a Borla stainless steel exhaust, and more. When this car was cataloged for Hagerty Marketplace, its odometer showed just 54,445 miles.

It’s a well-equipped example elsewhere too, boasting convenience features such as a power antenna, leather seating surfaces, a PASS-Key II theft-deterrent system, an adjustable steering column, a power trunk opener, and much more. The only stated imperfections, according to the listing, are a bit of peeling clearcoat on the roof, hood, C-pillar, and driver’s-side doors.

To many, the Impala SS marked the end of an era in automotive history. If you’re into those “last-of-their-kind” vehicles, this example is a blue-chip piece. Add in the extra helping of power and that sweet six-speed, and this might just be the perfect rendition of a sleeper muscle car. The auction comes to an end on Monday, November 20 at 3:30 p.m. ET, giving you a few days to get your ducks in a row before you toss a bid or two into the fray.

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Where did the universe come from? What is our role in it? What do you buy if your penny stocks have paid off, if not a white-on-white Lamborghini Countach? These are important questions. One of them has an easy answer.

In the late 1960s, Marcello Gandini hammered a wedge into the supercar styling paradigm with the original Countach design. Horacio Pagani gave it a radical sendoff two decades later with his work on the 25th Anniversary model. But only one Countach was modified under the direction of cinema’s Martin Scorsese. Unlike the sketchbooks and clay of bygone, brilliant automotive designers, the Oscar-winner opted to use a few golf carts and a flatbed truck to achieve his vision.

On November 25th, the Bonhams auction house will auction off the (anti)hero car driven by Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jordan Belfort, in 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street. The sale is part of Bonhams’ inaugural “On the Grid: The Abu Dhabi Auction” at the Yas Marina Circuit.

The Bianco-Polo-over-Bianco-leather 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary car featured in Wolf has been preserved in as-destroyed condition since the 2013 premiere of the film. Bonhams estimates it will sell for $1.5–$2 million. That’s a lot of “fun coupons” for an already ridiculous car, in this case rendered immobile in pursuit of movie magic.

Just under 660 examples of the Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary model were built, with the going rate for a #2 (Excellent) condition example in excess of $600,000, and a merely #4 (Fair) condition example commanding $345,000 on average. But if true excess is what you seek, why not spend multiple times that amount to own an inoperable one used in one of the most debaucherous driving sequences ever put to film? You may not be the fraudulent Wall Streeter-type, popping ‘ludes and opening scissor doors with your feet after rolling down the stairs of the Brookville Country Club, but you can still own the ultimate signifier of unchecked hedonism.

The auction lot also includes a costume from the scene; a director’s chair and clapboard signed by Scorsese, DiCaprio, and Margot Robbie; two crew hoodies; and not one, but two—yes, two—copies of the film on DVD. (A pair of VHS tapes would be more period-correct, but at least the car is the real deal.)

In fact, two Countach 25th Anniversaries were used for the scene, the other being an unscathed backup car seen only for a few seconds. That makes the star car shown here a true cinematic one-of-one. In that context, we can better wrap our heads around its potential value exceeding even the most perfect, most original Countach 25th Anniversary.

As-is the car is more or less sculpture. Tampering with that, even to restore it to perfection if that’s possible, likely would reduce its value even though certificates of authenticity proving the Lamborghini’s on-screen provenance might still make it worth more compared with a “normal” one.

Another option is to get the thing mechanically sorted and drivable while leaving as much of the aesthetic damage intact as possible—call it movie prop patina. Then again, anyone with more than a million to spend on a non-running wrecked Lamborghini might have an suitable spot to simply display it in a Scarface-esque compound somewhere.

The Wolf of Wall Street is one of the rare movies that rivals Goodfellas in terms of fans taking the wrong message from the  corrupt characters’ exploits on screen. But if someone unironically thinks greed is good, this Countach would look quite cool displayed next to a pillar holding up a diamond-encrusted skull by Damien Hirst or something.

Car enthusiasts would likely prefer to own a different Wolf’s Countach—Walter Wolf’s to be specific—but nobody can promise such a purchase would come with a pair of sweatpants and $35 worth of DVDs. Tough call how to spend those fun coupons.

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When Pontiac marketers called the redesigned 1970 Firebird “The Beginning of Tomorrow,” they likely didn’t imagine that the second-generation muscle car would see more than 4000 tomorrows in what would become a 12-year production run. The new Firebird not only looked good, it offered more power, a winning combination for performance-minded buyers of the era—and auto enthusiasts today.

As Hagerty Price Guide editor Greg Ingold wrote in 2021, “Although the second-gen Firebird achieved pop-culture fame in its later years—think T-Tops and screaming chicken—serious collectors prefer the high-horsepower, tightly wound thoroughbreds of the early ’70s.”

General Motors’ first-generation F-body cars were rapidly developed in response to the wild popularity of the Ford Mustang, and plans for a second generation were green-lit almost as soon as the first Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds went on sale in 1967. Designed by legendary GM design chief Bill Mitchell, the second-iteration Firebird received positive reviews when it was introduced at the 1970 Chicago Auto Show.

The new Firebird, wearing dramatic, European-influenced bodywork with long hood and truncated fastback rear end, was available in four models, all coupes. The entry-level Firebird offered both six-cylinder and eight-cylinder engine options; the Esprit had an upgraded interior, bright moldings around the hood, doors, and wheel lips, and a wider chrome molding on the rocker panel; the Formula 400 featured unique dual snorkel hood scoops and a 400-cubic-inch, four-barrel V-8 standard (with the Ram Air III 400 as an option); and that fourth model, the Trans Am, that became a legend.

With all of its high-performance options, the Trans Am was built for the serious driver—so serious, in fact, that in addition to the standard 345-horsepower Ram Air III 400, the racing-focused Ram Air IV 400 offered 375 hp and could only be had through the special order form. (Only 88 of those were built, 59 with standard transmission and 29 automatics, making them the most valuable and sought after second-gen Trans Ams.)

The top-end Firebird model’s styling also offered fender flares, “shaker” hood scoop, and spats ahead of the front and rear wheel openings, all unique to the Trans Am.

That brings us to this beautiful 1970 Firebird T-A, one of 1739 built with the venerable Ram Air III and mated to a four-speed manual gearbox. Fully restored in 2015 and offered on Hagerty Marketplace, this legendary muscle machine was refinished in its original factory shade of Polar White (10) with a blue stripe and Black (218) vinyl interior, and it rides on 15-inch Rally II wheels mounted with raised white-letter BF Goodrich Radial T/A tires. Its five-digit odometer shows 15,500 miles; exact mileage is unknown.

The car’s many features include front air dam, chrome rear bumper, color-keyed dual exterior racing mirrors, engine-turned aluminum dash panel, rear ducktail spoiler, thick stabilizer bars (front and rear), heavy-duty springs and shocks, bucket seats and lap belts, padded three-spoke steering wheel, Hurst shifter, power steering and brakes, manually operated windows, center console, gauges for voltmeter, water temperature, and oil pressure, dual-speed windshield wipers, Delco push-button AM/FM radio, heater, dual padded sun visors, locking glove compartment, lined trunk compartment, back-up lights, and dual exhaust outlets.

Known imperfections include cracking in the front grille surround and discoloration of the clear coat in some areas. Included in the sale are a PHS Automotive Services, Inc. information packet, digital copy of original build sheet, tire jack, and spare wheel/tire.

Currently located in Lakeville, Massachusetts, the Trans Am was originally delivered to All American Pontiac in San Jose, California, in June 1970 with a sticker price of $4748.64, which is the equivalent of approximately $37,670 today.

A 1970 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with Ram Air III 400 carries an average value of $93,300 in #2 (Excellent) condition and $55,300 in #3 (Good) condition. With 11 days remaining in the auction, which ends on November 13 at 3:30 p.m., bidding has reached $18,500.

If you’ve been searching for a second-gen Trans Am, perhaps this is the beginning of your tomorrow.

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When film and television director John Frankenheimer died in 2002, cinema buffs and car lovers both suffered a great loss. The director of critically acclaimed thrillers such as The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days in May, The French Connection II, and Reindeer Games was also the director of Grand Prix (above) and Ronin, two of the best movies ever made with cars as the action stars.

Turns out that besides being a genuine car enthusiast, Frankenheimer was also a rabid collector of model cars. A 1988 Getty archive photo of Frankenheimer shows him at his Los Angeles home attending to floor-to-ceiling glass showcases crammed full of some of the 1800 diecast models he collected or built himself over his lifetime. After long storage in a climate-controlled facility, that collection is now being offered for auction—not as a whole, but as 1800 individually numbered lots that have been painstakingly cataloged and photographed by Los Angeles Estate Auction in Glendale, California.

The company, which has done celebrity auctions in the past, was approached by the Frankenheimer estate about selling the collection as well as a few awards that John received during his career. The whole collection was appraised at $250,000, according to Zack Oganesyan, consignment director at Los Angeles Estate Auction. That works out to an average value of $139 per model, a relatively affordable way to own a piece of the famed director’s legacy.

Some of the items will undoubtedly sell for more. Model experts will spot some rare pieces from long-gone model companies that have been signed by famous modelmakers such as André Marie Ruf, Buzz Lockwood, and John Simons. Some of the models also have “JF” scrawled on the bottom, implying they were made by or specifically for John Frankenheimer.

Besides those, we also saw some relatively cheap diecast models that will likely sell for $10 or less (plus 25 percent buyer’s premium).

Almost all of the collection is 1/43rd scale, said Oganesyan, meaning the models are around four inches long and made of various materials, from resin to white metal, a mixture of tin and zinc that was commonly used in toy soldiers.

The auction catalog is scheduled to go online on November 1, and the three-day live auction will commence on November 17. Oganesyan said the catalog will feature five photos of each model, a substantial effort that entailed taking and organizing around 9000 photographs. Oganesyan figures each lot will take about a minute to sell, which means the whole auction could last 30 hours. Which is why it’s scheduled for three days. The man liked his models.

Online bidders must pre-register with liveauctioneers.com. See www.losangelesestateauction.com for more information.

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A huge collection of work trucks, tractors, and cars from the 1910s through the 1990s is set to be sold on October 26 and 27 by Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers. The auction, which we learned about thanks to Barnfinds.com, will be held at Scrapco, in Sidney, Nebraska, just north of Interstate 80 in the southern Nebraska panhandle. The bulk of the collection seems to be light- and medium-duty trucks from the ’30s,’40s, ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, with mid-century tractors from Massey-Harris, Ford, International Farmall, and John Deere to match. Even if trucks aren’t your thing, with more than 800 vehicles set for sale, there’s something to suit your tastes.

The 1946 Ford and 1967 Chevy shown above are a good representation of the bulk of the vehicles up for grabs, and while there might not be a lot of collectors that need a big flatbed, we hope that some of these workhorses can return to at least some kind of use, even if they’re kept with all of their patina. Among the hundreds of flatbed trucks, we spotted some rather unique and noteworthy models that are worthy of restoration.

One of the coolest cars that we found is the 1969 Cadillac wagon that you no doubt spotted above. Cadillac didn’t make wagons like this in the ’60s; they were built by upfitters. We’ve seen a couple of different variations of the roof and tailgate on these models; this combination seems to be lifted from a 1969 GM B-body and seamlessly grafted onto the Cadillac sedan. The pillarless four-door already had great lines, and the long roof only accentuates them. We’re already visualizing this thing restomodded with a 4L80 overdrive behind the big Cadillac V-8 and maybe some bull horns up front. You know, to keep it classy.

Besides our rare Cadillac, we found a rusty but seemingly complete Lincoln Continental, a six-pack of Fiat Spiders, and a fastback 1964 Barracuda missing its rear glass that got our imaginations going. Some collectors have taken notice of the Barracuda, but plenty of restorable classics have nary a bid.

While the collection seems to have a little bit of almost everything, there are a few other models that stand out. One that is definitely overrepresented is Studebaker’s Grand Turismo Hawk, with seven listed for sale. The unique roofline of this particular variant is stunning and is one of our favorite Brooks Stevens designs, which is saying something. In just that one photo, you can see four of them lined up together.

We also spotted three Olds Toronados, which has got to be the highest concentration of those uniquely beautiful personal luxury coupes we’ve seen in a long time.

Dig through the listings and you’ll find mid-century sedans and wagons from the Big Three as well as several Corvairs, including a few sedans, a couple of coupes, and a pair of vans.

If long-distance road trips are your calling, the auction has a couple of vintage RVs and some big sport utility vehicles that would make for excellent projects. Think of the boxy Chevy and Ford shown above as the grandfathers of the conversion van or mini RV. These short-wheelbase vans would require some innovative packaging inside to make for a comfortable mini RV, but we’d love to see some resourceful craftsperson give it a shot.

This GMC bus and International Harvester Travelall would both make excellent overlanders given the proper underpinnings. The Travelall has the same wheelbase as the second- and third-generation Ford Expedition, if you’re up for a chassis swap that doesn’t involve any shortening or stretching. Ford used Navistar diesel engines for a while, so you could justify the swap for all but the most hardcore of IH fans.

There’s not much time to make plans to see this auction if it wasn’t already on your radar, but if any of our readers do wind up with one of these classics we talked about, or any of the hundreds of others, please let us know about your plans and any progress. We’d love to see some of these projects make it back on the road.

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Few people that we know have seen a 1968 Opel Kadett Deluxe Wagon in person. The phenomenon begs the question: Are these German wagons so rare in the U.S. that the same vehicles keep getting sold and resold, or is this example just so nice that each new owner can’t resist the urge to flip it? Perhaps it’s both.

Crossing the virtual auction block via Hagerty Marketplace, this restored and award-winning Kadett Deluxe Wagon has changed hands several times since 2018. It’s an unusual automobile, to be sure, and there’s plenty to like about it.

The Opel Kadett, distributed by Buick in the U.S. and sold around the world as Opel’s entry-level car, was designed to compete directly with Volkswagen. Slightly different from its European brethren, the Kadett was offered stateside in a variety of two-door body styles: Sedan, Sport Sedan, LS and Deluxe Sport Coupes (fastbacks), Rallye (fastback), and Deluxe Wagon (with a swing-up tailgate).

Nicknamed the “Mini-Brute” by Buick-Opel marketers—a tongue-in-cheek description if there ever were one—rear-wheel-drive Kadetts were simple, lightweight, and economical. The “brutiest” of the Mini-Brutes was the Deluxe Wagon. Engine choices for 1968 included an overhead-valve 1.1-liter inline-four, the default powerplant, which mustered 55 horsepower; the optional higher-output dual-carb 1.1-liter SR, with 60 hp; the 1.5-liter CIH, 80 hp; and the 1.9-liter Super Kadett, 102 hp. Mated to a four-speed manual powertrain and with a high axle ratio, a Deluxe Wagon with the 1.1-liter engine could score 30 mpg. It also took an agonizingly long 18.4 seconds to go 0-to-60 mph.

Advertising, naturally, accentuated the positives of the Kadett (and also embellished a bit). “Impervious to desert heat, invincible in trackless sands, amazingly dependable from oasis to oasis: The Mini-Brute Buick’s new Opel Kadett Deluxe Wagon. The economy import that provides so much low-cost transportation for the price you’ll wonder why you ever tried any other way.”

Opel also promised that “confidence is part of the standard equipment you get with every ’68 Opel Kadett.”

Painted bright red with a black interior, this ’68 Opel Kadett Deluxe Wagon (chassis/VIN 391383662) was immaculately restored and looks as if it just rolled out of a Buick-Opel dealership—with its MSRP of $2070 (about $18,308 today). The wagon’s 1.1-liter engine has dual Solex 35 PDSI carburetors, and the California seller says its “underhood components were sourced from German suppliers, including Bosch, SWF, and ATE during its refurbishment.”

The interior features a replacement headliner and carpets, as well as a factory three-spoke steering wheel with an Opel center cap. Instrumentation includes a 100-mph speedometer and tachometer with a 6000-rpm redline. The five-digit odometer reads 85,096 miles.

In addition, the car has a padded dashboard, AM radio and supplemental FM receiver, electric clock, front bucket seats, a rear bench seat that folds down, hinged back windows, original German Sekurit glass, and 56 cubic feet of cargo space (“Enough for an average-sized refrigerator,” Opel advertised)—plus a luggage rack up top.

The Kadett wagon previously spent time in a collection whose owner showed it in events with the Opel Motorsports Club and won numerous awards, including Best in Show, First in Class, and People’s Choice at the Opel Nationals.

With less than one week remaining until the auction ends on Thursday, October 26 at 3:50 p.m. EDT, bidding has reached $5750. Perhaps this is your turn to own it.

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Back in 1966, $17 a day, 17 cents a mile, an early enough birthday, and a Hertz Sports Club membership got you a sexy and striped 306-horsepower Mustang from the guy who built the Cobra. We’re talking, of course, about the GT350H, an endeavor that got both Hertz and Shelby a lot of great publicity. (The “rent-a-racer” term, however, was not used at the time.) For the program, Hertz order 1000 Shelby GT350 Mustangs and rented them out to thrill seekers and speed freaks all over the country, leading to countless stories and legends of unsanctioned on-track antics before returning to the Hertz counter on Monday. The GT350H is probably the most famous rental car of all time, as well as one of the only rental fleet veterans anyone would actually want to own, and it’s was just the entry point in a long line of fast Fords you could pick up from Hertz over the years. One of them, a Cougar XR7-G, is up for Mecum auction this month.

Once the ’66 GT350Hs had been retired from service and sold off into private hands, Hertz continued to offer Shelby Mustangs at the counter with 1968 and ’69 GT350s as well as 1969-70 Mach 1 Ford Mustangs. By this time, Shelbys were heavier, softer, less overtly sporty, and built in Michigan rather than California. Carroll Shelby had little direct involvement in their production. But bloated or not, a Shelby Mustang was still way cooler than the dowdy sedans in the Hertz lot, and so were the hot Cougars also available from Hertz.

Introduced in 1967 on the same chassis as the Mustang to fill a semi-luxury, semi-sporty gap between it and the Thunderbird, the first-generation Cougar is sort of like a Mustang in a nice suit. But any Bond movie proves beyond doubt it’s still possible to move pretty quickly in a coat and tie, and from 1968–70 Hertz would gladly loan out the Cougars with the sharpest claws: the Cougar Eliminator and the Cougar XR7-G.

While the 1969-70 Eliminator was basically equivalent to the Mustang Boss 302 and Mach 1, the 1968 XR7-G was a one-year only performance model with more of a Shelby connection. Shelby Automotive ran the project and the “G” stands for “Gurney,” as in racer Dan Gurney, who drove the Bud Moore-prepped Cougar in the 1967 Trans Am series. Conversion to “G” trim was carried out at the facilities of a supplier called A.O. Smith in Ionia, Michigan.

At first glance an XR7-G doesn’t look that much different from a normal ’68 Cougar, but there are several details that make these cars special. A special fiberglass hood scoop, hood pins, Marchal or Lucas driving lights, a Talbot racing mirror, XR7-G badges, and special Rader wheels (later recalled because of a defect) distinguished the Shelbified Cougar. A sunroof by American Sunroof Company also offered blue sky views. XR7-Gs also came with a 390-cubic-inch V-8 engine and C6 automatic transmission as well as power front disc brakes, tilting steering column, Whisper-Aire air conditioning, and an accessory gauge pack from Shelby.

Just 619 of these 1968-only Cougars sold, with 200 of them going to Hertz for its rental fleet and scattered throughout America’s airports and train stations. After that, they went on to private owners, sold as used cars through local Ford and Mercury dealerships, with some sources saying they were sold as “demos” or “executive program” cars. (It sounds nicer than “ex-Cleveland airport rental car.”)

The XR7-G up for auction with Mecum in Tennessee this month is one of those 200, is powered by its original “S-Code” 390/325-hp engine and transmission, and has been restored in its original colors of Black Cherry with black vinyl roof over dark red leather. Crossing the block on Saturday, October 14 at Mecum’s Chattanooga auction, it has no presale estimate, but the Hagerty Price Guide puts XR7-Gs at $66,200 in #2 (Excellent) condition or $47,200 in #3 (Good) condition.

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Paul McCartney was already a rock ’n’ roll legend when, in the wake of the Beatles’ break-up, he started the band Wings. The group’s 1972 Wings Over Europe Tour bus soon became a legend in its own right—a legend of rock ’n’ road.

The Wings’ tour bus, a 1953 Bristol KSW 5G ECW double-decker bus will be one of the star attractions at Julien’s “Played, Worn, and Torn: Rock ’n’ Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia” auction November 16–18 at Hard Rock Cafe Nashville.

The historic vehicle joins the previously announced lineup of 1000 marquee items, including two of the most important guitars ever to be offered at auction: Eric Clapton’s “The Fool” and Kurt Cobain’s “Skystang I,” as well as items from Nirvana, Elvis Presley, Prince, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Eddie Van Halen, Frank Zappa, Dee Dee Ramone, Snoop Dogg, Albert King, Kirk Hammett, Pete Townshend, and more.

In the summer of ’72, Paul and Linda McCartney—along with Denny Laine, Henry McCullough, and Denny Seiwell—set flight as Wings embarked on its first tour, which was in Europe. The open-top ’53 Bristol KSW became the band’s home away from home, and it stood out, not only because of the legendary musicians inside it but for the artwork on the outside.

Renowned artist Geoffrey Cleghorn (also known for his work with The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and The Who) modeled the psychedelic design after the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine album cover to give it the appearance of “a magic bus of love and peace.” A children’s playpen was installed on the open top deck, along with mattresses, bean-bag chairs, and blankets so that the band members and their families could enjoy the sunshine on warm summer days.

The Wings’ tour bus transported the band 7500 miles through nine countries across Europe—France, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom—often with fans in hot pursuit, since it didn’t exactly blend in.

“Much like John Lennon’s iconic psychedelic Rolls-Royce and George Harrison’s psychedelic Mini Cooper, McCartney’s tour bus represents a moment in the psychedelic era and its status as the world’s first Beatles-related double-decker bus,” Julien’s says. “The bus is a touchstone of Beatlemania and cultural importance as the year of 1972 spurred a wellspring of creativity that inspired McCartney to write Wings’ classic songs for Red Rose Speedway and record for the Grammy award–winning and Oscar-nominated classic James Bond theme song ‘Live and Let Die.’”

The 1972 Wings Over Europe tour sparked the band’s trajectory into superstardom as the bestselling pop act of the 1970s, with an extraordinary five No. 1 albums and 27 Top 40 hits in the U.S., including “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “My Love,” “Band On The Run,” “Jet,” “Junior’s Farm,” “Listen To What The Man Said,” and “Silly Love Songs.”

Sir Paul McCartney has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, first with the Beatles in 1988 and again as a solo artist in 1999. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997.

The bus was fully restored by a workshop in Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, after being discovered in Spain in a state of decay. Its three-year restoration was completed in November 2022, and it was unveiled in England for the tour’s 50th anniversary celebration before 90,000 visitors at the NEC Classic Motor Show in Birmingham.

The interior of the bus has been restored with great detail to bring it back to the condition as it would have been on the 1972 tour. The refinished interior is complemented by wooden bunk beds, which the band members’ children would have slept on, and an original Wings tour trunk that was donated to the project by Denny Seiwell. The lower cabin perimeter has bright yellow curtains that accent the psychedelic paint scheme of the exterior. Also included is a custom-built cover for the upper deck that displays “1972 Wings Tour Bus” graphics on the roof. It is powered by a Gardner 5LW 7-liter diesel engine mated to a manual transmission.

In celebration of the vehicle’s restoration and the upcoming auction, fans will have a chance to win a ticket to ride on the historic bus through London—along with the Beatles only secretary, Freda Kelly—in an exclusive Magical History Tour contest sponsored by Hard Rock Cafe and Julien’s Auctions. The tour will be held October 17. To enter, like this post on Instagram, tag a friend you’d take on the bus with you, and follow both @juliens_auctions and @hardrockcafelondon. The contest closes on Friday, October 13.

“Tour buses have been a part of rock ’n’ roll music lore for generations,” says Martin Nolan, executive director and co-founder of Julien’s Auctions, “and there is no other one quite as famous and remarkable as Paul McCartney’s 1972 Wings Tour Over Europe bus.”

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To some, the MGC—more or less a straight-six-equipped version of the inimitable MGB—is a fine evolution of a proper British sports car. It’s shapely, full of spunk, roomy enough for a few weekend bags, and loads of fun to drive. But if you’re WWE superstar John Cena, a man who’s tried his hand at everything from rap music to major motion pictures to suplexing the Undertaker, you’re always open to things getting a little bit … wilder.

We did not have “John Cena’s MGC GT” on our bingo card of celebrity cars, but boy are we glad to know such a space exists. Bring a Trailer is currently selling a metallic gray 1969 MGC that was once owned by the famous pro wrestler (and actor). Predictably, it’s no ordinary Brit coupe.

According to the listing, Cena acquired the MGC in 2020, at which point he shipped it off to Ekstensive Metal Works, a custom car shop out of Houston, Texas, where the little hatchback hit the gym—and then some. The 2.9-liter straight-six that originally came in the car was removed in favor of a herculean LS3 V-8 equipped with a Holley Sniper EFI system, tubular headers, an aluminum radiator, and MSD spark plug wires.

That engine mates to a Tremec T56 six-speed manual transmission sending power to the rear wheels via a 10-bolt rear axle with 3.73:1 gearing. The soundtrack comes courtesy of a dual exhaust system that terminates just ahead of said rear axle. Ekstensive Metal Works also fettled with the suspension and braking system, adding adjustable coilovers and a four-link rear suspension, as well as vented and slotted Wilwood disc brakes with orange calipers.

The madness continued on the outside, as the shop stripped the body and modified it with a Sebring widebody kit, then painted the whole thing with custom metallic gray paint. Inside, a completely custom interior featuring blue leather with custom orange piping contrasts the gray exterior quite well. Added bits of flair include backlit door cards, a matching headliner, a Vintage Air climate control system, and more. Cena’s autograph can be found on the engine-bay firewall as well as the door jamb on the driver’s side.

Along the way, the MGC’s rear seat was ditched in favor of a custom interior mold that houses a 10-inch Rockford Fosgate subwoofer and a 1000-watt amplifier to jam your favorite tunes over Bluetooth.

And if you, like us, are still wondering how 6-foot-1-inch Cena could fit into such a tiny machine: The listing also mentions that a tilting steering column was fitted to the car. Even with the column, we have to imagine this was a pretty snug fit.

With three days left in the auction, bidding currently sits at $35,900 at the time of this writing. That’s within sniffing distance of a stock MGC GT’s #1 Concours condition value, which our data reveals to be $39,900. We’ll have to see at what final price this restomod Brit winds up at, but it’s safe to say that Cena’s ride would turn heads anywhere.

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The collector-car world loves a good barn find, and this 1936 Ford Model 48 Fordor Deluxe Sedan certainly qualifies: Just look at the vertical dust lines across the windshield and the length of the car, marks that confirm that it was parked and neglected years ago. If you’re a barn-find aficionado, you’re already salivating.

This handsome sedan is more than an 87-year-old car somebody forgot about, however. It’s an 87-year-old car that’s almost completely intact. Nothing rotten. No missing hard-to-find trim pieces. Reasonably tidy engine and interior. A perfect candidate for a mechanical refresh or full restoration.

The Ford Model 48 was introduced in 1935, and behind the car’s tall, vertical grille was a 221-cubic-inch flathead V-8 that produced about 90 horsepower and was mated to a three-speed gearbox. Although V-8s weren’t a new thing in the mid-1930s, the simplicity of Ford’s flathead V-8 made it more affordable for more people, an important factor during the Great Depression. In addition to the four-door sedan, the Model 48 could be had as a two-door roadster, four-door convertible, or four-door station wagon, each priced below $600 (or about $13,253 today). The car was a hit; Ford sold 820,000 Model 48s in 1935.

Improving upon one of the most significant automobiles ever produced by the Ford Motor Company, the 1936 Fords offered updated styling, including an inverted pentagonal grille with all-vertical bars beneath a longer hood, as well as three horizontal chrome side strips on DeLuxe models.

The ’36s also featured redesigned fenders and wheels—pressed steel instead of wire—that gave the car a more modern appearance. And, yes, finished in black, it also has the look of something a gangster might drive. Inside, the Fordor offered comfortable bench seating, stylish Johansson instrumentation, and typical amenities of the era.

This seller of this barn find, which is offered on Hagerty Marketplace and located in Van Nuys, California, notes that the Deluxe sedan (Chassis/VIN 2560487) features pivoted rear quarter windows, one-piece welded steel wheels, torque-tube drive, double-drop X-type frame, downdraft carburetor, and rearview mirror. The odometer displays 65,431 miles, but its actual mileage is unknown. Bidding sits at $1500 with nearly a week left in the auction, which ends Wednesday, October 11 at 4 p.m. EDT. A spare driveshaft and additional leaf-spring suspension components are included.

Since a similar 1935 Ford Model 48 Fordor Sedan Deluxe in #4 (Fair) condition has an average value of $11,400, the potential buyer of this ’36 Fordor Deluxe might be able to snag a deal. The barn-find dust is a bonus.

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From the depths of the Great Depression and World War II to the economic resurgence and baby boom that followed, U.S. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman had more than their share of bumpy rides. They also shared a smooth one, a 1941 Packard Super Eight One-Eighty Custom Touring Limousine, bodied by LeBaron. Or did they?

FDR, who became the 32nd President of the United States in the depths of the Great Depression, was in office from 1933–45, the longest tenure of any American president. Truman, Roosevelt’s third understudy in 12 years, had served only four months as Vice President when Roosevelt suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died on April 12, 1945. Truman immediately became the 33rd President and faced crucial decisions as WWII entered its final stages.

Germany surrendered less than one month after Truman took office (Italy had already done so in 1943), and Japan officially surrendered on September 2, 1945, putting an end to hostilities and returning a semblance of normalcy to the U.S. and its allies. That included new automobile production, which was halted when America joined the war following the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which Roosevelt so famously called “a date which will live in infamy.”

Just months prior, a 1941 Packard Super Eight One-Eighty Custom Touring Limousine—the second of only 51 limousines built by LeBaron in ’41—was, according to RM Sotheby’s, “[s]aid to have been delivered new to the White House.” If that sentence sounds less than emphatic, it’s because RM admits, “Although documentation does not exist to confirm the claim, former owner and Packard aficionado Dr. Charles Blackman believed this Packard to have been delivered to the White House during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and used in an official capacity during both the Roosevelt and Truman presidencies. Dr. Blackman also believed that it was later used in the fleet of vehicles maintained for the use of the governor of New York and reportedly spent time in a museum before finding its way into his private collection.”

So, what can we make of the limousine (Vehicle No. 1420-2002 / Engine No. D503448D), which will cross the block at RM Sotheby’s Hershey (Pennsylvania) auction on Wednesday, October 4? RM has given it a pre-auction estimate of $30,000–$40,000, which would no doubt be higher if it included documentation proving that it was used to transport FDR and Truman. Regardless, it definitely looks the part with red emergency driving lights, fender-mounted flag holders, and the Seal of the President of the United States on the rear doors.

From the stylish heights of the 1930s, the American custom coachbuilding industry was beginning to fade from existence by the early 1940s. American luxury automakers were slowly discontinuing top-of-the-line factory-cataloged semi-customs, which had featured prominently for well over a decade. Packard was among the last to offer bodies by coachbuilders Rollson and LeBaron, with the latter being a division of Briggs by 1941. Most of LeBaron’s final Packard offerings were formal limousines, largely with hand-built bodies and beautifully appointed for the most select clients.

This one, which RM Sotheby’s says underwent a cosmetic restoration years ago, is powered by Packard’s legendary 356-cubic inch, 160-horsepower straight-eight engine, mated to a three-speed manual transmission. It features independent front suspension and four-wheel hydraulic brakes, making it surprisingly capable on the road despite the lengthy 148-inch wheelbase. “The car has impressive mobility and seemingly unlimited torque,” RM says, “something that is quite welcome when motoring in such an impressively large, well-constructed automobile.”

The limo, considered one of the rarest Packards of the late prewar period, is fitted with leather upholstery in the front and wool broadcloth in the rear. Did Roosevelt and Truman sit on that broadcloth? Hagerty Manager of Valuation Analytics John Wiley says there’s no way to know for sure unless some form of proof surfaces, but this luxury automobile would still be a worthy addition to anyone’s collection.

“While this car’s connection to the White House is circumstantial at best, appreciating it as one of the last coachbuilt Packard limousines—by LeBaron, no less—is perhaps more appropriate,” Wiley says. “It certainly represents a period when America assumed a leadership role in the global order. Someday, perhaps even a Presidential connection to the White House, or as some other official car, can eventually be documented, too.”

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A not-so-surprising thing happens when you shop online for gifts for a 50th anniversary, as everything has a gold theme thanks to traditions forged in central Europe. But the Swedes clearly wanted none of this for their golden anniversaries, as Saab chose not to gild its 9000 CSE Anniversary for the 1997 model year. But this isn’t a story of an uprated trim package for a commemorative edition; rather, it’s about a gentleman named Per Ekstrøm and his creation known as the Saab EX.

The notion of chopping a roof down came from a need in motorsport, but this chop-top Saab was more about making a big impression for a special occasion. Called the 1997 Saab EX, it looks like a custom bodied derivative of the GM2900 platform that Saab used for the 1994–98 900. But according to Bonhams (who is currently auctioning this vehicle), it’s registered as a 1987 Saab 9000 hatchback, one that’s clearly been modified by Per Ekstrøm with newer Saab parts. The auction includes extensive documentation proving he had “dialogue with the Saab factory” during the process.

Which is impressive, but this isn’t Per Ekstrøm’s first custom-bodied Saab. His first was the Saab CX of 1992, based on an older Saab 99 but with parts from both the 900 and 9000 series, along with a significant reduction in wheelbase and roof height. Clearly Ekstrøm has a recurring theme in his custom creation, but the level of OEM integration in the Saab EX almost justifies Bonhams’ assertion that this is a “prototype.” (To clarify, Per Ekstrøm is likely not a Saab employee; as Saabplanet.com suggests, he’s a body shop guru living in nearby Oslo.)

No matter the provenance behind the Saab EX, the end result looks quite impressive. Commemorative emblems and engravings abound in an interior heavily based on the 1987 Saab 9000 donor car. The only item that might not be lifted from a factory parts bin is the motorized screen for the Alpine audio system.

Per Ekstrøm clearly wasn’t messing around when it came to this custom body, as his quick sketches turned into a clay model that foretold of a future vehicle worthy of a golden anniversary. While I am far from a Saab expert, the Bonhams auction lists some very believable-looking modifications:

• The hatch is a modified 900 II unit, and rear glass is from the 900 cabriolet
• The roof is “lowered by 7cm”
• The tailgate lock cylinder was deleted in favor of a back-up camera
• The gas filler cap is relocated above the right rear wheel arch
• The wheel arches came from a Saab 9000 CS to widen the body

And it all makes a rather stunning design, something that Saab could have made for production after Ekstrøm and his shop spent a reported 3000–4000 hours in labor to create the Saab EX. He did a lot of the hard work, though Saab would likely need to create a less aggressive roof chop to ensure the EX appealed to more people. But that’s irrelevant for this singular vehicle and the gifted souls who made it.

While we are bullish on the Saab 900, there’s no way to determine just how high the bidding will go on the Saab EX. But it might just fare as well as Callaway Corvettes, perfect Integra Type Rs, or perhaps even a Bondurant-fettled cop car. Start your engines, Saab fanatics!

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Bonhams, the auction house, is presenting a sale in Belgium next month with a roster containing the usual interesting stuff: A Bally Harley-Davidson pinball machine, a 1929 Bugatti Type 37 Grand Prix Two-Seater, a pair of Ferrari suitcases, a 1963 Bentley S3 Continental Drophead Coupé, eight matching orange Aston Martins.

Come again, with that last one?

Yes, a highlight of what is being called the Zoute sale has eight orange Astons, none with more than 235 miles on the odometer. They are all 2010 or 2011 models: a DBS coupe, a DBS Volante, coupe and convertible versions of the DB9, a four-door Rapide, and a V-12 Vantage coupe. And rounding out the collection: A V8 Vantage coupe and roadster.

“This is a truly incredible and bespoke offering and I envisage collectors wanting to secure the entire collection with many others trying to win a particular favorite. Whatever the outcome, the new owners will own a unique part of motoring history,” said Gregory Tuytens, Head of Sales at Bonham Cars Belgium, in a fashion that most European auctioneers employ for public sales.

Exactly what part of motoring history a post-millennium suite of glossy-pumpkin Aston Martins celebrates is not especially clear. The cars were apparently commissioned by a Swiss collector, who specified the tangerine color and matching leather interior, but apparently never drove them any distance. Perhaps the sight of orange Astons simply cheered him up: It’s as valid a reason as any to buy a car. Or eight.

Nonetheless, Bonhams’ sale estimates, given in U.S. dollars, aren’t as stratospheric as, say, the 1959 Ferrari Berlinetta, expected to go for up to $7 million.

The predictions for the orange Astons range from up to $64,000 for the V8 Vantages, to $130,000 each for the pair of DBS models. If everything goes for the maximum predictions, you could conceivably buy the lot for $729,000 on the top end, or $480,000 on the low end of the estimates. They’ve all been freshened up, by the way, by Stratton Motor Company in eastern England.

Here’s a promise: If an American buys the entire lot and lets us come see them all together, we’ll send a writer to do a story. He or she is likely to ask only one pertinent question: Why?

The Aston auction is no-reserve and ends October 8, 2023.

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Mazda has always been a little quirky. In 1961, the company licensed Felix Wankel’s rotary engine, and through sheer determination, it perfected the design when other, larger automakers failed. Beginning in 1979, Mazda would use the RX-7 sports car to showcase its mastery of the funny-looking triangles rotating in a figure-eight-like housing. But 1995 brought dark times for rotary heads, as the third-generation (FD) RX-7 had left U.S. showrooms for good.

Fans would have to wait eight long years for a successor: In 2003, Mazda introduced the RX-8, a more practical take on the rotary sports car. Unlike the two-seat FD, the RX-8 had a unique four-seat arrangement. Two smaller, rear-hinged clamshell doors made it easy to get in and out of the RX-8’s back seats.

If you’re looking for a four-door rotary sports car, check out our auction pick of the week; this example from 2004 is offered without reserve.

Mazda learned its lesson with the FD’s complicated, temperamental sequential twin-turbo setup (look up the turbo vacuum diagram). Instead, the RX-8 was equipped with a heavily revised, naturally aspirated 238-horsepower engine dubbed the Renesis. While not as powerful as its 255-hp predecessor, it was enough to propel an RX-8 with a six-speed manual to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds.

Our featured car was used as an autocross toy, and thus, it has a few performance goodies. A Racing Beat intake and exhaust make the rotary’s chainsaw noises even angrier. Tein Flex coilovers and Mazdaspeed strut braces focus the already excellent RX-8 chassis. And finally, lightweight SSR Comp H wheels shod in Michelin PS2 tires help put the power down.

Cosmetically, our 41,493-mile Brilliant Black example is a nice-looking driver. There are some rock chips in the genuine Mazdaspeed front bumper and a few small dings on the body. The black leather eight-way power driver’s seat—only available on fully loaded Grand Touring models—shows minor wear. But if you’ll be tossing this RX-8 around cones, you probably don’t want a concours car.

If you’re an autocross weekend warrior, a rotary fan, or just looking for a practical sports car, this 2004 Mazda RX-8 should be right up your alley. Just make sure to get your bids in. The auction ends on Thursday, September 28, at 4:00 p.m. EDT.

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Before she was Penny Benjamin in Top Gun: Maverick, or Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind, Hollywood star Jennifer Connelly bought a beautiful car—and it wasn’t a Maverick. It was a 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible. And that classic, which Connelly has owned for the last 23 years, just sold for $36,500 on BringATrailer.com.

The winner of the auction, Jeff2306, jumped into the fray on the final day; his last bid came with two minutes to go and proved to be enough to snag the car. While some of the commenters on BaT asked “Jennifer who?” they likely know exactly who she is, because the 52-year-old actress has appeared in more than 40 films since her first role in 1984’s Once Upon A Time in America. According to the BaT description, Connelly purchased the Matador Red-over-black-vinyl Oldsmobile in 2000, her busiest year as an actress up to that point.

Connelly’s breakthrough role came a year later when she co-starred with Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind.

The actress’ 1972 Cutlass Supreme convertible is powered by a 180-horsepower, 350-cubic-inch V-8 engine—with a four-barrel carburetor, black air cleaner, and gold intake manifold, cylinder heads, and valve covers—mated to a three-speed automatic transmission. The California car features a power-operated black convertible top, power steering, power-adjustable front bench seat, power windows, a Pioneer CD stereo and speakers, faux woodgrain trim accents, power-assisted front disc brakes, color-keyed mirrors, dual exhaust outlets, and body-side moldings. Red-accented 14-inch Super Stock II Rallye wheels wear bright trim rings and Oldsmobile center caps and are mounted with 225/70 BFGoodrich Radial T/A white-letter tires. A full-size spare with a mismatched tire is stored in the trunk.

Work on the Olds that was completed in July 2023 includes the installation of a PerTronix electronic ignition conversion and replacement of the throttle cable, distributor cap, spark plugs, coolant overflow tank, brake master cylinder, tires, and rear wheel cylinders and brake hoses.

Notable flaws include chips, swirls, and scratches in the paint, a non-working air conditioner, and a broken gear indicator needle in the speedometer. The five-digit odometer shows 70,000 miles; actual mileage is unknown.

The Cutlass (chassis 3J67K2M206822) was completed in April 1972 at the Oldsmobile plant in Lansing, Michigan, about 17 months after Connelly’s birth on December 12, 1970.

Although Connelly has a more public connection to the 1973 Porsche 911 S coupe that she drove as Penny Benjamin in 2022’s top-grossing film, Top Gun: Maverick, she has a more personal connection to the Cutlass. Did that make a difference in the bidding? It doesn’t appear so.

A 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible in #2 (Excellent) condition has an average value of $32,600, meaning the Connelly factor may have added $3900.

“While celebrity ownership usually equates to buyers willing to pay a premium, there’s generally a bigger bump when the owner is known as a hardcore car enthusiast—which Jenninfer Connelly is not,” says Hagerty Price Guide editor Greg Ingold, adding that the Hagerty Power List provides a detailed account of the impact top celebrities have on vehicle values. “What is truly priceless, however, is this car’s cool factor and the fun that its new owner will have being able to tell people who owned it before he did.”

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AMC doesn’t get enough credit. The brand had a few models with questionable yet strangely appealing styling—Gremlin, Matador coupe, we’re looking at you—but many of their cars were absolutely stunning. On the powertrain front, their inline-six engines are renowned for their ruggedness, and the brand’s V-8 engines are nothing short of underrated. Always the odd manufacturer out given the Big Three’s presence, AMC managed to punch above its weight on several occasions. Few examples highlight that better than the Javelin Trans Am, a fine example of which is up for grabs at Mecum’s 2023 Dallas sale.

Not only did the 1970 model mark a one-year-only run of the 1970 Javelin twin-venturi grille, but just 100 copies of the 1970 Javelin Trans Am were built, and each of them was painted in red, white, and blue to honor the 1968 Trans Am entry of Peter Revson. This one was also equipped with a close-ratio four-speed manual transmission, a limited-slip rear axle with 3.91:1 gears, power steering, power brakes with front discs, and AMC’s Handling Package that included heavier-duty springs, sway bars, and shocks.

1970 was a big year for AMC. It was then that Penske Racing moved its Trans Am racing effort, along with ace driver Mark Donohue, from Chevrolet over to the scrappy, underdog AMC team. That same year, the SCCA, Trans Am’s sanctioning body, allowed manufacturers to use destroked versions of production engines to meet the maximum engine displacement of 5.0-liters, rather than selling 5.0-liter engines in homologation cars. Ford continued to offer a 302 in its production Mustangs, but other manufacturers in the series gave their road-race-flavored pony cars more cubes. For Chevrolet, that meant the end of the 302, with the 350-cubic-inch LT-1 taking over the reins in the 1970 Z/28. For Plymouth and Dodge, it meant that its 340 would be the basis of its Trans Am variants with the AAR ‘Cuda and Challenger T/A getting triple-carb versions of the engine. Both Pontiac and AMC, meanwhile, decided to let their V-8 engine families, with their wider bore spacing, go even bigger. Pontiac went with a nice, round 400 cubic inches, and AMC went with the biggest bore of any of them, equipping the racy red, white, and blue Javelin Trans Ams with a 390 V-8.

The big, 4.165-inch bores of the 390 were topped by newly developed cylinder heads that featured dogleg exhaust ports developed with help from cylinder head guru Larry Ofria. Rated at 325hp, they were capable of much more with the same kind of hot-rodding that worked on every other muscle car engine. As a result, the AMC 390s developed a solid reputation for power on the street and on the dragstrip. That reputation had big help though, from the tri-colored racers that were going wheel-to-wheel with the Big Three on road courses.

The AMC team proved to be tough competition for Ford and juggernaut Trans Am driver Parnelli Jones, who took the checkered flag in six of the 11 contests held across America and Canada during the 1970 Trans Am season. Mark Donohue won three of the five remaining races, giving AMC a second-place finish behind Ford in the manufacturer’s championship and proving that the Kenosha, Wisconsin, automaker could build a formidable race car and scrap with the big boys. The following year, behind a dominating performance from Donohue, AMC took the Trans Am championship. Donohue’s car, by the way, was painted in a similar fashion to the car Revson had raced in 1968, but with the colors in the scheme reversed.

The efficient lines of the 1970 AMC Javelin, understated compared to the brawny, flared curves of the final Javelins that debuted in 1971, are still enough to make a statement amongst the Mopars, Fords, and Chevys that are much more common at a typical car show. Add the patriotic Matador Red, Frost White, and Commodore Blue paint scheme, and these already rare sights become that much more of a standout. For such a low-production car to be this attractive and relatively affordable is even more rare. Whoever takes this car home will have a worthy cornerstone for their pony car collection.

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After automotive styling and performance slipped into the 1970s Malaise Era, Pontiac engineers offered a mid-engine, mid-’80s ray of hope: the Fiero. Marketed as an economy car—a claim that didn’t jibe with its sports-car good looks—it took several years before the two-seater’s performance matched its appearance. By then, however, General Motors deemed it too expensive to continue production. That’s unfortunate, because there’s a lot to like about the 1984–88 Fiero, especially the later versions.

As our own Jason Cammisa explains in Episode 27 of his popular Revelations YouTube series, GM’s brass gave Fiero the green light based on the assumption that it would be a gas-sipping commuter. As a result, Pontiac borrowed heavily from GM’s parts bin to keep costs low. Most notably, its front suspension came from GM’s compact rear-wheel-drive Chevette, and the front suspension of GM’s front-drive Chevy Citation/Pontiac Phoenix was repurposed for the rear. The car was compact, rigid, and relatively lightweight; it featured Enduroflex body panels over a steel space frame and weighed around 2600 pounds.

At its launch, the four-speed Fiero—Italian for “proud”—was powered by the 2.5-liter Iron Duke four-cylinder engine, which produced only 92 horses and fit its econo-car label. While Pontiac made tweaks every year to incrementally improve the car, the public yearned for performance to match its styling, and that upgrade arrived in 1985, when the GT model received a 140-hp 2.8-liter V-6 and wider tires. A five-speed manual transmission arrived the following year.

Dogged by a series of early engine fires, the Fiero’s reputation is forever tarnished in the minds of some enthusiasts, but the sports car (econo coupe?) has plenty of fans, too. In fact, the Fiero, the first and only mid-engine production car offered by General Motors until the launch of the C8 Corvette in 2020, has seen its values rise in recent months.

That brings us to this 1986 Fiero GT, which Cammisa drove in his entertaining and insightful Revelations episode. Located in Novato, California, VIN 1G2PG9795GP281348 is finished in black paint with silver accents over a gray cloth interior. Its 2.8-liter V-6 has been upgraded with Hypertech Street Runner tune, Accel 15-pound fuel injectors, and an MSD coil, cap, and wires. It also has upgraded Ravetti 18-inch wheels (originals are included with the purchase of the vehicle).

Purchased in Texas by its current owner in August 2021, the Fiero is equipped with a new air-conditioning compressor, lines, hoses, shocks, struts, steering damper, and cruise control components. It also received a 7-inch Garmin GPS unit with a backup camera, as well as a Delco radio with AM/FM/CD and hands-free Bluetooth capabilities in place of the original radio.

Features include: A/C, rear spoiler, fog lights, pop-up headlights, four-wheel power disc brakes, cruise control, power windows, power door locks, tilt steering wheel, electric rear window defroster, intermittent wipers, and carpeted cargo area.

While a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT in #2 (Excellent) condition has an average value of just over $10,000, bidding for this one on Hagerty Marketplace has reached $6000 with less than a week remaining.

Will Pontiac’s “We Build Excitement” marketing slogan also describe the auction? We’ll soon find out, as bidding ends Wednesday, September 13 at 3:50 p.m. Eastern Time.

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On this episode of the No Reserve podcast, Larry Webster of Hagerty Media and Dave Kinney, publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide, break down the big news from this year’s Monterey auctions. There was a 30-million dollar Ferrari racecar, some actual bargains and, a twisted pile of metal sold for nearly 2 million dollars. Watch below or listen on iTunes.

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Matt Bange is a “self-made” hot rodder, whose parents made up for their lack of car knowledge by passing down their creativity and pouring on the positive feedback. The combination proved valuable for Bange, who has built four hot rods. He would likely be working on his fifth if his first child weren’t due in a couple of months.

“I was pretty much on my own when it came to cars,” says Bange, 33. “When I was a kid I had fun tinkering with stuff and playing with Legos and K’nex. Then I got tired of drawing hot rods and decided to actually build one. I worked a bunch of jobs as a teenager and used that money to build my first one [a 1929 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan] when I was 20. I taught myself everything—welding, fabricating, woodworking, electrical … and over the years I’ve continued to grow my connections in the hot rod world.”

That first hot rod, which Bange sold when he was 25, gave him the confidence to do more. His second build was a 1928 Model A pickup, then he tackled a 1935 Ford Model 50 pickup before taking on the 1937 Ford Model 78 Slantback Tudor Sedan pictured here. Custom work on the sedan had already been started by a former Ridler Award winner, but the vehicle had been left outside and exposed to the elements for years. When the owner passed away, Bange bought the ’37 in April 2021. He drove 14 hours to pick it up in Minnesota and then trailered it home to Michigan. The roof had been chopped three inches, which gave him a decent head start, but the car was also covered with patina and moss, neither of which scared him off.

Bange installed a small-block 307-cubic-inch V-8 engine and a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission from a 1969 Chevy Chevelle, upgraded with a 9 Super 7 intake manifold for three two-barrel carburetors, polished pulleys, a new water pump, mechanical fuel pump, Offenhauser fuel regulator, translucent red fuel lines, a small cap HEI distributor, and Smoothie Rams Horn exhaust manifolds. The Ford also has a nine-inch rear end, a Ford Mustang II front end, front disc brakes, rear drum brakes, Wheelsmith 16×4-inch wheels with polished baby moon hubcaps, and a staggered set of Coker Firestone vintage bias-ply tires. The car has no odometer or speedometer.

Bange’s creativity doesn’t stop at the body and mechanicals. He turned an aluminum “Bob’s Beer” can (a tribute to his wife’s grandfather) into the coil cover, used an early 1900s brass fire extinguisher container as his radiator overflow bottle, installed a replica 1890s revolver as an air vent handle, glued a Lego Frankenstein inside a hole under the hood, and painted a clown—reminiscent of Pennywise, the main character in the horror movie It—on the rear of the car.

“It’s wild and wicked, kind of like Frankenstein’s monster,” he says of the ’37 Ford. “It definitely snaps necks. A lot of people appreciate that it’s chopped and has a bare steel/patina body. Some will ask, ‘Are you going to paint it?’ And I’ll say, ‘No, it’s done.’ And they’ll say, ‘Thank you! I love it just the way it is.’”

Bange has always thrived on that kind of feedback. “There’s definitely creativity in the family,” he says. “My dad went to college to be an architect, and he likes tweaking things, just not so much on cars—he doesn’t even change his own oil. Mom is creative when it comes to crafts and stuff. And I’m told my grandpa worked on World War II vehicles.

“My parents and grandparents were always giving me positive reinforcement about the things that interested me, telling me I could do whatever I set out to do. My grandpa would take me to the airport to watch the planes, and that led to me becoming a pilot; I was in aviation for years.”

Bange has been into cars longer than he has worked in aviation, and someone out there may soon benefit from his self-made automotive skills. He says the ’37 Ford currently shares garage space with his 1935 Ford pickup truck and a 1929 Chevrolet 1.5-ton pickup that will become his next project—someday, just not someday soon.

“[My wife, Heather, and I] are expecting our firstborn, Wyatt, in late October, and obviously all of our attention is going to go to him,” Bange says. “And I have to make some room in the garage for something that’s good in the winter weather.”

That means something has to go, and that something is his ’37 Ford hot rod. Since Bange serves as Hagerty Marketplace coordinator, what better place to put it up for auction? With 11 days remaining in the auction, bidding has reached $7300. The auction closes on September 11 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, when Bange can officially turn his attention to a new baby. We’re guessing little Wyatt won’t be lacking in creativity.

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Curve-averse designer William Towns is best known for the angular Aston Martin Lagonda, but alongside one of the most expensive cars in the world, he also penned one of the cheapest: the Hustler.

The unusual greenhouse-on-wheels, with its innovative, sliding glass “windoors” was only available in kit form after Towns wasn’t able to persuade Jensen to put it into production.

Based on Mini underpinnings the Hustler came in a variety of practical shapes and sizes all based around a modular design. There was a hatchback, a pick-up known as the Hobo, a sporty Sprint, a flat-bed truck, a beach car and even a camper.

Perhaps the most unusual of the lot, however, was the Hustler 6 – named for the number of wheels. Most Hustlers came with fibreglass bodies over their steel monocoque floorpan, but several, including this example, were made in wood.

Bristol-based John Brazier, a former woodwork and metalwork teacher, who had also worked for Rolls-Royce, constructed his Hustler over three summers in the 1980s, using plywood and ash. Two Mini subframes sustain running gear, although Brazier pushed the boat out and fitted a 1.6-litre engine from an Allegro and squashy seats from the same car.

Brazier’s woodworking skills are especially apparent inside a cabin that looks like a suburban living room, complete with deep pile carpet and shiny cabinetry. Thanks to the extra wheels it can seat up to eight people

One of only around 400 kits sold, the Hustler was Brazier’s daily driver for more than 13 years and has always been dry stored, although it hasn’t run since the early 2000s when it was parked up with a flat battery.

“I’d love to occasionally see it being driven around but I just hope it goes to a good home,” he says.

Brazier’s Hustler is up for auction in Bath and is estimated to fetch £2,000-£3,000.

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There’s no doubt that Cadillac is a storied brand in the hearts and minds of countless Americans. But a lesser-known truth lies within factory-built limousines wearing the Wreath and Crest: These vehicles dominated the private chauffeur and forthcoming livery market for decades. The limos first made their mark in 1936, when Fleetwood Metal Body turned Cadillacs into the prestigious Fleetwood Series 70 and 75 models. While Cadillac and Fleetwood weren’t the only game in town back then, the integration of Fleetwood into GM’s influential Fisher Body division ensured the flagship limousines outlived their coachbuilt competition, lasting even longer than LeBaron, acquired by Chrysler.

Make no mistake, Fisher Body had an astounding amount of influence within General Motors, embodying the Hold-up Problem and inspiring tattoos of loyalty. Fisher Body did things its own way, and it likely became the driving force behind the longevity of the Fleetwood Series 75. It won market share by attrition: Consolidation ensured almost every limo in popular culture was gonna be a Cadillac by the 1970s. Royalty was shuttled in these Cadillacs for decades, and they were the preferred mode of transport for the likes of TV’s Banacek.

Fisher Body’s formula was simple: start with a Cadillac Coupe DeVille (for that decadent C-pillar), repurpose the Sedan DeVille’s front doors, heavily modify the rear doors, and turn it all into something special for the upper crust of our upper class. While the downsized Cadillacs of 1977 lack the impressive footprints of their elders, they still made for fantastically decadent limousines. Downsizing their core competency paid dividends, as GM added fuel economy while subtracting bulk with precision. The company applied the strategy to everything from the range-topping Fleetwood Series 75 to the downright approachable Chevrolet Impala. The next generation of livery-spec Lincoln Town Car, rear-wheel-drive Chrysler, and GM SUV limos were still but a dream, but that was quickly becoming a reality.

The Fleetwood Series 75 formula that Fisher Body perfected worked quite well … until it didn’t.

Fisher Body bit the dust in 1984, a victim of GM’s need to right-size the organization in the face of a Rude Awakening. Cadillac made one last stab at custom-bodied glory by subcontracting Fleetwood Series 75 production to Hess & Eisenhardt, using the latest platform in GM’s arsenal: the downsized, front-wheel-drive Cadillac DeVille. The new baby ‘Lac promised high technology in an age that demanded it. Somewhat ironically, this progressive platform was also the last home of the wholly traditional Coupe DeVille. The demise of the rear-drive architecture ensured there was no other alternative for a Cadillac limousine. Perhaps the Fleetwood Series 75 should have died along with Fisher Body?

It is likely the outgoing DeVille was the best Fleetwood Series 75 that Cadilac ever made. No matter how you skin it, the demise of this Cadillac is a sad moment in history, one that’s regularly lost in a sea of contemporary success stories (Corvette, Camaro). The fact that the last day of rear-wheel drive, in-house, Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 construction at Fisher Body’s Plant 21 was April Fool’s Day in 1984 is no joke—and neither is the following example from that same year. It is all business, all the time.

While it did not transport presidents (that was the job of the high-roof Caddy), this 1984 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 was used by the U.S. Secret Service as a lead car. Running ahead and clearing paths for Presidents Reagan and Bush was no small feat, and this limo still looks ready for service, even if it will be seeking a new, civilian home at the Mecum Dallas auction.

While we may never know all the modifications the Secret Service made to this particular Fleetwood Series 75, the seller provides documentation proving the original owner was indeed America’s Department of Homeland Security.

The auction description goes further, suggesting this limousine was “utilized in overseas motorcades.” Such usage would be ample reason to add high levels of ballistic protection under the taut, stamped sheetmetal of Cadillac’s exclusive D-body. But that shiny black paint will never tell, and Mecum has no information or photography to help us discern whether Cadillac’s HT4100 engine passed muster with the Secret Service back in 1984 or if a new engine was put in its place. (EDIT: Turns out these Limos still ran the big block, displacement on demand, V8-6-4 engine.)

You never know, this could be is an older Fleetwood Series 75, sporting newer interior/exterior bits to modernize the look. This would not be the first time the Secret Service did such OEM+ modifications to a presidential fleet vehicle. One thing’s very likely, however: The newer Goodyear Regatta whitewalls are unlikely to protect and serve like the original rubber did when in service.

Clearly we must look inside to understand what makes this particular Fleetwood Series 75 so special. There are numerous Presidential Seals embroidered within the Caddy’s blue interior, which omits the (optional) privacy partition between the seats. The folding rear jump seats remain; they likely aided the Secret Service in their activities, much like the microphone on the rear door and CB radio below the climate control unit. Since this is a Cadillac, that HVAC control panel is computer-controlled, with an electronic tape deck perched above it for everyone’s entertainment. When off duty, of course.

Entertaining the right rear passenger was paramount for all Fleetwood Series 75s, as this is (usually?) where redundant controls for the radio, power windows, and HVAC reside. They certainly came in handy when one didn’t feel the need to make conversation/eye contact with the driver, plus most everything was tucked neatly below that Coupe DeVille–derived quarter window in a wood-rimmed nook topped by a sliding door. Odds are the Secret Service retained these factory-bestowed goodies, or at least one can hope: the right rear seating position possesses the most impressive technology one can enjoy in a Cadillac.

This rear-seat climate-control feature stood the test of time: Be it newer Cadillacs or any other luxury vehicle, such as the Lexus above, the handiwork present in Fisher Body’s Fleetwood Series 75 inspired a new generation of luxury motorcar. Which is great, but there’s only one original. And sometimes it is worthy of a presidential motorcade.

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Monterey has always been the bellwether event setting the tone for the collector car market, particularly for top-tier cars as the market closes the year. Compared to 2022’s record-setting sales, this year has been down, but that’s all relative. We still witnessed the second-best Monterey auction tally of all time. And while many sales were a bit more restrained than last year, there were still plenty that caught our attention.

Sifting through the outliers (cars with exceptional provenance or ultra rare specifications), quite a few sales bent our Price Guide-based predictions, and they did so in one of two ways. First, there are the breakers—cars that broke our Price Guide with sales that soared past our condition-appropriate values but aren’t necessarily indicators that the market has changed. Breakouts, on the other hand, are the sales that eclipsed our Price Guide and we believe set a new market level (i.e., are repeatable).

Breaker: 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso

Sold for $2,810,000 Broad Arrow

#1 condition (Concours) $1,850,000

Ferrari’s bigger and more luxurious version of the 250 GT, the “Lusso,” literally translates to “Luxury.” Often overshadowed by other prancing horses carrying the 250 moniker, the Lusso is significant in its own right for helping add upscale cred to Ferrari’s sporting status. Despite its size and available equipment, the 250 Lusso kept its two-seat layout, leaving 2+2 duty to the 250 GTE.

$2.8 million is a strong result for this 250 Lusso. Then again, this car had a lot going for it: a skilled restoration, a one-of-one color combination of Grigio Fumo over a blue interior, and a long-term ownership of 20 years. With all the boxes checked, the car created a perfect storm worthy of a substantial bid. Objectively speaking, this sale doesn’t mean that all 250 Lussos have jumped $1 million over #1 (Concours) value, but it does show that the best cars can still command top dollar. Despite this and some other healthy sales of ’60s Ferraris at Monterey, this result is more an indication of the segment’s longevity rather than a signal of a bullish trend.

Breaker: 1969 Datsun 240Z

Sold for $132,000 Mecum

#1 condition (Concours) $79,600

Datsun’s once-affordable sports car is a hot commodity among collector car enthusiasts. And for good reason: These cars offered a nimble and sporty alternative to the Corvette when new, and they grew quite popular over the 240Z’s total production run. The 240Z has led the charge among Japanese classics, becoming one of the earliest of the mainstream collector cars from the Japanese segment to crack the $100,000 barrier with a handful of exceptional examples in recent years.

Speaking of exceptional cars, Mecum offered this one alongside a number of other Z-cars. As one of just 538 cars produced in 1969 for the 1970 model year, it’s among the earliest production examples available. Coupled with an eight-year restoration, this car really brought home the bacon in what has been a softening market for early Zs. Remember, one significant sale doesn’t set a market, and a few of the other Zs Mecum offered fell short of their marks. For now, this one is in the breaker column, but we will keep an eye out to see if the 240Z market is back on the upswing.

Breakout: 2012 Lexus LFA

Sold for $1,105,000 RM Sotheby’s

#1 condition (Concours) $988,000

Lexus’ engineering tour de force was a difficult sell when new, but it’s now become a collector car darling. It’s easy to see why—the LFA was obsessively, exhaustively designed. From every minute detail of the body to an engine so well balanced it could rev from idle to 9000 rpm in 0.6 seconds, it represented (and arguably still does) Toyota’s ultimate vision of a modern supercar. No wonder enthusiasts have come around to them in a big way.

While LFAs equipped with the far less common Nürburgring package are solid seven-figure collector cars, standard LFAs had only flirted with the $1 million mark until Monterey. RM Sotheby’s offered what can only be described as a new, in-wrapper car. You’re not going to find a closer-to-new LFA than this. While on its face that might suggest this car’s sale is a one-off, given how long the model has been approaching seven figures, this was simply the right car to cross the threshold. Now that that’s happened, don’t be surprised if other exceptional examples start to sell in this range.

Breakout: 1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal

Sold for $168,000 Gooding & Company

#1 condition (Concours) $149,000

The Montreal is arguably one of the most handsome cars to come out of Italy in the 1970s, full stop. This GT coupe was blessed with a beautiful Bertone body and a 2.5-liter V-8 engine derived from the Tipo 33 Stradale’s powerplant. The Montreal went and sounded as good as it looked. In fact, if the Italians built a car to emulate the American muscle car, this would have to be it.

Following a weak showing for the model toward the beginning of the year, this sale of what we rated as a #2 (Excellent) condition car surprised us by surpassing our estimates for a #1 (Concours) quality example by $19,000. While not a huge amount, given how infrequently these come up for sale, a strong amount is more influential to the Montreal market than would be the case with a more common car and points to a likely turnaround for Montreal values.

Breakout: 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS

Sold for $775,000 RM Sotheby’s

#1 condition (Concours) $715,000

Yet another car that’s been on a tear lately, the Ferrari Dino is certainly a car that went from snubbed to beloved, and in relatively short order. Few will now deny it as a mainstream Ferrari collectible. In fact, we called it out as a car to watch in our 2022 Bull Market List.

With this sale, it appears that the Dino trajectory still has room to grow. This very nice driver-quality car with the popular “chairs and flares” option blew way past condition-appropriate value, fetching a staggering $775,000. We’ve said it before, but these cars are now reliably more expensive than the ’70s flagship Ferrari Daytona. If Monterey has proven anything to us, it is that the classic Ferrari market is still thriving despite continued proof that the collector car market is softening.

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America’s sports car was in sorry shape during the disco era. The later third-generation (1968–82) Corvette, although a strong seller, was not the performer that it used to be. In 1975, the once mighty Vette was down to just 165 horsepower due to new emissions regulations.

However, in 1984, Chevrolet made big strides to resuscitate Corvette performance with the release of the fourth iteration of America’s sports car. The C4, as it is known to enthusiasts, was the first all-new Vette since 1968. With its sleek styling, modern suspension, and stiff chassis, the C4 represented a clean break from the Duntov-designed C3.

The car was a phenomenal handler—Car and Driver clocked 0.95 g on the skidpad in a period test—but early examples lacked power. However, Chevrolet remedied the lack of grunt later in the C4’s 12-year production run.

By 1996, the final year of production, Vettes equipped with the ZF six-speed manual received a hopped-up small-block dubbed LT4. The engine was good for 330 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque, making a 5.0-second sprint to 60 miles per hour possible. Compared to the 1984 model’s paltry 205 horsepower, this was a big upgrade.

The later cars with the LT4 are more desirable, with Excellent condition (#2) examples being valued at $30,200 according to the Hagerty Price Guide. That brings us to our auction pick of the week, a one-owner 1996 Corvette convertible with a desirable engine and transmission combo.

Our striking yellow-on-black feature car has only seen 14,ooo miles since new. It’s a well-appointed example, equipped with the optional Delco/Bose Gold Series sound system, six-way power-adjustable driver and passenger seats, and electronic air conditioning. Unsurprisingly, the Vette is highly original—down to the as-delivered Goodyear Eagle GS-C tires—and in excellent condition. Really the only minor flaws are faded sun visors and light creasing in the upholstery.

If you’re in the market for a top-down Corvette experience, this one is hard to beat. Just slap on some new tires, and enjoy the V-8 soundtrack and six-speed gearbox for many miles to come. The auction ends Thursday, August 31 at 3:40 p.m. EDT, so make sure to get your bids in.

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This story is being updated throughout the week.

Posts and analysis: From Thursday, the beginning of the auctions, click here. To start with Friday’s posts, click here. For Saturday’s coverage, click here.

Results overview: For Thursday’s results overview, click here. Our quick take on the Ferrari 412P sale is here. Friday’s results overview is here. Saturday’s results overview is here.

The car world is set to descend on the Monterey peninsula in its annual pilgrimage to celebrate the automobile. Not just any automobiles, but some of the rarest, most story-laden, and unique pieces of machinery around. And those are just the ones on the street—the cars filling the consignment lists for this year’s auctions at Monterey Car Week have genuinely gotten the car community excited after a year in which the collector market has seen a steady, if gradual, retreat.

Monterey is often considered a heat check for the collector market as a whole, and it’s no wonder why: nearly every other year for the past 35 years, the annual sales record takes place here. On top of that, it’s more than just the top cars drawing attention, though several find themselves on the cusp of eight-figure paydays—including a Ferrari 412 P that stands a good chance to be the top sale of the year. The wide array of cars consigned—a new record number of well over 1000—includes significant cars from all corners of the market, from Ferraris to the growing Japanese segment, to American standard-bearers. The sales over the course of Car Week should help define whether certain market segments will remain flat, how buyer and seller sentiments are trending, and what cars are poised to be the next big movers.

Early projections suggest this year’s auctions will approach a healthy $400M showing, placing 2023 between 2022’s record and the previous high water mark of 2015. Our own John Wiley dives into his predictions at length here, including how Monterey’s seller demographics have evolved dramatically, the impact of the strong share of $1M+ cars coming to sale, and how these sales are poised to contribute to auction sales as a whole in 2023.

Stay tuned here for additional analysis ahead of the auctions, as well as detailed coverage throughout the course of the week.

Saturday, August 11th

Keep an eye on the classic Ferraris. Many enthusiasts are descending on Monterey to get an eye on some of the most valuable cars in the world, and that’s not just on the Pebble Beach lawn. Two of the most valuable Ferraris in the world, a Ferrari 412 P being sold by Bonhams and a Ferrari 250 LM being sold by RM Sotheby’s, will be on public display before hammer time. Just how valuable are they? If they sell for their auction house estimates they will become the second and seventh most valuable Ferraris ever sold at auction. Not bad for a side show to the main show on the lawn. – James Hewitt

Monday, August 14th

How will the Japanese segment stars shake out?

The headline cars and million-plus-dollar Ferraris grab all the attention, but it’s the data behind some of the Japanese Domestic Market cars that intrigues me the most. Take a look at the demographics behind two JDM “youngtimer” cars: the Acura NSX and Acura Integra Type R. Based on insurance quotes sought by buyers, the Integra Type R has a far younger buyer pool than the NSX (an Integra Type R buyer is twice as likely to be a Millennial or younger than an NSX buyer is likely to be).

That preference to younger buyers steers where the cars come up for auction: all but two Integra Type Rs that have come up for auction have been sold at online auctions yet the world record price was set at Broad Arrow’s Amelia 2023 live auction. Quite the risk to take it there, but it clearly paid off.

The Acura NSX is a different story. They’re split between live and online auctions, as expected for a car with an older demographic, yet the world record price was set at a Bring a Trailer auction.

So for those of you wondering if you should sell a “youngtimer” car online or at live auction, it’s increasingly a gamble!—James Hewitt

What is originality worth?

The collecting car world has come to embrace the phrase “It’s only original once.” It wasn’t always that way. Concours in the 1980s, including Pebble Beach, featured cars that had become over-restored gems rather than representative examples of what they were as new. Gradually, restoration goals shifted away from better-than-new to preservation and originality.

The originality movement received official recognition by the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2001 when it featured its first preservation class. In the two decades since, the market for unrestored cars has slowly improved to the point that original cars often sell for much more than a concours-condition restored car. This year 11 pre-1970, running, original vehicles are on offer at the Monterey auctions.

An original car’s rarity and the historical information it contains helps explain why these cars can be worth so much. One such example of originality is coming up for auction in Pebble Beach is a very early example of a 1956 Citroen DS19 crossing the block at Gooding without reserve. It’s estimated a $120K to $150K. For comparison, the Hagerty Price Guide for the DS19 starts with the 1957 model year, and the condition 1 value is value $75,400.

Why so much more? The DS19 offered by Gooding is chassis 004086, and it is likely one of 50 surviving first-year cars. It is also one of the initial batch of 180 cars Citroen exported to the US, and those are a story unto themselves, but this one sat in a Sacramento garage for 50 years after it was sidelined in 1960 with 52,000 miles. Will this car sell for $120K or more? There aren’t a lot of unrestored cars sold at Monterey, but when they do, they sell for an average of 147 percent more than the price guide condition-appropriate value.

Will this early Citroen DS19 do better? We’ll be watching on Friday to see.

—John Wiley

Wednesday, August 16th

10:05 AM: A lot of Porsches are on offer this year: 120 total, 17 more than 2022 and accounting for 10% of the 1205 total lots. Let’s dig into some numbers behind two of the most valuable, a 2015 Porsche 918 on offer at Broad Arrow and a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT on offer at RM Sotheby’s.

Values of Porsche Carrera GTs peaked around 2022.

Which is clear when looking at sales prices at auction:

Oh yeah, the buyer of that Porsche 918? There’s a nearly 1 in 2 chance they also own a Carrera GT. Or maybe that buyer will get both cars this weekend to keep that stat going… — James Hewitt

12:32 PM: Saturday could be a big day for Datsun 240Zs. Mecum is selling two from the Mike and Debbie Rogers Datsun Collection, and the high estimates place them in world record territory. The record is currently held by this 21k-mile 1971 Datsun 240Z sold for $315k (with fees), a staggering $145k over second place. The 1969 Datsun 240Z at Mecum has an estimate of $200k-$300k and the 1972 Datsun 240Z from Nissan’s 1990s Vintage Z restoration program has an estimate of $150k-$250k. That same car was bought for $106,240 in 2019. — James Hewitt

1:25 PM: Shift your price expectations higher when these 6-speed Ferraris sell. The manual transmission was cheaper when new but it doubles the value of the 575 now.

• 2005 Ferrari Superamerica Low estimate 147% higher than the F1 transmission #1 Hagerty Price Guide value
• 2005 Ferrari Superamerica Low estimate 114% higher than the F1 transmission #1 Hagerty Price Guide value
• 2005 Ferrari 575M Maranello Low estimate 121% higher than the F1 transmission #1 Hagerty Price Guide value
• 2002 Ferrari 575M Maranello Low estimate 106% higher than the F1 transmission #1 Hagerty Price Guide value

— James Hewitt

4:05 PM:

Weighing 2310 pounds and putting down 600 horsepower, I bet Mecum’s Ultima GTR is the fastest car per dollar all week. Fastest vehicle per dollar at the auctions? That might be the Ducati 1199 Panigale at a 2.12 pounds per horsepower power to weight ratio all for $10k-$15k. — Andrew Newton

6:41 PM:

Consensus among a few JDM fans I talked to today is that the variety of JDM cars at auction here this year is excellent. Standouts include the Subaru Impreza 22B-STI and the Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R “Tommykaira” at Bonhams, and the Honda NSX Type R at Broad Arrow. Significance of the cars aside, there is also a question about whether the Monterey clientele fully understand and appreciate these JDM heroes. Perhaps these models are now widely recognized as stars and will sell for all the money, or perhaps they will go unnoticed and sell for a steal. — Greg Ingold

Thursday, August 17th

10:16 AM: The first car sold in Monterey is not a Porsche, nor a Ferrari, but a Plymouth. It’s a 1965 Satellite convertible, upgraded with a 426 Street Wedge, that brought $33,000 at Mecum. —Andrew Newton

10:47 AM: Showing that Monterey can be a place for both extremes of the market, the 1985 Ferrari Mondial 2+2 Cabriolet that just sold for $24,200 at Mecum set the record for the lowest price paid for a Ferrari at a public auction in 2023. The highest sale of a Ferrari this year will likely also take place this weekend. —Adam Wilcox

11:43 AM: Not all cars are up a staggering amount in value over the last several years. For example, this 1973 Volkswagen Thing just sold by Mecum for $30,800 today was a repeat seller from their 2021 Monterey sale, when it transacted for $31,900. Showing only 135 more miles, that’s quite the horizontal move. So far only two of twelve vehicles that have a prior auction in their history, no matter how long ago, have hammered above their previous hammer price. The best performer? The 1965 Plymouth Satellite pictured above sold for 43% more than its 2018 Scottsdale sale price. — James Hewitt

2:43 PM: You never know what you’re going to see in Monterey. This, um, enthusiastically modified 1971 Jaguar E-Type sold for $55,000, about its condition #4 (Fair) value.

— Andrew Newton

4:19 PM: Broad Arrow’s auction is underway. Can’t make it to the event? Follow the livestream here. —Brian Rabold

4:53 PM: At $632,000, Broad Arrow’s NSX R sale takes the model’s record to new heights, smashing the prior record of $305,993 by an NSX R sold on Bring a Trailer:

5:44 PM: The third auction in today’s triple-header, RM Sotheby’s 26th Monterey auction, is underway. Livestream is here for those who want to follow along at home. The event started with a cameo of 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 GTO s/n 3765 and an announcement that it will be part of Sotheby’s November 13 Modern and Contemporary Art auction in New York. Here we go… —Brian Rabold

6:21 PM: Just throwing this out there: people spend too much time talking about AMG engines, and not nearly enough time talking about AMG radios. (Also, the 1984 500SEL AMG in which said radio resides sold at RM Sotheby’s for $84,000.) —Brian Rabold

6:33 PM: Broad Arrow sells a Series IIA Land Rover for the second highest price ever. $151,200 might be light to set a record compared to prices paid for exotica crossing the block this weekend, but Series Land Rovers represent massive value for money. Here’s a look at prices paid for all Land Rover model years since 2015.

—James Hewitt

7:04 PM: At $1,039,000, this 2011 Ferrari 599 GTO at RM set a record for the model and is the first 599 GTO to sell for seven figures. —Adam Wilcox

7:21 PM: Keith Richard’s Ferrari 246 Dino GT sells in a long 27-Ferrari run at RM but didn’t get a celebrity premium, achieving only the #3 Hagerty Price Guide value. That’s surprising given his #4 spot on the Power List—James Hewitt

7:29 PM: Here’s a lesson for many of the enthusiasts watching an auction: prices are never stable, and a high bid that didn’t meet reserve doesn’t set the value. This 1996 Nissan R33 GT-R sold for $57,200 at Mecum today yet was only bid to $35,000 41 days ago. —James Hewitt

7:50 PM: Not everything is up during COVID. In the case of a 1965 Citroën DS 21 Chapron Concorde sold by Broad Arrow today for $78,400 (against a low estimate of $125,000), it’s actually down 50%. The same car sold for $159,500 in August 2020 at the start of the collector car boom. —James Hewitt

8:10 PM: This 6.8-mile 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition sold for $764,000, placing it fourth in all-time public sales of ’05-’06 Ford GTs. 17 of the top 20 sales are Heritage Edition cars.

9:20 PM: RM’s “Lost & Found Collection”, consisting of 20 rare Ferraris left untouched for decades in barn-find condition, sold for some surprising results. All offered without reserve, the sales totaled $16,756,160 with an average premium of 22.6% over low estimates. Eight of the 20 sold below low estimate. On the other end of the spectrum, the top sale of the group was a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C Alloy at $3,305,000, which was 32% over the high estimate and within 12% of condition #1 value. Another strong sale was a 1968 Ferrari Dino 206 GT at $456,000, 30% above high estimate. The roughest car of the group, a 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider which has been preserved as just a mangled body and chassis after it was crashed in a race almost 60 years ago, managed to still sell for 17% above high estimate at $1,875,000. —Adam Wilcox

9:22 PM:

The 500 Mondial was one of the more intriguing lots from the “Lost and Found” collection. Crashed, burned, and battered, then left to the salty sea air for ages, $1.875M all-in bought one commendable collector an opportunity to begin a lengthy, extensive, and expensive restoration. Cheers to them for the journey they are about to undertake; we’re all looking forward to seeing this car in motion at a concours in the future. —Brian Rabold

10:01 PM: The first-gen Ford GT Heritage sale at Broad Arrow was the fourth-highest sale ever for the model. These top sales are getting very close to the lowest second-gen Ford GTs. Will they reach and then pass them?

—James Hewitt

Thursday auction results overview

Auctions kicked off Thursday with Broad Arrow, Mecum, and RM Sotheby’s beginning their sales. The day lagged 2022, with total results down to $59.8M from $99.8M last year, although the difference is not as dramatic as it may appear. Despite attempts to make comparisons as direct as possible, the cars still vary from year to year, and fewer cars were listed in the $1M+ range on this year’s opening day compared to last year (24 compared to 31 in 2022). Last year, four cars sold for $5M+ on day one, while none did this year, and more than one-third fewer $1M+ cars sold on Thursday, yielding the $40M delta. We expect this gap to close in the following days.

Thursday’s top sale was a 1995 Ferrari F50 sold by Broad Arrow for $4.24M, demonstrating that the market for analog supercars is still rolling despite recent indications of a slow-down. A record-setting Honda NSX R sold at Broad Arrow for $632,000, highlighting the ever-stronger Japanese segment. All of RM Sotheby’s top five lots came from the “Lost and Found” collection of barn-find condition Ferraris, including an incomplete 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial in rough shape that sold for $1.875M, including buyer’s premium. Clearly collectors are still drawn to the prospect of bringing a car back to life.

All houses will be active on Friday, with Gooding & Company beginning its two-day sale and Bonhams holding its single-day sale, headlined by the 1967 Ferrari 412P.

Listed below are the results Hagerty observed during the live auctions as well as any post-sale deals that were reported by the auction companies to Hagerty. Numbers include buyer’s premiums.

Overall Top 10 Sales from all auctions through Thursday: 

1. 1995 Ferrari F50 Coupe sold for $4,240,000 (Broad Arrow Auctions)
2. 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO Coupe sold for $3,910,000 (Broad Arrow Auctions)
3. 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Alloy Coupe sold for $3,305,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
4. 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Coupe sold for $2,810,000 (Broad Arrow Auctions)
5. 1956 Ferrari 410 Superamerica Coupe sold for $2,810,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
6. 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder sold for $1,985,000 (Broad Arrow Auctions)
7. 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe sold for $1,930,000 (Broad Arrow Auctions)
8. 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider sold for $1,875,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
9. 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina Berlinetta sold for $1,655,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
10. 1978 Ferrari 512 BB Competizione Coupe sold for $1,490,000 (RM Sotheby’s)

Friday, August 18th

7:38 AM: Following their announcement last night that they were bringing to a November sale the only factory-owned Series I Ferrari GTO to have been raced by the Scuderia, RM Sotheby’s brought the car out for viewing:

10:11 AM: Mecum is first off the line this Friday. Livestream here. —Brian Rabold

11:14 AM: The Bonhams auction is underway with livestreaming here. It will take a few hours for the week’s star lot (number 67), the 1967 Ferrari 412 P, to cross the block, but it should be a good show when it goes. —Brian Rabold

11:45 AM: The 1996 Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R Tommykiara found a new home for $134,400, 24 percent over the vehicle’s #1 condition value. Though this might be a bit of a niche car for Monterey buyers, given how special this car is, the price is on the money. —Greg Ingold

11:57 AM: Bonhams has set a new record for a Panoz, known by many Millennials from Gran Turismo video game fame, at $428,500 for a 1999 Panoz LMP1 Roadster that finished 11th at the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours. This bested the previous Panoz record of $235,200 for a 2007 DP01-Cosworth. Compare this to the 2007 Porsche RS Spyder Evo LMP2 car offered at Broad Arrow that failed to sell and is now asking $5.1M. That Porsche will run a couple seconds per lap faster at Road Atlanta, Panoz’s home track, for a $4.6M premium. That’s the difference between buying to race and buying to collect. —James Hewitt

12:25 PM: Another example of one price not setting a market. This 1972 Pontiac GTO was bid to $28,500 on AutoHunter 100 days ago and hammered at $70,000 today. Still, that wasn’t enough to get it sold against an estimate of $90k-$110k… Next time could be higher, lower, or the same, and I wouldn’t place bets on it. —James Hewitt

12:35 PM: It’s a wash when it comes to profits and losses for cars bought during the last two years. So far today we have seen 24 cars cross the auction block that we previously saw offered at auction within the last two years. 12 of those hammered for more than they did previously, 12 hammered for less. Guaranteed flips appear to have cooled off. —James Hewitt

12:44 PM: Proving that pre-Great War cars aren’t dead, a 1909 Lorraine-Dietrich Grand Prix Two-Seater with a massive 16.4-liter 4-cylinder just sold for $1,270,000, more than doubling the previous record for the marque. This sale was also a surprise for the auction house, as it sold for 59% over the high estimate of $800k and beating the healthy $1,127,000 sale of the more well-known ’32 Duesenberg Model J that followed it.—Adam Wilcox

1:00 PM: Broad Arrow auction kicks off its second (and final) day Monterey of sales now. Stream it here.—Eddy Eckart

1:13 PM: Mecum’s alloy six-carb longnose 275 sells for $3.41M all-in, just topping yesterday’s $3.305M example from RM Sotheby’s.—Brian Rabold

1:30 PM: A double martini at the auctions: Bonhams lot 37, a Lancia Delta HF Integrale Martini 5 sold for $159,040, flying past RM Sotheby’s Delta Integrale Martini 6 edition that sold yesterday for $117,600.—John Wiley

2:29 PM: Sometimes the venue makes all the difference. The 1948 Divco Twin Coach Half Ton that just sold for $184,800 at Broad Arrow, sold for only $76,680 at a GAA auction in February earlier this year. That’s a 141-perent increase in only 6 months. By the way, this sale broke the record for a Divco. —Adam Wilcox

3:09 PM: The 1937 Terraplane 72 Super Convertible Brougham at Broad Arrow just set the record for a Terraplane at $117,600.—Adam Wilcox

3:19 PM: A strong showing at Mecum for this 1954 Sunbeam Alpine Mk I Roadster: its $176,000 sale is 60 percent over high estimate.—James Hewitt

3:20 PM: $7k over high estimate for this 1907 Cadillac Model M Coupe at Broad Arrow. There have been a number of surprising results for these early cars in the last year or two. Brass era cars would logically be a slowing market considering they have limited use and less appeal to younger generations, but auction results continue to exceed auction estimates as these cars prove to be timeless. The record for a Model M was set in 2012, and this 2023 sale is now the second highest. Third place sold in 2018 and fourth in 2004. That’s a near 20-year spread in the top four sales. I can’t think of any other era car that would have that kind of high-sale distribution. —James Hewitt

3:31 PM: This Zagato-bodied 1957 Lancia Appia GT Berlinetta just captured a record with its $280,000 sale at Bonhams.—Eddy Eckart

3:35 PM: While we are waiting for action on the Ferrari 412P, the 1954 Olds F-88 GM Concept just sold for a less-than-expected $1,765,000. While that sounds like a lot, the last time it sold in 2005 at Barrett-Jackson, it brought $3,240,000 and set a record for Oldsmobiles.—Adam Wilcox

3:48 PM: Entering the room at $27M and selling at $27.5M ($30,255,000 with premium), the 412P did not see intense bidding. It was well bought and well sold at this number. I’d hate to say this is going to sound cheap in the next ten years, but it’s a really good buy over the next five. More importantly, Bonhams had one job to do and they got it done, which bodes well for the weekend, the week, and the year.—Dave Kinney

3:50 PM: The Bonhams 412P is now the fifth most expensive car to sell at auction. Check out the company it keeps in the top 30 list here.—Eddy Eckart

4:25 PM: Not nearly as stratospheric, but a strong sale nonetheless was this $3,410,000 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C Alloy Berlinetta at Mecum. It fetched a full $460k over #1 condition value.—Eddy Eckart

4:30 PM: A number of cars have sold stunningly well above the #1 Hagerty Price Guide value. Here’s a look at where the top 10 stand up to this point. The listed Ferrari 250, 275, and Porsche 356 are notable for being cars that all have been said to have “peaked” or be cooling off. —James Hewitt

5:01 PM: Enthusiasm for the Japanese segment has been strong this weekend, but not quite strong enough to take home the 1997 Subaru Impreza 22B-STI Prototype at Bonhams. Bidding stalled out at $365,000. For context, that would’ve put it among the strongest Subaru sales at auction:

5:02 PM: Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach auction begins shortly, streaming here.—Eddy Eckart

5:14 PM:

Gooding’s first lot of Pebble Beach is a 4489-mile, original 1974 Jaguar E-Type Roadster with the good options (4-speed, wire wheels, air conditioning). Ambitiously estimated at $175-$225K, it still brought a healthy premium for its originality at $156,800.—Andrew Newton

5:30 PM: RM Sotheby’s is beginning their second day of sales shortly. You can stream it here.

5:57 PM: Feeling Frisky? This little car sure is. Sold at RM Sotheby’s for $84,000, this 1959 Frisky Convertible Special is a record for the little brand. The bar is low, though, as there’s only one other public sale prior to this one.—Eddy Eckart

6:30 PM: Earlier this week, we used this 1956 Citroën DC19 Berline to discuss the increasing value of originality. It sold at Gooding for $100,800, $25k over #1 condition value, further confirming that the market appreciates an all-original car as much as, and sometimes more than, a fully-restored example.—Eddy Eckart

6:41 PM: RM’s $87,000 sale of an F40 Junior is higher than the sales of five actual Ferraris that sold so far this weekend—Adam Wilcox

6:49 PM: Another pre-great-war car sets a record! The 1913 Lozier Type 72 Meadowbrook Runabout at Gooding just set a record for the marque at $1,765,000 – beating the previous record of  $1.1M by 60%.—Adam Wilcox

6:54 PM: I’m starting to sound like a broken record (pun intended), but the next lot at Gooding, a 1914 Mercer Type 35-J Raceabout just broke the record for a Mercer at $4,790,000 – this time beating the previous record by 89%.—Adam Wilcox

7:21 PM: Group B cars continue to be popular and push the valuation envelope. RM’s sale is a record for a Ford RS200 at $615,500.—Adam Wilcox

7:26 PM: Unlike Group B, 1950s American cars are not a segment setting the world alight in terms of dramatic increases. Someone forgot to tell this 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, though, as it just set the record for Cadillac Eldorado sedans.—Adam Wilcox

8:43 PM: This week has so far proven cars from every decade can surpass expectations and smash auction estimates. The cars that have been bid to at least 25 percent over their high estimate cover every decade since 1900 except the 1910s, 1940s, and the 2000s. The oldest comes in at 1909, median at 1965, and newest at 2015—James Hewitt

8:56 PM: Maseratis are still an attainable way to get into ’60s Gran Turismos. This 1961 Maserati 3500 GT Coupe sold for $106,400, less than #4 condition value and less than half the low estimate. It’s a solid #3/3+ car so I think safe to call it a steal. Think of what ANY Ferrari of that vintage sells for.—Andrew Newton

9:15 PM: Dinos have been capturing a lot of attention over the last few years, but this is the other Dino—the 308 GT4. Gooding’s record-setting 1973 example—the first production 308 GT4, shown at the 1973 Paris Motor show—suggests an emerging acceptance and enthusiasm for the Gandini-designed successor to the 246. It sold for $450,500, trouncing the prior $225,000 record from a 2022 Bring a Trailer sale.—Eddy Eckart

Friday auction results overview:

With day two of three complete, Friday’s Monterey auctions featured the week’s headlining car: the 1967 Ferrari 412P at Bonhams’ single-day event. It sold for $30.2M, making it the fifth-most valuable car to ever sell at auction. Gooding also began their auction, and Broad Arrow concluded their two-day sale. Total sales continued to lag last year but the gap narrowed from $40M yesterday to $16.2M today, with several high-dollar sales across all the auctions contributing. The 68% sell-through rate is still down from last year although the average sale price of $435,171 has begun to approach 2022 levels.

Despite a cooler market than 2022, buyers have still demonstrated that they will ante up for the best vehicles regardless of type or era, as witnessed by these sales above HPG #1 value:

Rare marques and models—especially those with interesting condition, provenance and event eligibility—are selling well. A 1909 Lorriane-Dietrich Grand Prix car with a 16.4-liter 4-cylinder engine sold for $1,270,000 at Bonhams, well above the high estimate of $800K. Gooding sold a 1914 Mercer Type 35-J Raceabout for a record $4.8M. RM Sotheby’s sold a 1959 Frisky Convertible Special for a record $84,000 and a Lancia Hyena Zagato for $246,400. Broad Arrow sold a 1937 Terraplane Series 72 Super Convertible Brougham for $117,600, which was a record for the marque. A vehicle that really stands out appears to command attention—and a premium.

Three of the five companies continue Saturday, with Gooding, Mecum, and RM Sotheby’s concluding their auctions. High-profile cars we’ll be watching include the 1933 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster at Gooding, Mecum’s 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4, and RM Sotheby’s presentation of a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM.

Listed below are the results Hagerty observed during the live auctions as well as any post-sale deals that were reported by the auction companies to Hagerty. Numbers include buyer’s premiums.

2023 Cumulative results through Friday’s sales

Cumulative total: $258.5M

594/876 lots sold: 68% sell-through rate

Average Sale Price: $435,171

2022 Cumulative results through Friday’s sales

Cumulative total: $274.7M

580/726 lots sold: 80% sell-through rate

Average Sale Price: $473,665

Overall Top 10 Sales from all auctions through Friday: 

1. 1967 Ferrari 412P Berlinetta sold for $30,255,000 (Bonhams)
2. 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Coupe sold for $9,465,000 (Gooding & Company)
3. 1914 Mercer Type 35-J Raceabout sold for $4,735,000 (Gooding & Company)
4. 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Cabriolet sold for $4,515,000 (Gooding & Company)
5. 1995 Ferrari F50 Coupe sold for $4,240,000 (Broad Arrow Auctions)
6. 2003 Ferrari Enzo Coupe sold for $4,075,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
7. 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO Coupe sold for $3,910,000 (Broad Arrow Auctions)
8. 1972 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV Coupe sold for $3,580,000 (Gooding & Company)
9. 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/2 Longnose Alloy Coupe sold for $3,410,000 (Mecum Auctions)
10. 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Alloy Coupe sold for $3,305,000 (RM Sotheby’s)

Saturday, August 19th

10:00 AM: The final day of Mecum’s auctions has begun and can be live streamed here.

11:05 AM: Gooding’s Saturday auction can now be live-streamed here.

11:49 AM: The first car raced by the great Phil Hill, this 1948 MG TC sold at Gooding for $179,200. While a substantial premium for a TC, this still represents a great value for the provenance considering Carroll Shelby’s first race car was also a TC and sold for $539,000 in 2015 out of the Ron Pratte collection at Barrett-Jackson.—Greg Ingold

12:19 PM: Here’s a look at the largest annualized returns for cars we have seen at auction before. The 1948 Divco delivery van of all things tops out as #1 after being bought for $77K six months ago and sold for $185K this weekend, showing the right venue at the right time can make or break your auction success story.

Next up I’ll share a look at the largest dollar gains so far. This one shows the value of timing—getting in before a car pops—and the long hold.

—James Hewitt

12:35 PM: Pre-Great War is still doing well over at the Gooding tent—this 1912 Simplex 50 hp Toy Tonneau comes from 111 years of single family ownership, selling for a hefty $4,075,000 to huge applause from the room.—Greg Ingold

That’s not far from the $4.85M Simplex that was the star of Scottsdale 2023. Looks like the success of the Scottsdale car brought good Simplexes out of the woodwork because there are three in Monterey this year. Which, in Simplex terms, is quite a buffet.

1:01 PM: The Z-cars that crossed the block at Mecum yielded a mixed bag. This Nissan-restored 1972 Datsun 240Z at Mecum was bought for $106,240 with fees on Bring a Trailer in September 2019. Since then the Hagerty Price Guide value has increased 63%. Yet today’s sale was only $66,000, a decrease of 38%, showing that an increase in Price Guide value since the original purchase it doesn’t always mean a vehicle will sell for higher this go-round. On the other hand, the 1977 Datsun 280Z ZZZap edition, bought for $42,900 at Mecum’s 2021 Orlando auction, fetched $71,500 today. Even more noteworthy, the $231,000 sale of this 28-mile 1980 Datsun 280ZX 10th Anniversary and $297,000 sale of this 1969 Datsun Fairlady Z432 were both near the upper end of Nissan/Datsun all-time sales highs.—James Hewitt

1:20 PM: Mecum just hosted two motorcycle records in a row. The first, lot S104, a 1915 Indian 8-Valve Board Track Racer, claimed the new top spot for Indians at $313,500. Lot S105, a 1918 Henderson Model H Four, took home the top Henderson honors with a sale price of $302,500.—Eddy Eckart

2:01 PM:

The 1980 Datsun 280ZX 10th Anniversary became the 27th highest Datsun/Nissan sale at auction and crushed any previous Datsun 280 sales. The last low-mile 10th Anniversary car we saw sell was on Bring a Trailer two years ago for $47,250 with 3000 miles. Today it appears 2972 fewer miles are worth an extra $183,750.—James Hewitt

2:30 PM: One expensive ticket to Pebble Beach. This 1936 Hispano-Suiza J12 Cabriolet by Saoutchik was invited to be shown on the lawn tomorrow, and the buyer paid $2.04M to take it there.—Andrew Newton

3:32 PM: This 1952 Ferrari 340 America Berlinetta went unsold at Mecum Monterey during the pandemic boom in 2021 for $3.1M… Today it sold at Gooding with a hammer price of $2.8M ($3,085,000).—Adam Wilcox

4:33 PM: Second-generation Corvettes are still going strong. At $263,200, this well-documented and award-winning 1963 Chevrolet Corvette 327/360 Fuel-Injected Coupe at Gooding sold for $50k above #1 condition before taking options into account.—Eddy Eckart

4:35 PM: One of the weird and wonderful cars we flagged ahead of Car Week, Bonhams sold the one-off 1969 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 Coupe by Pininfarina after the auction for $350K.—John Wiley

4:53 PM: Seen cruising around Pebble Beach today, the Creighton Brown chassis number 029 McLaren F1 was sold by Gooding here in 2021 for $20,465,000—John Wiley

5:03 PM: It appears McLaren Speedtail expectations aren’t what they used to be. RM’s Speedtail was offered on Bring a Trailer in Dec 2022, reaching a high bid of $2.75M but not selling. The same car sold for a final price of $2.32M today. That’s nearly dead on its $2.29M MSRP and the lowest price paid publicly at auction for a Speedtail.

Mecum’s Speedtail was offered at their Glendale auction (which has since been removed from their website) where it didn’t sell for a high bid of $2.4M. Friday it reached a high bid of $2.2M and didn’t sell. That is the second-lowest high bid on a Speedtail. Second to… you guessed it, the Speedtail at RM from this weekend. —James Hewitt

5:34 PM: RM Sotheby’s has begun the final auction of the week. You can stream it here.

6:03 PM: Max Balchowsky and his creations are well known among aficionados of Postwar American sports car racing. His “Ol’ Yaller” specials, of which he built nine, took on Ferraris, Aston Martins, and Porsches and defeated them regularly. RM sold Ol’ Yaller VII tonight for $307,500, $75k over high estimate. It’s often hard to price unique cars, much less unique race cars, but this one did fare better than its younger sibling, Ol’ Yaller IX, which Bonhams sold two years ago for $162,400, and seems a good price for a rare piece of American racing history.—Eddy Eckart

6:30 PM: This 2019 Porsche 911 Speedster went 25% over high estimate to sell at $582,500 and set a new record for the model. It was well-spec’ed, but for context, there are 13 991 Speedsters on cars.com for a median price of $388k and a range from $349k to $490k. Every Bring a Trailer sale in 2023 has been between $330k-$394k. The right car found the right room. —James Hewitt

7:04 PM: Very disappointing weekend for Citroen. Several rare examples from the French automaker’s mid-century peak were offered this weekend, and only one managed to sell above its low estimate—the 1972 Citroen ID20 wagon, which brought $42,000 at Bonhams. The other six sold for an average of 21% below low estimate. The 1965 Citroen DS21 Chapron Concorde sold for 37% less than low estimate and less than half of what it transacted for at Monterey in 2020. The 1972 Citroen SM sold for 43% below low estimate.—Adam Wilcox

7:15 PM: At $2,260,000, this 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic, first owned by Briggs Cunningham, just set the record for a Fiat. That might not last long, however, as a Zagato-bodied 1953 Fiat 8V Berlinetta rolls across the block 20 lots from now.—Adam Wilcox

7:46 PM: These two cars will have people “remastering” auction estimates and “reimagining” future sale prices. The 1997 Porsche 911 Remastered by Gunther Werks sold for $1,501,000, well above its $1.3M high estimate. What’s more, a Gunther Werks hasn’t sold publicly before, so this sale sets the reference going forward. The second car, a 1991 Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic Study, sold for $1,407,500, setting a public sale record for Singer. —James Hewitt

8:15 PM:

The 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic designed by Ghia and originally owned by Briggs Cunningham did well at $2,260,000, but it was beaten by 1953 Fiat 8V Berlinetta bodied by rival Zagato, which sold for $2,900,000.—John Wiley

8:21 PM: The 250 LM is popular this year, although not selling particularly well. There have been 3 at public auctions in the last 7 months. A 1964 Ferrari 250 LM that failed to meet its reserve with a €20M high bid in February, sold five months later for €14M ($17.12M). Now at RM, another 250 LM just left the block unsold with a $17M high bid. Will we see it again in with-in the year? Who knows. But prior to this cluster of 250 LM’s, the most recent public sale was back in 2015.—Adam Wilcox

8:33 PM: That’s a new record set by the 1957 Jaguar XKSS at RM: $13,205,000 with premium. The prior record hammered at $11.9M in 2017.—Adam Wilcox

9:17 PM: Beating its estimate by $205,000, this 47-mile 2012 Lexus LFA sold for $1,105,000. It’s the first base LFA to crack into seven figures.—Eddy Eckart

9:20 PM: RM reports that it has sold the 1960 Ferrari California Spider after initially crossing the block as a no-sale at $8,250,000.—Eddy Eckart

Saturday auction results overview:

The Monterey car week auctions concluded Saturday with the second highest total in car week history. As always, we’ll check for aftersales over the next 24 hours. Look for a report of each auction company’s results in our final recap on Monday morning.

The 1,200+ vehicles and 150+ $1 million vehicles offered across five auctions resulted in total sales of $396.7 million and a sell-through rate of 68 percent. That falls short of the nearly $473 million in sales from 2022 and a sell-through rate of 78 percent.

The cooling market we’ve observed for the past 15 months finally reached the Monterey auctions after having little impact last year. Hagerty Automotive Intelligence is observing and hearing about several factors stemming from the first season of Monterey auctions in a full inflationary environment: increased discipline at the higher end of the market, weakening demand from new collectors, and higher prices that have given pause to buyers at the upper end of the market.

The top of the market has proven resilient until recently, as demonstrated by slowing prices for Ferrari prototype racecars from the 1960s. Bonhams sold the 1967 Ferrari 412P for $30.2 million after a sale that left observers wondering why it didn’t get more bids. The following day, RM Sotheby’s offered a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM which didn’t sell on a high bid of $17 million.

Listed below are the results Hagerty observed during the live auctions as well as any post-sale deals that were reported by the auction companies to Hagerty. Numbers include buyer’s premiums.

2023 Cumulative results through Saturday’s sales

Cumulative total: $396.7M

836/1,225 lots sold: 68% sell-through rate

Average Sale Price: $474,519

2022 Cumulative results through Saturday’s sales

Cumulative Total: $472.8 million

799/1023 lots sold: 78% sell-through rate

Average Sale Price: $591,768

Overall Top 10 Sales from all auctions through Saturday: 

1. 1967 Ferrari 412P Berlinetta sold for $30,255,000 (Bonhams)
2. 1957 Jaguar XKSS Roadster sold for $13,205,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
3. 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Coupe sold for $9,465,000 (Gooding & Company)
4. 1959 Ferrari 410 Superamerica SIII Coupe sold for $6,605,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
5. 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Tourer sold for $5,395,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
6. 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Coupe sold for $5,395,000 (RM Sotheby’s)
7. 1914 Mercer Type 35-J Raceabout sold for $4,735,000 (Gooding & Company)
8. 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Cabriolet sold for $4,515,000 (Gooding & Company)
9. 1995 Ferrari F50 Coupe sold for $4,240,000 (Broad Arrow Auctions)
10. 1912 Simplex 50 HP Toy Tonneau sold for $4,075,000 (Gooding & Company)

Repeat sales can be profitable but it may require a longer hold.
 

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Seminal French house duo Daft Punk released their final album, Random Access Memories, in 2013. Some critics prefer the group’s earlier albums like Homework or Discovery, but many regard the group’s last record as their magnum opus. So what does electronic dance music made by two guys dressed as robots have to do with cars? Well, like Random Access Memories, Porsche’s fourth-generation 911, codenamed 993, was the last of its kind. And while Stuttgart’s earlier air-cooled cars are great, the last iteration is arguably the best one.

Introduced in 1994, the 993 was the most refined 911 yet. It received a completely new aluminum chassis complete with a multi-link “Weissach” rear axle, which made the 993 less sketchy in the corners than earlier 911s. Also new to the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 models was use of a viscous coupling that could send up to 40 percent of power to the front wheels. Compared to its predecessor’s computer controlled hydraulic unit, the viscous system was less complex and saved on weight.

The 993’s engine was more of an evolution than a revolution. Porsche took the 964’s air-cooled flat six, punched it out to 3.6 liters, added lightened connecting rods and pistons, extended the intake ports, and added lighter and larger valves. All this work was good for 272 glorious-sounding horsepower. Power is channels through a six-speed manual transmission. Car and Driver clocked an impressive 4.7 second 0–60 time with this combination.

Unfortunately, Porsche’s air-cooled engines couldn’t meet upcoming emission standards, and 1998 was the last year for not only the 993, but its unique power plant as well. The 993’s successor, the 996, ushered in Porsche’s water-cooled era.

Porsche produced a total of 68,881 vehicles of the Type 993. Our auction pick of the week is a well preserved Carrera 4 wearing paint-to-sample Silver Metallic over a Classic Grey partial leather interior. Fresh Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires are installed on this 993’s 17-inch Cup II aluminum wheels. Both the interior and exterior show minor wear from traveling an indicated 98,140 miles.

There’s no reserve on this Carrera 4, so make sure to place your bids on the last of the air-cooled 911s. The auction ends Thursday, August 24th at 3:30 pm ET. Maybe you’ll get lucky.

***

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Yep, Monterey Car Week is expensive. From $400 rooms at Motel 6 to $1000 tickets for The Quail, it’s a tough event to navigate on anything remotely resembling a budget. Nothing, however, is more expensive than the very reason people make the pilgrimage to Monterey each August—the cars.

We see many of the most valuable cars sold all year at these auctions. It’s where records are often set, and serves as one big heat check for the very top end of the collector-car market. We will see more than 130 cars worth seven figures crossing the block in Monterey this year, but here are the handful that could cross into eight-figure territory.

1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB

Gooding & Company, Lot 40

The successor to Ferrari’s 250 Tour de France (TdF) and the precursor to the 250 GTO, the 250 Short Wheelbase (SWB) competed at the peak of Ferrari’s dominance in international sports car racing. And in true GT fashion, it could be driven to the track, win, and then driven back home again. Barely 160 were built. They’re all special.

What this car, chassis 3507GT, lacks in race history it makes up for in originality. Sold new in Italy, it has only ever had four owners, has never been offered for public sale, and is almost entirely original.

Sparkling, show-winning restorations are great, but something is only original once, and a 60-plus-year-old Ferrari with mellowed original finishes and fasteners is arguably better. That’s why this car has a $9M–$11M estimate, which is just over the SWB’s condition #1 (Concours, or best-in-the-world) value in the Hagerty Price Guide.

1957 Jaguar XKSS

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 351

The term “race car for the road” gets tossed around way too often, both by automakers trying to sell you something and by auto writers running out of metaphors. But in the case of the Jaguar XKSS, the term really applies.

When Jaguar pulled back from factory racing in 1956, sales of its Le Mans-winning D-Type racing car ground to a halt. Unsold, expensive-to-build cars and parts littered the factory. What to do? Slap on some bumpers and a windshield then sell it for the street, of course! Jaguar had enough stock for 25 examples of its road-going D-Type, called the XKSS, but the infamous fire at Jaguar’s Browns Lane facility meant that just 16 were completed (Jaguar since finished those nine missing chassis numbers and sold them as XKSS “Continuations”). Most XKSSs sold to North America.

This car, chassis 707, was ordered new by an American racer who lost his life in another car prior to delivery, so #707 was sold to another owner in San Francisco instead. He kept it until 1973, after which it passed through several UK collectors, one of whom was able to snag the registration plate “JAG 1” for it. Just 25,535 miles show on the Smiths odometer. With the exception of the rear bulkhead, the chassis, suspension, and monocoque are all original, and the bonnet has been replaced.

Although it was born of the practical need to offload excess inventory, the XKSS has since become the most sought-after Jaguar production car. They tend to reside in long-term collector ownership and don’t trade hands publicly very often. In fact, the last real XKSS we saw at auction was in 2017, when chassis #716 failed to sell at an $11.9M high bid. More than six years later, this one has an estimate of $12M–$14M in Monterey.

2001 Ferrari 500 Maranello Prodrive

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 261

In the early 2000s, Ferrari was too busy steamrolling everybody in Formula 1 to care much about sports car racing, so many of the 550 “Maranello” race cars that took to the circuits back then weren’t actually prepared in Italy. The most successful of them came from British outfit Prodrive, which already had experience running title-winning teams in rallying and touring car racing.

In turning Ferrari’s V-12 coupe into a winner, Prodrive trimmed over 1000 pounds in weight, grew the engine, and reworked the suspension and body. All normal stuff in the course of building a race car, but Prodrive’s preparation and management were superb, and the car was a winner. The 2003 season was its high point, with the 550 GTS winning its class at Le Mans as well as securing multiple wins in the American Le Mans Series and the FIA GT championship.

Prodrive built ten 550 race cars in period, and this is the third. It won five races, took 14 podiums, and recorded 10 pole positions out of 34 starts. A second-place finish in the 2003 American Le Mans Series and third in the 2005 Le Mans Endurance Series are highlights on its resume, but it also ran at Le Mans five times in a row. According to RM Sotheby’s, that makes it “the single most-raced 12-cylinder Ferrari in the world’s most famous endurance motor race.” The 2004 race was its strongest finish, with rally master Colin McRae driving it to third in class.

The last 550 Prodrive to sell publicly, which arguably has an even better race history, sold for $4.29M in an online auction three years ago. But this one could bring twice as much in 2023, with a presale estimate of $8.0–$9.5M. At that level, it would only take a few extra bids to push it into eight figures.

1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 354

It was originally aimed at wealthy West Coast American buyers and today it’s mostly known for its eye-popping beauty and Ferris Bueller hijinks, but Ferrari’s 250 California Spider also took to the race track at top-level international events.

Cal Spiders come in several flavors—long wheelbase (LWB) or short wheelbase (SWB) with open headlights or closed headlights. This one is an SWB (more desirable) with open headlights (less desirable), but more important than its configuration is its history, which includes an exhibition on the Ferrari stand at the 1960 Turin Motor Show and a third in class at the Targa Florio in 1962. Represented as the second of the 56 SWB California Spiders built, it sold new with Blu Medio paint over red leather and was restored from 2013–16. RM Sotheby’s estimates it will bring from $9.5M to $11.5M.

1933 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster

Gooding & Company, Lot 139

Nearly a fifth of this year’s Monterey consignments were built before World War II. Among these prewar prizes are Duesenbergs, Hispano-Suizas, Isotta Fraschinis, a Mercer Raceabout, and, of course, Bugattis. The most expensive of them is this Type 55.

Really an amalgamation of grand-prix car parts wrapped in Jean Bugatti’s lovely cutdown-door roadster body, Type 55 roadster production was extremely limited. Just 16 of the 38 total Type 55s built got roadster bodies from new. This one, chassis #55231, is represented as the first of three Type 55 Roadsters completed in 1933.

It sold new in Algeria and was put to use doing what Bugattis of the era did best—driving quickly. In 1935 it won the Bouzaréa Hill Climb near Algiers. It underwent refurbishment during the 1950s, but after its engine failed in 1960, it headed back to France. Ralph Lauren bought it in 1986, had it restored in England, and added it to his collection before selling it in 2003. At Pebble Beach, it could sell for $8.0M–$10M.

1964 Ferrari 250 LM

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 341

With Ferrari’s much-publicized win at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, its first since 1965, it’s no big surprise that cars from the Scuderia’s glory days are coming out of the woodwork. Among them is the 250 LM, which was the last car wearing a Ferrari badge to win the 24-hour French classic.

Prior to 2023, the last 250 LM to come up for auction was in 2015 (chassis 6105, sold for $17.6M). This year, though, we’ve seen two of these mid-engined marvels at public sale. One of them sold in Paris just last month for $17.2M. That car had no competition history whatsoever, but the one on offer in Monterey does.

Represented as the 22nd of the 32 copies built, it was campaigned by British driver George Drummond, who racked up wins at Brands Hatch, Snetterton, and Silverstone. Drummond then enlisted Innes Ireland and Mike Hailwood to drive with him at Le Mans in 1966, but gearbox trouble took them out after 90 laps.

The car also raced in Austria and Africa before selling in 1968 to another Brit whose 250 LM had wrecked badly at the Targa Florio. He swapped in the engine and gearbox from the wrecked LM into this car, painted it dark blue with a white stripe, and entered it at Le Mans. On the 99th lap, gearbox trouble struck again and took the car out of the race. It has since passed through collections in the U.S. and Japan and has been restored twice, the most recent of which took place at the Ferrari factory from 2018 to 2021. It has an $18M–$20M estimate for Monterey.

1967 Ferrari 412 P

Bonhams, Lot 67P

If it sells, the Ferrari 412 P consigned by Bonhams could be the most expensive auction car of 2023.

Built at the height of the Ford vs. Ferrari slugfest in the mid-1960s, the 412 P was essentially a customer version of Ferrari’s latest factory prototypes—the 330 P3 and P4. This one’s best major result was a third-place finish in its debut race at Spa in 1967 with Lucien Bianchi and Richard Attwood on driving duty. At Le Mans, Attwood and Piers Courage ran just outside the top 10 until retiring with oil pump failure. Then, its seventh-place finish at Brands Hatch yielded valuable points to help Ferrari push to the top of that year’s World Sportscar Championship. A string of non-championship races in Europe and Africa followed, then its sold to a wealthy West Coast American who was either crazy enough or cool enough to modify it for street use. He then sold it to another American for 10 grand. $10,000!

But that price is of no relevance whatsoever in 2023. What in the ’70s may have just been a finnicky, old, obsolete race car is now eight-figure royalty for a few reasons. First, just look at it. Then, there’s the rarity: Just four 412 Ps were built, and total production of the 412 P/330 P3/330 P4 family numbers less than a dozen. And even though a later 312 PB from 1972 brought €12,042,500 at auction this year, earlier P-series cars just don’t pop up for sale. One of the P4s cut up for Can-Am racing in period was a no-sale at a €7,250,000 high bid way back in 2009. To find an actual public sale we have to turn the clock back even further, to 2000, when Christie’s got $5.6M for a P3 in Pebble Beach. Even those numbers, though, aren’t all that informative in today’s market and there are more recent comps to look at. This 412 P’s contemporary—a more common, slower, and not quite as beautiful 250 LM with no race history—just sold for $17M. It’s not a stretch to assume that the 412 P will bring significantly more.

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Mention The Love Bug and people immediately think of the spunky little Volkswagen Beetle that became a Hollywood legend. However, Herbie wasn’t the only star car in the 1968 Disney movie. A 1965 Apollo GT, known in the film as the Thorndyke Special, was definitely a scene stealer. And it may be once again.

Fifty-five years after the release of the Disney comedy that starred Dean Jones, Michele Lee, Buddy Hackett, and David Tomlinson, the yellow-and-black sports car with Italian-American roots is back in the spotlight. The Apollo, which will cross the block at Bonhams’ Quail Auction in Monterey on August 18, has quite a story to tell.

“The sports car history books are chock full of ambitious young folks dreaming big, pooling their cash, and setting up shop to take on the world,” Hagerty’s Andrew Newton once wrote. “Then they often run out of money, throw up their hands, and close their doors after just a few years and a few dozen examples are finished.”

That’s essentially the road taken by Apollo, which was the brainchild of Milt Brown, Ron Plescia, and Ned Davis. In the early 1960s, the California friends wanted to emulate the best of the large sports cars then coming out of Italy and Britain while taking advantage of more reliable American underpinnings. The idea kicked into high gear when Brown met Frank Reisner, of Carrozzeria Intermeccanica, while at the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix. Reisner agreed to provide finished bodies, so Plescia went to work on the design, sketching a European-influenced coupe body that Bertone designer Franco Scaglione refined.

The finished product, the Apollo 3500 GT, was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 1963. It had styling elements reminiscent of both the Jaguar E-Type and Ferrari 250 GT, used a steel ladder frame with Buick front subframe and front suspension, and had four-link trailing arm rear suspension. Power was provided by Buick’s lightweight aluminum 3.5-liter V-8, which was mated to a Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed manual transmission. The car offered a claimed top speed of 130 mph.

The price tag of the new Apollo was about $7000 ($69,800 today), and the initial response was overwhelmingly positive. The automaker soon came out with a convertible model, and the demand for more power led to the 5000 GT, which was essentially the same car but with Buick’s new iron-block, aluminum-head 5.0-liter V-8. Apollo also planned a four-passenger car and a mid-engine sports car, but by 1965 the writing was on the wall. Although Apollo offered a solid product, the cost of shipping bodies from Italy to California was predictably huge, and cash flow problems meant the business was unsustainable. Apollo sold its assets after building a total of 88 cars.

Two of those 88 cars ended up in the hands of Disney filmmakers. Modified and prepped for The Love Bug by Max Balchowsky of Hollywood Motors, the Thorndyke Special actually appears on screen before Herbie does, when out-of-work racing driver Jim Douglas (Jones) spies it through the window of a European Imported Car dealership owned by villain Peter Thorndyke (Tomlinson).

When Thorndyke realizes Douglas doesn’t have the money to buy such an expensive car, he sends him on his way, but not before Herbie literally bumps into him. Thorndyke, angry that his employees have displayed the Volkswagen in his high-class showroom, demands that the car be thrown out too.

The fun begins when Herbie follows Douglas home.

After being accused of stealing the car, Douglas eventually buys it and learns that Herbie has the heart of a top-notch race car. Predictably, Thorndyke is infuriated by the duo’s success.

“There isn’t a driver in the world who can get that speed out of a car like that,” he says. “He’s done something to it.”

Thorndyke vows to defeat Douglas and Herbie, and he uses the Apollo to do it. Comedy ensues, of course.

While multiple VW Beetles were used to portray Herbie in The Love Bug, only two were used for The Thorndyke Special, and—as Bonhams tells us—“even then it is only careful and forensic viewing of the movie that reveals this, as there are plainly two different license plates among other details. It seems likely that one was more orientated towards the stunts and the other for the uncompromised, panning scenes.”

It was through those stunts that the owner of this car (chassis #1052) was able to establish its connection to the movie. Purchased in 2004, it was a project car that had already been started but was never completed; the rolling chassis and bodywork were in gray primer. The new owner, an Apollo enthusiast, grew curious about the car’s origins when he found a lot of yellow paint beneath the primer. Only two Apollos had been delivered in that color, and his research showed that those Apollos had been prepared and provided for Disney by Max Balchowsky.

Watching hours of slow-motion film footage from The Love Bug, he was able to match the body damage to scenes in the movie. Bonhams says that when a DVD documentary revealed that the other Apollo had been cut up for filming different angles, it was clear that #1052 was the only one that could have survived, and an exhaustive restoration began. Nine years later, the Thorndyke Special re-emerged at the Concorso Italiano in 2013, where its owner was introduced to Milt Brown, Ron Plescia, Frank Reisner’s widow, and original Apollo salesman George Finley.

Now the film star is back in the spotlight at Bonhams, which has set the presale estimate at $175,000–$250,000. Considering that a 1965 Apollo GT 5000 in #1 (Concours) condition has an average value of $240,000—and one in #2 (Excellent) is valued at $204,000—will the Apollo’s Hollywood provenance push it beyond the estimate? We’ll know in eight days.

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Monterey Car Week always brings out the world’s most beautiful, significant, and valuable cars on the planet, and many of them are for sale. My favorite part, though, is the sheer variety of metal (and fiberglass, and wood) everyone gets to see. At the shows, the auctions, or even just on the street there are always vehicles we’ve never seen before, things that make even seasoned car spotters go, “What is that?!”

Along with all the big-money headline-makers, each Monterey auction has at least a few quirky, unusual, or downright odd vehicles on offer. Here are eight that we’ll be keeping an eye on in 2023.

1991 Isdera Imperator 108i

Broad Arrow, Lot 132

Supercar history is full of famous badges: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, to name a few. But there have also been plenty of also-rans in the exotic car game. Vector, Venturi, or Cizeta come to mind. So does Isdera, which built this imposing Imperator—a Mercedes-powered monster with a mansion’s worth of glass (look at that windshield!).

German engineering school dropout Eberhard Schulz started Isdera (Ingenieurbüro fur Styling, DEsign und Racing) in 1982 after a stint at Porsche and designing a streamlined, gullwing-doored concept car with a Mercedes engine for a company called b&b GmbH. Intended as a spiritual successor to the 300SL and called the CW311, the concept impressed the folks at Mercedes. However, they didn’t want to build it, so Schulz went off on his own to develop it under the Isdera name.

Looking equal parts starship and sports car, the production model (called the Imperator 108i) wrapped a fiberglass body over a tubular spaceframe and 5.0-liter M117 V-8, though later versions received a hotter AMG-tuned 6.0-liter unit. Imperators were built to order, and those orders didn’t exactly pour in. From 1984 to 1993, Isdera reportedly completed just 30 units.

According to Broad Arrow, this one is believed to have been sold in England to Kiwi racer and fascinating fellow Mike Thackwell, specified in the Porsche shade of Guards Red. The last 108i to sell publicly was a silver 1991 car that brought €690,000 in Monaco two years ago, and Broad Arrow expects a similar $800,000–$1,000,000 for this one.

1959 Frisky Convertible Special

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 202

Feeling frisky? This English three-wheeled, motorcycle-engine-powered microcar started life as a coupe called the Frisky Family Three, which was a family car in the same way that North Korea is a Democratic People’s Republic. But at least with its three wheels and reverse gear it could be bought and driven on a motorcycle license.

Frisky went out of business in 1961 as microcars started falling out of favor. The company never sold the Family Three as a convertible (that would have made it even less of a family car), but someone converted this one to a soft top and expects $30,000–$40,000 for their troubles.

1933 Rolls-Royce 20-/25 Van

Mecum, Lot S117

When your Drizly order arrives, do expect to see the Spirit of Ecstasy pulling up the driveway? Me neither, but that’s sort of the idea with this delivery van. Built on the versatile Rolls-Royce 20/25 chassis, this is reportedly one of just two such delivery vans built by coachbuilder Vincent of Reading for a distillery called Justerini & Brooks.

Never heard of Justerini & Brooks? Me neither, but the royals have. The fine wine and spirits merchant, founded in the eighteenth century, has supplied booze to every British monarch since George III in 1761. And it will take a regal budget to swing the J&B Rolls-Royce, because it carries a $425,000–$475,000 estimate. Cheers!

1977 Datsun 280Z ZZZAP Edition

Mecum, Lot S88

What’s odd about a Datsun 280Z? Not much. But this one isn’t like your cousin’s Z. It’s a “ZZZAP Edition,” and it’s not just a case of more Zs, more better. It’s a rare, fascinating marketing gimmick from the early days of video games.

While the car itself is nothing more than a “Special Décor Package,” aka a very ’70s combo of bright colors and graphics, the actual marketing tie-in was that Nissan/Datsun promoted the car with an arcade racing video game called 280 ZZZAP, in which the player drives a Z-car through a tricky road course at night. This was in 1977, 20 years before the first Gran Turismo. The cars themselves are a seriously rare sight, but we have seen this one before. Mecum sold it two years ago for $42,900, and they are estimating $50,000–$75,000 for it this time around.

1969 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 2+2 Coupe by Pininfarina

Bonhams, Lot 93

This one-off Mercedes goes to show what a ton of money, a lot of determination, and unusual tastes can get you.

The story goes that a Dutch businessman was quite smitten with the 1968 300 SEL 6.3, Mercedes’ brilliant high-performance V-8 sedan. He wrote to Mercedes, asking if it was planning to do a convertible version. “No,” Mercedes said. The company wouldn’t sell him a rolling chassis to do his own, either. How about a coupe version, he asked. “Also no,” the manufacturer answered.

Rather than getting soured on Benzes and going somewhere else, the businessman bought a standard 300 SEL 6.3 and reached out to Sergio Pininfarina in Italy to do a 2+2 coupe body for it. Among the client’s special requests was that he wanted to sit up high, “like in a Rolls-Royce.” Also, would Pininfarina keep the use of glass to a minimum? “We don’t like to sit in an aquarium.”

The result is this coachbuilt gray SEL coupe, which, according to the story, pleased the determined Dutch fellow. But he ran into that all-too-common car guy problem—his wife didn’t like it. So, in 1972 he put it up for sale, and it took until 1973 to find a buyer. Maybe it will have better luck in Monterey.

Is it a special and unique car? Yes. Is it Pininfarina’s best work? Absolutely not, and it’s very easy to look at this Mercedes and see big similarities to the 1975–86 Rolls-Royce Camargue, another car on Pininfarina’s not-so-greatest hits list. But whereas an average Camargue is worth less than 50 grand, the Pininfarina-bodied Benz has a presale estimate of $400K–$600K.

1987 Citroën BX 4TC

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 220

Ask one of those AI art programs to design a car from the 1980s, and it would probably resemble this Citroën BX 4TC. Even the name sounds like a fax machine. The BX 4TC is mainly known for two things: its strange looks, and for being at the back of the pack during the Group B rallying era (1982-86).

While the big Group B teams like Audi and Peugeot enjoyed big-buck budgets, Citroën was more spendthrift, made more compromises, and arrived late to the party with its World Rally competitor. The BX 4TC looked the part, but its basic platform came from the mass-produced, family-friendly BX sedan. Nose-heavy (and just plain heavy in race car form compared to its competition) and underpowered for the WRC’s special stages, it managed one sixth place finish before Citroën threw in the towel and cut its rally program.

Apparently the company was so embarrassed that it dismantled the majority of the 20 original rally cars and even bought back as many of the BX 4TC road cars as it could get its hands on to destroy them. Thankfully, plenty of owners held onto theirs—while the BX 4TC might not have found rally success, it’s nonetheless a cool bit of ’80s French motorsport kit. This one has been regularly enjoyed and serviced over its 53,192 km (33,052 miles).

It may have been a moment that Citroën would like to forget, but the BX 4TC’s Group B lineage makes it a legitimate collector car these days. One of the original rally cars sold for almost half a million dollars in 2021, and BX 4TC road cars have sold in the $50K-$100K range in recent years. This one has a presale estimate of $100K-$150K.

1992 Lancia Hyena Zagato

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 219

Always distinctive, sometimes ugly, never boring. That’s not Zagato’s official slogan, but it could be, because the 104-year-old Italian coachbuilder’s creations are often as polarizing as they are unique. Take this Hyena, for instance. Is it pretty? Not at all, but I can’t stop looking at it.

Reportedly born out of the Dutch Lancia importer’s desire for a lightweight two-door Zagato coupe, it has the unmistakable signature Zagato double-bubble roof and odd proportions. Plans for 500 cars proved a bit optimistic; just two dozen were sold between 1992 and 1994.

Despite being called the Hyena, what’s under those goofy aluminum panels is nothing to giggle at. The Hyena body sits on top of a rally-bred Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione, so it’s fast and nimble. The Zagato-fication treatment also shaved 400 pounds off the standard car. The price is no laughing matter, either. RM Sotheby’s estimates $300,000–$400,000 for it.

1986 Aston Martin V8 Zagato

Gooding & Company, Lot 108

Pretty much everything about the looks of that Lancia Hyena is also applicable to this Aston. Avant-garde or ugly depending on who you ask, the Aston Martin V8 Zagato was available from 1986 to 1990, and although it’s just one of the many collaborations between those two famous firms, it’s definitely the weirdest. It’s an Aston Martin as rendered with an Etch A Sketch rather than pencils.

Despite the love-it-or-hate-it looks and an initial sales price of over $150,000 (in the mid-1980s), Aston sold 52 coupes and 37 convertibles with the Zagato skin, mostly in right-hand drive.

This left-hand driver sold new to Hiroshi Itsuki, a very famous singer in Japan, and has just 40,000 km (25,000 miles) on the odometer. When these rare ’80s oddballs do pop up for sale, they bring prices well into the six figures and are typically right in the range of this car’s $300K–$400K estimate.

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While the Monterey Car Week auctions attract an enormous amount of European exotica—especially Ferraris—many bidders also pack their checkbooks and money orders to browse an overwhelming selection of rarefied American cars. And while there’s an expected share of traditional mid-century muscle cars, hot rods, and restomods, plenty of blue-chip Americans are also on parade.

So fly the flag, grill a burger, and cut an extra slice of apple pie—it’s time to get patriotic.

1993 Vector Avtech WX-3 Prototype

Broad Arrow, Lot 111

If you really, really must stand out at Monterey’s Exotics on Broadway, consider placing a high bid on this terrifically teal Vector. Even for Vectors, this is about as ’90s as you can get—it’s not so much frozen in amber as it is caught in a hardened block of Crystal Pepsi.

Vector founder and frontman Jerry Weigert developed the WX-3 as the long-awaited follow-up to the sensational W8 supercar, offering the same outlandish futuristic aesthetics and outrageous (claimed) performance as the 1980s icon but with updated tech, interior appointments, and further engineering development.

The program was nearly complete, with the prototype duo shown at the 1993 Geneva auto show to public acclaim. An ill-timed hostile takeover from Megatech forced Wiegert and the WX-3 out, with the new owner instead slapping the Vector badge on a run of modified Lamborghini Diablos. In the interim years, Wiegert kept both WX-3s, showing them at a wide range of events in Southern California.

Wiegert finally unloaded both WX-3s at the 2019 Arizona Auction Week, where this teal coupe brought a then-impressive $615,500. Then, according to the current sale listing, roughly $300,000 was invested in restoration between 2019 and 2021. As is the case with most 1980s and 1990s supercars, Vector values have risen significantly since then, so we’re eager to see what kind of cash this teal terror brings. Quite a bit, if its $1.5M–$2M estimate is accurate.

1934 Cadillac V-16 Fleetwood Aerodynamic Coupe

Broad Arrow, Lot 258

Completely different but just as stunning is this Cadillac V-16 Fleetwood coupe. It might not have the Instagram panache and 1000-hp dyno sheet of the Vector, but this colossal Caddy packs twice as many cylinders plus oodles of elegance.

Cadillac’s legendary V-16 series is arguably the grandest of all cars from the automakers we now know as The Big Three, matched domestically only by the rolling art from Packard, Pierce-Arrow, and Duesenberg. Over the course of its ten-year production span, the V-16 chassis could be had in a number of body configurations, ranging from stretched limousine to four-door convertible and all the way down to a (still massive) two-door coupe.

All are noteworthy, but few match the splendor of the Aerodynamic Coupe. Twenty were built, and only eight were laid on the long wheel-base V-16 chassis presented here. Of those, only five are known to remain.

The early history of this Sixteen isn’t well documented beyond factory notes, but its eventual purchase by William T. Walter, Sr., of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania saved the Aero Coupe from the ignominy of its wartime occupation as beer delivery vehicle. Those fleet service records must have been a sight to behold.

Wearing a well-preserved restoration, it has a $750,000–$1M estimate for Monterey.

2020 Ford GT Mk II

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 270

The past five years have shown that genuine production Ford GTs of any generation or configuration are globally desirable collectibles, regardless of whether it packs a supercharged V-8 or a twin-turbo V-6. In America, they’re superstars; by our count, there are ten GTs hitting the Monterey auctions. But this 2020 Mk II is one of the more intriguing GTs of the weekend. It’s one of just 45 Mk IIs built, each track-only special sold to pre-existing GT buyers with a whopping $1.2M price tag.

What’s interesting here is the track-only status. Regular, road-legal second-gen GTs routinely go for over $1M, but track-day-only specials have more limited opportunities for use and can be a tougher sell. Even so, other Mk IIs at auction have sold well and this one carries an estimate of $1.0M–$1.25M.

1971 Chevrolet Corvette ZR2

Mecum, Lot S97

While not quite on the level of Corvette unobtanium as the 1969 ZL1 that sold in Arizona earlier this year, this ZR2 is still a rare, low-production, built-to-order big-block. Only instead of the ZL1’s aluminum-block L88, the ZR2 gets an iron-block 454.

Still, ZR2s don’t come up for sale often, and this is likely the hottest Corvette available in Monterey. The Brands Hatch Green convertible is one of just two built out of twelve total ZR2s. The odo shows only 8795 miles and according to Mecum, the car remains unrestored and in original condition. That goes a long way in explaining its $975,000–$1M estimate.

1954 Oldsmobile F-88 Concept Car

Broad Arrow, Lot 244

Speaking of Corvettes, this ain’t one. Despite the obvious C1 profile, this was Oldsmobile’s Motorama vision of what an Olds sports car might look like, and gave showgoers a preview of what was to come from the marque.

Indeed, the only Corvette DNA in the F-88 concept is the C1 chassis found underneath the fiberglass bodywork. Everything else not experimental is pure Olds, right down to the 5.3-liter (324 cubic inch) Super 88 V-8. It caused quite a stir at the time of its Motorama debut, and as Chevrolet wasn’t quite sure what the future held for the slow-selling Corvette, production considerations were explored for the F-88 before the Corvette picked up speed and resources were allocated elsewhere.

In addition to the original show car, two extra F-88s were built for GM execs. One is presumed to have been dismantled in-period, while the other was rebuilt into the F-88 Mk II show car, and subsequently lost to time. Thus, Broad Arrow’s gold example is the only known example and is strongly believed to carry most of its components from the original Motorama appearance.

Among American show and concept cars from the ’50s, the F-88 is among of the most recognizable. Expect a mix of Corvette and Oldsmobile superfans to bid it up to the $2M–$3M estimate.

1954 Cunningham C-3 Coupe by Vignale

RM Sotheby’s, Lot 340

Contrary to its Euro-centric Vignale coachwork, this gorgeous Cunningham C-3 is an American thoroughbred. The life and career of sportsman and C-3 namesake Briggs Cunningham is far too fascinating to cram into this nutshell, so here’s a fuller history of that founding father of car collecting.

More than a decade before Ford turned its sights on France, Cunningham long pined for an American to sit at the top of the Le Mans podium. He leveraged his sizeable fortune and racing know-how to create the B. S. Cunningham company, an outfit dedicated to developing bespoke American race cars to take on La Sarthe.

For his gorgeous and rather distinctive race cars to barrel down the Mulsanne Straight, ACO regulation dictated a roadgoing production Cunningham for homologation. The subsequent C-3 fulfilled this obligation, but it was far from just a compliance car. In essence, the C-3 utilized a modified chassis from the earliest Cunningham Le Mans car draped in fine touring coachwork and interior appointments, and like most of his race cars, power comes from a Chrysler V-8. In this case it’s a 5.4-liter FirePower good for 220 hp.

These were hand-built, hand-finished cars, and while it was never going to be cheap, production woes nearly doubled the purchase price by 1951. Even for the era, this was a hard sell; records indicate only 27 C-3s were built between 1952 and 1955. Rarity, Cunningham’s celebrity, fine coachwork, and racing provenance keep the modern Cunningham market strong, so this one’s $950,000–$1.2M estimate seems high but realistic.

1965 Shelby GT350 R

Broad Arrow, Lot 127

One of just 36 GT350 Rs built, this is likely the peninsula’s prime pony.

It likely won’t break the record previously set by the famed “Flying Mustang” GT350 R driven to glory by Ken Miles, but chassis SFM5R212 does carry in-period competition records including an official showing at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, where it took second in the GT 3.0 class and 18th overall. The car was reportedly raced extensively in the mid-1970s and beyond, with appearances at SCCA and IMSA events hosted at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Cumberland, and Mid-Ohio.

So, not the winningest Shelby—but a significant Shelby nonetheless. Genuine GT350 Rs are shoo-ins for a wide variety of popular vintage racing events around the globe, not to mention top-billed attendees at any Ford gathering. The estimate for this one is $900,000-$1M.

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As we approach the Monterey Car Week auctions for 2023, we find ourselves in a similar situation to 2022. Last year, the market was beginning to cool, but despite this, we saw record sales (the final tally was nearly $473M). Fast forward to now, and the market has continued to cool in 11 of the past 13 months, but total sales at the Monterey auctions may reach another $400M year: we expect between $392M and $457M in total sales for 2023. At the low end, that would be third best behind 2022 and 2015. At the high end of that range, only 2022 would be greater.

How is that possible?

Monterey auctions attract the best cars. Typically, every other year, the annual global-auction high sale happens on the peninsula. Simultaneously, the top-selling car at auction every other year tends to be a Ferrari. We’re likely to see both of those patterns renewed at the Monterey auctions this year.

We’ll see nearly 133 $1M+ vehicles offered at the Monterey auctions in 2023, down from 149 in 2022. We expect to see slightly more cars than last year’s record 1025 listings—a few late entrants are still trickling in.

The top five lots all have the potential to be eight-figure cars, which is notable because we’ve only seen four cars sell above that level all year. Based on estimates or likely value, the top five in ascending order are:

1. A 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta offered by Gooding & Company with an estimate of $9M to $11M.
2. A 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider offered by RM Sotheby’s with an estimate of $9.5M to $11.5M.
3. A 1957 Jaguar XKSS offered by RM Sotheby’s with an estimate of $12M to $14M.
4. A 1964 Ferrari 250 LM offered by RM Sotheby’s with an estimate of $18M to $20M.
5. A 1967 Ferrari 412P offered by Bonhams without estimate.

How do we know the 412P is more valuable than the 250 LM? The former is rare: only four were constructed and two survive, while 32 examples of the 250 LM were built. We also rarely see one at auction. It was way back in 2000 when one last sold—for $5.6M—at Pebble Beach, too.

Beyond those top five, we’ll have our eyes on cars with ties to Le Mans. It was a big year for the storied race, which celebrated its 100th anniversary and resulted in a Ferrari victory for the first time since 1965. As a consequence, there’s been a recent uptick of interest in cars with Le Mans history. 12 vehicles that have run the race will be consigned to the auctions, and reflect the innovation and variety across some of racing’s great eras. The dozen range from a front-wheel drive 1928 Alvis at Bonhams to a 2001 Ferrari 550 by Prodrive at RM Sotheby’s.

More broadly, nearly 200 vehicles listed at the Monterey auctions this year have previously sold at auction in the past ten years. The average time between these auction sales is just over 3.5 years—we may start to see what happens when pandemic purchases are unwound at scale. Also, assuming the vehicles sell at their low estimate, the average return would be 14 percent, a two-point drop from last year. That suggests that this year’s estimates are more realistic.

The ratio of no-reserve lots is up to 39 percent this year from 33 percent in 2022. Despite the auctions boasting more no-reserve lots with more realistic estimates, with the cooling market, we still expect the sell-through rate to dip slightly, from 78.0 percent to 77.7.

The demographics of owners with vehicles consigned to the auctions show Monterey is unlike the rest of the market. In the past few years, 61 percent of sellers at auctions were born before 1965 (boomers and older). However, this year, their share of consigned vehicles is 80 percent for the Monterey auctions.

With the Monterey auctions typically representing 20 percent of the total sales for live auctions each year, and with the first half of 2023 in the rearview mirror, we can compare how this year’s market is performing against past years. Reflecting the cooling market, total sales at live and online auctions will likely be slightly less than 2022’s record-setting pace.

In the meantime, we look forward to seeing all these exceptional cars cross the block in a few weeks. We’ll be covering the action in a live blog on Insider, so please follow along for our latest insights.

*Hagerty has a joint venture with Broad Arrow Group. You can read more about it here.

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Ferraristi, please make your way to the Monterey Peninsula. As the Monterey’s top-shelf collector car auctions finalize their dockets, we’re seeing a lot of red. Over 130 Ferraris will be on offer, which makes up almost 15 percent of the entire auction field. We’re also expecting an F-Car to sit at the top of the heap when the smoke clears, with Bonhams’ 412 P and RM Sotheby’s 250 LM likely to set records if they sell.

Not into the ’60s stuff? No problem—Monterey’s truffle box is full of significant Ferraris from all walks of life. Here’s a cross-section of what to expect.

1964 Ferrari 250 LM 

RM Sotheby’s, lot 341

Well, that was quick. Prior to Artcurial’s highly-publicized 250 LM sale this year, we hadn’t seen a public offering of a 250 LM since 2015. Now, another 250 LM headlines an auction this time at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale. It’s a time-proven market principle; push a seldom-sold car into the limelight, and if it does well you can expect similar cars to follow shortly thereafter.

In this case, there really isn’t a fleet of 250 LMs to pull from—they only built 32 of these suckers—but the timing of these two consignments can’t be ignored. Though beautiful and remarkably original, Artcurial’s 250 LM (chassis no. 5901) carried no real racing provenance, despite the LM’s very raison d’etre being top-level motorsports competition. It failed to meet its reserve in February, then successfully sold for $17.12M last month.

By contrast, RM’s LM (chassis no. 6053) brings with it a wealth of motorsports history. Its appearance as one of six 250 LMs at the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans is likely its most significant showing despite an unfortunate DNF on the 99^th lap due to gearbox troubles. Earlier successes arrived in the form of four overall victories and a class win during the 1965 British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC) season, achieved at a series of significant circuits including Brands Hatch, Snetterton, and Silverstone. It even gained an official entry to the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, piloted by legends Innes Ireland and Mike Hailwood. As at Le Mans, a gearbox malfunction sidelined the LM 6053 on the 90^th lap.

Nothing monumental, but it might be enough to entice some heavy bids, especially since 6053 still carries the drivetrain used at its Le Mans outing. Combined, these two sales should give us a rare baseline “update” to the market for these ultra-rare eight-figure racers.

2001 Ferrari 550 Maranello Prodrive

RM Sotheby’s, lot 261

If it’s a more modern Ferrari with racing provenance you’re after, RM’s 2001 Ferrari 550 Maranello by Prodrive is among the most significant to come to market in some time. According to the listing, chassis no. CRD03 holds the most official entries into the 24 Hours of Le Mans of any twelve-cylinder Ferrari, with five showings between the 2002 and 2006. It’s one of a dozen Le Mans participants crossing the block in Monterey, but none have that many appearances.

Of those five starts, 2004 offered this car’s strongest Le Mans finish, with rally icon Colin McRae taking third in class. La Sarthe was just one of CRD03’s playgrounds; this 550 racked up five overall race wins and 14 podiums, including a second place finish in the 2003 American Le Mans Series and third in the 2005 Le Mans Endurance Series.

Quite the rap sheet, but here’s the most interesting bit—Ferrari was neither involved nor did it sanction the successful 550 GTS project. The motorsport mavens at British outfit Prodrive were the masterminds behind this conversion with backing and oversight from Frédéric Dor’s Care Racing Development.

Despite this lack of “real” Ferrari involvement, RM expects the marque’s overall triumph at this year’s 100^th running of Le Mans to burn bright the hearts of attending collectors with a pre-sale estimate between $8.0M-$9.5M.

1985 Ferrari 288 GTO 

Broad Arrow Auctions, lot 121

Contrary to recent Montereys, this year’s catalog is surprisingly light on analog supercars, with “only” three F40s and a lone F50 up for grabs—a surprising outcome given that segment’s meteoric rise in recent years.

Also on the block is Broad Arrow’s 1985 288 GTO, one the rarest and most desirable of the analog exotic breeds. It’s one of just 272 made, and should be the most expensive of the analog offerings at a $4.25M- $4.75M pre-sale estimate. If this holds true, this has the potential to set a new record for the model, previously established by RM’s $4.4M sale of a low-mileage GTO at last year’s Monterey festivities.

1973 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4

Gooding & Co., lot 67

At the core of that 288 GTO are the bones of the popular and (relatively) pedestrian 308 family, which makes it all that much more fun to trace bloodlines of a twin-turbo, 400-hp homologation special back to Gooding & Company’s diminutive 1973 308 GT4. Really, it all starts here; according to the listing, this chassis no. 07202 is the first production 308 ever built, serving as the debut car at the 1973 Paris auto show.

Long coming in way down on Ferrari collectors’ wish lists (at least the Mondial is a convertible!), the 308 GT4 has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in the past few years as folks appreciate its distinctive Bertone styling, usability, and the convenience of the 2+2 configuration. Still, prices of driver-condition GT4s remain well under six figures.

Not this one, though. As the production kick-off for one of Ferrari’s most visible family lines, this was always going to be incongruously expensive relative to its siblings. Couple this with its remarkable condition and documentation, and its $500K-$700K pre-sale estimate makes a little more sense.

1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Series I

RM Sotheby’s, lot 140

Speaking of condition, get a load of this 1954 500 Mondial Spider. Seen better days, hasn’t it? As part of the famous “Lost & Found” collection that suffered damage in the early 2000s from Hurricane Charley, you’d be forgiven for ascribing this Mondial’s sorry state to gale-force winds.

Not so. Chassis no. 0406 MD suffered this fate in-period, reportedly involving both impact and fire damage during a race in the early 1960s. The car has been mothballed since, and out of public view for decades.

RM says the car comes with a model-appropriate Lampredi four-cylinder and transmission, but even that’s going to require some serious shopwork to install, as sometime in its rough life, the finicky four-cylinder was replaced with an American V-6 of unknown repute.

Still, RM expects this scrap to go for just over $1M, and we wouldn’t be surprised in the least if that turns out to be the case. At this point, you’re paying more for the documentation and provenance than you are the physical car, especially since the last sale of a clean 500 Mondial claimed almost $2.1M at Gooding’s Monterey sale last year.

If it does go for a cool million, the new owner can expect to invest that and more into the restoration. But, at the end of that tunnel is an early competition Ferrari with real history.

1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider

RM Sotheby’s, lot 354

If that Mondial is too much trouble, this 250 GT SWB California Spider offers more of a plug-and-play competition Ferrari experience. Although the Cal Spider wasn’t really intended for competition, this example has some impressive race history. It’s also one of the most beautiful mechanical shapes in modern history.

Chassis no. 1883 GT participated in the 1962 Targa Florio, where it took an impressive third in class. Couple this with numbers-matching drivetrain and status as a Turin Motor Show car, and you can look for a winning bid somewhere within RM’s pre-sale estimate range of $9.5M-$11.5M.

1968 Ferrari Dino 206 GT

Broad Arrow Auctions, lot 157

Now, that’s a color. This 1968 Dino 206 GT didn’t leave the factory in Viola Metallizzato Dino, but it’s period correct and sure does looks right. Well, everything looks “right” with a 206 GT, and this numbers-matching example appears to be very clean.

Best understood as an early version of the later 246 Dino, the 206 was handcrafted from aluminum against the steel 246. Its 2.0-liter V-6’s aluminum block was also lighter than the 246’s iron heart. The 206 is also far more “prototypical” than the 246, with oodles of handbuilt on-the-fly production changes that can differ from car to car.

Regarding raw market value, it’s a simple numbers game. The two cars may look the same to a casual observer, but only around 150 206 GTs were made compared to 3800 246s, and the market treats them differently. Broad Arrow’s estimate for this one is $750K-$950K.

2014 LaFerrari Prototype

Mecum, lot S77

With a veritable invasion of modern Ferraris at each and every Monterey auction, it’s tricky to find a standout in a sea of prancing hypercars, but boy does Mecum have a zinger in the form if its 2014 LaFerrari prototype. It’s known internally as “F150 Prototipe Preserie PS1,” and is one of the last LaFerrari pre-production mules before Ferrari’s seminal hybrid hypercar entered full-scale production.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this car; at Mecum’s 2022 Monterey sale, a quartet of pre-production Ferraris joined the fray, three of which were embryonic LaFerraris in various stages of development. This “Preserie PS1” was the most baked of the bunch, but it appears the car was removed from the docket prior to the sale.

It’s back for round two, but how will the market respond? Ferrari prototypes are surprisingly hard sells, as the majority of them—including this LaFerrari—are not able to be registered and thus unusable on public roads. They serve primarily as garage art with the occasional showing at an event or, if you’re brave and have the car running, an open track day.

Thus, we’ll be surprised if bidders drive this LaFerrari beyond Mecum’s pre-sale estimate range of $2.7M-$3.2M, considering you can buy the drivable production version for not much more than the high estimate.

1951 Ferrari 212 Inter “Supergioiello” Coupe 

RM Sotheby’s, lot 123

We’re ending things where Ferrari (nearly) began. This fabulous 1951 212 Inter is one of Ferrari’s earliest production cars, landing just four years after the marque’s 1947 kick-off. These early grand tourers are still considered a bit of a deep cut in Ferrari circles, possessing all the quirks and delicacy of mid-century Ferraris without the performance and tractability of the later 250 series.  Gorgeous and spectacularly special cars to be sure, but they’re not usually headline grabbers like the 250 LM.

Usually.

This 212 Inter is a particular outlier, and is considered one of the most collectible cars available during the week. It’s been under the same ownership since 1958, marking this 65-year span as the “longest ownership tenure of any Ferrari ever offered at auction,” according to the listing.

Newspaper magnate Rodolfo Junco de la Vega, Jr. was inspired to buy a Ferrari after seeing Piero Taruffi rip a Ferrari through a Carrera Panamericana stage while on assignment. He struck up correspondence with Taruffi soon after, and the racer quickly found a lightly used Ghia-bodied 212 Inter available in Rome. A deal was made, and chassis no. 0213 EL made the arduous journey down to Don Rodolfo’s home of Monterrey, Mexico.

With his passing in 2020, the Inter prepares to leave his estate for the first time since 1958. New-to-market cars frequently command a premium, RM’s presale estimate for de la Vega’s Ferrari is $1.5M-$1.8M.

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There’s a reason Harley Earl is often referred to as the father of car design. Multiple reasons, in fact, including the Buick Y-Job, Project Opel, and the LeSabre Concept. One of Earl’s most famous production vehicles, however, isn’t a car but a pickup. As head of General Motors’ first design studio, Earl is responsible for Chevrolet’s stylish and hugely popular Advance Design light- and medium-duty trucks, which were produced from 1947–55.

Although Chevy wasn’t the first of the Big Three to enter the pickup market—that honor goes to Ford—the Bowtie was Detroit’s No. 1 truck seller entering World War II. Following the war, GM was back in the business of building civilian automobiles by May 1945, but it would be two years before new designs rolled off the line. They were worth the wait. As America got back to work, so did Earl, and his new Advance Design pickups were much more than utilitarian.

Wider, longer, and lower than the prewar leftovers, the Advance Design models looked thoroughly modern. Headlights were incorporated into the wide front fenders. The grille featured five curved horizontal chrome bars, much like Chevy passenger vehicles. The windshield was larger. Under the hood was Chevy’s proven 216-cubic-inch “Stovebolt” six-cylinder engine, mated to a three-speed, column-shifted manual transmission.

The new cab was wider and offered more head and leg room. Thanks to its Unisteel design, which formed a single unit, the cab offered enough room for three people. The bench seat could be adjusted to the height of the driver, and it rose when moved forward, increasing visibility for shorter drivers. A pop-up cowl vent routed fresh air inside. Heater/defroster and AM radio were optional.

The same basic design was used for all Chevrolet Advance Design trucks, including the Suburban, panel trucks, canopy express, and cab-overs.

Advance Design pickups received new series designations based on cargo capacity. A half-tons was known as a 3100, a 3/4-ton as 3600, and a one-ton as 3800. Vent windows in the doors first appeared in 1951, and push-button door handles (as opposed to the previous turn-down style) were introduced in 1952. That year, half-ton Chevys were also available as chassis and cowl, chassis and cab, panel trucks, canopy trucks, and Suburbans with either tailgates or doors in back.

All of this brings us to the 1952 Chevrolet 3100 pickup on Hagerty Marketplace. Offered from the Gateway (Colorado) Automobile Museum Collection, it features a deluxe five-window design and has been beautifully restored in two-tone Cream and Windsor Blue. 

Among its features are a heater, AM radio, dash-mounted traffic light refractor, rubber floor covering to reduce noise, running boards, 16-inch steel wheels with chrome hubcaps, chrome grille, and oak-varnished bed floor and matching bed rails.

Purchased by the Gateway Collection in 2012, this 3100 (VIN 14KPK12372) has received multiple AACA awards,  including a First National Junior and Senior, and a Second Place Grand National Award.

Although the odometer reads 799 miles, actual mileage is unknown.

With a base price of $1407 when new (that’s about $16,200 today), 1952 Chevrolet 3100 pickup trucks have an average value of $45,600 in #2 (Excellent) condition. The bid for this one is at $23,000 with less than a week remaining until the auction closes on Wednesday, August 9, at 3:30 pm EDT.

A total of 147,756 Advance Design 3100s were produced for the 1952 model year, making them America’s most popular Chevrolet commercial vehicles that year, and they remain popular among collectors. Regardless of their age, it seems that these old-school pickups just never get old. Thank you, Harley Earl.

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VanDerBrink Auctions is hosting a massive collection of mostly Pontiac Firebirds, including more than 30 Trans Ams, at an online and in-person sale taking place in Waverly, Iowa, on August 5. The auction also boasts a pair of 1969 Camaro projects, some G-bodies, a few third- and fourth-generation F-bodies, and some trucks and farm equipment. However, the main attraction is clearly the abundance of second-generation Trans Ams with their decals and shaker-scoops.

The collection boasts nearly one of every year of second-generation Firebird production, with multiple copies of several years, with an even dozen 1979 models and ten 1981 models, with some of the best preserved of the bunch being Turbo Trans Ams. Two of the 1980 Turbo Trans Ams are Indy pace car editions, while a pair of the similarly equipped 1981 Turbo Trans Ams are NASCAR editions, which are also a relatively rare find, with just 2000 produced.

Plenty of the cars are rough and in need of serious, subframe-off restoration, as the worst examples do have rust damage, and the photos don’t sugarcoat it. Many of these cars will take major investments, while others, like the aforementioned Turbo Trans Ams, need more of a cosmetic freshening and mechanical once-over.

The collection has something for just about every second-gen Firebird fan, although the early models are less represented than the quad-headlight style popularized by Smokey and the Bandit. Still, there are legit early Trans Ams, including a 1970 Ram Air III, as well as a 1973 Super Duty clone. Fans of Formulas and Esprits will also be interested.

Our favorite might be the 1973 SD 455 clone, currently painted white, which was originally Brewster Green. We’d love to see this four-speed, 455-powered car returned to its original color, as we’re sure that many of the Firebirds, stored for years, will be making their way back onto the street where they belong. If any Hagerty readers happen to nab one of these ’70s beauties, be sure to drop us a line and keep us posted. Happy bidding!

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Chevrolet built just 4640 Corvettes between 1953 and 1955, which makes each survivor of this initial “C1” design a special car in its own right. But perhaps none is quite as special as the 1954 Corvette prototype that will go under the hammer at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach auction on August 18 and 19. Because the mere fact this ‘Vette still exists at all is exceptional.

This car’s story goes back all the way to the very beginning of the Corvette program, prior to ’53, when GM built a batch of around 15 pre-production prototypes for experimental and display use. Largely hand-built, these vehicles were issued only a four-digit S.O. (“Shop Order”) code for internal use rather than a regular production-code number, as would have been used for a salable car.

Known initially as S.O. 2000, this particular Corvette prototype began life as a pale yellow hardtop model. It didn’t stay that way for long, though. Dismantled in early 1954, its body returned to GM’s design department where it received a new “S.O. 2151” code as well as a new chassis.

Most important in this context, the car got a fresh look. Under the watch of GM’s legendary design chief Harley Earl, this Corvette was transformed into a so-called “Proposal Car,” a prototype built for GM management to evaluate the styling changes intended for the Corvette’s 1955 model year. Given that the scope of this project was a simple facelift, likely meant to rekindle interest in the Corvette amid flagging sales, the car’s fundamental design and proportions didn’t change. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing glimpse into Earl’s ideas for the Corvette’s evolution, highlighting a somewhat different design direction from the one he eventually chose for the model’s subsequent 1956 revamp.

In automobile design, the period between the end of World War II and 1960 was characterized by an intense creative exchange between the two sides of the Atlantic. On the one hand, to people in war-ravaged Europe, the triumphant U.S.A. represented a beacon of progress, the promise of a brighter future. In car design terms, this translated into European automakers’ wide adoption of design elements like wraparound glass and tailfins.

On the other hand, Detroit’s stylists sought inspiration from the Old World’s design heritage to lend a certain prestige and sophistication to their mass-market offerings. This Corvette prototype serves as an excellent case in point.