Autoblog

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The RM sports and classic car auction is one of our favorite events during the Monterey weekend. The laid back atmosphere and incredible selection of cars makes the event a perennial occurrence on our schedule. This year's event was particularly impressive, especially the selection of classic Ferraris. No less than eight surpassed the million dollar mark (seven actually sold), capped by the $4.51 million dollar sale of a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB. Others breaking $1 million were a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 ($1,925,000), 1961 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Coupe Aerodinamica, and a 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyder ($1,485,000). A beautiful 1956 Ferrari 250 GT TDF Berlinetta had a top bid of $3.9 million but didn't meet the reserve. Follow the jump for a press release from RM and enjoy the gallery below.

Photos Copyright ©2008 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

The Monterey weekend is packed with events for every type of car enthusiast. While the majority will go to simply look at the cars, a select few will make the trek to Northern California to possibly put a new car in the garage. There are no fewer than five different auctions during the weekend - RM, Russo and Steele, Bonhams & Butterfields, Gooding & Company, and Kruse. Hundreds if not thousands of cars will cross the auction block, from Shelby Mustang GT-H Convertibles to a multi-million dollar Jaguar racing prototype. Inside Line's Ken Gross has put together a list of the ten best cars up for sale at the Monterey auctions, and it has us drooling in anticipation of seeing the cars in person. Included are the following: 1938 Bugatti 57SC Atalante, 1906 REO Model A Touring, 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder, 1960 Jaguar E2A, 1939 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS, 1969 Porsche 908/2, 1957 Chrysler Diablo Concept, 1954 Bentley Continental R, 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV, and 1973 Ferrari Daytona Spyder.

[Source: Inside Line]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Cramer Comet

There are hot rods, there are hot rods, and then there's "Um... what is that?" Tom Cramer, an ex-GI and mechanic in Omaha says, "I wanted to see what would happen if you put a really high powered engine in a chassis." Sound familiar? That was in 1953. So he found a fresh 12-cylinder 1,710-cubic-inch Allison airplane engine that produces 1,350-hp/1,500 ft-lb and got to work.

The body of the Cramer Comet was Frankensteined from De Sotos, Dodges, Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Studebakers, Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Fords. Part of the tubular chassis is made up of four-inch refrigerator tubing filled with coolant that runs to a rear-mounted radiator. The engine is mounted in reverse and is heavily insulated -- it gets hot in there. Power is sent through a drive shaft mounted between two truck universals and on to a four-speed transmission. The top speed is said to be 160 MPH, which is low for so much power, but probably sensible considering it's hand built.

Check out that center console. To start the car, the driver (pilot?) sets the throttle quadrant to ten-percent, cranks the fuel mixture to full rich, turns the spark lever to retard, flips the master switch, turns the magnetos on, turns the fuel boost and primer switches on, flips the starter control first to energize and then to on. And then it's time to fly, hopefully not in the literal sense.

Tom didn't get rid of the car until 1991 and it's now up for auction for the first time at this year's Sport & Classics of Monterey held by RM Auctions August 15 and 16. It's expected to fetch up to $300,000. Even if you don't plan to buy, you should check out the gallery of high-res photos below for evidence of how powerful elbow grease is.

Click above for high-res gallery of this record-breaking Ferrari

This past weekend a new record was set for the highest amount paid for a car at a vintage auction by a 1961 Ferrari California Spyder selling for $10,894,900 after auction fees. The sale was at RM Auction's second annual "Ferrari Leggenda e Passione" auction in Maranello, Italy, and the obviously wealthy buyer was popular British radio host Chris Evans.

While we aren't experts on the classic car market, we can't help but think this sale was the result of a "gotta have it" mentality by Evans with no regard for the actual value of the vehicle. The initial estimate from RM Auctions was nearly half the sale price, and the fact that the car was previously owned by actor James Coburn seems somewhat inconsequential. While there's no doubt that Evans snagged an incredibly beautiful vintage Ferrari, we think he could have got his hands on a California Spyder for much less.

[Source: RM Auctions]

Back in January we brought you news of the first Ferraris being lined up for auction by RM's second annual event at the Fiorano test track in Maranello. With the event now quickly approaching on May 18, a mouthwatering roster of rare thoroughbreds is materializing.

In addition to the one-off four-door Pinin prototype and pair of 250 GT California Spyders, a rare 1951 212 Inter PF prototype (pictured above) once owned by Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman (after whom Ferrari named the color Grigio Ingrid) will be up on the auction block. Other notable lots include a rare original 1971 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spyder, a 2001 550 Barchetta, and one of the special 612 Scagliettis from the Magic India Discovery tour, along with several Daytonas, Dinos, 250 GTs, 275s and F40s, a pair of Enzos, and numerous modern F1 cars and GT racers. Follow the jump for the entry list at time of publication, but with the list constantly growing, be sure to check out the RM Auctions website for updates.

[Source: RM Auctions via Inside Line]

The 13th Amelia Island Concours -- called by some the Pebble Beach of the East Coast -- will begin on March 7th at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island in Florida. Held on the last two holes of the Ritz's golf course, this year's event will host 250 rare cars from private collections and museums, the traditional RM Auction, and will also be GM's splashdown as the first event of the General's 100-year anniversary. It will include the auctioning or appearance of three one-of-a-kind vehicles, and a Trans-Am rumble honoring Parnelli Jones. And who doesn't like the sound of a Trans-Am rumble?

In 1911, Oldsmobile built only 159 examples of its Limited series touring car. Today, only three are known to exist, and only one of those has ever been restored. At the Vintage Motor Cars at Hershey auction last week, the last remaining 1911 Olds Limited was sold for $1.65 million still wearing its original 96-year-old tires.

RM Auctions' Web site says the car has had only three owners since new, and has sat in a museum for the past 50 years after being discovered in a barn in the 1950s. At one point, the second owner contemplated restoration and went so far as to find a set of five exact replacement tires for the car, but never put them on. They, too, were included in the sale. The seats are still covered in the original leather, cracked and worn, but amazingly still usable after all these years.

It will be interesting to see what the car's new owner does with this time-warp classic. Invest in a high-dollar restoration and return the 16-foot-long tourer to its original beauty? Leave the patina but make it drivable? We hope the car is kept just the way it is, shredded 42-inch tires, rusted door panels and all. You just can't buy patina like this.

[Source: RM Auctions via Hemmings Auto Blog]

Click image for gallery of live auction results from Drew Phillips of Fast-Autos.net

RM brought some really impressive machinery into Monterey this year and seems to have gone home with a fair bit of coin in its coffers. We showed you a few highlight vehicles that we stumbled across outside the auction earlier in the week, and now we have some live result shots, as well. The red 1936 Delage D8-120 Aerosport Coupe went for a pretty fair $1,550,000. A 1930 Bugatti Type 35B GP car brought $550,000. The unique 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster drew a top bid of $2,300,000. A stunning silver Gullwing sold for $660,000. A wild 1964 Dodge Hemi Charger Concept got a top bid of a cool mill. That limo-like black 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Town Cabriolet found a new home for four times that amount. The big white Delage that was also in the lobby was a seller at $3.4 mil. The 1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR didn't go anywhere after bidding stalled at just $1.2 mil. The big seller, though, was the gorgeous 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Spyder California Competizione, showno above, which gaveled out at a whopping $4.5 mil. All of those prices are before the auction fees. You can get the rest of the results by clicking the Read link below.

This year's RM Monterey Sports & Classic Car Auction will take place on Friday and Saturday. Similar to our experience at Russo & Steele, we got some pics of a few of the top draws while the cars were being unloaded at the venue. In the case of the RM offerings, we stumbled across some real stunners. As soon as we got there we saw their 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster with Mayfair bodywork. It should go for at least $2.5 mil. We also spotted a Lotus open-wheeler, Shelby Cobra 427, Ferrari 275 GTB, and a few others before a Mercedes CLK GTR rolled in and stole the show.

We followed it inside and discovered another handful of top offerings. The CLK GTR was parked in the hotel lobby flanked by a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 (aka Daytona Spyder) and a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Spyder California Competizione. This is the car that Bob Grossman drove to fifth overall and first in class at the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans. Beyond these three beauties sat three similarly gorgeous vehicles from a different era: a one-off 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Town Cabriolet commissioned by Ethel Mars of Mars candy fame from Bohman and Schwartz, a 1936 Delage D8-120 Aerosport Coupethat happens to have been the 1937 Salon Paris Show Car and is considered the prototype as the first one built, and finally another one-off, the 1933 Delage DS8 Coupe Roadster by deVillars that was the 1934 Salon Paris Show Car.

On October 31st in Battersea Park, London, RM Auctions will be selling 50 cars from the private collection of Bernie Ecclestone at the Automobiles of London auction. What kind of cars does the notoriously particular F1 supremo collect: among the lot are a 1933 Marmon Sixteen Victoria Coupe, 1950 Ferrari 250 GT Europa Mk II (shown above), 1937 Mercedes 540 K Cabriolet B worth $7 million, 1933 Lancia Astura Roadster, and the obligatory 300 SL Gullwing. And because you just never know where Bernie's coming from, there's also a 1964 Ford Anglia.

The sale is expected to raise about 15 million pounds, which is the parking meter fund for a guy worth 3 billion pounds. According to his biographer, Ecclestone turns 77 in October, and perhaps "believes it's time to tidy up some of his private assets." Check out RM Auctions for more on the sale.

[Source: Pistonheads]