In the 1950s, car racing was nowhere near what it has become today. The majority of the cars on road circuits were more about how good the driver was and how well the car was tuned. This meant that the majority of the cars were lightweight and only had between 200 and 250 horsepower. Having said that, there always has to be some sort of exception and the exception here is the 1953 Ferrari 375 MM Spider and RM Auctions has one set to go to auction on May 12th, 2012.
The Ferrari 375 MM Spider managed to completely dominate the World Sports Car Championship between 1954 and 1957, winning a total of 11 races and having seven more podium appearances (top 3 or 4 places). It also won two national championships in Argentina in 1954 and 1955.
In 1957, the car was retired following a crash. Post-retirement someone managed to get a hold of this storied racer, pulled out the Italian V-12 and dropped in a U.S.-built V-8 engine, which really seems pointless to us. After the V-8 muscle went into it, this once famed roadster just disappeared from automotive history.
In 1983, this American-powered Ferrari resurfaced and made its way back to home. In Italy, Count Zanon di Valsiurata repaired the image of this car by reinstalling its Italian power plant and restoring it to an acceptable condition.
How does this one-time powerhouse of the WSC and 1 of 15 Pininfarina examples ever built stand up to 2012 standards?
The Talbot line of racecars had quite a storied racing history, despite the fact that they were constantly out-powered by the likes of Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, and Alfa Romeo. Talbot always relied on its impeccable fuel mileage and extreme durability to conquest these giants of the race world in endurance racing, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
By far, Talbot’s biggest achievement was its 1-2 finish in the 1950 24Hours of Le Mans, using T26 Grand Sport and a Talbot-Lago Monopasto. The chassis that was originally scheduled to run in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans, chassis No. 110057, but hit a few snags and was not quite ready for the race. Following the victory, the driver of its replacement in the Le Mans purchased it and began its racing history.
Unfortunately, this 1950 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport had none of the success that its replacement had, as it had a long string of did-not-finish results stretching from 1951 through 1953. The curse of 110057 came to a head when Guy Mairesse was tragically killed in it when he crashed this T26 during testing at Coupe de Paris at Montlhèry.
After that tragedy, its owner at the time, Georges Grignard, parked it in its transporter and laid little more than an eye on it for four years until a savvy T26 enthusiasts, and its current owner, caught wind that one was sitting unused at Grignard’s house. The purchase almost never happened, as it was reported that Grignard wanted an unreasonably high price for this crashed racer, but apparently the two eventually came to terms.
If you have ever wanted to own a piece of Le Mans history, this is the time, as RM Auctions is offering chassis 110057 up for auction on May 12, 2012. Despite its cursed past, this is a rare model that is sure to fetch a premium and will only continue to go up in value.
In 1965, the Aston Martin DB5 was on its way out of showrooms and the new DB6 was being shown off at the London Motor Show. Between these two events lies the shortest-lasting production model convertible ever produced by Aston: the 1966 Aston Martin Volante.
The Volante was based off of the 37 remaining unused 1965 DB5s, but donned the more luxurious amenities of the DB6. When this model debuted, it was nicknamed the “Short Chassis” in an effort to help distinguish it from the longer DB6. As a result of the name, many people mistook that as meaning it was actually a shortened version of the DB5, which it is not.
Despite its awesome performance for the era, sharp looks, and popularity, the Volante was only an interim car. It was used just to bridge the gap between the time that the DB5 left and the DB6 hit showrooms. This means that production ceased as soon as the 37 unused DB5 chassis were converted.
Coming across a rare Aston Martin like this happens just about as often as you have a chance of seeing a Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster. Okay, maybe it’s a little more likely than seeing those, but you get our point. Well, get your wallet and passport ready, as RM Auctions is just about to auction off one of the 37 1966 Aston Martin ’Short Chassis’ Volante units on May 12th, 2012 in Monaco.
So how does this classic Brit motorcar look, feel, and drive?
Click past the jump to read our review and find out.
The Ferrari 250 GT lineup was a direct spawn of the 250 racers from the 1950s. In 1954, the first of the 250 GTs, the 250 Europa GT, came into existence, bearing a 217-horsepower V-12 engine and a long racing bloodline. The 259 GT line was neither a long-lived nor mass produced product, as it only lasted one decade and a fairly limited production number.
In 1962, Ferrari released a new version of the 250 GT, which was dubbed the 250 GT Lusso, “Lusso” meaning “Luxury.” The 250 GT/L is one of the more rare Ferraris in the world today, as only 350 models were ever built and the number of surviving models is not readily available.
If you have ever wanted to own one of these particularly rare machines, now is the time to act, as RM Auctions is offering a 1964 Ferrari 250 GT/L Berlinetta up for sale in Monaco on May 11th and 12th, 2012. Not only is this an extremely rare model, but it was the 4th from the last one ever manufactured.
You may be wondering how well this 48-year-old Ferrari is holding up to the test of time.
Every car buff simply loves beautifully restored cars, and that’s a very simple fact. One version of car restoration that is starting to gain a lot of traction recently is performance restoration. This is not just making the car look new, but also bringing its performance specifications to a point that the engineers at the time could have only dreamed about.
This puts custom car builders, like S&S Motorsports in Sarasota, FL, directly in the spotlight. Not only does S&S do extreme restoration projects on older GMs and Fords, but they also build these aging legends into mechanical monsters.
One of these monsters hit Ebay recently, in the form of the 1969 Chevrolet Corvette “Bomber `Vette” by S&S Motorsports. From a distance, this Corvette looks like it is yet another impeccably restored `69 Corvette, but up close it is easy to tell this is anything but just another `Vette. Add in a quick peak under the hood and your suspicions will be confirmed; this is an absolutely intense piece of 43-year-old muscle.
You might be wondering exactly what this bad boy is packing under that sleek-looking, reverse-opening hood…
Click past the jump to read our full review and have a look at what S&S has done this time.
Super Stock NHRA racing is likely one of the most badass motorsports on the planet, or at least it was back in the 1960s. It was once about as close to stock vehicles as you could possibly get, yet they still screamed down the track.
One of the dominant and most memorable cars of the 1960s was Dave Stickler’s Camaro Z/28 dubbed “Old Reliable.” After it claimed the Stock Car World Championship in the 1968 season, “Old Reliable” was retired and sold.
In 1993, a buyer used VIN data saved by the Sticklers to track down this beast, after it had been repainted and raced in various events across the nation. Few actually knew what the Camaro once was, but this buyer knew what it was and wanted it, badly. According to some sources, when this buyer went to buy “Old Reliable,” it was actually scheduled to be chopped up for scrap metal.
One question that comes to mind is how good of condition can a car that was about to be scraped be in? From what we can see, this thing is in excellent shape and is certainly set to pick up a premium price, now that it has been listed for sale on Ebay by RK Motors Charlotte.
The original AC Shelby Cobra debuted back in 1961 in a joint venture between AC, a company owned by famed racecar driver Carroll Shelby, and Ford. An interesting fact is that had it not been for Chevy trying to protect its sacred Corvette model, the AC Shelby Cobra would have ended up being a Chevy-powered machine. As it ended up, Chevy turned down AC, and Ford stepped in to help power the Cobra.
The AC Shelby Cobra was a short-lived project that lasted only three generations between 1961 and 1967. AC managed to hang on for another 17 years before closing up shop in 1984. During the fire sale that took place following AC’s closing, Autokraft snatched up all of the toolings and spare parts of the failed company, which allowed it to become a parts reseller and replica car builder.
Autokraft’s replicas were so awesome and respectful to the history of the AC Cobra that the Hurlock family, the family that purchased the AC name, sold off its closely guarded rights to the name to Autokraft in 1986. This sale officially made all Autokraft Cobras the real deal, and not just the replicas of the past.
Staying true to the sequence of the original AC Shelby Cobras, Autokraft dubbed this model the AC Cobra MkIV – the prior three Cobras were dubbed MkI, MkII, and MkIII. Despite the fact that the MkIV Cobra was produced for a decade, only 480 models ever made it to the street, making this sometimes called “kit car” just about as rare as the original Shelby version.
With how rare these cars are, it is typically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to snag one up. Well, RM Auctions is making this a possibility at its Dingman Collection auction on June 9th through June 10th, 2012 in Hampton, New Hampshire.
So how does this replica car company turned legit Cobra builder stack up today?
Believe it or not, Bugatti actually had a rather long and roller-coaster-like lifespan before the Veyron was ever a glimmer in Volkswagen AG’s eyes. In fact, Bugatti outdates its ownership group by roughly 28 years, as VW was founded in 1937 and Bugatti in 1909. Unlike VW, though, Bugatti never fully recovered from WWII, and fizzled away into automotive has-been in the 1950s, despite a few ailed comebacks in the late-`50s and early `60s.
When Romano Artioli bought the rights to the Bugatti name, his first release under the newly acquired name was the extremely advanced 1991 Bugatti EB110 GT. Unfortunately, the EB110 GT, despite its advancements, never really took off, which was mostly attributed to the global recession at the time taking its toll on the automotive industry.
The EB110 GT lasted through the 1995 model year, but only a total of 84 of them were ever built within those five model years. In addition to the 84 completed models, there were 11 incomplete models that were purchased by B Engineering during Bugatti’s bankruptcy proceedings, which later became the basis for the Edonis sports car.
As you can see, the EB110 GT had a storied and tragically short life that was chock-full of unrealized potential, due to economic woes. Well, RM Auctions is giving you a chance to own a piece of Bugatti history by offering up a 1994 Bugatti EB110 GT in Monaco from May 11th to 12th, 2012.
How does this one technical marvel stand up to today’s supercars and is it really worth picking up with all of the supercars available?
Click past the jump for the answers in our complete review.
In 1968, Ferrari saw it fit to replace the four-year-old 275 GTB/4. Its replacement was codenamed the “Daytona” in honor of Ferrari’s 24 Hours of Daytona win, but Ferrari had no plans to use this name for the production model, despite the outcry from enthusiasts.
In 1968, the GTB/4 was introduced and Ferrari enthusiasts took it upon themselves to dub it the Daytona. The nickname was so popular that the GTB/4 became almost more noticeable under its nickname than its given name. In the same model year, a rare convertible model was released based on the same GTB/4 chassis.
Ferrari did not stray too awfully far for the name of this convertible model, as they simply dropped the “B” in “GTB” and replaced it with an “S,” which stands for Spyder, creating the GTS/4. There were several models of the GTS/4, including: European-spec RHD, US-spec LHD and European-spec LHD. The latter of the group is the rarest, as only 18 of the 122 Daytona Spyders built were Euro-spec LHD.
If owning one of these masterpieces is something you would like to do, but never thought you could get your hands on one, RM Auctions has solved that part of the equation. On May 12, 2012 in Monaco, RM Auctions will be auctioning off a 1971 version of the Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spyder. This means you can not only own one of the rarest Ferraris, but also the especially rare LHD Euro-spec model!
Click past the jump to read our full review on this legendary machine.
The Rondeau-built M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car is a true piece of Le Mans history, as it currently holds the title for most starts at Le Mans (10). With the amount of stress put on Le Mans cars today, this record is likely to stand for quite some time.
The M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car made its debut in 1978 in the GTP class of the Le Mans 24 Hours race with two drivers, Bernard Darniche and Jack Haran. In its debut race, the Rondeau M378, or “Old Number 1” as it was nicknamed, took a somewhat disappointing 9th place. The following year, Old Number 1 was tweaked to M379 specifications and wound up pulling in 3rd overall and 1st in the GTP class.
The Rondeau M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car saw plenty of success through the 1970s, but the 1980s were far less kind to it. As technology continued advancing, the Rondeau M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car just couldn’t keep up. It all bottomed out in this record holder’s final race, as it ran in and finished the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours race, but was not classified.
Shortly after its last race, the Rondeau M378 Le Mans GTP Racing Car went on to be sold off to an American collector, who raced it in the 1998 Monterey Historics race.
If you are looking to own a piece of Le Mans history, few stack up to this car’s legacy, but is this a good item to look into purchasing when it goes to auction on May 11th through 12th?
