When it comes to 1970s road racing events, there was Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, then everybody else. One of these fine examples is heading off to auction on Saturday May 12th in Monaco, via RM Auctions. This example up for sale is the 1976 Porsche 934 Turbo RSR FIA GR/4 chassis No. 930.670.0540.
The 1976 Porsche 934 Turbo RSR FIA GR/4 was one of the most important years in road racing series, as in the years following, each of the large road-racing series implemented rule changes that would eliminate these cars being road legal. This 1976 Porsche is one of the last examples of a road-legal racecar, which means you can title it and drive it on any city street.
This model is also important, as its chassis number shows that this was the final model of 31 built of this type. This not only makes it a rare beast, but also a collectable one, being the final production model. The
only more desirable chassis would be the first one built.
Despite the fact that this model Porsche was racing against non-road-legal models, it still pulled off some impressive races. By far its biggest success was its 4th overall finish in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans. This makes it no surprise that this car also won many overall class championships between 1976 and 1977.
Want to own a true racing legend that was the last road-legal and top-level race-ready Porsche ever built? This is your model.
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Motion Performance was the largest company that performed aftermarket tuning on GM vehicles. While designing the Corvette Manta Ray GT, one of many Motion Performance-tuned vehicles, builders used a 1972 `Vette as a model to explore different design schemes and see what worked.
This concept car made its auto show rounds, changing owners many times in the process, but most enthusiasts simply saw it as a deformed version of the Manta Ray GT. Several years ago this custom Corvette made its way back onto the selling block and when its original builder, Joel Rosen, was question about it from a potential buyer, he wrote it off as a poorly duplicated version of one of Motion’s Corvette kits.
As time went by and Rosen learned a little more about the car, he came to find out that this was the long-lost and long-forgotten concept car he worked on in 1972. Talk about a strange set of events to lead up to finding one of the rarest Corvettes on the planet.
Ultimately, the detail that gave the Corvette away was a flawed paint job that remained underneath certain panels on the vehicle. This type of painting flaw – using a primer that it too dark for its yellow top coat – created a nasty green-like color that was later painted over with pearl yellow paint.
This awesome Motion Maco Shark/Motion Manta Ray GT hybrid is truly a one-of-a-kind vehicle that is lucky to be around, and collectors around the world can now find it for sale again on Ebay. Is this Custom Corvette Mutt up to snuff for a collector to sink some serious cash into?
Click past the jump to read our full review and find out.
The Lancia Stratos was once one of the most dominant forces in the World Rally Championship, as it took home the championship in three consecutive seasons – 1974, 1975 and 1976. After the 1976 campaign, however, the Stratos was pulled out of the WRC.
In 1979, the Stratos wound up with a private racing firm and dominated the 1979 Monte Carlo Rally. The legend of the Lancia Stratos continues amongst rally enthusiasts. The Stratos was not only a rally machine, as Lancia did manufacture a small number of street versions of its rally champ. Unfortunately, with its popularity in the Rally realm, many of the street-version, known as the “Straddles,” Stratos have been converted into rally cars or modified into replicas of the WRC Champion car.
Thanks to the folks at RM Auctions you may be able to own one of the few near-mint condition 1976 Lancia Stratos ’Straddles’ left in the world. This beautifully restored classic is set to go to auction on May 11th or 12th in Monaco.
You may be wondering how well restored is this classic car or maybe if it is worth its asking price? Maybe you haven’t even heard of this car and would like to know more about it before considering shoving off to Monaco.
Click past the jump to read our full review to get a better feel for this car.
For what seems like forever, Porsche has turned out beautiful sports cars one after another and many times these beauties packed quite a punch too. One of these brawn-meets-beauty machines was the limited production 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster.
This model marked the first time that the “Speedster” moniker was slapped on a Porsche in 30 years, as the last one was the 1959 Porsche 356 Speedster. This model was coming at a rather awkward time though, as the U.S. was in a recession and Porsche was really starting to struggle. The famed automaker was banking on this limited model to help re-launch the “Porsche “ name in the minds of enthusiasts.
With its stylish lines and extremely high-powered six-cylinder engine, this model indeed helped thrust Porsche back to what it once was. The question is how does this aging high-performance machine stand up in today’s market?
Well, we will find out soon enough, as one of these rare 911 Speedsters is about to hit the auction block on via RM Auctions on June 9th through 10th in Hampton, NJ.
Click past the jump to read our full review on this classic Porsche
Every year, you can always count on MINI to be a presence at the Life Ball charity gala. As a matter of fact, the German automaker is more than just a presence there; they bring with them a specially designed MINI vehicle that will be auctioned off at the event with the proceeds going to projects that battle HIV and AIDS.
This year, the mantle has been passed to Franca Sozzani, the chief editor of Italian Vogue and UN Goodwill Ambassador for Fashion 4 Development. Sozzani was tasked to design a MINI Roadster and she went about with the design and development of the one-off Roadster, saying that the inspiration comes from a "beautiful woman who put a scarf on her head when she drives a Roadster."
UPDATE 05/21/2012: Franca Sozzani has unveiled its specially designed Mini Roadster at the 20th Life Ball in Vienna. The car comes painted in Deepest Purple matte paintwork combined with a gold hallmark MINI rally stripes, gold wheels and wing mirrors, and a stylishly intricate floral design on the car’s roof. The car was sold for an impressive 54,000 euro ($68,800 at the current exchange rates). Check out the picture gallery for a pretty impressive set of images from the car’s official launch.
In the 1950s, Ferrari was all about racing and built a wide range of vehicles to participate in varying classes. One of the more rare models was the Ferrari 225 Sport, which only had 20 total units built until 1952. This model also acted as the stepping stone toward Ferrari’s leap in to the famed 3.0-liter V-12 engines.
Even rarer is the 225 Sport Spyder ‘Tuboscocca’ whose body was manufactures by the esteemed Alfredo Vignale. Not only is the body very much functional for racing, but it also screams sheer elegance. What’s even more impressive is that only 12 of these 225 Sport Spyders ever existed.
This retro racer has a storied racing history dating back to its first race on October 11, 1952 at the Bologna-Raticosa hill climb, where it took home 1st place. After its 2nd place run in 1963, this 225S Spyder went into storage for 17 years until it was exported to Italy, restored in 1983 and began racing in vintage races around the world.
The 1983 restoration was its final one, as it is currently being offered for sale via RM auctions in Monoco. It is due to be sold on May 12, 2012 and will likely fetch a rather pretty penny.
UPDATE 05/16/2012: The 1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Spyder Toboscocca was sold in Monaco for an impressive €2,520,000 (about $3.2 million).
Click past the jump to read our full review and see how much this car will fetch.
Having grown up in Washington, PA, just 10 miles from Canonsburg, PA – the home of famed Chevy builder Yenko – I have grown rather attached to these models. So any time I see one, I cannot help but drool and chuckle over the fact that a little town like Canonsburg can produce monsters like these.
I get even more excited when a really rare Yenko goes up for sale. Something like a Stage II 1981 Camaro Yenko Turbo gets me all riled up, as there were only three of them ever built. In total there were two stages – I and II – and a total of 19 within all of the stages.
Not only is this vehicle absolutely rare, but it is also the final true Yenko Camaro ever built. You may be wondering about the 2010 Yenko Camaro, but Don Yenko has nothing to do with it, as Chevy laid claim to the “Yenko” name in 2009.
Another cool thing is that, in 1981, the Camaro was in a real dark area, as emission regulations had strangled the LM1 350 c.i. V-8 down to a paltry 175 horsepower. In the Stage II model, Yenko strapped on Turbo International turbocharger that pumped 7 psi into the intake, special decals, Kamp leather seats, leather racing steering wheel, “Turbo Z” floor mats, Koni shocks, stiffer stabilizer bars, modular wheels and Goodyear Wingfoot tires.
Though Yenko never released the horsepower specs and they are non-existent on the Interwebz, we can take a nice stab and say it’s somewhere in the 210- to 225-horsepower range. That’s not much for this massive sled, but you’re getting one of the rarest cars in the world, if you are willing to pay the $179,900 “Buy it Now” price on Ebay.
Ferrari has always had a famed bloodline of racecars, but few hold the amount of clout of the 1957 625 TRC Spider. There were only two of this famed roadster ever built, chassis 0680 MDTR and 0672 MDTR. If you so happen to have a large chunk of money laying around, you can own a piece of racing history in the form of chassis 0680 MDTR, as RM Auctions has just listed it for their 2012 auction in Monaco.
In August of 1957, this Ferrari and its owner, Johnny von Neumann, ventured to Austria, Germany and took 1st place in its class in just its first time on the track. In its second race, at Laguna Seca, the 625 TRC took 2nd place. In all of the 11 races it ran in the 1957 to 1958 season, this Ferrari took 1st place three times, and landed in second or third place four times. It continued on to have a prolific career, even in vintage races all the way up to 2011 Montery Historic Races.
UPDATE 0516/2012: The 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spider was sold in Monaco for a staggering €5,040,000, or about $6.4 million, a record for this particular model. This was the first time in 30 years that this model was available for auction and it is one of the only two models ever built.
The working relationship between Aston Martin and Zagato started 50 years ago when they introduced the DB4GT Zagato in October 1960. Over that span of time, this dynamic duo created some of the sleekest sports cars, leading up to the 2012 Aston Martin V12 Zagato. One of those exquisite vehicles was the DB4GT Sanction II Zagato in 1991, which will be up for auction at Bonhams’ May 19th Aston Martin sale.
The DB4 GT Zagato Sanction II is powered by a 3.6 liter straight-six engine that delivers a total of 352 HP and a peak torque of 330 lbs-ft. The model can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.5 seconds and can hit a top speed of 153 mph.
The original DB4GT Zagato was built in a limited run of 20 units, but the Sanction II Zagato was even more rare, limited to only 4 units. The reason behind this is that there were four unused chassis numbers from the original 1961 DB4GT Zagato, and in 1991, Aston Martin approved the build of these four vehicles. They were then uprated to GT specifications and sent to Zagato to get bodied like the originals.
As previously mentioned, one of these four units will be available for auction at Bonhams’ Aston Martin sale, but some lucky auction-goer will have to hand over a large check in order to take this rarity home. The DB4 GT Zagato Sanction II has been estimated at £1.2 - £1.5 million (between $1.95 - $2.4 million at the current exchange rates).
For those of us fortunate enough to live in the U.S. or U.K., we are all aware that there is no such thing as a debtor’s prison, regardless of what some overzealous collections agent trying to hit their monthly bonus number might say. Well, in Dubai things are a tad different, as people who cannot pay their debts get thrown into the slammer.
This results in expats that fall into debt problems in Dubai fleeing the country and leaving their indebted property to bake in the not-so-pleasant desert sun. That is exactly what happened in the case of this $1.6 million Ferrari Enzo. The British expatriate purchased this machine and, according to reports, ran into issues with traffic citations that he couldn’t afford, so he fled the country, leaving the Enzo to bake for about 20 months in a parking lot.
Dubai authorities finally found the vehicle and impounded it faster than it can hit 60 mph. Now this million dollar supercar is heading off to the Dubai police auction, along with 23 other luxury cars, and will like fetch a nice sum of money for the Dubai authorities. The other 23 cars have fines attached to them ranging from Dh98,300 to Dh100,000 ($26,766 to 27,229), meaning the highest total the fines can be is $626,267. It is more than likely that the Enzo alone will sell for enough scratch to cover that amount. Sounds like a sweet business move, huh?
How can they do this? Well, in Dubai, the police have the right to seize and auction any car that is abandoned for six months. Chances are, they focus mostly on luxury cars, leaving rotting and sunburned econo-boxes to continue to take on more sand and sunlight. But, who are we to judge?
So, if you would like to snag up a sunburned and sandblasted 1-of-399 Enzo, just head on over to Dubai and get a 30 day visitor’s visa (free for U.K. and U.S. passport holders), pay the Dh110 ($29.95) fee to get into the auction, and bid away.
UPDATE 04/30/2012: Sorry, folks, but this dusty Ferrari Enzo is NOT for sale. Dubai police have spoken to Emirates 24/7 and have stated that the cars "have been seized as part of evidence from various crimes such as robbery, and are not for sale."
