March 2019 - Amelia Island previews
22 February, 2019
With February’s Paris sales now a distant memory, the major international activity switches back to the US for the annual Amelia Island auctions taking place from 7-9 March. RM Sotheby’s catalogue star is a 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Tourer with a guide of $6,000,000 – 7,500,000. Chassis 57512 – one of eight Type 57S examples bodied by Corsica – comes with known provenance from new, including long term ownership with renowned collector Judge John North, and a subsequent restoration while in the hands of the Blackhawk Collection in the early 2000s.
A 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 Competition campaigned in period by The Chequered Flag is estimated at $3,000,000 – 4,000,000. Bob Bondurant and David Piper claimed a win for chassis CSX 3006 at the 1966 Brands Hatch Ilford 500, and the car is currently presented in this spec following a nut-and-bolt restoration by the Legendary Motorcar Company of Ontario upon Larry Bowman’s purchase in 2003.
Hypercars include a 2,015-km 2005 Maserati MC12 Corsa, one of 12 track-only customer cars produced (estimate $1,600,000 – 2,000,000); a 2015 McLaren P1 which has covered less than 750 miles from new (estimate $1,400,000 – 1,600,000); a 3,500-mile 2010 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 'Sang Noir' (estimate $1,350,000 – 1,600,000); and a 1,300-mile 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder (estimate $1,250,000 – 1,500,000).
Gooding and Company’s line-up features a number of stand-out Porsches, led by a 1979 935 – one of the last iterations of the venerable model. The car was delivered to its first owner, Otis Chandler, who entered it for the 1979 6 Hours of Riverside where it ran as high as 3rd before a blown engine forced its retirement. The 935 was subsequently dispatched to ANDIAL for a new engine and never raced again in period, remaining in Chandler’s collection until 1993 (estimate $2,550,000 – 3,000,000).
A 1987 Kremer Porsche 962C that finished 4th at Le Mans in 1987 and 8th the following year is estimated at $1,000,000 – 1,250,000; while a one-of-55 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8 with 15,420km is among the 10 Porsches consigned from WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum’s collection (estimate $1,200,000 – 1,500,000).
Elsewhere, a 1930 Packard 734 Speedster Runabout is the jewel among the pre-war cars (estimate $1,700,000 – 2,000,000). Icons from the ‘80s include a 25,000-mile 1984 Audi Quattro Sport (estimate $450,000 – 525,000) and a 1988 BMW M3 with less than 44,000 miles (estimate $90,000 – 120,000).
A Brabham BT26/BT26A is set to cross the block at Bonhams on 7 March with a pre-sale estimate of $1,100,000 – 1,400,000. The car started life as the Brabham F1 team's Repco-engined BT26 in 1968, with Jochen Rindt putting it on pole in Canada for its debut Grand Prix.
For the ’69 season Chassis '3' was updated to 'BT26A' configuration with power now coming from Cosworth’s DFV V8 (the spec it is presented in today) – its career highlight being Jacky Ickx’s win at the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix.
Bonhams sale will also include 24 pre-war cars from the Don C. Boulton Collection, headed by a 1913 Mercer Type 35 J "Raceabout" at $800,000 – 1,000,000, and a 1914 Simplex 50hp "Speedcar" with a mighty 597ci 4-cylinder engine (estimate $600,000 – 800,000).
Classic car auction price estimates for: Bugatti | Shelby | Maserati | McLaren | Porsche | Kremer | Packard | Audi | BMW | Brabham | Mercer | Simplex
From leading auction houses: RM Sotheby’s | Gooding and Company | Bonhams
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