The Bonhams auction scheduled for Sunday at the Greenwich Concours has become an integral part of this fine event. The selection of cars at this sale varies from full classics to modern sporting cars, with everything in between.
Whether you have $15,000 or $1 million to spend, chances are that you will find a number of cars that you would want to add to your collection.
It is this variety that makes this sale one of my favorites of the year. This sale is an aspirational auction no matter what your budget or preferences.
Every year there are a car (or half a dozen) that catch my eye at this sale and this year they vary from American classics to a healthy dose of Europeans. I might even be bidding on a couple of them.
1972 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe
There are a number of reasons that I picked this car and believe it or not it is my favorite of all the cars at the sale. That may sound crazy after you read the rest of the list, but my first car was a Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. Mine was an earlier, and I feel nicer looking, first-series car, but this second-series car has the larger 1608cc engine and also benefits from having the factory European dual Weber carb setup. This makes these cars serious competitors in performance to the Alfa Romeo 1600 GT, but at a much lower cost to buy and to own. If there is a sensible vintage Italian car, the 124 Sport Coupe is it.
1983 DeTomaso Pantera GTS
This is one of the last Pantera cars and I can still remember reading about these last-series Panteras in Road & Track. They offer wonderful Italian styling with cheap to maintain Ford mechanicals. I usually don’t like the Pantera in red, but it suits this car nicely. On top of that, this Pantera is one of the cleanest ones I have ever seen, with only 7,350 miles from new and, if that were not enough, this car was the personal car of none other than Carroll Shelby.
1940 Lincoln Zephyr 3-window coupe
(see photo above)
The Zephyr has to be one of the most elegant and also aggressive looking Pre-War American cars. The lines of these cars are just perfect and the condition of this example looks to be quite extraordinary. The paint appears to be flawless and the interior is nicer than the exterior. A car like this is the perfect car to take on a date night with my wife for dinner and the theatre, kind of like an American take on a Rolls-Royce.
1963 Maserati Sebring
I tend to think of the Sebring as a more affordable alternative to the Ferrari 250 GT/L Lusso. Maserati only built 348 Series 1 Sebrings and this one looks to be a stellar example. Much like the Fiat 124 Coupe when compared to an Alfa GT or GTV, the Sebring is kind of a thinking-man’s alternative to the Lusso and offers a lot of exclusivity, performance, and fun for considerably less money in cost to buy and maintain. The fact that I fit much better in the Sebring than the Lusso only makes this car more attractive to me.
1949 Bentley MK VI Sports Sedan
As many of you know, I love Bentley motorcars, and this car in the darkest of purples over silver with a magnificent black Connolly leather interior ticks quite a few boxes for me. The very definition of elegance, status, and good taste, this Bentley would be a car that I would happily pack in my garage and own and drive for years. This is also rare LHD example with the added bonus of having air conditioning installed, making it the perfect car to take on rallies or to drive to Monterey this year.
1994 Range Rover
I love these early Range Rovers. I know that they car be a very expensive to maintain, but I love then nonetheless. They are what I think a titled British gentleman would take to get away from London and visit his country estate for the weekend. This car also features a 5-speed manual gearbox, making it bit rare and that much more appealing. The condition of this Rover was quite good, despite having a HID headlight upgrade that I would immediately remove if I were the winning bidder. It’s hard to find such a serious future-collectible truck in condition this nice these days.
HI . . . Photo above stated to be a 1940 Lincoln Zephyr 3 window coupe. Photo appears to
be a Chrysler Airflow product. Am I correct, or do I need new glasses ?
Stan Zimmerman, Whiting, Indiana
You are correct and the photo is being changed.
The Lincoln Zehyr is the only car there worth mentioning, the rest look like serious junk!!