Porsche fanatics will likely have the Silverstone Auctions’ Autosport International Sale on their radar this month as it will host the sale of an original 1973 911 Carrera RS 2.7.
The car is one of the first 500 models produced for homologation and it comes with a decorated motorsports history. It’s also one of 1,590 built in total.
According to the auction company, the911 Carrera RS 2.7 was first delivered to an owner in the United States in Grand Prix White with green lettering, Fuchs wheels, and the Touring specification. In 1986, the car was imported to Germany when Wolfram Thonemann took ownership, the president of the German Classic Porsche 911 Club.
While Thonemann owned the car, he campaigned it in numerous motorsports events in Germany and Europe. Eventually, the car earned the 1987 Europa Cup Class 6 Championship. Then, in 1996, the car changed hands once again, and the third owner raced the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 in a host of rally events. In 2017, the car retired from racing and was treated to a full restoration.
The 911Carrera RS features a 210-horsepower 2.7-liter flat-6 engine paired with a 5-speed manual transmission. Four-wheel disc brakes and an independent suspension lie underneath. The 1973 model is capable of sprinting to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds before it reaches a top speed of 149 mph.
The car’s next owner should know all of the mechanicals and bodywork were restored with utmost precision from Premier Panel Skills, a Porsche-approved restoration shop in the UK.
Its rarity and lineage should help the 911 RS 2.7 achieve a lofty hammer price at the auction, which will be held at Birmingham, England’s National Exhibition Centre on January 12.
Later this month, during Arizona Auction Week, seven sales companies will offer up perhaps 3,000 collector cars for bidders to consider. But now consider that over the course of an 11-day run that continues through Saturday, January 13, Mecum Auctions alone will parade 3,500 vehicles down its runway during its annual visit to Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida.
And to think that some people think Kissimmee’s main attraction is the Florida residence of Mickey Mouse and Company.
In addition to 3,500 vehicles on its 2019 docket, Mecum’s Road Art division has its own auction block in the park and 2,500 lots of vintage signs, gas pumps and globes, pedal cars and other automobilia and petroliana — as well as the historic sign from atop Hollywood’s famed Brown Derby restaurant — for sale.
We’ve already reported on the Road Art and what we’d like to be taking home from that auction. Today we shift to the collector car portion of the Mecum auction.
Actually, make that today and tomorrow, because with 3,500 vehicles on the grounds — some in buildings, some in tents, some parked out on the open — there’s simply too much to try to limit our “picks” to a single story.
So here’s the plan: Today I’ll share what I consider to be my favorites among what likely will be the most reasonably priced/generally affordable vehicles I’ve seen while wandering around the place, and tomorrow I’ll do the same thing for the higher-priced vehicles, though in both cases I’m barely skimming the surface of what’s available on the Mecum docket.
So, with those guidelines in mind, here we are: Ready. Set. Bid.
1980 Mercury Cosworth Capri
This is the one-off car featured on the cover of AutoWeek magazine in 1981 after being built as a joint venture by Mercury and McLaren Engineering, with custom steel coachwork by Ron Fournier. The 1.6-liter Cosworth 4-cylinder engine is tuned to Formula Atlantic racing specs and provides its 186 horsepower through a ZF 5-speed manual gearbox, so it’s reportedly good to reach 60 mph in a mere 6 seconds. It rides on three-piece BBS wheels and was built as a showpiece and not for public sale, so it’s been driven only 468 miles in its entire lifetime.
1970 AMC Rebel Machine
Parked near the Cosworth Capri was this Rebel Machine, the company’s version of a Detroit muscle car. I have a soft spot for these cars; my first new car was a Rebel, albeit a routine and mundane 6-cylinder sedan. However, this Machine – yes, that was the model name – is equipped with a 390cid V8 that pumps out 340 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque through a Borg Warner 4-speed gearbox to a limited-slip differential. As was popular back in the day, the tach is mounted on the hood. Oh, and the 14,000 miles showing on the odometer are believed to be the car’s actual lifetime mileage. The Machine and the Cosworth Capri are both going to auction from the Waterford Collection.
1946 Kurtis Kraft Offenhauser midget racer
Softer than my spot for AMC Rebels is my spot for vintage midget race cars. Back when I was a student working part time for the local daily newspaper, one of my beats was the local midget races. The car is believed to have raced in the Cleveland area before going into storage for 30 years. It finally was purchased by long-time midget racing team owner Gene Angelillo, whose cars won 14 championships in 30 years. Angelillo had the car restored as a tribute to his father, who was nicknamed “Dumos.”
1985 Pontiac Trans Am Kammback concept
Built as EX4796 show car and test mule by General Motors, this Trans Am shooting brake also served as a pace car for Indy and IMSA racing series before going back to Pontiac Engineering and into the GM Heritage Collection. At some point, according to a letter from Pontiac Historic Services, the car went back to Pontiac and was parked outdoors, and then ordered either to be scrapped or better preserved. Eventually it was purchased by Pontiac dealer John McMullen, who commissioned its restoration. There’s a 5.0-liter V8 under the hood, a 5-speed transmission, factory air and even T-tops.
1947 Cadillac sedan
Speaking of being parked outdoors, that’s where I spied this car, a big ol’ classic sedan with a 346cid 8-cylinder engine, 3-speed gearbox and still wearing its factory-installed fog lamps. With rear fender skirts and a black roof over the silver/gray big-fendered body, this 72-year-old looks quite elegant.
1950 Oldsmobile sedan delivery
I’d never seen a 1950 Oldsmobile sedan delivery before, and for good reason. Only seven of them were produced, for use by plant managers as parts runners. This one had been sitting outside in Louisiana for nearly 20 years when it was purchased in 2008. While the interior was refurbished and the brake system rebuilt, the paint and 303cid Rocket V8 and 2-speed automatic transmission are original. The car, originally built for the manager of GM’s Kansas City assembly plant, is being sold from the Ed Flaherty Collection.
1956 Ford Thunderbird
This immaculate white over black-and-white interior convertible has undergone a frame-off restoration to its original condition, reportedly as one of the Thunderbirds that Ford produced for export from the U.S. The car has a 312cid V8, 3-speed with overdrive automatic transmission, port-hole removable hardtop, power seats and windows, and it sits quite handsomely on wide-stripe whitewall tires.
1939 Ford Deluxe convertible coupe
Offered from the Moss Classic Car Collection is this handsome vintage convertible in black with red interior, including the rumble seat. It has painted steel wheels, fender skirts, dual spotlights, Waltham gauges, a Flathead V8 with Fenton heads and a manual gearbox.
1965 Trabant 601
We recently published a feature on the annual Trabant reunion held by the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., and one of those awful but beloved East German cars is on the Mecum docket, complete with its DDR license plate. The 600cc two-stroke engine isn’t running, but there are people across the country who know how to work on these historic little plastic-bodied cars who could offer help to get yours running and join the other perhaps 200 Trabbies in the U.S.
William Edward Brough began producing motorcycles in the 1890s and expected his sons would become part of the family firm.
But one of those sons, George, wanted to produce motorcycles that were fast enough to race, and when he couldn’t convince his father to make them, he established his own company, which produced Brough Superiors, in both two- and four-wheel varieties.
Production of both versions ended with the outbreak of World War II, when George Brough’s factory was used to make Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engines.
Brough Superior motorcycles were fast. In 1928, George Brough set a speed record of 130.6 mph on one of his bikes. He and his close friend, F.P. “Gentleman” Dickson, also comprised the Brough factory racing team, even winning the famed International Six Days Trial in the 1920s.
A JAP-engined Brough Superior SS 100 bike owned and raced by Dickson has been consigned to the docket for H&H Classics auction scheduled for March 2 at the National Motorcycle Museum in England’s West Midlands.
The machine is taken apart and needs to be reassembled, although all the parts are said to be present. Yet it is expected to command in the range of $225,000 at the auction, according to H&H Classics.
If that sounds like a lot for a bike that with some assembly required, consider that in October, Bonhams sold a 1925 Brough Superior sand racer project for $349,306. Brough Superiors often draw the highest bids at vintage motorcycle auctions.
“In 1930, FP Dickson rode this bike, TV 2001, in the ISDT in Switzerland,” H&H said, noting that Brough and Eddy Meyer joined Dickson on the Brough team for that event.
“On the first day, Dickson crashed heavily, breaking his leg and was taken to hospital in Geneva by car. His teammates decided to retire from the event and follow him to the hospital. On the way George Brough was hit head on by a car being driven on the wrong side of the road. He also sustained a broken leg and later sued the driver for substantial damages.
“FP Dickson convalesced in hospital but unfortunately died in mid-February 1931 aged just 42 after pneumonia set in arising from failure to have his foot amputated. He was buried in Geneva and his friend George Brough attended the funeral.
“George never really fully recovered from his accident and had to use a walking stick for the rest of his life.”
Brough lived until 1970.
As for the Dickson motorcycle, H&H reports that the bike “is complete and partly restored and part assembled for the auction.” The auction house notes that Dave Clark, technical officer of the Brough Club, has inspected the machine and verifies that all parts are present.
“The club registrar has supplied documentation to prove its authenticity and there is a huge amount of paperwork including the original build record and buff log book showing that it was first registered to George Brough himself before going to FP Dickson,” H&H added in its announcement.
“This is a top-of-the-range Brough Superior SS100 JAP ridden by one of the most accomplished riders of the period,” said George Beale, former manager of the England Motorcycle Race Team. “After the accident, the bike was returned to the factory for repair and this matching numbers bike is complete.”
Beale added that the club has a complete list of the bike’s owners since Dickson’s death.
The International Race of Champions returned from a four-year hiatus in 1984 and Chevrolet again was the series supplier for the all-star series that featured top drivers from stock car, Indy car and sports car racing, and put them on track to compete against each other in identical cars.
“That should come as no great surprise,” Chevrolet proclaimed in an advertising campaign. “Camaro’s aerodynamic shape makes it a natural for these events. The profile is low, the stance is wide, the size is right — and the feel is terrific.”
The race cars were based on Chevrolet’s new 1985 IROC-Z package for the Camaro Z28, or perhaps Chevy’s new-for-’85 IROC-Z package was inspired by the modifications made for the racing series. Either way, there was a new IROC Camaro for the 1985 model year and one of them — and a one-owner vehicle at that — is Pick of the Day.
The new IROC option featured twin fog lamps, hood louvers, rocker-panel trim and a “ground effects” aero package. The cars were equipped with Delco/Bilstein rear shocks and other suspension upgrades, lowered ride height, and aluminum alloy wheels with Corvette-style Goodyear Eagle GT tires.
The car on offer was purchased new by the private seller advertising on ClassicCars.com. The seller says the 59,000 miles showing on the odometer is correct, and that the car has been “always garaged.”
All ’85 IROC Camaro Z28s were equipped with Chevrolet’s 305-liter V8 engine, though buyers could select from three variations. The seller of this one says the car has Tuned Port fuel injection and 215 horsepower and is linked to an automatic transmission. That package was an upgrade from the standard setup, though was available only with a 4-speed automatic rather than a 5-speed manual gearbox.
This car also has T-top roof, grey cloth seats with power on the driver’s side, as well as power windows, locks and liftgate, the seller reports.
The car is located in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts and is offered for $13,999.
The sale of what generally is termed automobilia and petroliana has become such a significant part of the business of Mecum Auctions that the company came up with its own title for consignments — Road Art — and has made that term a registered trademark.
“It’s not big compared to the car business,” Mecum president David Magers said, “but it has a huge potential.”
Indeed. A stand-alone Mecum “Road Art” sale in 2016 accounted for nearly $10 million in sales, which is more than some collector car auctions generate. At that sale, a circular Musgo Gasoline two-sided porcelain sign sold for an astounding $230,000 at a Mecum sale.
Vintage Michelin sign
Here at Mecum’s annual collector car auction in Kissimmee, Florida, more than 2,500 lots of Road Art, accounting for nearly 4,000 individual items, will be offered for sale starting Monday.
Consider that last year, Mecum sold 5,500 lots of Road Art in total, including 1,200 at Kissimmee.
“There’s a huge audience,” Magers acknowledged.
So large that at Kissimmee, Road Art gets its own separate auction block.
“It used to be sort of complementary to the auction,” Magers said of the way automobilia would be used to start the auction each day, to remind people sales had begun and to get them into the arena and into their seats.
Other collector car auction houses offer automobilia, most prominently Barrett-Jackson at its Scottsdale sale. Automobilia also is sold by a couple of major but non-automotive memorabilia auction specialists.
But just as it did with its Gone Farmin’ division that runs vintage farm tractor and implement sales, Mecum has established a separate Road Art department with its own five-person staff.
The effort is led by Dan Mecum, one of Dana Mecum’s sons, who also heads the Gone Farmin’ effort. Corey Brackmann, who joined Mecum right out of high school, went from the warehouse to the tractor auction team and now leads the Road Art division with a hands-on approach — at Kissimmee he was working to get the electric lights working on one sign — and a year ago Mecum recruited Melissa Smith to join the team after her 17-year-career as manager of a boat dealership.
Neither Brackmann nor Smith are collectors of Road Art, but both eagerly collect the stories about the items from those consigning them to the sales.
“It’s all history, all old Americana,” Brackmann said, adding that it’s not just auto related, but that collectors seek signs and other items from all sorts of businesses. On the Mecum docket at Kissimmee are three huge non-automotive signs — from the Brown Derby Restaurant, from the Wolf Cycle Shop and the Big Bear supermarket.
As with collector cars and automobilia, many such items were destined for scrapyards until someone appreciated them for their artistic and, yes, potential economic value.
While some car collectors also collect Road Art to decorate their garages and man caves or she sheds, Magers said Road Art also has its own group of collectors. I guess I’m among them. Though most of my “collection” involves books about cars, I do have some signs, photographs, toy and model cars (and salt and pepper shakers), a never-worn IMSA racing sweater, and several pieces of Michelin stuff.
After wandering around the various buildings and tents showcasing the Road Art here at Kissimmee, here are some items I’d be eager to add to my collection:
Oldsmobile Service sign (see above)
At nearly 5-feet in diameter, I’m not sure where I’d display this vintage Oldsmobile dealership service sign, but it’s oh-so-cool
Buffalo Gasoline globe
Buffalo globe
Standing only 15 inches tall, this Buffalo Gasoline globe would be much more reasonable in my recently downsized living quarters. Plus it could serve as an extra light source in the guest room/library. According to the American Oil & Gas Historical Society, Buffalo Oil was among the earlier drillers at the Spindletop field in Texas in 1902, but a second well was dry. Buffalo shifted to another site, at Batson, where fires destroyed its equipment and storage facility.
Safety pays
Phillips 66 Safety Pays license plate topper
There’s a huge collection of Phillips 66 Road Art that is part of the auction but there’s also a single lot of smaller items that includes a couple of little service station attendants, a ticket to a baseball tournament in which the company team was playing, and this Safety Pays license plate topper.
How much farther?
Phillips distance finder
Phillips larger collection items include three of these regional mileage finders. They were displayed in gas stations and even restaurants and provided the mileage between two cities on a dial you could move. I loved using these as a child when we’d take annual family driving vacations.
Vintage Michelin sign (above left)
Standing 6-feet tall but only 16 inches wide, this vintage Michelin porcelain sign would fit very nicely next to one of the tall book cases in my library/guest room.
Oilzum
Oilzum sign
This porcelain sign celebrates The White & Bagley Company’s Olizum brand of oils and lubricants, which was founded in 1888 in Worchester, Massachusetts, by F.W. White and H.P. Bagley, and was given the Oilzum brand name in 1905.The brand was popular with those racing at Indianapolis and those competing for land speed records.
Sinclair’s dinosaur
Sinclair sign
Only 24 inches in diameter, this Sinclair Pennsylvania Motor Oil sign shares a wonderful tagline: “Mellowed 100 Million Years.” Sinclair’s mascot dates to 1933, when the company sponsored the dinosaur exhibit at the Chicago World’s Fair.
5-gallon can
Refiners Oil Company 5-gallon rocker can
About the size of a snare drum, but with handles that not only hold it upright but keep it from rolling, these cans hold 5 gallons of oil that can be poured out with a built-in no-drip spout.
Frontier Gas sign
This is a large sign — 5 feet tall and wide — so it needs room, but I love the graphics, which me of my grandfather the prison warden and how well he rode horses; even after his retirement he was jumping fences on them. Frontier was founded in Ontario as Wainwright Refineries but the company moved to Wyoming in 1976 and changed its name to Frontier in 1996. A few years ago, it merged to become HollyFrontier Corp., a Fortune 500 company based in Dallas.
Editor’s note: The ClassicCars.com Journal will be covering all of the action during Arizona Auction Week in Scottsdale, Arizona. Check out our other coveragehere.
A full-size carousel featuring handmade classic cars and other vehicles made for a famous Christmas market in Germany will hit the Barrett-Jackson auction block this month in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The carousel was designed in 1965 by Wilhelm Hennecke. It was originally used at the Christmas market (Christkindlmarkt in German) in Heidelberg, Germany, and was used at similar markets until it was placed into climatized storage.
Several German cars were included on the carousel, including a Mercedes-Benz, an Opel convertible and a police car with polizei emblazoned on the side.
“The craftsmanship of the era is exemplified in this fully functional piece, which is beautifully constructed with 23 hand-built transportation-related vehicles,” thecarousel’s listing read.
“Stunning colors and design make this truly a piece of magnificent mechanical art. The vehicles are handmade of wood with impressive leather interiors, complete with working headlights and taillights.”
Hennecke also added scooters, bicycles and motorcycles to his creation.
Barrett-Jackson called the carousel — which is 32 feet across and 16 feet tall — “one of the finest examples in the world.”
A Belgian barn find of three classic Bugattis, as well as a rare vintage Citroen, could fetch as much as $1 million at Artcurial Motorcars auction at the upcoming Salon Retromobile in France.
“There are wonderful surprises every year at Retromobile and I must say this time it’s a big one,” Mattieu Lamoure, the managing director of Artcurial Motorcars, said in a YouTube video.
Lamoure and Pierre Novikoff, his partner at Artcurial, found the cars – a 1930 Bugatti Type 49 limousine, a 1937 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet per Graber, a Bugatti Type 40 and a Citroen C3 Torpedo from the 1920s – in a barn where they had been stored for more than 60 years.
“Clearly, this is the stuff of dreams, and because it’s Bugatti, it’s even more magical,” Lamoure said in the video.
Artcurial will offer four cars from a Belgian barn find at the Salon Retromobile, including some great Bugatti examples. | Screenshot
It was apparently rather difficult to get to the cars. About 200 sandbags weighing more than 50 pounds each were stacked in front of the barn doors.
“The entrance was completely barricaded and a more-modern car had been there for over 15 years, blocking the two entrances to the garage,” Lamoure said. “This is the magic of the barn find, you just don’t know what you’re going to get and it is always exhilarating.”
Lamoure said the cars looked to be in great condition, considering they had sat for more than six decades.
“When I was a young adolescent, I never imagined finding such sleeping beauties hidden for years in incredibly well-conserved conditions,” he said. “This is the thrill of the treasure hunt.”
Artcurial Motorcars will hold the annual Salon Retromobile auction February 8-10 at the Parc des Expositions de la Porte de Versailles in Paris. For more information, go toArtcurial’s website.
Editor’s note: The ClassicCars.com Journal will be covering all of the action during Arizona Auction Week in Scottsdale, Arizona. Check out our other coveragehere.
This 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition is finished in the classic Gulf livery, with 3,092 actual miles, and is in excellent condition throughout. It will be on the Barrett-Jackson auction block in Scottsdale, Arizona next month.
The BBS wheels are excellent, and the interior of this GT is spotless.
This particular example is offered complete with all of the associated pedigree available. Of the 4,038 GTs built, approximately 100 were exported to Europe, starting in late 2005. An additional 200 were sold in Canada, with less than 50 offered in the Heritage finish, and this is one of those vehicles.
Sold with all of the original books, manuals, keys, car cover and production information, this GT includes both original window stickers (English and French).
This GT is No. 1,852 of the 2,011 built in this model year, and No. 335 of 343 total Heritage Editions. It’s powered by a 5.4-liter V8 engine mated to a 6-speed manual transmission.
One of only 200 produced, and this own originally owned by Williams Grand Prix Engineering, a “super-low mileage” 1985 MG Metro 6R4 rally car will cross the block at Silverstone Auctions’ inaugural Autosport International auction scheduled for January 12 in Birmingham, England.
The car was one of the 200 homologation specials produced so the Metro 6R4 would be eligible for the World Rally Championship during its spectacular but dangerous and thus short-lived Group B era.
3.0-liter V6 tuned to 250 horsepower for street usage
“One of rallying’s true icons, the MG Metro 6R4 stands up there with legendary 80’s classics like the Audi Quattro, Lancia 037 and Renault 5 Turbo,” Lionel Abbott, a Silverstone Auctions classic car specialist, is quoted in the company’s news release.
“This is the closest you can get to driving a Group B rally car on the road,” he added. “A homologation special like this with such low mileage presents a rare opportunity for rally fans and enthusiasts alike.”
The car, originally used by Williams GP marketing staff, has been driven only 175 miles since new. Silverstone Auctions expects it to sell for £180,000 to £200,000 ($228,750 to $255,000).
While Group B rally cars were small and lightweight, they carried engines capable of pumping out more than 600 horsepower thanks to unlimited turbocharger boost regulations. The MG Metro 6R4, Austin Rover’s WRC entry, carried a 3.0-liter mid-mounted V6 engine that provided 250 horsepower in its road-legal “clubman” guise.
Race-style interior even in road version
The car on offer was owned by Williams Engineering, which helped Austin Rover develop the WRC competition cars, until 2005, when it was sold at auction and purchased by The Tifosi Garage. The consignor obtained the car from that garage in 2015, according to Silverstone Auctions, which adds that the car was recommissioned in 2017 by rally specialists BGM Sport.
“Rally cars from this period have a certain mystique and have become highly sought after by collectors,” Silverstone’s Lionel noted. “This is an unusual, and probably unique, opportunity to acquire an original Group B homologation car.”
How nice it is to see an early Chevy Camaro that’s been restored rather than customized into somebody’s idea of a street rod, with garish oversized wheels and a monster big block.
The Pick of the Day is what appears to be a nicely restored, numbers-matching 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport coupe painted in the correct pale-yellow shade that looks so good on these cars. A black “rally stripe” encircles its front end.
A pert spoiler is mounted on the rear deck
The restoration was done on a “very rare optioned car,” according to the Brunswick, Georgia, private seller advertising the Camaro on ClassicCars.com. The Camaro RS is powered by its original 327/275-horsepower V8 with automatic transmission, the seller notes.
The factory options, the ad says, include air conditioning, power steering, power disc brakes, tilt walnut steering wheel, houndstooth bucket-seat interior, Tic-Toc Tach (a combination clock and tachometer), console gauges, rear-window de-fogger, bumper guards, tinted glass and rally wheels.
The dashboard features some extra options
“This beautiful car underwent a complete restoration by the second owner in 2005,” the seller says. “The paint remains in excellent condition. Chrome and stainless trim look like new. It is believed to have 70,000 original miles.”
The Camaro is beautifully presented in the photos, looking like it did when it left the Chevy showroom to do battle with Ford Mustangs. The ad includes a number of photos of the engine compartment and underside that show how fresh and clean the car has been kept since the resto.
The houndstooth-pattern seats look very ’60s retro
I love seeing the houndstooth seats that were so ’60s mod back in the day, as well as the good-looking original rally wheels that are iconic for vintage Chevy fans.
The asking price is $39,500, which seems fair for such a correct and well-maintained restoration on a desirable model Camaro.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
