Techno Classica
Mercedes-Benz Display
Techno Classica Essen is the largest indoor classic car show in the world and it brings together everyone in Europe. This year, Mercedes-Benz led the way with the most impressive stand among some 1200 others.
This year many manufacturers had their own displays including Ferrari who displayed recently restored cars from their Classiche Collection such as a 250 GTO.
Many of the same dealer cars were present from Retromobile earlier this year, but Dirk de Jager did manage to find one-of-ten 1991 Ferrari 348's by Zagato which was among thousands of cars in the 20 halls. His gallery of highlights can be found here.
Bertone Collection to be sold by RM
1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero
RM's remarkable Villa d’Este auction just got more interesting with the inclusion of several prototypes from the Carrozzeria Bertone collection. Many of the cars have been retained by Bertone since new and they each offer a unique opportunity to be sold for the first time.
Among the six cars planned for the sale is the Lancia Stratos protoype which is one of Bertone's masterworks. This car led to the successful Stratos HF rally car and is being offered with an estimate of €1,000,000 to €1,800,000.
Alongside the Statos will be the Lamborghini Marzal which became a prototype version of the Espada and was driven before the start at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. Also offered will be the 1963 Chevrolet Testudo which was a fully-functional design built on the Corvair platform.
Two more Lamborghinis will be sold: the 1974 Lamborghini Bravo and little-known 1980 Lamborghini Athon. We hope the sale of these cars will make space for future cars in the Bertone family collection such as the Alfa Romeo Pandion released last year.
2011 Amelia Island
Best of Show Concours & Sport
This year's Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance was a celebration of Duesenbergs from both the road and track. Picked from over thirty cars in the feature classes, top awards went to the SJ Mormon Meteor Speedster and SJN Arlington Torpedo known as ‘20 Grand.’
If it was possible to get away from the Dueseys, founder Bill Warner also assembled a dedicated display for both Allard and Kurtis. Not too far away was the concept car class which featured the 1969 Plymouth XNR after its 50 years of hibernation and subsequent restoration.
Over the last week we've assembled almost everything that Amelia had to offer. Among the 1000 pictures is a special section dedicated to the cars of Jack Griffith and the cover cars of Hot Rod magazine. Please let us know if you find any errors or have any contributions as the body of work is quite large.
SCX
Murciélago & Koenigsegg at SCX
This year's Supercar Experience was held at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Gables, Florida. Present was almost every supercar available in the US including a freshly wrapped Koenigsegg CCX in matte white.
SCX had a strong contingent of American muscle cars which are every bit a supercar as the Ferraris and Lamborghinis of the 1970s. Cars like the Plymouth HEMI 'Cuda and Dodge Super Bee A12 were often described as supercars when new.
Our photographer Alex Marks went down to Gables, FL to capture the CSX at its new venue. He ran into the egarage.com crew who had the CCX, an Ultimate Aero and the only KTM X-Bow in North America. We also have a few details on the 2013 Porsche 918 Spyder which will probably appear at future SCX events.
12 Hours of Sebring
Team Oreca Matmut 908
Finishing in the Florida night, team Oreca Matmut won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring outright with a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. Team principle Hugues de Chaunac faced competition from the very capable Audi and Pegueot factory teams, but was able to rely on drivers Nicolas Lapierre, Loic Duval and Loic Duval to win with their older car.
GT honors when to Rahal Letterman Racing and their BMW M3s. They faced new competition from the untested Ferrari 458 Italia and Panoz Abruzzi, but found the Corvettes to be the most capable opponent.
Our gallery of Sebring includes cars from all four classes including the Porsches which made up the GTC 'Cup' class.
RM nearly sells out at Amelia
Auburn 852 SC Speedster & Friends
For their Amelia Island sale, RM Auctions sold many impressive lots including the headlining Ferrari 340 Mexico Coupe for $4,290,000. It was joined by a $660,000 Ferrari 212 Inter which could be best described as an aborted restoration.
Amid a packed room, these Ferraris and some of the very best classic cars were offered. 96% of the lots found new homes and $24.3 million in total sales meant RM had something for everyone.
In a category of its own was the Ford RS200 Evolution which we followed closely. This largely original example sold for $159,500. Being one of only 24 cars, we poured over its many details for the final page of our official gallery.
Gooding & Co. at Amelia
Lamborghini Miura P400 SV Prototype
Our hearts go out to the people of Japan while we report on the start of the weekend festivities at Amelia which happened at the same time as the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami. Gooding & Company hosted a premier auction on Friday with $17.8 million in sales. A world record was achieved for the Lamborghini Miura when the SV prototype sold for $1.7 million.
Top bid went to the 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Cabriolet which was as impressive in detail as its $1.87 million sale price. This set a record for the 212, which was reflected in the cars racing-spec chassis and jewel-like coachwork.
All the supercars of the Gooding & Comany auction can be found in our feature gallery. We especially enjoyed the unrestored Bentley Continental R-Type, an urestored DB4 and a very low-mileage black E-Type coupe.
340 Mexico on the Block
1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Coupe 0224AT
This upcoming weekend, Ferrari aficionados will be able to put a definite value on the Ferrari 340 Mexico. One of the four cars will be presented at RM Auction's Amelia Island event in conjunction with the Concours d'Elegance.
The car on offer, 0224AT, was one of three coupes prepared for the 1952 Carrera Panamericana. It was the most successful of them, placing 3rd overall behind the factory Mercedes-Benz team. Afterward it raced the Mille Migla and was later featured on the cover of Road & Track.
With this sale, RM have the distinct opportunity to sell a large-block, early Ferrari which hasn't been featured in any recent events. Hopefully this auction will bring the car out of hibernation for good.
Desert Classic Concours
C-Type & Friends in Palm Springs
Last weekend the Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance was held at the La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs, California. Including a tour, reception, auction and Concours d'Elegance, the weekend had many great cars.
This year the event was won outright by 1929 Auburn 8-120 Boattail Speedster, but the show really focused on post-war models more than anything else. Among these was the Ferrari 166 which recently sold at Scottsdale and an immaculate DB4 Zagato. For those yearning for something a little more modern, one of the first of Perana's Z-One was present.
The Classic comes to us from Rex Gray who photographed the entire event. He was enthusiastic about seeing the Fiat-Stanguellini-Bertone Berlinetta which could easily be included in the BAT series by Bertone.
Geneva Gallery
Bertone at Geneva
After previewing Geneva, it would appear the economic crisis didn't effect the top executives of Switzerland. Almost every top marque was represented at the Geneva Motor Show including major debuts from Lamborghini, Ferrari and Pagani.
Keeping to tradition, many of Geneva's show cars were focused on custom design and they welcomed the tuners, especially those from Germany, to showcase their most daring cars. Furthermore, there was a great presence of manufacturer concept cars which offered a glimpse of upcoming trends.
Today, we can present our comprehensive gallery from Geneva which includes separate pages of supercars, concept cars, tuning and classics. Almost all the images were taken by Dirk de Jager on the busy first press day.
Geneva Round-Up
2011 Saab PhoeniX
With the Geneva Motor Show closing its doors after the first press day, we can now present several new supercars. Among them, the Saab PhoeniX is one of the biggest game changers. With an ‘aeromotional’ design, we hope this is the look of the Saab's future.
Several great concept cars were released today including the Toyota FT-86 II, Weismann Spyder and Alfa Romeo 4C Concept. Rolls-Royce even previewed an electric version of the Phantom known as 102EX.
Many production cars were previewed for the first time. This means we have new details on the Ferrari FF, Jaguar XKR-S, Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 and Bentley Continental Supersports ‘Ice Speed Record’ Convertible.
