Live auctions are mostly on hold now but the auction scene continues to bustle along with online versions. Here are some of the highlights
1936 Stainless Fords
Sold: $1.26M
Worldwide, USA
Life has been a little restless for this trio of stainless steel Fords which was on the market a few years ago, They were built in partnership with what is now Allegheny Industries. Tiny numbers of each of these cars were made at the end of their model lives, as the pressings in the stronger material tended to end the useful lifespan of the dies. The cars are: (l to r) 1967 Lincoln Continental, 1936 Ford Deluxe Sedan and 1965 Thunderbird.
1985 Audi Quattro
Sold: $30,700
classic car auctions, UK
This Audi Turbo is one of those cars some of us dream of tripping over one day. In this case the car hadn’t been forgotten, but for whatever reason the owner basically didn’t touch it for a couple of decades. That of course means the galloping rot will have got into all sorts of compenents and it will be a big project to revive it. But as a serious hero car with great competition connections, it should be worth it.
| Read more on the barn-find Audi Quattro here
1973 BMW 2002 Turbo
Passed in: $154,000
Bring a Trailer
For Bimmer fans, this is one of the must-have cars, The 1973 release took the Tii engine and added a turbocharger (albeit with lowered compression) and claimed a solid 127kW – a lot for a ‘little’ car at the time. That was enough to punt it to just over 210km/h. Just shy of 1700 were made and the top bid here wasn’t enough to swing the sale.
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
Sold: $34,000
Ebay, USA
Clearly someone just had to have this one, even if this is substantial starter money for what will be a pretty big project. The attraction was the car has been in the same ownership since the 1980s and it seems to be very complete, with the 283 engine it was originally sold with. If you were going to restore a compact Chev coupe, this is probably the one to have.
On the block:
1974 Ford Capri RS3100
Shannons Spring Online
11-18 Nov, 2020
Sydney, Australia
Estimate: $65,000-75,000
If you’re a Capri nut, this will be right up the top of your shopping list. Just 250 homologation cars were built initially, with another 100 Group 2 special editions to follow. At the heart is a warmed-up version of the V6 Essex powerplant. The chassis came in for a lot of attention, with the car lowered and offering very different suspension to a ‘normal’ road car. This would have been an expensive bit of kit back in the day, and we’re told only 50 examples made it to Australia, out of the initial production. We reckon it’s still a looker and you won’t be short of people to talk to at any Ford show.
From Unique Cars #445, Oct 2020