Year: 1971
Model: Firebird Formula 400
Condition: Refurbished/#3
Reserve: Undisclosed
Selling price:
$23,650
Average selling
price: $20,000
PONTIAC
Year: 1949
Model: Jeepster
Condition: Restored/#2+
Reserve: Undisclosed
WILLYS
Selling price:
$10,670
Average selling
price: $20,000
According to the windup, this
Formula was originally produced for
export and had traveled 102,000 miles
since new. It showed. Nevertheless,
some of its pluses include the four-barrel, 300hp version of the Pontiac
400, a factory four-speed, factory air
conditioning and PHS documentation
that it was everything claimed. Body
fit was only average, which was true
for lots of GM vehicles in those years.
It was definitely okay material for a
future full restoration, which may be
why such a used-up car sold this
strongly. Presumably, the Queen 8-
track tape came with the car.
Shoved nearly out of sight, like nutty
Uncle Fred in his attic room, was
one of the lowest-production historic vehicles at this auction. In 1949,
Willys-Overland produced only 653
Jeepster roadsters with straight-six
power. In addition to its production
exclusivity, this one had a terrific
interior that was sanitary but not
overdone, completely true to new. We
scribbled in the descriptive “lovable,”
and it fit just fine. Let’s lay out the significance of this. It’s Monterey. Cash
abounds. A really cool car goes to the
block. Three-digit build numbers. Sells
for barely 10 large. Bargains do exist,
even here.
Year: 1956
Model: Fireflite Sportsman
Condition: Restored/#1
Reserve: Undisclosed
DE SOTO
Selling price:
$137, 500
Average selling
price: $30,000
Year: 1964
Model: 770
Condition: Restored/#2-
Reserve: Undisclosed
AMPHICAR
Selling price:
$50,050
Average selling
price: $45,000
Part of the explanation for this sale is
that like water roaring through a ruptured dam, money like the kind that
gets spilled in this world tends to find
its own level. Yes, unquestionably,
indisputably, this was a tremendously
well-done car, awarded all 400 possible points in receiving its AACA
National. We couldn’t help but wonder whether the point total counted
more when the bidding started than
its status as a rarely seen Fireflite
Sportsman hardtop.
For a long time, examples of the
Amphicar existed largely as comic
relief during the more fevered sales
around. That’s no longer completely
true. At its most relevant, this was a
pretty strongly restored automobile.
It showed 3,600 miles, though those
were exempt. The windshield was
new, just as its gaskets were and all
the other seaproofing rubber around
the car. The Amphicar forced you to
consider it as something other than a
novelty. It got bid pretty enthusiastically, getting hammered about right
where it belonged, thus doing better
than any number of other offerings.
Year: 1974
Model: Corvette
Condition: Modified/#2-
Reserve: Undisclosed
CHEVROLET
Top price bid:
$250,000/not sold
Average selling
price: N/A
Year: 1953
Model: DB 2/4 Mark I
Condition: Restored/#1
Reserve: Undisclosed
Top price bid:
$500,000/not sold
Average selling
price: $200,000
ASTON MARTIN
Year: 1939
Model: Phaeton Dolphin
Condition: Unrestored/#3-
Reserve: Undisclosed
DAIMLER
Selling price:
$40,700
Average selling
price: N/A
Year: 1968
Model: 912 Targa
Condition: Restored/#2
Reserve: Undisclosed
PORSCHE
Top price bid:
$45,000/not sold
Average selling
price: $18,000
Aside from the 1960 Ferrari 250
GT California Spyder that it was
consigned with— which didn’t sell,
either—this authentic Corvette
race car by the esteemed John
Greenwood was Russo and Steele’s
marquee Monterey offering. This is
a fabled American racing car of the
1970s, with the big-block monster
running in both the SCCA Trans-Am
and IMSA Camel GT series, with
documented wins. It’s a built-up
car with Greenwood’s own swing-arm suspension, but an undeniable,
heavenly piece of Corvette history.
If racing Cobras are worth seven
figures with documentable histories,
this beast ought to bring more than a
paltry quarter million. The seller was
right to hold.
We generally don’t get into ownership histories, which too often are
used to abnormally inflate a car’s
value beyond all reason, but we’re
going to make an exception here. In
addition to nearly perfect restoration,
this Mark I was once the property of
not only David Brown, but also the
Ferrari works driver Peter Collins, who
was killed in 1958, and the late King
Hussein, the Hashemite monarch of
Jordan and a fully credentialed car
guy. That, in a word, is primo. Even if
the car wasn’t flat gorgeous, which
it was, a lineup like that would have
made it highly notable. An incredible
car, which would have deserved to
sell high even if the Git-R-Done dude
had been the owner of record.
Another car with pedigrees on a
bunch of levels, the most relevant
being its Driveable Dream status.
As war approached, Daimler of the
U.K. constructed just 12 of these
phaetons, of which four, including
this Charlesworth-bodied dual-cowl
Dolphin, are known to exist. We
called it unrestored because there
was no outward indication that it had
been otherwise touched, other than
for a polishing. The brass trim was
supposedly fitted prior to its delivery
to the Crown. This was nonetheless
wonderfully rare and just wonderful,
period. It was a long way from being
oversold, but pleasantly, it wasn’t
ignored, either.
This stands up as an inspired case
of smart shopping on the part of
somebody who really, really knew his
or her Porsches. Doesn’t look it, but
this 912 Targa is a delightful rarity.
The soft, zip-out rear window assures
it as such, to the tune of only 66 having been built in 1968, according to
the 912 Registry. Holy smokes. We
figured, wrongly, that the moneyed
would saunter right past this Targa
merely because it had only four cylinders. It’s great to be mistaken about
such things. This bid-up soared over
the fence of the typical 912 Targa
transaction and kept right on going.
A solid piece of purchasing intellect.
HEMMINGS MOTOR NEWS • NOVEMBER 2009 29
