It’s good to be king, because then you can order yourself a custom-built car like the Maserati made for the Shah of Iran in 1959. The monarch and budding car collector requested that Maserati build a special car by installing the V-8 engine from its 450S racecar into the 3500 GT production coupe. The result was the 170-mph 5000 GT. Maserati made 34 with bodies by various coachbuilders. At its Amelia Island auction, Bonhams is offering one of the 22 with bodies by Allemano, a restoration candidate with a pre-sale estimate of $500K-$800K
Capitalizing on the 911’s rich rally-winning history, Porsche introduced its 2023 911 Dakar at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Porsche’s new overland 911 version – reflecting road testing of Dakar prototypes over 300,000 miles, including 6,000 off-road miles – is based on the Carrera 4 GTS, and equipped with a 473-hp twin-turbo flat-six, eight-speed PDK automatic transmission and all-wheel drive, capable of 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. Porsche plans to build only 2,500 911 Dakars, with a starting price of $220,000 in the U.S. and plenty of options to take that higher.
The BMW 507 roadster, introduced at the 1955 Frankfurt Auto Show, is recognized as one of the most beautiful models that BMW ever produced. Only 252 hand-built 507s were produced, and despite their curb appeal, they were money losers that nearly sank BMW as a company. A 1957 BMW 507, discovered in a Philadelphia garage, sold last month at the Bonhams Audrain Concours Auction in Newport, R.I. for $2.1 million. Read the backstory on this historic BMW.
The automotive world may be going EV, but that’s not stopping Aston Martin from introducing its 2023 V-12 Vantage. The new Vantage has a 5.2-liter twin-turbo V-12 with 690 hp and 555 lb-ft of torque. The price tag of “around $300,000” is more than double the base price of the Vantage V-8 model, but you can put your checkbook away. The 333 Vantage V-12s to be built are already spoken for.
including the legendary Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – remained “on hold” during 2020, the participation in online auctions has skyrocketed, and that trend is unlikely to lose momentum soon, according to Premier Financial Services, the nation’s leading provider of lease financing for exotic, vintage and collector cars.
25 supercars and luxury models were confiscated by Swiss authorities from Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue and sold at Bonhams auction in Switzerland last month.
You don’t need to be a millionaire to buy a car at a Monterey, Scottsdale or Amelia Island auction. There are likely to be plenty of cars in your price range, but there are a few auction do’s and don’ts that you need to know. If cars mean more to you than just transportation, you’ll want to read this interview.
Rolls-Royce has been using the Phantom name since 1925, although not continuously. The name was in later years reserved for the factory limos, until the first new Rolls created under the BMW umbrella arrived in 2003 and took on the name. That car went through a Series 2 update, but again, we are now calling that car the Phantom VII.
One must wonder if Porsche doles out year-end bonuses based not only on sales, but also on how many different variants of the 911 the development team can come up with. The recent introduction of the 2018 911T brings the number to 23 currently available in the U.S.
