An industrial designer by trade, Sam Mann is well known and respected in design, collecting, and automotive circles around the world. A highly successful entrepreneur and inventor – he has in the neighborhood of 80 patents in his name – his professional successes afforded him the opportunity to combine his interests in design and manufacturing with his love for the automobile. His collection today, celebrated as one of the world’s leading car collections, is a labor of love for both Sam and his wife of 45 years, Emily. Today, with approximately 50 cars in their collection, it is impossible for Sam and Emily to enjoy them all. As such, they have chosen to present the following five vehicles in Monterey, and RM Sotheby’s is extremely honoured to offer the following selections fromtheir collection.
Tag: supercar
Christie’s | “A performance art”: The secrets of a Christie’s auctioneer
Hugh Edmeades is responsible for over £2.2 billion in sales at the world’s biggest auction house.
Here, he presents his expert advice for would-be auctioneers
‘It’s showtime,’ declares Hugh Edmeades, Christie’s International Director of Auctioneering, who has conducted over 2,300 auctions since making his debut in August 1984 — selling over 300,000 lots for more than £2.2 billion.
‘Auctioneering is a performance art,’ Edmeades continues. ‘Our stage is our rostrum, and our only prop is our gavel.’ With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Edmeades is an expert performer, and now manages a select group of 65 men and women responsible for taking Christie’s sales across the globe. Many are graduates of his highly competitive ‘Auctioneering School,’ run every two years for Christie’s staff.
| Auctioneers must enjoy themselves, and the bidders will too |
In this video, Edmeades gives an exclusive insight into the rigorous training his potentials undertake. ‘If an actor doesn’t know his or her lines, then they cannot truly perform their part. And with auctioneers, if we don’t know our numbers and our increments then we cannot truly sell,’ he insists.
His other nuggets of wisdom are more subtle, though no less important — from encouraging auctioneers to adopt bright accessories, to using hand gestures. Perhaps the most vital is a sense of enthusiasm. To succeed as an auctioneer, Edmeades says, requires speed and energy: ‘Auctioneers must enjoy themselves, and the bidders will too.’
As Edmeades approaches the 22nd anniversary of his first sale, that sense of enjoyment remains palpable — shining through a now expertly-polished performance.
RM Sotheby’s | THE MOST IMPORTANT AMERICAN SPORTS CAR TO EVER BE OFFERED FOR SALE: THE VERY FIRST SHELBY COBRA
- Unprecedented sale: RM Sotheby’s presents the first Shelby Cobra—CSX 2000—at its flagship Monterey, California sale, August 19-20
- Offered by the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust, CSX 2000 was owned from new by the legendary Carroll Shelby and has never left his care
- RM’s Monterey sale to also feature the 1965 Shelby Cobra 427, CSX 3178, also retained from new by the great Carroll Shelby and offered from the Carroll Shelby Foundation
- Further information, images and a frequently updated list of entries for RM Monterey available at www.rmsothebys.com
BLENHEIM, Ontario (June 29, 2016) – CSX 2000, the most important modern American car—period—and a vehicle that revolutionized the automotive world, will cross the auction block this summer as part of RM Sotheby’s flagship Monterey sale, August 19–20, in California. Offered for sale by the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust, the iconic Cobra was constructed and kept from new by the legendary Carroll Shelby and never left his ownership. A truly unprecedented event, its presentation in Monterey will command the attention of the global collector community.
The original Shelby Cobra, CSX 2000 marked the start of Carroll Shelby’s incredible automotive legacy. The car was born in 1962 in a small garage in Santa Fe Springs, California, after Carroll Shelby, joined by a handful of hot-rodders, shoehorned Ford’s new, lightweight, high revving 260-cubic inch V-8 into a modified AC Ace chassis. The result—a fierce sports car armed with incredible performance in a lithe, stylish package—became the cornerstone on which the great Carroll Shelby set the world on fire and forever changed the course of automotive history.
“When it comes to American sports cars, CSX 2000 is without peers. Its historical significance and impact on the global sports car scene cannot be overstated,” says Shelby Myers, Car Specialist, RM Sotheby’s. “In the automotive world, CSX 2000 was the shot heard ‘round the world; it revolutionized not only American racing, but the greater auto industry as a whole. Had Carroll Shelby never decided to squeeze that high performance V-8 into its engine bay, there would be no Cobra and certainly no Shelby American, nor GT40, nor the others that followed. The automotive landscape and sports cars as we know them would be very different.”
CSX 2000 played a multitude of roles during its early days. As the only one of its kind, it was not only used in testing and development, but also driven by the motoring press, and shown in cities across the U.S. to drum up interest and sales for the fledgling company, Shelby American, Inc. During this time, thanks to clever marketing, Shelby also convinced the public that Cobra production was in full swing; the car was repainted a different color for almost every appearance to give the impression that Shelby had more than one car in their inventory. In reality, it remained the first and only Cobra for seven months. CSX 2000’s technical specifications were also extraordinary. A 1962 road test by Road & Track revealed a 0–60 mph sprint in just 4.2 seconds, a standing quarter-mile run in 13.8 seconds at 112 mph, and a top speed of 153 mph.
Throughout its life, even after Cobra production ended, CSX 2000 never shied away from public view, nor did it change ownership. It has been featured in countless books and magazines, continually driven and critiqued in road tests, and a frequent motor show starlet. It was even used for a period of time by employees at the Carroll Shelby School of High Performance Driving. To commemorate the 50thanniversary of the Shelby Cobra in 2012, CSX 2000 took center stage at some of the country’s most prominent events that year—the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion included. Since then, it has been a prominent and much-admired display at the Shelby Heritage Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Carroll and Rob Myers discussed Cobra #1 many times, and they were good friends. Their agreement that Rob would offer the car for Carroll’s Trust, after he was gone, was a very emotional one for both of them,” states Joe Conway, Co-Trustee with Neil Cummings of the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust. “Neil Cummings and I are now simply carrying out Carroll’s wishes, with no disrespect meant to the other individuals who meant so much to Carroll and did so much for his business and his Foundation over the years.”
Shelby Myers, on behalf of RM Sotheby’s adds, “We feel both incredibly honored and privileged to have been entrusted with CSX 2000’s sale by the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust. It is, without exception, the single most important and history-rewriting sports car ever offered at auction, after over 50 years of ownership and without ever leaving the care of its founding father. Supremely original and with extraordinary history, we’re beyond thrilled to celebrate and present this national treasure in Monterey this August.”
As part of a fantastic showcase celebrating 50 years of Shelby heritage, RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale will also offer the 1965 Shelby 427 Cobra, CSX 3178, on behalf of the Carroll Shelby Foundation. Another car in single-ownership with Carroll Shelby from new, CSX 3178 was fitted with a rare automatic transmission for his personal driving use. Also set for the RM Monterey podium, a 1999 Shelby Series I Roadster, CSX 5064, finished in Centennial Silver with Candy Apple Blue stripes, and sporting only 2,637 miles, and Carroll Shelby’s personal 1986 Dodge Shelby GLHS Omni, GLHS 086, showing just 7,733 miles, both of which are offered from the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust.
More on RM Sotheby’s
Bonhams | Catalog now on line: GREENWICH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE AUCTION
Amelia Island 2016: Results
RM Sotheby’s celebrated its 18th year in Amelia Island by presenting a terrific series of best-of-category automobiles across the block on March 12th. As one of the auction calendar favorites, our Amelia Island sale achieved a strong $38 million in sales to a standing room only crowd packed with bidders who journeyed from 20 countries.
Save this: Lot. 174 – 1957 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta “Tour de France”
RM Sotheby’s will reprise its role as the official auction house of Florida’s renowned Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, with the presentation of its 18th annual collector car sale at the prestigious Ritz-Carlton, March 12. From coachbuilt classics to modern supercars loaded with the latest in automotive technology, the handpicked roster of 90+ automobiles spans over a century of automotive styling and design.
Entries for the March sale are led by a handsome 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Spezial Cabriolet A, chassis no. 408371. A one-off design featuring a bevy of special features including a raked vee’d windshield, louvered front hood, fitted luggage and five-speed transmission, this stunning 540 K boasts an exceptional provenance highlighted by some of the most famous names in the hobby (Est. $3,000,000 – $4,000,000).
- a 1932 Ford Model 18 Edsel Ford Speedster; the first of three one-off custom speedsters designed by Bob Gregorie for Edsel Ford, this once long lost and now beautifully restored Ford has never before been offered for public sale (Est. $1,200,000 – $1,400,000);
- a 1953 Siata 300 BC Barchetta by Bertone, campaigned in Pennsylvania hill climbs and ice races in period and offered in largely original condition from its owner of an incredible 60 years (Est. $200,000 – $250,000);
- a 1963 Shelby 289 Cobra, CSX 2188, the recipient of an exacting restoration by marque experts and stunning in black over red with chrome wire wheels (Est. $950,000 – $1,200,000);
- a 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO, the first 288 GTO officially delivered in Japan (Est. $2,300,000 – $2,600,000); and,
- a 2014 Pagani Huayra, a design and performance masterpiece capable of sprinting 0 – 60 in just 3.0 seconds and showing less than 400 miles from new (Est. $1,900,000 – $2,200,000).
In addition to its traditional automobile offering, RM Sotheby’s is proud to support the fundraising initiatives of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance via the presentation of a series of charity lots at the start of the March 12 auction, with proceeds benefiting Spina Bifida of Jacksonville.
A complete list of offerings is found in the digital catalogue, now available for downloading here. Further information, hi-res images and interview opportunities with RM Sotheby’s specialists are available and can be easily arranged upon request. Additionally, we’d like to take this opportunity to extend you an invite to join us at the event where an exciting range of media opportunities will be available. To register for media credentials, please click here.
Catalogue Now Online: THE MERCEDES-BENZ AUCTION
Catalogue Now Online: Goodwood Members’ Meeting Sale
BONHAMS UPDATE: THE WORLD’S FINEST LONG-TERM PRESERVED JAGUAR C-TYPE
A closer look at the ‘time machine’ Jaguar headed for MonacoBonhams forthcoming Monaco Sale on May 13 will feature the world’s finest as-original, running, long-term preserved ‘time-machine’ Jaguar C-Type, UK road-registered ‘POV 114’.
On January 14, 1955, this outstanding example of Jaguar’s double-Le Mans-winning XK120C design was registered under chassis number ‘XKC 011’, and was sold ex-works to the Dunlop Rubber Company. It survives today in essentially identical specification.
The preceding history of Jaguar’s works team car ‘XKC 011’ embraces the 1952 Le Mans 24-Hours, the 1953 Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, plus a race win at Goodwood, when driven by such Jaguar stalwarts as Sir Stirling Moss, Major Tony Rolt and Peter Walker.
The Jaguar world at large has long accepted a contemporary works team anecdote that a subsequent body swap saw chassis ‘XKC 011’ fitted with the body from sister car ‘XKC 047’, which had itself been campaigned by the Belgian Ecurie Francorchamps team during the 1953 Sports Car World Championship season.
As works prepared, and tended by Jaguar factory team mechanics, ‘XKC 047’ competed in two 1953 24-Hour races – at Le Mans and at Spa-Francorchamps – plus the ADAC 1,000 Kilometres classic at the Nürburgring in Germany. ‘XKC 047’ finished 9th overall in the great French race, co-driven by its formal owner Roger Laurent / Baron Charles de Tornaco. At Spa Laurent shared it with future Ferrari personality Jacques Swaters and at the Nürburgring with Ferrari’s great future three-time Le Mans-winner Olivier Gendebien.
Bonhams’ comprehensive investigation of ‘XKC 011’ (aka ‘POV 114’) to be offered at Monaco, initially revealed evidence identifying its chassis as having been the works team car which substituted at the last moment as the Ecurie Francorchamps entry in the 1954 Le Mans 24-Hour race. After our attention was drawn to other features of the car, further inspection now indicates that such participation is in fact debatable.
It is therefore probable that ‘XKC 011’ as now offered by Bonhams is not really a split-identity car at all. Present opinion is that it is likely the 1953 car, chassis ‘XKC 047’ – still bearing its original, complete ‘K 1047’ body – subsequently re-stamped ‘XKC 011’ at the factory before delivery to Dunlop in 1955.
‘POV 114’ continued to be maintained by the factory when it served as a test car for Dunlop, and during its club-racing days in the hands of owner-drivers Mike Salmon, Gordon Lee and Robin Sturgess into the 1960s.
It was acquired by the Griffiths family in 1963 and it is to be offered at Monaco direct from this self-same ownership, 53 long years later.
Most significantly, it has been preserved virtually untouched in wonderfully well-patinated ‘time machine’ condition to this day.
James Knight, Group Motoring Director of Bonhams, commented, “Bonhams has been assisted in its investigation regarding this famous Jaguar C-Type by a wealth of experts, and tremendous thanks are due to British Jaguar authority Den Carlow, motoring writer Marc Noordeloos, Jaguar enthusiast Jeremy McChesney, Chris Keith-Lucas of CKL Engineering Ltd, Gary Pearson of Pearsons Engineering, Australian Jaguar authorities Les Hughes and Terry McGrath, and Andrew Tart of Andrew Tart Motor Engineering.
“While officially sold by the Jaguar factory as ‘XKC 011′, the histories of ‘011′ and ‘047’ – which became intertwined during the preceding 1954 Le Mans race period – have baffled any number of Jaguar enthusiasts and historians over the years. These recent collective efforts – most notably with the total support of the long-term owner – are getting closer to unlocking this exciting mystery in this gloriously-preserved old war-horse’s very early life.”
Bonhams inaugural Monaco Sale will present an exclusive auction of just 40 hand-picked, exceptional motor cars. Timed to coincide with the Monaco Grand Prix Historique, the Sale will take place on 13 May 2016. The venue for this grandest of motoring auctions is the prestigious Fairmont Monte Carlo hotel, overlooking the Grand Prix circuit’s famous ‘Station’ hairpin, scene of so much motor sporting drama.
For further information on Bonhams motor car department visit: www.bonhams.com/cars
RM Sotheby’s Paris: 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder by Wendler to be auctioned on Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Lot: 143
Car: 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder by Wendler Chassis no. 550-0068
Estimate: €2.200.000 – €2.600.000
The date: to be auctioned on Wednesday, February 3, 2016
110 bhp, 1,488 cc DOHC air-cooled horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine with dual Weber downdraft carburettors, four-speed manual transmission, independent front and rear suspension, and four-wheel drum brakes. Wheelbase: 2,100 mm
- The 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show car
- One of just 75 factory-built ‘customer’ 550 Spyders
- Period US racing history with Mike Marshall, including 1956 Sebring 12 Hours
- Freshly serviced by renowned Porsche specialist Prill Porsche Classics
- Highly eligible for vintage tours and rallies, including the Mille Miglia, Tour Auto, Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Revival, Monterey Historics, and Monaco Historic Grand Prix!
“Design is not simply art, it is elegance of function” – Ferdinand Porsche
THE GIANT KILLER
The 550 Spyder put Porsche firmly on the map as a serious competitor on the world’s racing tracks; indeed, the diminutive mid-engined roadster generated the nickname ‘Giant Killer’ for its ability to defeat much more powerful rivals. Introduced at the 1953 Paris Auto Show, the 550 and its second iteration, the 550A, remained in production through February of 1959, and a total of 130 chassis were constructed before the 718 RSK Spyders appeared. A large proportion of 550 production was destined for the United States.
Built on a frame of seamless mild steel tubing, the 550 utilised a front suspension of double trailing arms and transverse-leaf torsion bars. After the first few examples, the rear suspension was redesigned from leading control arms to trailing arms with swing axles and tubular transverse torsion bars. Porsche’s engineers had planned an all-new engine to power the Spyder at the gruelling Carrera Panamericana, but early testing determined that Dr Ernst Fuhrmann’s Type 547 advanced 1.5-litre air-cooled four-cylinder Boxer engine was not quite ready. Thus, the first few chassis were fitted with conventional pushrod Porsche engines. Soon, however, reliability was ensured and the new ‘Four-Cam’ would be installed in all the 550s, 550As, RSKs, 356 Carreras, and 904s that were to follow.
This marvellous but complex engine, called the ‘Drawer motor’ because its engineering drawings were quickly hidden in Fuhrmann’s desk whenever Dr Porsche walked into his office, was an all-alloy unit displacing 1,498 cubic centimetres. Its camshafts were driven off the Hirth-patent built-up roller-bearing crankshaft by a series of shafts and crown wheels. Cam timing took dozens of man-hours to properly establish, but once all the clearances were correctly set, the high-revving motor was very reliable. It featured dry-sump lubrication and two spark plugs per cylinder. With compression of 9.5:1 and breathing through a pair of Weber downdraft carburettors, this engine produced a strong 110 brake horsepower. In a chassis that weighed barely 590 kilograms, 550s were capable of top speeds approaching 210 km/h (140 mph), dependent on gearing. Because these little roadsters were ostensibly required to be street driven, they were fitted with a token canvas tonneau that met the letter of the rulebook but were otherwise better left folded away in the garage.
CHASSIS NUMBER 550-0068
This beautiful 550 Spyder left the factory at Zuffenhausen on 19 September 1955, to be eventually delivered to an American customer, but first, there would be an intermediate stop: Porsche’s stand at the 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show. There, it shared the company’s display with a 356 Speedster, a coupé, and a cabriolet. Chassis number 550-0068 was shown in semi-racing form; that is, there was a small racing windscreen to protect the driver and an alloy half tonneau covering the passenger side of the cockpit. Suggesting, perhaps, that this was a dual-purpose sports car, it was also fitted with moon hubcaps, which were standard fitment to cars delivered in street trim. Adding to the sporting impression that Porsche wanted to convey, the rear fenders were topped with painted ‘darts’, or flashes. Today 0068 has been restored to its original silver paint with light blue darts, a very attractive combination.
The factory build sheet specifies that 0068 was to be shipped to ‘1 kunde/customer USA’ following the Frankfurt show. That customer was a gentleman named Mike Marshall, a Porsche/Volkswagen dealer and amateur racer of Miami, Florida. Mr Marshall wasted no time in putting his new 550 to the task for which it was intended. Just two months after the car starred on Porsche’s display at Frankfurt, Marshall gave the new Spyder a victory in its first outing, an SCCA race at Waterboro, South Carolina. Next up was December Speed Week at Nassau in the Bahamas, where Marshall finished 6th in the preliminaries, dropped out of both the Governor’s Cup and All-Porsche contests, but came back to score a respectable 4th place in the Under-Two-Litre Production race. In February 1956, Marshall won a pair of SCCA Regional races at Punta Gorda, Florida; a 1st and 2nd at Waterboro; and then, sharing the wheel with Porsche’s racing chief and occasional driver Huschke von Hanstein, managed a creditable 14th overall and 3rd in class at the Sebring 12 Hours. Von Hanstein was quite familiar with 0068; he had posed with it at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Through the remainder of 1956 and early 1957, Marshall ran numerous other amateur races including Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin; Montgomery, Alabama; Chester, Carolina; Gainesville, Florida; the 1956 Nassau Speed Week; and then a race weekend at the very difficult 2.4-mile circuit at New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Unfortunately, in a preliminary event, Marshall had an off, side-lining the Spyder for the weekend. Fifteen months later, 0068 was sold to Joe Sheppard, a very talented amateur who’d picked up the nickname ‘The Tampa Hotshoe’ and who drove the car at Chester and Gainesville. The car’s racing history then lists Sheppard’s friend Duncan Forlong, who borrowed the car for two races at Dunnellon Park, Florida.
It is believed that 0068 then remained in Florida. When recently quizzed about the car, Joe Sheppard could not recall exactly when it was sold; it was a deal put together by his father. The new owner is believed to have been Bob Ross, who made a regular appearance at the Sebring track with racing friends in his new Spyder. In the mid- to late-1980s, the Porsche was bought by Lynn Larson, who almost immediately sold it on to his friend Phil Bagley, who then sold the car to its new owner who shipped it to Italy.
The car was inspected on 12 November 1989, by a Mr Parigi, prior to issuance of FIVA license number 0120620 by the Automotoclub Storico Italiano. That registration process was not completed until 21 April 1997. Italian registration number BG-B67015 was assigned 28 August 1997 in the name of Pierluigi Bartoli of Riva di Solto, who had acquired the car in July of 1993, per the Estratto Chronologico, copies of which are included in the car’s history file. In 1999, the current owner, an Italian businessman and enthusiast, purchased this historic racer.
Today, 550-0068 is offered having been maintained regardless of cost and ready to be used in any of the many events for which it is eligible, including the Mille Miglia, Tour Auto, Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Revival, Monterey Classics, and Monaco Historic Grand Prix, amongst others.
Simply put, no comprehensive collection of vintage Porsches is complete without a 550 Spyder, and this example would surely be one of the most enjoyable.
Info on Sotheby’s
meridianae 