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Archive for the ‘auction’ Category

A lot of us assume that supermodels are only good for cat-walking, lip-pouting and posing in front of flashing cameras. To be fair, it’s an extremely short-sighted stereotype and if you try to give some time into understanding these women – or in some cases, men – you’ll know that they’re more than just gorgeous faces and beautiful bodies.

Take Naomi Campbell for example. Long regarded as one of the most alluring supermodels in the world, Naomi using her stature and influence as a supermodel for a completely humanitarian cause.

Campbell recently tied-up with Lotus on a special project called “Naomi for Haiti”, a project wherein Lotus will auction off eight special-edition 2010 Lotus Evoras with all the proceeds directly going to relief efforts in the devastated country of Haiti.

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Supermodel Naomi Campbell ties up with Lotus for special edition 2010 Lotus Evoras to help the people of Haiti originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 15 February 2010 15:00 EST.

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Every well-versed car enthusiast will tell you that if there was a car that would be considered as the ‘Holy Grail’ of automobiles, more than a few would say that the 1964 Shelby Cobra would fit that bill to a tee.

That being said, if you’re a self-professed car nut and you’ve got a ton of money to boot, then you have the opportunity – and a rare one at that – to buy an original ’64 Shelby Cobra when the car, chassis CSX2557, becomes up for grabs at an RM Auction on March 13.

The auction, which will coincide with the Amelia Island Concours, will feature a boatload of some of the world’s most exotic classics but none more so than the ’64 Cobra. The CSX2557 was produced to race in the U.S. Road Racing Championships and is just one of 42 189-powered racecars and one of only six “cut-back door” factory team cars to ever be built.

There’s no question this particular Shelby Cobra is as rare as it gets. There’s no telling how much this car is going to cost you but if you’re the type to peg a number, then you might have to shell out north of $1 million for the privilege of taking this ’64 Shelby Cobra home.

Car description after the jump

1964 Shelby Cobra up for grabs at RM Auctions on March 12 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 14 February 2010 12:00 EST.

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You probably know by now that while auctions are a great place to find – and buy – some pretty rare and priceless items, some of the products that invariably go up for bids are not all they claim to be. Thankfully, one bidder who probably wouldn’t know any better would be spared from getting swindled by a fraudulent item after the Tucker Automobile Club of America, Inc. clarified that a certain Tucker Torpedo Convertible, which will be up for auction at a Scottsdale even in the near future, just may be one of those items that are far less authentic than originally thought.

The Torpedo is being offered by renowned classic car company Russo and Steele but according to the TACA, no such car was ever made by the Tucker Corporation. The club even went to great lengths to issue a press release, saying that “The Tucker Automobile Club of America, Inc. (TACA) has never been presented with-nor have been able to find-any credible evidence to prove the authenticity of this or any other vehicle as being a Tucker Corporation intended convertible and therefore we cannot certify it as such.”

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Tucker Club casts doubt on up-for-auction Torpedo convertible’s authenticity originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 14:00 EST.

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Back in July of last year, we ran a story about an almost century-old Brescia Bugatti being discovered in the bed of the Verbano Lake in Ascona, Switzerland by a diving club that went by the name Centro sport subacquei salvataggio Ascona – or CSSS, if you’re having trouble pronouncing the whole name.

Five months later, parts of the salvaged 1922 Bugatti Brescia Type 22 Roadster have been somewhat restored to its old form and is now being auctioned off by auction house Bonhams for an expected price tag of around $100,000 to $130,000 with the proceeds stemming from the sale to go to a charity that’s involved in curbing youth violence.

While the Brescia still looks a little worse for wear, it is worth pointing out that the car would make for a great exhibit and can maybe even be used as a peg for the creation of a replica. Either way, the six-figure price tag for the artefact seems to be well justified.

1925 Bugatti Brescia pulled underwater to go up for auction originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 11 January 2010 10:00 EST.

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Those who remotely showed any interest in forking over 2 million euros for Michael Schumacher’s 1994 Benetton F1 car will be disappointed to know that the entire auction may have been a hoax from the beginning.

Then again, they should all be relieved that they didn’t just lose that kind of money over nothing.

A few days ago, reports surfaced that Schumi’s ’94 Betton car – the exact same one he used to win his first F1 championship – was being sold on eBay with bids reaching well over 2 million euros. But as the deadline for the auction neared, the eBay auction for the car mysteriously disappeared hours before the supposed deadline was to pass. Now, sceptics are saying that the whole thing may have been a ruse after all.

As if that wasn’t enough to draw a few chuckles from a lot of people, a new auction has started for another 94 Schumi-driven Benneton has now been listed on eBay with a starting bid of 1.15m pounds.

Nobody needs to remind us of the historical significance of this car, but all these faux auctions are slowly becoming ridiculous.

Update: eBay auction for Schumi’s ‘94 Benetton car a hoax originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 16 November 2009 14:00 EST.

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As classic an automobile that the Jaguar E Type was in the 1960s and 70s, it never could have come about without the factory built D Type race cars of the 1950s. If you missed out on the opportunity to own and experience this classic vertical finned racer with its pronounced round fenders well this might just be what you have been waiting for. That is because the auction house Gooding & Company is putting a classic 1956 Jaguar D Type up for auction on January 23rd, 2010. Besides the English automotive icon, Gooding will also auction off a rare Pininfarina 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Series I Cabriolet, a beautifully appointed 1956 Maserati A6G/54 Berlinetta, Hollywood’s 1934 Hispano-Suiza J-12 T68 Cabriolet as well as a top performing 1932 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750.

The 1956 Jaguar D Type is powered by a 3.8 Liter straight six cylinder power plant that is capable of producing an estimated 300 HP, quite a feat for the 1950s. The quite large inline engine is mated to a four speed manual transmission because that is what they had back then. The car begun its racing career in 1956 competing in California and enjoyed continued success at tracks such as Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, Palm Springs, Riverside, Paramount Ranch and Pomona. Making the D Type even more of a collector’s item is that over the car’s entire production run, only 87 units were ever made, and after a bit of wheel banging action there are most certainly less than that left in the world.

Press release after the jump.

Gooding & Company puts a Jaguar D Type race car up for auction originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 13 November 2009 13:00 EST.

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To be clear, the original Bumblebee was a Volkswagen Beetle so we’ll get that matter-of-fact statement out of the way. What we are talking about of course was the first incarnation of Bumblebee in the movie Transformers and if you’ve seen the movie, you know it’s not the 2010 Chevy Camaro but rather a dilapidated looking 1977 Camaro. We’re saying all of this because it’s been brought to our attention that the said car – yes the one that chased Sam Witwicky while he was riding his mother’s pink (…)

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Monterey has always been one of the biggest car auction weekends in the world. This year’s event, which recently concluded last August 13-15, saw a total of 836 cars of all varieties being held up for auction. Of the 836 cars, 558 were sold for a total of $118,296,823. While the numbers are impressive in all aspects, this year’s figure was actually 17 percent less than what the event took last year ($138,996,425) The top money-maker this year was Gooding & Company, which sold over (…)

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The F40 is surely the favorite special edition Ferrari for any fan of forced induction. Celebrating the Italian super car maker’s 40th anniversary, the 288 GTO’s twin turbocharged V8 was fitted in between the wheelbase of wedge shaped rocket ship made from kevlar and carbon fiber. Not only did the F40 pave the way for future greats like the F50 and Enzo both ten and twenty years later. Although the men from Maranello never intended to compete with the F40, the special edition super car made its race car debut in 1989 at Laguna Seca competing in the GTO category of IMSA competition with Jean Alesi behind the wheel.

Fast forward a couple of decades and the question then becomes, what do you do with a twenty year old super car? Sure you could restore it to what it was like when new, but even then modern super sports cars like the BMW M5 will leave you in their slipstream on the street. One particular Ferrarista decided to take his aging F40 and give it a new lease on life as an LM racing recreation. The car was rebuilt from the ground up and has everything the old race car came with, except that it was built with the knowledge of how to make an F40 go. The LM spec race car has everything from a fully adjustable suspension and Motec gauges to the original LM computer and turbochargers, albeit being fed from a fresh set of pipes. The owner has yet to turn a wheel on the track with the car and he is staring the bidding war at $200,000. So far there haven’t been any bidders and we have a feeling that in this climate, two hundred grand is quite a lot to pay for a 20 year old car, even if it is a red Ferrari.

Ferrari F40 LM on eBay originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 6 January 2010 11:00 EST.

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We know that Audi and Volkswagen share the same mother, but we still can’t find any reason why someone would badge a 2000 Audi TT with
Volkswagen logos. He could’ve just gotten a Volkswagen Golf if that’s all he wanted to do. After all, the Golf – as well as the Jetta, the Beetle, the Seat Leon, and the Skoda Octavia – shares the same platform, engine, and mechanics with the TT so he could’ve just spared himself and the ensuing public reaction a lot of trouble.

But this guy, who by the way is selling his re-badged TT on eBay, doesn’t see a problem with that. Heck, he even took his VW logo fascination past the TT’s exterior by adding some emblems on the car’s seats too.

His justification: “I just added Volkswagen logos around to make it look different, since they are the same company.” Ok, sure. That explains it a great deal, except that the scent of irony is a tad too intoxicating.

In any event, if you want to bid for this – and we can probably say this with full certainty – rather ’special’ one-off TT, the auction’s currently on-going on eBay.

eBay seller puts VW-badged Audi TT on sale originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 1 March 2010 10:00 EST.

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