£2million Ferrari F40 tops Bonhams' ten best sellers from Paris | GRR
Where is the smart money going in the collector car market at the start of this new year? The auctions give a guide, and none bigger so far in 2023 than the sales during the Retromobile classic car extravaganza in Paris. We checked out Bonhams’ Grandes Marques à Paris Sale on 1st-2nd February to see what was hot – and what was not.
Here then are the top ten sellers for Bonhams, an eclectic selection that contributed to an overall take during the two-day sale of €32.5m, or £29m. 150 cars were up for grabs and most went to new homes, but some high-profile star cars – including prewar Bugatti, Mercedes and Delahaye models, and more recent Pagani Huayra and Porsche Carrera GT along with race versions of De Tomaso Pantera and Dodge Viper – did not. That would seem a shame, but look at the following ten cars that did sell and tell us there aren’t some happy new owners out there…
10. 1952 Lancia Aurelia PF200 Spider
Sold for €718,750
Here’s another work of art from an Italian grandmaster. Unlike the Maserati 4CM, which one proud owner hung on their wall, the owner of this beauty was so taken with it they built a ramp into their living room so it could be driven inside to be the artistic centrepiece of the house. Who wouldn’t want to share their sitting room with a car that looks this wonderful?
It’s the first of seven bespoke show cars from Pinin Farina made purely for promotional purposes from 1952, the year this car starred at the Turin Motor Show. Underneath it’s all Lancia Aurelia B52, an advanced sporting machine that makes this re-bodied PF200 model far more than just a show pony. Its first owner was an Italian film star and subsequently the car was bought as a pile of bits in 1974 by a pilot who fell in love with its signature oval air intake, modelled on that of the F-86 Sabre jet fighter. A 10-year restoration followed. Well worth it, we reckon.
9. 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 S
Sold for €747,500
Here’s hoping the new owner of this contemporary homage to the SLR cooked up by Mercedes and its then F1 partner McLaren gets more use out of it than the previous owner – they bought it new 14 years ago and the car hasn’t been out of storage since, with the odo showing just 45km. Its mighty AMG 5.5-litre, 24-valve supercharged V8 will be straining at its 625PS (466kW) leash. Even 14 years on, the SLR’s 0-125mph time of 10.6 seconds and 207mph top speed take some beating.
This is one of the ‘722’ commemorative editions to mark Mercedes-Benz's 1955 Mille Miglia victory in the 300SLR by Sir Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson.
8. 1937 Maserati 4CM
Sold for €793,500
This single-seat grand prix Maserati from the 1930s is a true work of art. So much so that its owner in 1968 drained it of its fluids and hung it on a wall inside their house where it stayed, like a giant three-dimensional Italian masterpiece, for 38 years.
The 4CM was born to race, though, and in the hands of its first owner, Count Johnny Lurani, and drivers like Luigi Villoresi, race this car did, winning the Italian national championship. It didn’t always go well though: Lurani turned it upside down in the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace in 1938, an accident that ended the count’s single-seater racing career. After that Lurani advertised it for sale in The Motor at £795. Now professionally overhauled and ready to race after its wall-hanging, the 1,100cc four-cylinder 4CM has recently proven how quick it is in the Monaco Grand Prix Historique.
7. 1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Bonhams isn’t saying what this Daytona went for, though we can assume it was less than the Zagato and more than the Maserati 4CM. So, the best part of a million euros. And why not? The Daytona is after all the defining front-engined V12 Ferrari of the 1970s, its shark nose, endless bonnet and cut-off tail among the most recognisable supercar shapes ever and a design acclaimed as being among Pininfarina’s greatest work for Maranello.
In short, everyone loves a Daytona and this blue one with a rare matching blue interior, 36,000km and matching numbers and Classiche certification ticks plenty of boxes. Just remember no Daytona ever had power steering…
6. 2016 Zagato Mostro
Sold for €920,000
Zagato rarely fails in the turning-heads stakes and here’s a head-turner definitely worthy of Italy’s most distinctive carrozzeria. Monster by name, monster by nature, it’s a tribute to the Maserati 450S of the 1950s, conceived and built in 2015 to mark Maserati’s centenary. The 450S had been designed by Zagato, and British aerodynamicist Frank Costin, to a brief from Sir Stirling Moss for a closed bodywork coupe to race at Le Mans, which it did, unsuccessfully, in 1957.
The 450 S was a dramatic-looking beast whose proportions and styling cues Zagato reprised with dramatic effect for the carbon-bodied and V8-powered tribute cars. Just five road-registered examples were made, each selling for a reputed million. This one has barely been driven.
5. 1993 Porsche 964 Turbo S ‘Leichtbau’
Sold for €1.035 million
By the time the 964-gen 911 came out in 1989 the “widow-maker” reputation of the first 930 Turbo was fading fast, but that didn’t mean the new Turbo had gone soft. It eschewed the all-wheel drive and power steering that came in with other versions of the 964 and stayed with its predecessor’s single-turbo 3.3-litre motor. And it got faster – a lot faster in lightweight form as here.
‘Leichtbau’ spec shaved a huge 180kg off weight (no soundproofing, air conditioning, power steering or rear seats, thinner glass, aluminium doors) while more aggressive cams and higher boost pressure gave the blown flat six an extra 61PS (45kW), taking the total going to the rear wheels to 386PS (288kW). The Leichtbau variants were also rare, only around 80 ever being made, making it one of the most collectable 911s – and at a million euros, a pricey one, too.
4. 1991 Jordan-Ford 191
Sold for €1.495 million
Here’s an important chunk of motor racing history: it’s the car that sent seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher off on his winning path. As the team's spare car for the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps in ’91, it was given to the rookie Schumacher to see what he could do with it in the first practice session.
In what was Schumey’s F1 debut, he immediately posted the eighth fastest time, ahead of the team’s number one driver, Andrea de Cesaris. Jordan chief engineer Gary Anderson said at the time: “The thing that impresses me is that he hasn't even worked up a sweat!”. Maybe not, but neither had the young Schumacher learnt how to get a car with a full fuel load off the line at the start without burning out the clutch!
3. 1934 Aston Martin Ulster
Sold for €1.552 million
The Ulster, named after a famous 1-2-3 class victory at the Ards RAC Tourist Trophy in 1934, was Aston’s greatest prewar sportscar. A much-needed bid by the factory to turn race wins into commercial success, 31 Ulsters were built for private customers, each a replica of the winning short-chassis MkII works racers that had done so well in the Ulster TT.
Each Ulster was guaranteed to hit 100mph with full road equipment, phenomenal for a 1½-litre production car at that time. The Ulster cost £750 and today 28 of the 31 survive, testament to the model’s robustness. This million-pound plus example, restored in 2008, has a known history from new – including a run at Le Mans in 1935 when it finished 15th overall. The car was restored in 2008 – but not so much that you can’t still see the dents it got at Le Mans!
2. 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport
Sold for €2.185 million
Andrè Chambas was a French shoe magnate who loved his cars and racing, and Le Mans in particular. He competed in the French classic in his Talbot-Lago five times from 1949, designing his own lightweight and aerodynamic bodies for the Talbot chassis and even having a couple of whopping superchargers bolted on to boost power.
Chambas never won but he did sometimes finish the 24 Hours in this car, though not on his last attempt in 1953. On that occasion he spun out early on and, judging it too dangerous to get back facing the right way, he drove a mile backwards to find somewhere safe to turn around – unfortunately cooking the gearbox in the process. Today marque experts say M Chambas’s car is the two-seater Talbot with the most Le Mans starts and the most famous of the 36 T26 Grand Sports made. And a welcome entry in the Le Mans Classic? A shoo-in!
1. 1988 Ferrari F40
Sold for €2.185 million
Bonhams’ biggest-bucks car in Paris was what for many is the epitome of raw excitement. The F40’s place in supercar history is assured – the first Ferrari road car credited with over 200mph, the final road car developed under Enzo Ferrari – as is its status today as one of the all-time great Ferrari icons, despite not having a great racing heritage and hardly being all that rare.
Ferrari originally capped production of the composite-bodied, turbocharged 478PS (352kW) V8 Berlinetta at 400 but ended up making 1,315 of them, all red, to meet demand. That demand seems as strong as ever.