Eight classic stunners at the Bonhams Quail sale

1967 Ford Gt40 MkIV – $3-3.5m

We should be familiar with this machine – it’s raced at both the Goodwood Members’ Meeting and Revival – but even so in MkIV 7.0-litre form it still needs a double-take, the MkIV being different in lots of ways from the more familiar earlier GT40s.

Mind you, it’s clearly a GT40 compared to what it was originally developed as. As one of a dozen “J-cars” – GT40 chassis surplus to requirements after Le Mans changed the engine rules from 1968 – it was built up as a Group 7 Can-Am open cockpit car, complete with larger fuel tanks and massive Chaparral-style dihedral rear wing. In this (totally unrecognisable) form it was tested by Mario Andretti who called it one of the scariest cars he had ever driven.

Today J-9 is back in MkIV bodywork (the Can-Am body is included in the sale) and is a regular in historic racing. What price this rare piece of GT40 history? Around three million bucks – and to think Ford originally sold the car for one dollar!

1928 Mercedes-Benz Type S, $3-4m

As chief engineer at Mercedes at the time, Ferdinand Porsche was the genius behind the Type S, a car acclaimed as a powerful and versatile all-rounder, at home on the track and on hillclimbs, and an exhilarating drive on the road.

Its secret weapon was a Roots-type supercharger which lifted power from the 6.8-litre inline six from 118 to 177PS (87 to 130kW). There might not have been anything else to touch the Type S for performance, but even its superstar buyers found it too rich when the Depression hit and only 146 were ever made.

1930 Bucciali Tav 30 ‘La Marie’

Bucciali wasn’t really a manufacturer, more an R&D centre that came up with clever stuff – like front-wheel-drive, which it is accepted they perfected – as technology they could sell to the big automakers. The handful of chassis the firm did make were prototypes to show off how innovative the French Bucciali brothers were.

The car you see here, the only surviving genuine Bucciali chassis, was shown off a lot – at motor shows not just in Paris but also in New York and Chicago where its unique front-drive system and transaxle are said to have had an enduring influence on the US auto industry.

Today this super-rare and impeccably engineered luxury tourer is clothed by a magnificent torpedo Cannes body by Jacques Saoutchik. Got your own motor museum? Whatever the car sells for – Bonhams is offering no guide price – you need this in it!

1948 Talbot-Lago T26, $1.8-2.3m

No top-class concours lawn anywhere in the world is complete without a Talbot-Lago evocatively draped in the sublime coachwork of Figoni et Falaschi. And this Decapotable cabriolet, one of only two survivors of this type, ticks all the Figoni et Falaschi boxes with its dished 'butterfly' front fenders, swept-back tail, chrome bonnet spears, flush door handles, rear wheel spats and chrome trim. 

It all looks very different from how it was in 1967 when the car was saved from a Belgian scrapyard. Now it is absolutely glorious – and well up for its premiere on the world’s concours lawns.

1974 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12, $1.7-2.2m

Derek Bell called this Alfa Tipo 33 “phenomenal” and he should know: he and Henri Pescarolo drove this very car to first place at Spa, Zeltweg and Watkins Glen in 1975 as part of the Alfa works team that clinched world championship glory that year.

Any Tipo 33 is potent and pretty, especially when like this one it is in its ’70s Campari livery, but the flat 12-engined versions are the megastars. Hard not to be with around 500PS (368kW) at 11,000rpm. This is just one of six made in period and as Bonhams says, it is “among the most significant Alfa Romeo racing cars of the postwar era.”

1952 Ferrari 212 Europa cabriolet, $1.7-2.1m

With a dozen cylinders each of 212cc – hence the model name – the Colombo-designed V12 engine under Ghia’s shapely coachwork endowed this ‘50s Ferrari with 168PS (124kW) and plenty of performance. The 212 could equally win a race as it could ruffle the hair on a spirited drive along the Cote d’Azur.

This example is an award winner after a restoration in 2017, looking as splendid today as it did in 1952 on the Ferrari stands at the Geneva and Turin motors shows.

1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider America, $1.1-1.3m

Bonhams says this is “one of the most achingly beautiful cars we have ever offered” – and who will argue with that? Supermodel looks, courtesy of Pinin Farina, and a refined drive made the B24S Spider a big hit in its day – Brigitte Bardot was one famous owner.

The B24S Spider, lighter and sportier than the B24 convertible, boasted not just beauty but signature Lancia advanced engineering – unitary construction, independent front suspension, de Dion rear end with transaxle, inboard brakes and a race-developed alloy V6. The spec still sounds advanced today.

This example was a Californian-delivered car, one of 181 left hookers ever built, which following a five-year restoration (in Australia) is now back in North America and looking for a new owner. Won’t be hard to find, surely…

2018 Aston Martin DB4 GT Continuation, $1.2-1.6m

Aston was early on the continuation bandwagon – building faithfully recreated replicas that maintain an unbroken bloodline with the classic originals – and undoubtedly one of its greatest continuation hits was the DB4 GT Continuation.

Twenty-five were hand-assembled by Aston at the old works in Newport Pagnell of which this example, in Moonshine Silver with red leather interior, is one. It went new to its first and only Texas owner in 2018 and has been driven for just 100 miles since. With Aston’s triple Weber’ed inline-six (330PS, or 243kW), four-speed manual ‘box and live rear axle, it stays true to the breed while being updated for safety and reliability.

In 2016 we reported the continuation cars would be selling for around £1.5m each, so at this guide price, for what is still a factory fresh machine, it could be a snip; real DB4 GTs can go for £3m.

Bonhams’ Quail Lodge Auction starts at 11:00 Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on 13^th August 2021, and you can read the full catalogue here.

Images courtesy of Bonhams.