Wednesday 18th May 2011

Ferrari 512BB/LM at 'Les Grandes Marques a Monaco'

....and other stuff makes us wish we'd paid more attention at school

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Ferrari 512BB/LM - yours for quite a lot

Some of the world's most well-heeled car collectors will gather in Monte Carlo this Friday (20th) to see who'll pay the most at auction for some rather exquisite machinery. The star of the show could well turn out to be a 'North American Racing' Ferrari 512BB/LM which the auctioneers reckon will realise something in the region of £1,000,000 - 1,300,000.

You'd think that a factory development of a superb road car car, with a wind tunnel-designed body and an alleged 480bhp on tap to propel just 1100kg might have made a formidable racer. It didn't. Despite being reportedly extremely fast, when they didn't retire (which most did) they managed only lowly finishing positions with the best result being 10th at Le Mans in 1980. We suspect, however, that when bidding starts on this one that won't matter one bit to people prepared beat each other with flipping great wedges of cash for the right to call it their own.

Or pick a GP winner for a lot less

If provenance-per-pound is what you're after then we reckon you'd be better off bidding for the 1958 'Walker' Cooper Climax Type 45 which actually won the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix and is anticipated will make between £130,000 - 175,000. Well... when we say 'won', it only did so after all the cars in front of it had failed - in fact only six cars finished that year with just three of them on the lead lap. (Coincidentally, on the list of DNQs for that race appears the name of one 'Bernie Ecclestone' in a Connaught-Alfa Romeo...)

Just some of the other cars for sale are Sir Malcolm Campbell's 1933 Rolls Royce Phantom II, a '64 Shelby Cobra 'Competition', a Ferrari 275GTS, an Alfa Romeo Tipo 33, and a Mercedes Benz 300SL Roadster. Bonhams expects each of those to be sold for at least £300,000, although recent results would suggest that they could make somewhat more than that.

But we'll take this one, thanks!

So, if unlike us you can afford to bid on some of these cars you probably have just enough time to alert your banker, don your H.Huntsman suit and Turnbull & Asser shirt, polish your John Lobb shoes, pack your Tanner Krolle luggage into the Continental, and adjust your Hermes tie before you roll (blast?) down to the Cote D'Azur and add a toy to the collection. One day, one day...

Sir Malcolm Campbell's Phantom	M-B Gullwing (you know what we mean) roadster - topical!
A 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS	Alfa Tipo 33. "Grandma, pack your bags..."

[V8 GRF]

Decisions, decisions.....

[Rusty-C]

Alfa Tipo 33 for me.

[AdamPT]

135k for a Monaco grand prix winner? NO. F. CHANCE!

[A3Sappy]

I fancy the 1965 Mercedes 600 Pullman that they have for sale...
"Formerly the property of the Government of the German Democratic Republic" !!

http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/19465/lot/134

[Goodfella 555]

Beautiful as they all are i couldn't justify that much even if i had billions. Especially when you consider that sub £1k XJR which was shed of the week the other day.

[iain1970]

Mini Mokes are quite pricey these days...

Panther Six for me I think.

Edited by iain1970 on Wednesday 18th May 11:11

[M666 EVO]

Rusty-C said:

Alfa Tipo 33 for me.

+100

[Fetchez la vache]

iain1970 said:

Panther Six for me I think.

Ditto, but love the cobra and never knew these even existed...


I'd LOVE that

[carl carlson]

Either that Merc 600 or this beauty

[g3org3y]

So. Much. Want.



^Why don't cars look this good nowadays?

Current Maserati Gran Cabrio in isolation is pretty darn fabulous to look at. However, when compared to this, it looks like an over detailed fussy mess (and that's saying something).

Calling new car designers: Please bring back simple elegant designs.

[Muncle Trogg]

Rusty-C said:

Alfa Tipo 33 for me.

+1

That car is absolutely gorgeous.

[Jgtv]

That Rolls is beautiful.

I want that badly.

[soad]

V8 GRF said:

Decisions, decisions.....

Easy to make

[Liokault]

g3org3y said:

So. Much. Want.



^Why don't cars look this good nowadays?

Current Maserati Gran Cabrio in isolation is pretty darn fabulous to look at. However, when compared to this, it looks like an over detailed fussy mess (and that's saying something).

Calling new car designers: Please bring back simple elegant designs.

Saw one of these in outside the pub in my village this weekend; I nearly went home to get a camera. It was really disappointing when it chugged off. It was like the guy could only just keep it turning over.

[BSC]

Down the road lives a man who owns two of those 300SL roadsters and one 300SL coupé. And on top of that a beautiful black MB 300 S Cabriolet, bjut this is registered in Ticino/Switzerland.

[soad]

Love the look of that 512BB- looks so appealing. Cobra more affordable though...

[GTRCLIVE]

So that's what it was.... Took these pic's in the pits at the Classic Le Mans....

If looks alone made cars fast then this one did it for me while I was there....

[fatboy69]

BB/LM for me please.

[Fetchez la vache]

g3org3y said:

Calling new car designers: Please bring back simple elegant designs.

Cars like these were designed for a different market. Top cars back then would be designed in concept for Hollywood legends in mind like... I dunno... Clark Gable with his lady(/ladies) motoring round the Italian lakes. Nowadays the main market seems to be for rappers and rich oil types parking on a double yellows outside a swanky restaurant and who want to shout about how much money they have.

Elegance has gone. It's all about brashness now

[bobberz]

Re: the Cooper GP car, a win is a win, right? 130 grand for a Monaco GP winner seems like the bargain of the millenium, especially compared to that 512BB/LM (lovely though it is).

My million pounds would go to the Cooper, Cobra, and 300SL, rather than the Fezza. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the SL went for more than the estimate.