London, 3 December 2001
Prominent on display in the entrance foyer to the auction was the beautiful metallic blue
365 GTS/4 ”Daytona” Spyder s/n 15963, that will go under the hammer at the
company’s Gstaad auction on 18 December 2001. Within the lots on offer were
displayed on two floors of the exhibition area, with the automobilia section and bidding
area on the lower level.
Automobilia etc
There was an extensive range of toys models and automobilia on offer, ranging
through a superb selection of Rene Lalique glass mascots, original artwork, garage
signs, picnic sets, books, brochures and scale models, to trophies and F1
memorabilia. This section comprised of the first 690 lots of the auction, so the scale of
the range of items offered can be gauged by the number of lots. The highest figure
realised was £ 29,900-00 for lot 416, a Gordon Crosby watercolour painting of Charles
Jarrot in a 13.6 litre Panhard at the Circuit Ardennes in 1902, arounf three times the
catalogue estimate. There must have been fans of his work trying to outbid each other,
as three other examples of his work on offer all went above the estimate. Within the
Lalique section it was a sitting frog glass mascot ”Grenoille” that led the field, selling
for £13225-00, whilst the steering wheel from the 1929 World Land Speed record
breaking Napier Golden Arrow achieved £5175-00. A Maserati enamel garage sign
sold for a staggering £3450-00, eight time s the estimate, whilst a plastic ”Servizio
Assistenza Ferrari” sign made £1495-00, nearly six times the estimate.
At the other end of the scale, the modern F1 items in the main struggled to reach the
estimates, so perhaps now is a good time to buy and lay down these items for the
future. £12-00 would have bought you a large quantity of ”Grand Prix International”
magazines, or a Stewart Grand Prix supplement from Car Magazine signed by Rubens
Barichello.
Full Scale
In the automobile section there was a loan engine on offer, lot number 704, a Ferrari
750 Monza unit, stamped 0712M, with a number of parts apparently missing and
looking a bit sorry for itself, but it failed to sell. The biggest Ferrari attraction was the
750 Monza, # 0518M, that was re-bodied after an accident in 1956 by Scaglietti in a
style similar to that of the 500 TR. It was later believed to have been used by the factory
as a ”muletto” with a V12 engine, although this is not confirmed, before crossing the
Atlantic courtesy of Luigi Chinetti, who found many old racing Ferraris a new lease of
life in the USA. It subsequently returned to Europe and passed through a number of
hands before being acquired by the late Paul Kunkel in the early eighties, from whose
estate it was for sale. The V12 engine fitted is alleged to be of 3.3 litre capacity, but
carries no stamped number, the only figures found being on the water pump housing
stating ”128F”, which is a 250 GT engine type number, but who knows what is inside.
This car achieved the highest figure in the auction, selling for £377,700-00.
Two other cars from the Kunkel estate were equal second in the sales figures, the first
a 1933 Alfa Romeo 6C-1750 Gran Sport Spider with Touring coachwork, on chassis
number 121215050. This achieved £276,500-00, as did the 1955 Maserati A6G-2000
Zagato berlinetta, chassis number 2105, although this was an ongoing restoration
project, with the primer coated body mounted on the rolling chassis, but with none of
the mechanical or trim components fitted.
Of the other Ferraris on offer only the Dino 246 GTS sold at £40,000-00, whilst in the
Maserati section the Biturbo achieved £9200-00, and the 3500 GT went for £6750-00,
although it appeared to be in need of some TLC. From the Maserati family there was a
1949 OSCA MT4 Siluro Spider, chassis number 1112, finished in deep red with a black
interior, fitted with an 1100cc four cylinder twin cam engine, which went to a new home
for £155,500-00. There was also an aside to the Ferrari connection in the form of a
1971 Gipsy Dino P271 sports prototype, which is said to be a Dallara built car with a
dry sump fuel injected 2 litre Dino engine mated to a Hewland gearbox, but this was
another no sale.
The ”exotic car looks for the least money” deal of the day must go to the 1970 De
Tomaso Mangusta finished in bright yellow, which went for £13800-00. All that posing
power for so little, but don’t try and use the real power, as their handling reputation left
something to be desired!
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