Thursday, January 30, 2020

World Record Ferrari Automobilia auction

I am big collector of automobilia and I know that you can pay some serious money to get your hands on rare material. One of the European auction houses I subscribe to Ni-Cola Classics in Ladenburg, Germany. In their January 2020 automobilia auction one rare piece of Ferrari literature has set a world record. Their press release says it all:

"For three thrilling minutes the prices were climbing without limits, bidders in the room competed against bidders on the telephone, then the gavel went down: Last Saturday, at a spectacular price of 110.000 Euro (including premium: 127,600 Euro), auctioneer Tobias Friedrich was able to knock down a rare Ferrari brochure from early days. With a starting bid of 25,000 euros, the entry bid was already at a high level. The buyer, a collector from the USA, wants to stay anonymous.

"This automobile brochure is by far the most expensive that has ever been auctioned," says Automobilia expert and auctioneer Tobias Friedrich of Ni-Cola Classics about the achieved price: “This world record sets a new benchmark". The auction house Ni-Cola Classics is specialized in Automobilia.

The English brochure (lot 799) was published in 1954 and only comprises four pages. It features the Ferrari 250 Europa, one of the early successful models of the legendary sports car brand from Modena. Today Automobilia experts are aware of only three versions of these brochures. "It is said that Enzo Ferrari had stomped down the edition because he didn't like the brochures," explains Tobias Friedrich. At that time only a few copies had already been sent to interested parties - the reason for their rarity today.

Last time a brochure from this series appeared was in 2007 at a Ferrari specialised auction in Gstaad. At that time, the highest bid was 17,000 Euros, which was considered impressive. In the past 12 years, the value has increased by 650 percent."


I am very happy to recommend Ni-Cola Classics as I've been subscribed to them for years. They do obtain a lot of Ferrari and Porsche literature as well as other European marques. Check them out online and sign up for their newsletter here: https://auction.nicola-ac.de/

Monday, January 20, 2020

Classic Cars and Coffee January 2020


After the huge turnout for the December Classic Cars and Coffee, the January turn out is usually quite subdued, but not this January. The weather was beautiful and just right for taking the classic out for a spin.

As always, there was an eclectic mix of vehicles.

The Patron Citroen H

Morgan row

A pair for Jaguar race replicas

1949 Morgan

1935 Bentley

Lamborghini

1931 Cadillac V16 coupe

Skoda Octavia

Lancia Stratos

Bentley 8

Holden EJ

Bentley

Volvo Amazon

Suzuki Carry

Bristol 403

1944 Kubelwagen

Aston-Martin DB6

Peugeot 503

Lancia Brio

Holden EK

My Tatraplan drew a lot of attention

Next Classic Cars and Coffee is Sunday 16 February 2020.

Paul Jaray biography

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Classic Cars and Coffee 29 December 2019


The end of year Classic Cars and Coffee is always a huge affair and the end of 2019 was no different. Some 700 cars attended and were spread over three car parks.

You had to be early to get a spot.  I arrived in the DKW about 7.45am. Here I am parked next to Dusan's 1965 Skoda Octavia.

Valiant Charger. My father in law owned a four door model exactly the same colour. I drove it for many years until an inattentive Hyundai driver drove straight into it. The Hyundai was completely destroyed and went flying off the road. I was amazed the driver managed to step out of the car unhurt. The Valiant's driver door and front wing was badly dented but I was able to drive away without a problem.

Jensen built Volvo P1800

Porsche 356

Volvo Amazons

Citroen 2CV

Ford Tudor

Citroen CX

Ford Cortina Mk II and Ford Anglia

Holden 48-215

Citroen SM and Corvette Stingray

Ferrari

1961 MG A

Honda Civic. You don't see many of these anymore.

MG YT

A rare car in Australia - 1925 Flint

Stark contrasts - where do you see a Renault 4 and a Bentley parked together?

1949 Vauxhall

Car park three

Lovely Porsche 356 and Lotus

Ford Mustangs

Lamborghini



Another rarely seen vehicle on the road - Steyr-Puch Haflinger. The Haflinger was designed by Erich Ledwinka, son of Hans Ledwinka, chief designer of Tatra. The Haflinger follows the 'Tatra design principle' of central tube chassis and independently sprung half axles.

Volkswagen buggies

Another lovely Porsche 356

Sunbeam Alpine

Vauxhall Velox

Cadillac Eldorados

Plymouth

Cadillac Eldorado

Jaguar E-Type

Triumph Dolomite Sprint

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

Alfa-Romeo Guilietta

Ford Consul

1936 Mercedes-Benz replica

Mercedes-Benz 300SL cabriolet

Messerschmitt KR201

Singer Gazelle cabriolet

Model A Ford and MG YT

Jaguar E-Type and Austin A40

Holden EK

1949 Volvo PV444 and Amazon

Bentley

1973 Jensen-Healeys

Renault 10 and Citroen 2CV with Hoffman convertible bodywork

Renault 17

Bentley

1964 Jensen and Jensen-Healey

New Renault Alpine, the old Renault Alpine and two Renault 8s.

1944 Volkswagen Kubelwagen

Corvette Stingray and Richard's Tyrepower https://www.richardstyrepower.com.au

More Corvettes

Lotus Europa

The crowds - it was huge!

A real surprise to see out - a Lancia Lambda.

Hillman Imp Californian

Heading off



New Classic Cars and Coffee is Sunday 19th January 2020