SERIOUS BUSINESS AT TECHNO CLASSICA ESSEN – 4

Hello, I am your host for today, and may I present you my next tour around Essen’s treasures. When I was walking between those irresistible automobiles, I found my next holiday location, Osnabrück! This might sound not so exotic, but I found out that it actually is… This is why: a Porsche 904 GTS, Maserati Mistral, Horch 853, Jaguar D-Type, the streamlined Fiat Abarth 1000 Pininfarina Record car and many more from tropical Osnabrück.

The great thing about exhibitions, concours and most of the auctions, especially if I go there with my dad, is that I learn so much. After such an event I realize that I have discovered so many new icons of automobiles and many other exciting cars. Perhaps you forgot, but it was only one year ago when… Continue reading

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SERIOUS BUSINESS AT TECHNO CLASSICA ESSEN – 3

You probably already know that Techno Classica is in scale the largest exhibition in Europe when it comes to vintage and classic cars, so there is still a lot to share with you. Last report we were at the ‘card board’ replica palace. Around it several very special cars were exhibited that have been driven in the Mille Miglia. One of the most iconic superstars was the Mercedes 300 SLR. Juan Manuel Fangio was second on the stage of the 1955 Mille Miglia with this German marvel. More sporty icons were a Ferrari 750 Monza, a highly original Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo, Fiat 8V Zagato, Maserati 300 S, Maserati A6GCS, a Porsche 550 Spyder, etc.

Another part of the exhibition was the upstairs hall where a lot of clubs found their spot. By the way, I have not even seen the entire exhibition in one day, sadly. While making a short walk around the clubs, I was first not so impressed, but then… Continue reading

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SERIOUS BUSINESS AT TECHNO CLASSICA ESSEN – 2

Jetzt gehts los! Let’s get back in the German mood, because we need to finish the Essen tour. In Paris I found my ugliest car, but at Essen I had a second encounter with this Mercedes-AMG CLK GTR. Now that I know that it is carrying a super serious engine I kind of love it, and I had heard of its performance and other stories…

I can imagine that most ladies don’t care much about car facts and stories, but luckily there were enough Louis Vuitton bags, and for the more openminded even exquisite lamps for decoration in your house. A large vintage headlamp on a tripod, how cool is that? To stay a bit closer to Paris, I encountered two other lovely automobiles that I had seen before. Mark Hyman displayed a couple of car striking like… (I am not allowed to say this word anymore), the Pininfarina aerodynamic X Concept, and guess what I found out… You can soon admire this unique car in The Hague… do I need to say more? One car I fell in love with the first time I saw it… Continue reading

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MIURA AND PESAGO PARADISE

For the ones who did miss Amelia Island, here is a nice photo report for you. It was the perfect place for Lamborghini to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Miura. A large selection of Pegasos did accompany the Miura’s, probably 12 in total, which were also at Retromobile in 2015. The Louwman Pegaso won the postwar Best od Show award. The prewar Best of Show award went to the Nethercutt Colllections’s RR P2 Town car with rear door caning. If the RR was really the best one, some might doubt about that… And always a pleasure to see the blue Hispano-Suiza twins! Click here for the photo report

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BONHAM’S INVISIBLE RUNWAY – PART 2

Let’s first finish the older selection with the Edwardians. How are those vehicles doing in the current market, and how wanted were they in the Grand Palais?

The 1914 Renault 22CV Type EE Limousine with coachwork by Letourneur et Marchand did not go for €180,000 – 240,000. That same year the 1914 Adler 35/80hp Phaeton was built, and it is a sole survivor of only four made! Not rare enough as it didn’t go for the estimate of €130,000 – 160,000. Again, from the same year was the 1914 Peugeot 14hp Type 144A ‘Coloniale’ Tourer, which sold for €34,500. But it was a no go for the 1906 Ford Model N Cabriolet. An estimate of €25,000 – 35,000 seemed too much. The 1912 Clément-Bayard AC4A 10hp Tourer had been owned since 1958 until the moment in Paris, when a new owner had €26,450 in his pocket and spent it. The 1913 Renault DG Tourer was again another woody goody in the wheels and did sell for €41,400, also a new owner after a long time… The previous ownership had been since 1968. Hard to tell if they are really that high in demand, since it was a bit of a mixed bag here… Anyway, I think they didn’t do too badly and fetched very reasonable prices.

Now the real treat for me… Continue reading

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RM SOTHEBY’S PARIS ‘BARGAINS’

The first auction that was to be held in Paris during Retromobile was the RM Sotheby’s sale at the impressive Place Vaubain. Earlier on I presented you my shopping list of a few of their more affordable stars. Let’s now take a look how they actually did. I took a good look at the lots during my preview and I will make a list of the, for me, most striking ones. But first my shopping list from an earlier article.

One of my fave lots was the 1965 Maserati Mistral 3.7 Coupé by Frua. The Mistal is one that is making a good name and so it was not a surprise that this one sold for… Continue reading

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THE GREAT ARTCURIAL MOTORCARS AUCTION CINEMA

We have all been waiting for the legendary sale of the Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti, or as my mom called it, that “little red car” of the auction. The Retro week was quite busy with three major auctions, but for sure Artcurial stole the show in a typically passionate French way. A large collection went under the hammer, and 80% sold for a total of €56 million, a European record, of which the 335 is claimed to be the world record for a motor car at auction. The 335 sold for €28 million, but with premium added, it actually yielded €32.1 million! A price unaffordable except for the few. Four automobiles were sold over a million, so enough ‘bargains’ still.

The big and black room downstairs was incredible and very very busy! The auctioneers knew how to fill the space with their voices/songs, and even if they made a mistake, I still like them. The 335 was one big spectacle. The lights were switched off and then… A movie started showing in full song the excitement of the 335. It took a while to… Continue reading

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ITALIAN PASSION BRUSSELS

Italian Passion means nothing less than fierce classics. The stallions are resting and behaving well, but somehow you see how badly they want to hit the road again to roar loudly and catch every car in front of them. There was one holy bull featured and it was such an honor to meet a machine like the…

Some of you have already been waiting for this report, so here it is: the report of the Italian Passion exhibition in Auto World Brussels. This event runs from 3 December to 31 Januari and at the same time you can see the standard collection of Auto World, which has the best of Belgian marques on show. All great, but… Continue reading

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CAN INTERCLASSICS BEAT RETROMOBILE? – PART 3

You probably know that petrol heads can talk for hours… I became just the same in less than a year. Today the final part of my Interclassics adventure. I hope my reports made you enjoy the event, especially if you weren’t there. Or that you can now look back at this event to remember what made it so nice.

I was sad to leave without completing my to-do-list, but at 8.00 pm it was time to close the doors for the crowds. Of course we left a bit later as it was too cosy at the stand of LMB… Adventurer, world traveller, Bentley driver, Bugattist, and so on… Kjeld Jessen told me all about the Barnato family history, and the Blue Train story. As you know, I recently wrote about this on CHB. There are however some corrections that should be made following Kjeld’s explanations, but that’s not to be ashamed of. This was quite a blooper, talking to a Bentley connoisseur, but luckily Kjeld is… Continue reading

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CAN INTERCLASSICS BEAT RETROMOBILE? – PART 1

As promised, here is a report about Interclassics Maastricht. It was my first time visiting this “Premiere Classic Car Show of the Benelux”, and I did not expect all that much, since Retromobile really is the holy exhibition for my dad and me. Earlier on I wrote you a report of Interclassics Brussels, which is a nice exhibition, but it needs to mature, which is not unusual for such a young show… So there I was with my lovely dad, the most popular day, Friday. In the parking it seemed that there was quite a crowd accompanying us. While entering the arena, a DB5 and a DB4 welcomed us with a tempting wink. I was already in trance ; )

Divided in three spacious halls, there was a wide range of stands and cars. Obviously you see that post-war sports cars are high in demand, especially the famous classic Porches 911, of course. Classic sports cars continue to gain compared with for instance prewar cars, because the mid-aged generation is now able to purchase their dream poster car that was once hanging above their beds when they were a kid. Not many of them may have had a poster of a 1947 Alfa 6… Continue reading

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HOW MUCH CASH IN OLD SOCKS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

A number of articles ago, CHB presented a special one-off concept car for those who still have hidden socks with cash. On December 10th RM Sotheby’s held their NYC Driven by Disruption auction. Our NYC correspondent Walter Jamieson was present and noted down for you the hammer prices of his favorites, which he dealt with in a previous article about great dashboards.

The following prices are… Continue reading

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WATCH OUT FOR THE BULLS WHILE BARN FINDING!

It is great to see some action caused by a CHB article. Barn finding is something that is so intriguing for most of us, a special dream we are all looking for. Sometimes this dream becomes reality, but the next question will be, will your dream actually come true, or will it become one of the most disappointing experiences in your life. I suppose this last possibility will have been experienced by many…

My father used to look for barns a lot, with the hope of finding that old rusty and dusty treasure, mostly Buagttis. Like the story I shared with you titled ‘La clinique des chocs and the Russian princess’ (the very first article on CHB). To find that special sleeping beauty is just the jackpot in a lottery, especially in the time we live in now. I very much believe that unknown barn finds don’t really exist and if they do, it is a real miracle on earth. Most of the time there are people who know about the barn find, but their lips are sealed ; ) Once… Continue reading

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UPDATE ON MY APPRENTICESHIP

As promised, I will keep you posted about my apprenticeship at ERK. I must admit, every day this work gets more and more fun! We even have a barn find section in the garage, just to relate to yesterday’s article… ; ) The diversity of cars that come in is large, pre- or postwar, patinated like a Brescia, finely restored like a Hispano H6C (the gorgeous H6C with Kellner coachwork shown below is mostly restored by ERK, also the special Chromos bumpers), or sporty like a Lambo GT400, all great to work on.

A job I really enjoyed, was installing the overhaul sets of the 6-double Weber carburetors for the Lambo GT400 V12. When assembling 6-double Webers you soon find out how they are put together and what every part means for the function of the carburetor – fascinating. With an excellent manual, which had every part numbered, it was almost as simple as assembling an Ikea closet… ; ) While dong the job… Continue reading

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REMEMBER “THE ITALIAN JOB” AND THE SPECTACULAR DESTRUCTION OF A MIURA? IT’S NOW FOR SALE…

No, they won’t offer you a crashed Miura that is still lying in the abyss. What they do offer? Just continue reading and you will find out.

If you have been following CHB for a while now, you will probably remember that once upon a time… Some nut heads pushed a Miura P400 off a cliff with a bulldozer! This sounds like madness, because who would ever destroy a Miura on purpose? While digging a bit further into this crazy story, it appears that… Continue reading

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TOPLESS LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR SV ROADSTER

To calm you down after that vid of the crashed Miura in The Italian Job, I want you to meet the all new Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster. If you like to experience the wind flowing thru yr hair at 217 MPH in a very special exclusive sexy and catchy Lambo, then hurry, because only 500 of this Aventador SV will be built, starting in Spring 2016! By the way it costs €357,000 plus local taxes, a bargain compared with the Miura : P 740bhp and acceleration of 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds, looks not too bad for a ‘bargain’ Lambo…

I suppose I can call this SV Roadster a limited edition? After digging into the Miura history, I am really glad to see that the SV (Super Veloce) is still very much alive and HOW, just look at this beauty! I hope that all of the 500 SV Roadsters will find good caring owners. Click here for more of the SV!http://crankhandleblog.com

OUCH, THIS HURTS! – OR WAS IT ALL FAKE IN THE ITALIAN JOB? : (

It hurst literally as well as figuratively to see a Miura being crashed on purpose, but that is exactly what they did in that famous movie The Italian Job. And then they simply pushed the car over the hill into the abyss. Click here to see what I mean. First I was in a state of shock, but then I decided to go and look further, to see if this car was real, or just a mock-up.

Well, for sure the Miura driven into the tunnel by Rossano Brazzi is real, but what came out was not. HERE is the full story of what is now believed to be the long-lost Miura used for The Italian Job. 

It is incredible, the amount of… Continue readinghttp://crankhandleblog.com

THE COMPLETE MIURA FAMILY TOGETHER! – PART 3

Yet there are three members of the Miura family left to be discussed, starting with a one-off, the 1968 Miura Roadster #3498 designed by Gandini! This unique concept Roadster has no roof what so ever (not even a removable roof), it looks a bit like a targa-model. Bertone built the Roadster, based on a P400, as a show car. It made its debut at the 1968 Brussels Auto Show where it was exhibited on the Bertone stand. You can find some more Miura’s with this ‘targa’ roof, but this blue Bertone Miura, later named the ZN75, was the only Miura Roadster built by the Lamborghini Works.

Obviously the roof had gone but there were also other changes, like… Continue readinghttp://crankhandleblog.com

THE COMPLETE MIURA FAMILY TOGETHER! – PART 2

We already met the P400 and P400S, time for the P400SV! This was the last model in the P400 line that actually looks like the other Miuras. The P400SV can easily be distinguished from its predecessors, the P400 and P400S, because the SV doesn’t have the striking characteristic of the ‘eyelashes’ around the headlights. It also has wider rear fenders to accommodate the new 9-inch-wide (230 mm) rear wheels and Pirelli Cinturato tires, and different taillights.

Production started in 1971 and a total of 148 SV Miuras were built until 1973, so a VERY exclusive car. SV stands for Super Veloce, which means high speed or super fast and it had an additional 15 HP (11 kW), raising the total power output to 385 HP (283 kW)! This was realized with the special Miura SV features such as… Continue readinghttp://crankhandleblog.com

POTW – AN EXTRA 5X – TOUR OF THE MIURA PRODUCTION LINE!

Today the Miura production line tour continues, including some pics of engine development and brainstorming by the men behind the Miura engine… at least that’s what it looks like. Just look at that powerful monster of an engine. This is what makes my day and probably yours as well.

One of the pics shows this HP beast with, I believe, Ferruccio Lamborghini himself in the center and to the left Gian Paolo Dallara. I am not sure about the person on the right, he is either in awe about this beauty of an engine or very pensive about a particular problem. Off we go to the next piece, part 2 of yesterday’s article! For sure CHB is in the Miura vibe! Click here for more POTWs!http://crankhandleblog.com

THE COMPLETE MIURA FAMILY TOGETHER! – PART 1

Today we dig a bit deeper into the production history of the grandiose Miura! I already introduced the P400, which was the very first Miura model, but that was just the beginning! By the way I forgot to mention that the P400 chassis is a design of Gianpaulo Dallara. Let’s take a look at the complete Miura family!

Early Miuras are known as the P400 model which stands for Posteriore 4 litri. Posteriore is Italian for behind, because obviously the engine was placed behind the seats in front of the rear axle, which the flashy butt of the Miura exposes when open… and 400 refers to the displacement.

The P400 is powered by a version of the 3.9 L Lamborghini V12 engine used in the 400GT at the time. It was always… Continue readinghttp://crankhandleblog.com

THIS IS WHAT WE PATROL HEADS LIVE FOR!

I love Discovery Channel’s Chasing Classic Cars by Wayne Carini. This vid shows how they found a very well preserved Miura! Wow, if I could wish one thing then it would be without a doubt finding a dusted Miura like they did!
 
Wayne takes a quick pit stop in the Midwest to inspect the rare Lamborghini hidden for years in a decrepit garage. This is like a fairy tale, lucky they were! Wayne is blown away by this garage find… like he said: “This is what you live for, to find something like this, unbelievable. It is in unbelievable great shape”, I totally argee! I don’t have anything to add, just blown away as well! Take a look at the MIURA vid by clicking here!
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POTW X4 – MIURA PRODUCTION LINE TOUR!

This week not just one POTW, but four! Since the theme is the Miura, I like to do a little tour around the Lamborghini factory where this piece of automotive art came alive! Bravo for the team that was in charge of assembling these supercars. Look at all those brand new V12 engines, those were the days! If this would still exist with the actual Miura parts etc. like in the pics, it would be heaven on earth! The men in the last pic together with the 700th Miura are legends. Thank you guys for making this beautiful supercar which now belongs to the true historical heritage of Lamborghini, deserving the terms supercar and classic high class car!

Lamborghini is a brand for which I have great fascination, like Ferruccio Lamborghini was fascinated with fighting bulls… He named some of his cars after the legendary fighting bulls, like I named my horse after his brand and the Miura… Famborghini Miura! By the way, it is a great horse which proudly bears that name; a powerful, intelligent, graceful and fierce piece of HP he is : ) Tomorrow the dream car continues! Click here for the other three POTWs.http://crankhandleblog.com

SMOKING HORROR, THATS ALL I CAN SAY! POOR MIURA : (

Just can’t watch this whole vid, it hurts too badly : ( Why is everybody just staring at this horror? DO something! Save this legendary car! It makes me very very sad to see this. Such a valuable car, a historical heritage, just gone up in flames. The poor Miura SV seems to be ‘screaming out loudly’ for help… Where is that damn fire department?

Dear patrol head friends let us pray that this will never happen again! Oh, and make sure you always carry a good fire extinguisher on board of your treasured car!http://crankhandleblog.com

THE FIRST SUPERCAR IN HISTORY? TAKE A LOOK AT THIS P400 BULL!

Finally the Miura! This is one of my fave supercars, streamlined refinement at its best. Some say that this was the first supercar in history, I think that the Miura deserves that title, so THE first supercar in history it is!

There is so much to tell about this car so let’s start with the name. Miura is derived from the ferocious Miura bulls, an Andalusian breed of fighting bulls. These bulls were known as the strongest of all as well as the most intelligent and fiercest. Many matadors did not succeed in getting out of the arena alive when fighting against this breed of bull, the unmistakable gaze of the Miura… Like the bulls, the supercar is… Continue readinghttp://crankhandleblog.com

MIURA I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU!

I am SO excited! Just found THIS movie L’Homme Orchestre with Louis de Funès! I have never seen it before or heard of it but there is a MIURA in it! I really love that car. It makes my heart beat faster and faster! So I am going to enjoy this supercar and you should as well! : ) Who cares that I had just finished the Funès week. This is FORMIDABLE, a yellow 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S! Of course many other classic cars/youngtimers also show up in this movie!
So tomorrow MIURA TIME! : ) YES!
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GRAB YOUR OLD SOCKS WITH CASH, THIS LAMBO CONCEPT ‘S’ IS GOING UNDER THE HAMMER! 

Talking about one-off concept cars, this one-off Lamborghini Concept S – based on the Gallardo – is going to be auctioned! The Concept S is to be offered by RM Sotheby’s at its ‘Art Automobiles’ sale in Manhattan on the evening of 18 November. The unique Lambo is expected to fetch between 2.4 and 3 million US dollars. So, if you still have some millions in your old socks, take your chance because cars like this are rarely for sale! The private collector who has owned it must have been in a tidying-up mood, I suppose…  Perhaps you now wonder, what about the CHB concept? Well this isn’t a classic yet, but obviously this one-off is going to be a very important part of the Lamborghini history if it isn’t already! So a promising classic for the future and CHB likes that!http://crankhandleblog.comHowever, like the Ghia Gilda, this concept was again more of a styling exercise than a vehicle for series production, so only 2 models were ever made. You will now think, do I read two… Continue reading