The big day last week was the day of the Frederiksen Auction at the lovely estate of Lyngsbækgaard in Denmark. An auction without any Porsches or Ferraris… just unbelievable! That is why a lot of vintage patrol heads must have looked forward so much to this event! A huge collection went under the hammer with many RRs (which Henrik Frederiksen obviously loved!) and mostly English, American and German marques. Almost the entire collection consisted of cars restored to the finest detail, but some had new bodies. Also several fine original cars crossed the blue catwalk. Not many French cars, except that FANTASTIC Hispano-Suiza (also two Citroens – a DS23 Pallas and SM coupe – also a Renault V-1 20/30 Cape Top Victoria)! The Auctioneer, Malcolm Barber, did a great job with all his jokes. Another thing… the weather was really great! 

The highlights of this auction were definitely the the ex-Maharaja of Patiala 1933 Maybach DS-8 Zeppelin Cabriolet, which achieved a highest bid of a hefty €2,306.000 (DKK 17,200.000), but didn’t sell. The 1930 Duesenberg Model J Roadster, sold for €2,389,506 (DKK 17,825,000), the record of the day! The car with the best name would be the RR Playboy Roadster… possibly the new owner is a playboy too? ; )

To come back to one of the highlights… “It’s a Doozy”! Duesenberg is a marque known as a symbol of wealth and luxury. If you drove a Doozy, you had the very best. This Doozy is a car with a rich history, as it was delivered new to Shirley Carter Burden – great grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. Among its remarkable features was a twin-cam race-bred engine – a purpose-built 32-valve Lycoming 6,876 cc straight–eight, said the develop 265 bhp. The light coachwork by Murphy looks very smooth with its ‘disappearing top’. Of course this is a special one, because it is a model J. What makes it even more special is that it is also one of the most original examples to be found today plus an unbroken chain of ownership since it left the Duesenberg Works some 85 years ago. The only thing that isn’t original about the Doozy is a removable electric fan to assist cooling, but the original fan came with the car, so okay we can say its a 100% original Doozy.

The ex-Maharaja of Patiala 1933 Maybach DS-8 Zeppelin Cabriolet with coachwork in the style of Spohn was THE big star of the show and all the press people ran towards the stage when it drove onto the blue catwalk! A monstrous 9,922 cc SOHC 60 Degree V12 engine came into the sales room like a super dandy, just like in India in the days of its first owner, the super rich and opulent Maharaja of Patiala! It is rumoured this car is one of the most prestigious German automobiles in the world! The car has a remarkable history. It was once given by Adolf Hitler as a Gift of State from the Third Reich in expectation of neutrality, or favor for the German cause. The gift of this immense automobile was accepted graciously, but because of its ‘benefactor’ and the fact that it had been specially made to his orders, it was kept hidden for the duration of the war. The original body of the Maybach is to be found at the Museum for Historical Maybach Vehicles in Neumarkt, Gemany. So, yes it is not the original body and originally it was not a two seater. Its previous owner, Dr. Fassbender, decided he wanted a two-seater cabriolet, which was constructed on the chassis in accordance with a period Spohn design which had never been built. It took three and a half years for Reifen-Wagner, under the supervision of Rolf Wagner and Horst Duschek, to build this impressive piece of coachwork (between 2002 and 2005).

By the way this wasn’t the only Patiala car in the auction… Another one was the 1913 ROLLS-ROYCE 40/50 Silver Ghost tourer, which was sold for €524,149 (DKK 3,910,000). 

Now my own highlight of the day! My all time favorite automobile was for sure the 1930 Hispano-Suiza H6C Cabriolet de Ville with Kellner coachwork. I simply LOVE that car! I really feel connected to this car, as it was from a dear friend of my dad and I (who owned the car before he sold it to Henrik Frederiksen and also took the H6C to Pebble Beach in 2012). He once visited us at our home with this wonderful vehicle! I was extremely lucky to meet the new owner of this H6C and guess what…? He is an important collector of incredible cars, living near that great Hotel Koldingfjord about which I wrote last Saturday and he kindly invited me to come and see his enormous collection! So, next report will be another fantastic one, with lots of GREAT cars! I congratulate the new owner with his acquisition of the Hispano that will now join his diverse collection! I am glad that it stays close to the Netherlands, with such an incredibly nice owner! : ) 

Hispano-Suiza was, like Rolls-Royce, the world’s leading marque for royalty, nobility and gentry (also Maharajas as I mentioned in several of my Maharaja articles), movie-stars and wealthy people.

Coachwork on this H6C Hispano is by Kellner et Fils from Paris, although the door hinges keep puzzling some because they resemble the ones usually employed by Hibbard & Darrin (a coachbuilder also covered by CHB in an earlier article).

Previous owner, Jack Tattersall, loved detailing his cars with chrome accessories like step plates for example. Some think it is too excessive, but this was Tattersall’s personal taste, his style, his signature… After Tattersall, dear friend Hugo Modderman purchased the Hispano. He brought the car to (also our) mechanic Erik Vandalon located in the Netherlands (a great mechanic, I will soon write an article about the electromagnetic Cotal gearbox with him, a device featuring on both of our Delahayes). Erik dismantled all the parts of the chassis (while the body stayed on the chassis) and restored everything. The engine went to the highly respected Hispano-Suiza specialist Eric Limpalaer in Normandy, who also does work on one of our Hispanos. I was able to see his workshops and I can confirm that he does VERY fine work indeed! Eric Limpalaer restored the engine to perfect running condition and installed a brand new cylinder block. Hugo Modderman ordered Erik Vandalon to make a set of special Cromos bumpers, which add a very nice touch to the car, and also had some proper Kellner badges mounted on the body.

The powerful H6C, with its 6-cylinder 7,983 cc SOHC engine, fetched €400,820 (DKK 2,990,000). A nice detail is that new owner Jørgen Strøjer (owner of Strøjer Samlingen) immediately drove his Hispano home by road himself! He said he was extremely pleased with the performance of the car and it ran very smoothly on those lovely Danish winding roads! : )

There is so much to tell that I decided to split this report in two parts, so next up part 2!

Click here for a full overview of the auction results; prices include Premium.

Written by Rosemarijn Atalante Veenenbos