Buy a Grosser and Robert Stack's 300SL Roadster at Auctions America: First California auction starts with a bevy of Benzes

The star-studded star of the auction, Robert Stack's 300SL Roadster. Photo by Pawel Litwinski.

Our pick for the auction. Whack the peasants with your walking stick. Photo by Hugh Hamilton.

Just 1,100 miles, and still as cool as Need For Speed made it out to be. Photo by Hugh Hamilton.

Comes with a Becker Frankfurt radio and a certificate of authenticity from Porsche! Photo by Pawel Litwinski.

What's a nice gift between friends?

When Robert Stack won an Emmy for Best Actor in 1960 for "The Untouchables," "I Love Lucy" star Desi Arnaz toasted him by giving him a present as a token of success. That present just happened to be a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster, the one pictured above.

We're not saying it's connected, but Arnaz got divorced from Lucille Ball in 1960. That same year, he bought the Benz. Coincidence? There's a popular bumper sticker about boys and said boys' toys, but we won't repeat it here.

This car is not only rare because it's, after all, a freakin' 300SL -- it also has not one, but two examples of celebrity provenance. How much do you think it'll sell for? Two million? Three million? The combined GDP of Benelux? Whoever buys it is going to have a lot of 'splainin' to do, that's for sure.

Auctions America has been around since 2010, but this is its first California auction, happening Aug. 1-3 at the Burbank Marriott located conveniently by the airport. And what a lineup it's prepared for its West Coast debut: there's a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, an Irish Green 1968 Porsche 911 Targa, a Benz 190SL Roadster. How about a Jaguar XJ220, the wonderful and troubled 1990s supercar, with just 1,100 miles? How about a 1974 Ferrari Dino with Daytona seats, Becker radio, and mouse-fur upholstery? How about a hand for Burbank, Calif.?

And yes, the featured Benz is grand. (You can even bring copies of the "Vitameatavegamin" episode on VHS to help seal the deal at the next California Mille.) But what's even more grand than the 300SL is another fine Mercedes-Benz product, one that was produced a mere 14 years after Arnaz's car: the Grosser, a 1974 Mercedes-Benz 600 LWB Pullman Limousine -- Benz's all-singing, all-hydraulic wunderkind, this one as gray as Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. This one has 48,000 miles and a refrigerator, so you could conceivably live in it on a steady diet of Bitburger and Bierkase. There's the oft-popular divider window too, so you could rent out the front end as an additional bedroom at the rate equal to all those auction fees you'll have to cough up if you win.

Like its owners, the 300SL Roadster is obviously the star of the show, and will command most of NBC Sports Network's coverage when the auction goes live in August. (Car auctions are only classified a "sport" if its bidders check each other into the folding chairs with their elbows while raising their bid signs.) If star-struck provenance is lost on you -- as it is on us -- or if you don't have a bank account comparable to the claims made by email inbox princes, then the 600 Pullman is our bet for the three-starred elite. Boy, do we love ourselves a Grosser.

Read More

Romney's '64 Rambler on the eBay auction block

Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau – 30 days

It may not have driven up to the White House, but a nearly 50-year-old AMC Rambler now going across the eBay auction block has historic ties to two presidential campaigns.

According to a listing on the popular site, potential bidders have less than three days left to snatch up the 1964 AMC Rambler Classic once owned by former Michigan Governor George Romney. The one-time president and chief executive of American Motors had the white two-door when he made his run for the White House in 1968. His son Mitt used the car to launch his own bid for president in 2007 during a campaign appearance in suburban Detroit.

“What’s most amazing about this car is that it’s so well preserved and unrestored. The paint is all factory and in excellent shape for its age,” said the current owner, a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., resident who is selling it on eBay under the screenname “socalsoda.” He added that, “”What’s most amazing about this car is that it’s so well preserved and un-restored. To find a car this well preserved is rare, but to find a car this well preserved and with this documentation and ownership history is amazing. The paint is all factory and in excellent shape for its age.”

Known for his now out-of-style bipartisanship, the former business executive and politician acquired the ’64 Rambler after he had already left AMC to serve as Michigan governor. Romney was a champion of small cars, going so far as to blast American Motors’ bigger Detroit rivals for producing “gas-guzzling dinosaurs.”

It’s unclear how long he drove the six-cylinder coupe, though it was still in the family when Romney challenged President Lyndon Johnson during the 1968 campaign. The Michigan governor was considered a strong contender until being tripped up by his own explanation for becoming an opponent of the Viet Nam War, declaring that he originally had been “brainwashed” by the military.

The white Rambler remained in the family until shortly before the senior Romney’s death in 1995 when he donated it to the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Mich. Chrysler had purchased AMC more than a decade earlier. The coupe remained in the collection until just before Chrysler’s 2009 bankruptcy when, through a series of steps, it was sold to a collector in Northern California before being purchased by the current owner.

The current top bid as of Tuesday afternoon – was $10,500. The auction will close at 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22. It’s unclear whether any Romney family members are participating in the auction.

The Rambler features a 196 cubic-inch six-cylinder engine and, according to the current owner, is in good running shape, though he has kept it in a sealed garage unregistered since purchasing the Rambler.

As to Mitt Romney, it’s quite likely that he spent at least some time in the back seat of the ’64 AMC Rambler, as he would have been around 16 when his father purchased the coupe. In fact, the younger Romney and wife Ann received a later, blue model from the governor when they got married.


Copyright © 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau

Read More

World's largest treasure trove of small car goes to auction

Robert Frank, CNBC - 3 days

How many of the wealthy, Bruce Weiner likes to collect things.

The candy business, the assets of double bubble, Razzles chewing gum, wax lips and other sweets collects radios, watches, historic motorcycles and Volkswagen.

But his real passion lay in recent years since small cars. Very small cars. Over 11 years, Weiner, built, the world's largest collection of "Microcars" - three - and four wheels cars made after World War II, the early predecessors of the modern MINI Cooper and Fiat 500 are always popular smart cars.

Today and tomorrow will sell Weiner and RM auctions of the collection of more than 200 cars and 300 car-related collectibles. The collection is expected to be more than $6 million to pick up.

Weiner said he is selling the collection as part of a wider reduction of his lifestyle and desire to share the cars after years of hunting them down.

"I'm 54 and I am starting to make it easier," he said. "I want not my stuff to possess me."

He said that it took 11 years to build the collection. Microcars the poor cousin, muscle classic cars and exotics have always been, they have a cult following among collectors. Many Microcars were built after the second world war in Europe and Asia, money, fuel and raw materials were scarce. In many countries cars with three wheels does not require a driver's license, to make more attractive.

"they are very rare," said Weiner. "And they are part of the story."

Weiner said, was much of the joy of building the collection "the thrill of the hunt."

Take for example his ordeal with the purchase of the 1955 Kroboth all weather Scooter, a tricycle Convertible car design legend Gustav Korboth designed. Weiner is one that was a prime example of the car by an older man in Bavaria. Weiner went to the man's House all three months for three years, but the seller rigorously rejected.

He said "He me everytime chased from the property,". "He hit me with a shot gun or German shepherds either."

Eventually died of the owner and Weiner was friend of brother and sister of the husband, and convinced them to sell. The car was able to sell (there are no reserves in the sale) for $40,000 to $50,000.

Among the most valuable cars in the auction to be sold, is a 1958 F.M.R. TG 500 "Tiger", which could sell for more than $150,000. A modified 1959 BMW Isetta, called "Whatta drag," was $100,000 collected. The car was commissioned by Weiner look a famous hot wheels Gegenkraftracer. It is only one of four hot wheels are converted in real cars.

The smallest production car that ever built, will also be sold. The 1964 Peel P50 could for $35,000 to $40,000 sale. The sale of used slogan for the tricycle, "Almost cheaper than walking!" Apparently, no longer.

Read More

JFK’s hearse going on the auction block

DETROIT — If you’ve got the money you’ll be able to buy a memento of one of the saddest days in American history.

The hearse that carried John F. Kennedy’s casket to the Dallas airport in November 1963 will go on the auction block next month. It was used to transport both the casket and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy from Parkland Memorial Hospital to Love Field, where Air Force One was waiting for the return flight to Washington, D.C.

“The eyes of the world were on this car on that unforgettable day in American history,” said Steve Davis, president of the Barrett-Jackson Auction, which will handle the sale of the Cadillac hearse. “It’s one of the most significant and historical vehicles ever offered for sale.”

The hearse was originally created as a showpiece for a trade show by the Miller Meteor Company and then sold to the O’Neal Funeral Home, in Dallas just a month before JFK’s November 22, 1963 assassination.

The hearse remained in use at the funeral home until later that decade then sold to employee Arrdeen Vaughan. He, in turn, kept it for more than four decades. It was eventually sold to a private owner who is now putting it up for auction.

The Barrett-Jackson Auction also offered the 1963 Pontiac Bonneville ambulance claimed to have carried the mortally wounded president to the hospital after he was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. Though there had been some controversy when that ambulance went on sale last year.

As for the 1961 Lincoln Continental limousine that Kennedy was riding in, it was impounded after the assassination to serve as evidence. Codenamed X-100 by the Secret Service, it had cost an estimated $200,000 to prepare – more than 25 times the actual cost of a stock Continental at the time.

The limousine eventually went through an extensive renovation process that included the addition of an armored top. It was ultimately used by Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter before being retired in 1977. It is now on display at the Henry Ford Museum, in Dearborn, Michigan.

Copyright 2011 The Detroit Bureau. All rights reserved.

Read More