Vintage Cars From Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum Head to Auction
Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Aside from August and its Monterey Car Week, rarely does a single month provide collectors with as many holy-grail automobiles crossing the auction block as this one. RM Sotheby’s is offering nearly a dozen standouts from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, divided among three sales. On February 1, in Stuttgart, the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen, driven by both Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, is poised (as of press time) to be the second-most-expensive car sold at auction, should its high-end estimate of more than $52 million be realized. Here, Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum, and Nic Waller, president of the Audrain Automobile Museum, comment on five more from this incredible group.
-
1965 Spirit of America Sonic I
Image Credit: Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s In the mid-1960s, with the space age still nascent, rockets developed in pursuit of the land-speed record were all the rage, and Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats the primary launch pad. Among the notable names vying for bragging rights was Craig Breedlove. In 1965, he manned the cockpit of the Spirit of America Sonic I, which was powered by the F-4 Phantom II Interceptor’s GE J79 turbojet engine and catapulted to an official speed of 600.601 mph—a record at the time. “Few individuals would strap themselves onto a jet engine with a goal of reaching 10 miles per minute,” says Kendall. “Yet Craig Breedlove was willing to take such a risk to prove what can be achieved with talent, perseverance, and a substantial helping of courage.” His four-wheel missile has never been available to purchase until now.
Estimated at: $500,000 to $1 million
Number Built: 1
Output: 15,000 pounds of thrust (with after-burner)
Years at the Museum: 50
Auction: Miami, February 27 and 28 -
1930 Bugatti Type 35B Grand Prix
Image Credit: Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s Debuted in 1924, Bugatti’s Type 35 proved to be the fastest car at the grueling Targa Florio five years in a row, took the checkered flag at the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix in 1929, and went on to become among the winningest models to date. By the end of production, the Type 35B Grand Prix version was equipped with a 2.3-liter supercharged eight-cylinder engine that enables the car to reach 60 mph from a standstill in six seconds and crest 125 mph. Those performance specs served this example well as it competed extensively before and after World War II. “A Bugatti was not manufactured, it was crafted,” says Kendall of the original marque’s automobiles. “Even the racing Type 35B possesses design nuances that combined with its careful engineering to form an artistic masterwork… and continues to captivate collectors and historians.”
Estimated at: $1 million to $1.8 million
Number Built: About 45
Output: 138 hp
Years at the Museum: 65
Auction: Miami, February 27 and 28 -
1957 Chevrolet Corvette SS Project XP-64
Image Credit: Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s It’s hard to imagine today, but the Corvette almost didn’t make it out of the 1950s. To boost slacking demand, engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov embarked on developing what RM Sotheby’s touts as “the first purpose-built GM race car”—the 1957 Corvette SS Project XP-64. With a magnesium body wrapped around Chevy’s 283-cubic-inch V-8, the experimental machine was entered in the 1957 12 Hours of Sebring but only completed 23 laps before mechanical issues forced its exit. Yet several of its features, such as the fuel-injection system, would be incorporated in subsequent production ’Vettes. “You can easily recognize a few styling cues from Malcolm Sayer’s gorgeous design of the D-Type Jaguar, but with a very American flavor,” says Waller, while Kendall calls it “the ultimate blend of concept-car looks and brutal performance.”
Estimated at: $5 million to $7 million
Number Built: 2
Output: 300 hp
Years at the Museum: 58
Auction: Miami, February 27 and 28 -
1966 Ford GT40 Mk II
Image Credit: Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s The Mk II variant of the Blue Oval’s game-changing GT40 featured a larger NASCAR 427-cubic-inch V-8 engine as well as improved cooling and aerodynamics compared with its predecessor. Of the examples sent to Le Mans in 1966 (a race immortalized in the Hollywood blockbuster Ford v Ferrari), chassis No. P/1032 had already finished second at that year’s 12 Hours of Sebring with the Holman-Moody team and was competing in France under the same banner. Unfortunately, while Ford famously swept the three podium spots, the car on offer failed to finish, though its rarity and contribution to motorsport history add to its blue-chip value. Yet that’s not Waller’s focus. “After [more than] 50 years of being cared for at the museum, I hope that the next owner will let the car loose at one of the historic race events,” he says. “It deserves to race again.”
Estimated at: $8 million to $11 million
Number Built: 8
Output: 485 hp
Years at the Museum: 57
Auction: Miami, February 27 and 28 -
1964 Ferrari 250 LM
Image Credit: Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s One of the most heralded race cars from Maranello, this 1964 Ferrari 250 LM was campaigned in six 24-hour endurance races from 1965 through 1970. The crowning achievement was its overall win at the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans with Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt taking turns behind the wheel. That victory marked the only time a Prancing Horse entered by a privateer, in this case Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team, took top honors at Circuit de la Sarthe’s iconic race. “I can’t wait to learn where it will go, but whoever becomes the next caretaker will, I hope, treasure its incredible purity of preservation,” says Waller of the car, which retains its matching-numbers engine and gearbox. “It is probably the most important of the 32 [Ferrari] 250 LMs built… truly among the top dozen cars in the world.”
Estimated at: Over $26 million
Number Built: 32
Output: 320 hp
Years at the Museum: 54
Auction: Paris, February 4 and 5
Authors
-
Viju Mathew
