Why Weird Classic Cars Are In, From Autobleu to Lancia
Bonhams
At the Bonhams Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris auction in January, it was mostly business as usual: air-cooled Porsches went for predictably high money, as well as other blue chip investments like Bugattis and Ferraris. Sprinkled into the expected assortment of auction lots, however, were a few oddballs that generated some serious interest and equally high sale prices.
Perhaps collectors have grown tired of the de rigeur automotive assortment auction houses assemble—I’m looking at you, Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari F40, McLaren F1, and all the other usual suspects. Perhaps the weird cars are finally getting their due. I can only speculate—and perhaps this auction is an anomaly—but the results from this auction are telling: weird seems to be in.
Take the following four cars for example, each unusual in their own way, produced by some lesser-known manufacturers, and all coming from the world of motorsports. Some are pretty, some are brutish, but all of them represent a slice of time and technology that contribute to their intrigue. Without further ado, let’s get into the details.
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1969 Matra MS640 Continuation
Image Credit: Bonhams First up is this 1969 Matra MS640, a race car from a French brand that’s a deep cut even for automotive enthusiasts. Despite being a lesser-known manufacturer, Matra was quite successful in motorsports, especially between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s when it competed in F3, F2, F1, and even endurance racing. The MS640 was purpose-built as an aerodynamically efficient endurance racer with a singular focus on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it never ended up in competition due to a tragic testing incident that left the sole prototype nearly completely destroyed and its driver seriously injured.
This is not that car, however—this is MS640 Continuation, or MS640-02, a car built using the engine and transmission from the damaged original, body panels formed using the original molds, and constructed entirely in accordance with the original blueprints, down to the steel tube-frame chassis. Nestled behind the driver is Matra’s legendary MS9 V12, a 3.0-liter unit making nearly 400 horsepower that creates an eardrum-shattering shriek while making that power. Historically, race cars haven’t performed particularly well at auction, but given this is the only example of the Matra MS640 its final selling price of nearly $530,000 seems reasonable.
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1985 Lancia Delta S4 Stradale
Image Credit: Bonhams Lancia is the stuff of legend, known for its dominance in Group B rally throughout the 1980s with the 037 and the 037’s successor, the Delta S4. The Delta S4 was cutting-edge at the time, using all-wheel drive, a reinforced lightweight steel-tube chassis, a twin-charged engine (turbocharged and supercharged), as well as carbon kevlar bodywork. And it was successful right out of the gate, winning the first official race it entered in 1985. As part of the Group B stipulations, Lancia was required to build 200 road going examples to homologate the Delta S, the result of which was the Delta S4 Stradale. It was a comparatively tamer example of the full-on race spec S4 that still featured the tube-frame chassis but had its power capped at 247 horsepower (in race trim, the S4 developed up to 493 horsepower) and a real interior.
While there’s no official production number for the Delta S4 Stradale, Bonhams claims this example is one of 71, a number far short of the original 200 planned. (This was likely due to the S4 Stradale’s steep price—this particular example sold, when new, for £44,442 in 1987. Adjusted for inflation and converted to USD, that comes out to a hair over $162,000.) Finished in Nero Metallizato, this 1985 example has a criminally low 5,600 km on the clock. Its superb condition, low mileage, and rarity helped achieve a final sale price of $677,000.
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1986 Audi 5000 CS Quattro Speed Record Prototype
Image Credit: Bonhams To spread the word about Audi’s sporting pretensions in the North American market, the German automaker decided to take one of its unassuming sedans and attempt to set a speed record for an all-wheel drive vehicle at the Talladega Superspeedway in 1986. In standard form, no Audi—not even any Audi used in motorsport at the time—would have come close to being up to the task, so the 5000 CS Quattro sedan selected for the task required major improvements. With the focus being on the fastest achievable speed, Audi revised the car’s bodywork to be more aerodynamically efficient, put it on a strict diet, and beefed up its 2.2-liter inline-five cylinder turbocharged engine to develop 650 horsepower. The car bears more than just a striking resemblance to the standard 5000 CS Quattro, too; aside from a racing harness, a turbo boost knob, and a couple of extra gauges here and there, the interior looks stock.
Behind the wheel of the 5000 CS Quattro was American racing hero Bobby Unser, who was able to achieve a top speed of 206.3 mph at the Talladega Superspeedway on March 24th, 1986. Used for several other top-speed record attempts in the US, the 5000 CS Quattro would later become a workhouse for tire testing. Some lucky collector clearly understood the significance of this car, which sold for just over $130,000.
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1954 Autobleu 750 MM Coupé
Image Credit: Bonhams Last, and possibly the most unusual lot featured here, is the 1954 Autobleu 750 MM Coupé. A one-off prototype, the 750 MM Coupé was built by a small and short-lived automaker in Paris that got its start by creating and selling performance and aesthetic upgrades for the Renault 4CV. Eventually, it would offer complete bodies for the 4CV but that only lasted for several years, ending in 1957. Within the first four years of its existence, Autobleu built the 750 MM, which was effectively a marketing tool to promote the company with the Mille Miglia the chosen event for its debut (hence, “MM”).
Underneath the smoothly shaped bodywork is a tube frame chassis and a 750 cc engine from Renault that was breathed over to be competitive across the 1,000-mile event. As for its in-period race history, the 750 MM Coupé competed in three successive Mille Miglia events from 1954 to 1956, plus several other endurance events. In recent years, the 750 MM Coupé has participated in the Mille Miglia Storica, a modern, much safer version of the Mille Miglia in 2005, 2006, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023. With a recent restoration and lengthy history, the 750 MM Coupé makes for an excellent choice for the Mille Miglia aficionado and a relative bargain, having sold at just under $400,000.
