Well, I’m Back!
What an adventure! The trip out to Scottsdale for the January Auctions was a real treat to ALL of the senses! I left the house at 4:02 AM to head to the airport – it was 25 degrees ouside. By the end of a LONG day, I would experience the bright Arizona sunshine and 76 degrees, and see ALOT of fabulous vintage sports cars!
A picture is worth a 1,000 words – and I think I took about that many photos! So without further ado, let’s start the blogs! Enjoy!
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- I don’t fly much, so when I do, the view FASCINATES me! This has to be about the best shot you could ever hope for of the Colorado mountains – although I’ll admit it looked TWICE as cool in person! This is the Continental Divide, and I believe that the larger of the two mountains on the right is Pike’s Peak. It looks like you can just about see the curvature of the earth in this shot!
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- This show was taken somewhere along the edge of New Mexico and Arizona, and I believe that the LARGE mountain in the distance on the right is Mount Shasta – but it LOOKED like Mount FUJI!!
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- We’re descending into the Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix now, where the city has been carefully laid out into 1-mile grids.
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- Oh Damn! – I left my weapons in my bag again! Only out West would you see this sign – for a guy from the East Coast, I expected the crew from Candid camera to jump out as I stared puzzlingly at this sign on the Rental Car shuttle bus!
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- I’m Here! This photo was taken in Steve’s front yard – who started as a customer and is now a good friend. I stayed at Steve’s house for the weekend and we cruised most of the auctions in town together. Thanks, Steve!
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- We looked around Steve’s garage and his ’66 E-Type FHC project (purchased from Monocoque Metalworks…), as well as his ’68 TR-250. But it was quickly off to the auctions – about 45 minutes north in Scottsdale. Our first stop was Gooding & Company.
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- This Ferrari was parked out front.
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- But THIS Ferrari was proudly displayed – ALONE – in the main entry tent.
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- 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider – a car Ferris Bueller would appreciate…
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- All original Interior…
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- This was originally an open-headlamp car that was converted to covered headlamps – now THAT sounds familiar!
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- It was stunning from every angle – you could almost hear the exhaust roar!
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- A paltry 8-10 million dollars and she is all yours! But actually, in the en, the car sold for the BARGAIN price of 7 million!
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- This was the only car that could be seen without paying the $40 guest fee. Purchasing the official wristband promised MANY more cars of this caliber, and it did not dissapoint!
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- Out into the dispaly area, where you can be assured that any Cobra you see is going to be real – you don’t even have to ask…
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- This late 1950’s Fiat is identical to one I left buried in the mud in the woods next to an E-type parts car I retrieved a few years ago. She was pretty far gone, though…
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- This one was in fantastic condition, and I must admit that I had never seen 180-degree seats like this before, and the 17-year-old kid in me started envisioning passionate adventures with this setup!
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- A Now HERE’S a barn find – an Aston Martin DB-4!
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- Details…
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- The stuff dreams are made of…
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- This earlier DB-4 model does NOT have the smoke screens, ejector seats, etc. fited to the more famous DB-5…
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- Patina like this simply can’t be duplicated!
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- Although some areas were a little worse for the wear…
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- And time certainly has taken its toll – although I’ve seen ALOT worse on E-Types!
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- Speaking of which – here we go! This is the first of 4 E-types to be seen at Gooding’s. This is an early ’61 roadster – flat floor, but about 100 cars after the coveted outside bonnet locks. This is the original “Cotswald Blue” – I don’t believe I have ever seen another one!
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- Details… The car eventually sold for $330,000.
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- This restoration was quite good, and while there were one or two MINUTE issues, overall, I had no complaints.
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- Fit and finish were excellent, and the shapes were all correct.
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- Having this chrome finisher stick out this much was a little strange, but this MIGHT be correct for a car this early…
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- The louvers are the correct welded style, and I can tell that they are the correct, original profile.
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- This E-Type also has the correct early steering wheel with exposed aluminum frame on the inside.
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- The famous Mercedes 300SL “gullwing” coupe.
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- This car was also superb.
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- Up close, the car was not quite as streamlined and most photos show – especially the cockpit bulge – but really, who cares!…
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- I believe this Lamborghini P400 Miura was an S – and a very typical Lamborghini color!
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- I’ll admit that with my pretty vast knowledge of vintage sports cars, I know close to nothing about Posrches… This is a Carrera 6 racer.
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- The seats almost lay the driver down!
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- A flat six engine fed by Weber carbs and massive brake cooling ducts.
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- Obviously a BMW, but again, I’m not familiar with those either! Maybe I don’t know all that much after all, but it sure seems like there is alot of automotive trivia up there between these ears! I want to say late 50’s/early 60’s, and a “Type 507”?…
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- The interior of the BMW above.
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- Toyota 2000GT.
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- MIND BLOWING!!! These were worth ALOT less than this when I was a kid – I have no doubt that I could have traded my E-Type OTS for one – maybe even plus cash!
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- The offerings varied widely…
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- It’s tough to go for a weekend cruise in this!
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- This Mercedes-Benz 190SL roadster is the little sister to the 300SL roadster that we ran into about this time last year – IN THE HOUSE of a gentleman I went to purchase some E-Type wings from (see blog from last January…)
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- It’s a fabulous car in it’s own right, until you compare it to the 300SL of the same era…
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- …and there just happened to be one right there – in the same color combination! Look closely through the hardtop window at the interior treatments – there is really no comparison…
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- A late 1920’s Stutz.
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- Another Aston Martin of the same vintage – this one is a little fresher…
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- But this 1956 Maserati was in the same original condition as the earlier Aston Martin.
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- Details…
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- Like the E-Type, this Maserati also has a DOCH Straight-6 engine, but that’s about where the similarity ends. Twin plugs per cylinder is just the beginning of the differences between this and the XK engine.
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- Speaking of which, here is another E-Type!
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- Details.
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- Yes – this is a 1961 E-Type Outside-Bonnet-Lock roadster! But our excitement was quickly tempered by one fit and finish dissapointment after another… I see ALOT of bad stuff on E-Types in my travels, and most of the time, I just keep my mouth shut. In most cases, it is amateur-owner/drivers doing the best they can. But in THIS case, it is a car being offered for sale to the highest bidder – with a touted value of $425k!!! Furthermore, it is being stated as restored by a “Marque Specialist”… So the gloves are oof, and we can start by pointing out the dissapointing fit of the hardtop cantrail chrome finisher!
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- The early outside bonnet lock covers. You flip these open and stick a 4-sided spike tool into a hole and turn it. They got rid of these because they were HORRIBLE – they wiggled loose and that’s NOT good! If you look closely, you can also see the little bumper onthe cowl – only early cars have this, although it does seem to have extended a bit beyond the outside locks…
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- A protective covering has been added so that the hardtop seal does not scuff the paint.
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- The boot lid is high compared to the upper tonneau panel. This is probably about factory correct, but today’s top-dollar restorations should have these panels fitting each other flush…
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- A bit of nit-picking up until now, but THIS is TOTALLY unacceptable! The door fit flush at the bottom, but was sunken in considerably in the top half. In addition, the crease at the top is bent at the wrong angle, and as you can see, the chrome does not follow the body lines either. Now, I’ll admit that when re-skinning a door, this area is TOUGH! Well too bad – You MUST spend the time and do it right – especially if you have the audacity to declare that the car is worth over $400k!
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- The louvers were the correct original welded louvers.
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- The bonnet’s mouth looked good and seams to be the earlier smaller mouth, though it’s hard to tell from this angle. The front bumper blades did fit well.
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- The leading edge of the driver’s door was also well below the surface of the cowl side panel – and more so in the middle than the top and bottom…
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- Now’ I’ve never been a stickler for ABSOLUTELY PERFECT down to .001-inch door gaps, but you should always try to get the gaps to a point that is pleasing to the eye. NOT this disaster! In my opinion, the tight gap at the bottom rear corner of this door makes this E-type undriveable – in less than 100 miles, the paint in this corner will be destroyed by even the smallest of bumps!
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- I hate doing this, but it just has to be done…. The fit of the headlamp glas and chrome was HORRID – this isn’t even the worst of it! But this shot does show to small holes where I believe the small 90-degree tab that holds the front of the scoops has been torn off from the spot-welds and not filled in. Come on – at least TRY!!!
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- A close-up shot of that early bonnet bumper.
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- Back to the RH door’s rear edge – showing a poorly folded skinnig job leaving an edge that is MUCH too thick…
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- Don’t get me wrong – the car looked great! But there were just too many flaws that would have been SO easy to fix – early in the build. Overall, I would say the car looked to have been rushed through restoration to make the auction.
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- Where it DID do well was in the originality department, making the hurried restoration even more dissapointing. This is the correct early carbs and manifold, and pumpkin-colored head, etc. Pretty sure that the bonnet screen should be a dove grey color, though, and so was the JCNA judge standing next to me, who I never spoke to, but made many of the same comments as I did…
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- The silver J62 tag on this car indicates that it was originally sold in California, in October of 1962. This shot also shows the catch for the bonnet locks.
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- The outside bonnet locking mechanism.
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- A shot of the bonnet locks on the other side.
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- The JCNA judge thought that having the heater duct painted the body color MIGHT be correct – I don’t think so, though…
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- Another shot of the early E-Type engine – I’ll admit I don’t see ANYTHING wrong here – this is excellent!
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- I’m not ready to bet my life on it, but I don’t think the bonnet scissors should be body color either. All of these things like the screen, scissors, and heater duct were installed during assembly, and so were not painted with the body. Now that I’m thinking about it, almost all of this E-Types issues seem to stem from the body shop…
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- Correct early voltage regulator, and the other outside bonnet lock latch.
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- I’m telling you, the originality seems to be spot-on – the early brake bottle tops, stubby dipstick, correct master cylinders, etc.
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- I don’t know if black is correct for the suspension – might be though. The radiator is a reproduction of the early, original finned-aluminum radiator, but it’s not one of the better ones…
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- But it has the outside locks, and that seems to forgive alot of sins in the current market – including the orange peel in the paint, I guess…
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- Oh no, here we go – an “Award Winning Restoration” on this next E-Type. Let’s see…
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- The engine bay was absolutely stunning, with excellent polish on the cam covers and SU dashpots. The only thing “wrong” in here was the finish of the hammered paint on the air cleaner, but I can forgive that – it is HARD to get a uniform finish with that stuff – and the factory didn’t either! Here’s a tip – the warmer, the better!
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- The finish on the heater box was excellent. I could maybe pick apart some pitting on the forward section of the ring, but this finish is SO much better than the factory, it’s tough to fault it in any way!
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- Woops!!!
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- Oh No… Things are starting to fall apart upon close inspection – and it’s ALWAYS the bodywork details!
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- A very well restored interior. And here’s a pleasant surprise – the wheel wells on the underside of the bonnet HAVE been undercoated in black! THIS IS CORRECT! Just ask Brent – he has scraped and stripped it out of every bonnet that goes through here!
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- NOOOOO!!!!! Where is the little lead-filled point at the front of the sill’s top edge!?! I’ll tell you what almost certainly happened here – one of two things… A) in fitting the bonnet, they pulled it WAY back, and then instead of building up the edge of the bonnet’s wheel arch with weld, they just trimmed this off, or B), the sill was installed too far forward, and they chose the same (incorrect in my opinion) solution…
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- Just sloppy, plain and simple. This bonnet peg receiver should be silver cad, ut instead, was painted with the body, including it’s rubberized fabric gasket.
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- But – of EVERYTHING I saw ALL WEEKEND, THIS WAS THE WORST!!!! This is 150% unforgiveable… In addition, the finishing of the wheel arch edge below the bumper blade is REAL BAD…
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- OK, let’s move on. This was a well-restored XK-150 – although maybe ALL of these cars have these issues, and I just don’t have the intimate familiarity with them that I have with the E-type?…
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- This was cool – a small-block Cobra in street trim with the egg-crate grill. And in vefry original patina!
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- Details – and LOOK at the estimate!
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- It was great to see it in this state, though – again, the stuff that dreams are made of!
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- What a find! I would LOVE to have this – I went through a HEAVY “Cobra phase” while I was building the Jag as a kid – I think everyone does…
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- All original interior – amazing!
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- The original “K-spec” 289 Ford with 271 horsepower.
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- I’m not a “Ford guy”, more of a “Chevy guy” – so I don’t recognize these small 2-port
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- Yet ANOTHER original condition vintage sports car! This one is an Alfa…
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- Now THIS is restored, and WOW!!!
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- Details of the Ferrari 275 GTB/4…
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- What a commanding stance!
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- Another more “dainty” Ferrari roadster.
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- Details of the pale yellow Ferrari.
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- A superb Jaguar XK140.
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- This was not an “MC”, but WAS fitted with a C-Type head.
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- This is just so cool…
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- A ferrari like this tends to blend in in company like this…
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- And one just seems to be like another…
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- …until you take a close look at the car’s details! Steve picked up on this and pointed it out to me – now THAT’S cool!
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- Yet another silver Ferrari.
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- This is a photo of Steve taking a close look at the details of this late Austin-Healey 3000. It seemed like we were here for 10 or 15 minutes – it turned out to be closer to 90!
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- Another stunning 300SL roadster. These tail-lamps always remind me of the “Square version” of the E-Type tail lamp…
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- The interior of the 300SL BLOWS AWAY the 190SL – and this one is BRAND NEW!
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- There were very few cars earlier than 1950 in the display, but this one was very welcome to my eyes – a mid-30’s Auburn boat-tail speedster. This was my father’s favorite car when I was very young. I actually remember going to look at a project for sale with the whole family – it was on the second story of an old building that housed several “old cars”… I think that the project was WAY out of his price range – and his abilities, and sadly, it did not follow us home…
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- What a car!
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- Another original small-block Cobra.
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- This Cobra is nearly identical to the black one we saw earlier, and BOTH are in original condition!
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- From an era when simplicity equalled SPEED!
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- We knew it was a Lamborghini, but neither of us were able to identify it as a Jarama.
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- Another shot of the Ferrari – its look was MENACING!
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- And it’s finish was flawless…
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- Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Gooding & Company, adn as the sun sank below the top of these tents, we headed out – and off to another auction!
