Auction: Colossal classic race car collection goes under the hammer
Image credit: Simon Clay thanks to RM Auctions
RM Auctions’ inaugural Paris Auction will be held during Retromobile week in February next year and feature Peter Harburg’s colossal collection of historic race cars.
Image thanks to RM Auctions
The headliner, in terms of estimated value, is a 1955 Jaguar D-type, chassis XKD 520, which is expected to hit €4.1million. The seventh production D-Type ever made, this car went to Australia with Bob Stillwell who campaigned it successfully in ’56 and ’57. In 1956 he set the fastest sports car speed ever at Bathurst and won the Bathurst Road Racing Championship, and the car’s racing success continued for years after in other hands in both Australia and the UK.
Image credit: GP Library thanks to RM Auctions
Other big name sportscar racers include a 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider by Scaglietti, which claimed fifth overall in the fourth annual 12 Hours of Sebring, was raced to great success by Phil Hill and has received a full restoration in recent years, and the 1950 ex-Briggs Cunningham/Sebring Aston Martin DB2.
Image Credit: LAT thanks to RM Auctions
Things get a little exciting when you encounter the multi-million euro Porsches that abound in Harburg’s collection. Hurley Haywood, Al Holbert and Jürgen Barth’s Rothmans 1982 956 Group C leads the pack in terms of motorsport history, being the car in which they finished third in the ’82 24 Hours of Le Mans and completed Porsche’s 1982 podium lockout. It continued as a works entry in ’83 and ’84 with successes including a second in the Spa 1000 Kilometers at the hands of Derek Bell and Vern Schuppan.
Image credit: Simon Clay thanks to RM Auctions
When it comes to brute power there’s a 5.4-litre, 1100 horsepower, Sunoco-liveried ’73 917/30, which was developed for Mark Donohue to win the 1973 Can-Am Championship. Chassis 005 is one of just six that was built for ’73. It was never raced and is in stunning original condition.
Image Credit: LAT thanks to RM Auctions
For beauty, it’s hard to go past the 1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS. Works Frazer Nash driver Dickie Stoop campaigned this car, chassis 045, extensively, with a personal best class win and fifth overall in the Snetterton 100 Mile Race, including a two-and-a-half-litre lap record.
If you’re looking for something just slightly less exotic, the Harburg Collection will also auction a 1959 Porsche 356 A Carrera 1500 GT Speedster, 1987 Porsche 959, 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona and beautiful ’69 Lola T70.
The Harburg Collection will be auctioned at RM Auctions’ inaugural Paris auction, which is scheduled for the fourth and fifth of February 2014 at Les Invalides – Place Vauban, during the Retromobile show week. Head to their official site for the full information.
Via RM Auctions
Images thanks to RM Auctions
Image credits: Simon Clay thanks to RM Auctions, unless otherwise noted
Image Credit: LAT thanks to RM Auctions
