I would have preferred to wrap up this series of articles on the January Arizona auctions by March or April but for my regrettable lack of writing time forcing a more relaxed schedule. No matter, it’s not like they are any less lust worthy a few months later. There was no lack of great cars, a carefully chosen selection I’ve submitted to CC readers for your perusal and, hopefully, enjoyment. In this last installment we’ll look at part 2 of restored (or unspecified condition) non-GM cars.As in part 1, They are presented in no particular order of year or brand. As always, take or leave my commentary, click on auction links for more pictures and info, or just scroll through the pretty pictures. Enjoy!
1957 Chrysler 300C. The 300 was, IMHO, the best version of Exner’s new Forward Look. Every 57-58 Mopar is good looking, but the 300 had a relative lack of affectations and adornments with a pleasing and masculine cut to its jib. The fins it shares with its stablemates are actually recklessly large, but somehow look semi-responsible from most angles. The 57 is special but really all the Letter Cars are high on my list of favorite models. In their day, they were a fantastic combo of style, power and luxury.
White is my favorite color for the 57-58. Perhaps it’s because of an article I read at a formative age in a 1984 Motor Trend. It profiled the white 58 300D coupe originally used by moonshine runner Jerry Rushing. The car was named Traveller, after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s white horse. Rushing’s story was loosely used as the basis for the TV show The Dukes Of Hazard, featuring a 69 Charger not at all coincidently named General Lee. Like seemingly all car-aware boys of a certain age in the early 80s, I had an appointment with the Dukes every Friday night.
The 300 in 1957 had a 392c.i. making 375hp standard with dual quad carbs (as seen on this car with its Torqueflite), with a 390hp manual-shift version optional. $44,000
1957 DeSoto Adventurer convertible. Speaking of Forward Look Chryslers, a sibling to the 300 was found at RMSothebys’s in, of course, very fine [restored] condition. The Adventurer was the ultimate DeSoto, sort of a DeSoto 300. It had a smaller 345c.i. version of the hemi engine, but was higher output per displacement at 345hp. The 57 Adventurer was the first U.S. model to come with 1 hp/cubic inch standard (56 300B and 57 Chevy were first to offer it optionally).
Auction site glamor shot shows the Adventurer shared its basic bodywork with the 300, riding the same wheelbase and very close in overall length. There are a lot more of these beautiful photos at the auction link, if gold-trimmed 50’s dreamboats are your thing.
Interior is restored impeccability. The car sports two clocks: one to the right of the radio and another of the slick self-winding variety in the steering hub (like the 55 DeSoto we saw yesterday). His and hers, or redundancy? Either way, DeSoto owners are never late!
Only three hundred buyers chose an Adventurer droptop for 1957, which is actually quite a bit more than in 58 or 59, the only other years the car was available. Still quite rare, though, as the sale price testifies. $128,800 (proceeds went to a charity, which might have inflated the price)
1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Sunliner. Let’s make it a 1957 trifecta because Ford also had a new design this year and B-J had a fantastic example of it in timeless red one-tone (not counting the top). Judging from what I saw in person and the extensive owner-supplied photos of the underside, it’s restored about as comprehensively as a car can be.
I think Ford really nailed the ideal late 50s look here, and the front 3/4 is its best angle.
The fins are unmistakable but not ostentatious by the standards of the time. I’ve always loved the Ford’s side trim this year, especially on the 500.
The one area of the 57 I’m not crazy about is the plus sized rear bumper when viewed from this angle. Add a couple compressible strut mounts and 1975 would love this bumper.
Another thing I liked about this example is that it’s a Sunliner, not a Skyliner. The Skyliner, of course, was the retractable hardtop convertible Ford made in 1957-59. It’s neat and all, but its proportions are by necessity a bit odd and despite selling 1/4-1/3 as well as the conventional ragtop, it seems to be more common at auctions and car shows. Give me a regular old convertible like this any day, though it didn’t go cheap. $69,300
1971 Lamborgini Miura P400SV. Cheap is a relative word and almost everything is cheap compared to a Miura. Such as: other supercars, most houses in upscale neighborhoods, and many mid-size companies.
Pull up in this and you’ve officially arrived. It’s good for more than just looking rich, though, as it was the fastest production car in the world at the time it was introduced. The Miura was built from 1966-73 and was the first high-performance mid-engine road car produced (the Ford GT40 was considered a race car, even though a handful of non-race versions were sold).
The SV was the final version of the Miura, built from 71 to 73. It had a transversely mounted 3.9L DOHC V12 with four 3bbl carbs, making 380hp and 295lb-ft. Lamborghini introduced their V12 in 1963 and through many displacement increases and modifications continued to use it for almost 50 years.
The car has been superlatively restored and reportedly won first prize in multiple concours events. I assume this information was provided to make the lucky new owner feel good about investing a large fortune in a single car. One that’s probably too nice and too valuable to be actually driven. $3,580,000
1964 Mercury Park Lane Marauder. As you’ve seen, a combination of model and color typically determines my favorites. Here it’s the attractive 64 Mercury design in an unsubtle Samoan Coral. Not a typical mid 60s sort of hue, it’s more like a 50s car, especially with the white roof giving it a two-tone vibe.
It even had tail fins, in a way. The long, low look is pure 60’s, though, as is the surprisingly convincing (and possibly non-stock?) faux convertible roof. The Marauder is often thought of as a performance model, which it was in later years, but in 1964 it was a body style. All full size two and four door Mercurys with the fastback roof were Marauders, in all three models lines with any engine. All others had the Breezeway roof. Mercury took things a step further by calling all six engines in the full size line Marauder, Marauder Super, or Marauder Interceptor, even in a Breezeway car. No, that’s not confusing at all!
It’s ready for all the plundering and pillaging you want to do.
I think the grille/front end is my favorite part on the 64 Mercs.
The Park Lane, Mercury’s highest model in 64, went all in on the tufted look. Bucket seats and console were optional as was the automatic transmission, though it surely was much more common than the 3 or 4-speed manuals. As with fellow medium-price marque Pontiac, Mercury was known in the 60s for having a translucent portion on their steering wheels.
All this character and the spotless restored condition brought more than a medium price. $66,000
1950 Nash Rambler Convertible. Bathtub Nashs are not what I would call beautiful, but they certainly are interesting and not a common sight, even in places classic cars gather. It’s just such an unusual look, I was rather captivated seeing it in person.
1950 was the introductory year for the Rambler, the first postwar compact from a major maker. For the first year, it was only offered as a two door wagon or a convertible, if you can call it that. The following year, they added a true hardtop coupe. This is kind of ironic, considering that the appeal of hardtop coupes was that they had pillarless glass like a convertible, yet the Rambler’s convertible continued to have pillared glass.
The top is attached to the roof rails and slides back on them.
Nash went with the four wheel skirted fender look on their other new postwar cars, too, starting in 1949. They called it Airflyte design and it actually was relatively aerodynamically efficient. They sold pretty well, too, keeping Nash solid 10th-11th place among U.S. brands from 1949-52, which is better than they had done for the several years leading up to WWII. The 100 inch wheelbase Rambler fanned the small car flame with modest sales through the 50s. When Rambler became a full fledged make under AMC in 1957, it became a roaring sales campfire in the late 50s and early 60s, spurring the Big 3 to make compact cars, as did the small but growing popularity of foreign makes.
The Rambler’s dash was also pretty unusually styled. Despite its diminutiveness, the 1950 Rambler was not an extremely cheap car. It cost similar to Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth’s convertibles, which were true convertibles with a foot or more of wheelbase and substantially bigger engines. It wasn’t especially cheap at B-J in 2023 either. $33,000
1950 Hudson Commodore 8 convertible. Another notable independent, groundbreaking, postwar design was the Step Down Hudson. This is also a car that’s famous but not seen real often, so when you get to be in the presence of one, its’ a big deal. Especially a black beauty like this!
Dig those smooth haunches. They weren’t shy with the chrome, accentuating the car’s long, straight lines.
Step Down Hudsons would be known for performance, but not just yet in 1950. Commodore Eight, the top model, had a 254c.i. straight 8 making 128hp, which was very respectable but no racecar. The Hornet would be introduced the next year with a new 145 hp 308c.i. six, soon to be up to 170hp in 1953. Hudson offered lots of parts that racers and hotrodders could use to get even more power from the highly tunable engine.
What really put this car over the top for me was actually the interior. To call it sumptuous would be underselling it, with burgundy leather seats, more chrome than a 1950 Cadillac and more fake wood than a 1980 Cadillac. It cost a lot less than a Cadillac (about the same as an Olds 98) but the 425 made was a fraction of those GMs.
$49,500, which is still a pretty reasonable price for a rare 50s convertible.
1931 Duesenburg Model J convertible sedan. A member of the ultimate independent make was spotted at RMS, positioned front and center, as it should be. Duesenburg had been making significant, fast road cars since 1921, but it was the 1929-37 Model J that would secure its legendary status as perhaps the finest American car ever made.
This car rides on the shorter of the two available wheelbases and reportedly has been restored twice, recently being exhibited at Pebble Beach. As with all the RMSotheby’s cars, the auction site has loads of great photos of the car. It appears providing professional photography is a requirement to sell a car there.
It’s amazing how such a plain dash can look so cool. Perhaps its the aluminum used in the panel and steering column, or maybe the bevy of functional gauges, including tachometer, brake pressure, barometer, altimeter, and stopwatch. Of course, Duesenburgs weren’t simply luxurious, they were the ultimate performance cars of the era.
The 420c.i. straight 8 had dual overhead cams and 4 valves per cylinder, rated at 265hp. This was over twice the next most powerful eight in the U.S., the 395c.i. Chrysler, and 100hp more than Cadillac’s new, larger V16. It also looked fantastic, always in green and sometimes with the world’s most sexy exhaust piping.
As with all Classic Era luxury cars, the body was made by an outside coachbuilder, in this case LeBaron. Reportedly, the car was traded in to Duesenburg in 1933, who removed the original fixed roof body and replaced it with the LeBaron convertible body. Bidders agreed that it looks like a million bucks. $1,050,000
1977 Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 We’ll wrap up with another superlative car from a much different era, an era of large bumpers and small expectations. In the middle of that era, Mercedes decided to defy the low expectations and make a version of their W116 to be a worthy successor to the 68-72 300SEL 6.3 and others of their previous large high-performance sedans.
The heart of the package was the 6.9L M100 fuel-injected V8, the largest engine ever sold by a European car maker (to date*) It was the same basic engine as the previous 6.3, but enlarged to compensate for decreased output in the emissions control era. Power in U.S. cars was 249hp, 37hp less then the Europeans got.
The model was also noteworthy for having four wheel hydropneumatic suspension standard (other W116s could be equipped at the rear only) and Mercedes’* first electronic antilock braking system (but not until the year after our auction car was made).
This car has been partially refurbed with new paint and several mechanical replacements (which didn’t include any major engine work), according to the seller.
M-B made the car from 1975-81. By modern standards it wouldn’t be considered especially fast, but it was easily the fastest large luxury sedan available at the time and a rare bright spot in a gloomy performance era. Kudos to M-B for making a sedan with aspirational performance, even if it was just a tiny proportion of W116s made. It was not the most coveted car at the RMS auction, placed at the very end of the row (or maybe the very front, depending what direction one came in) and bringing one of the lower bids among the pricy cars that predominate there. $50,400
*see comments for additional info
My goodness, I might have seen that 1957 DeSoto “in the flesh”, er sheet metal at a car show in Lemont, IL last decade. Or it was the pictured car’s twin.
Quite the beautiful car when seen in person.
The owner pictures appear to have the car with a Wahington state plate, for what it’s worth. There can’t be too many surivivors of the 300 cars, but I would guess a good portion of those were white.
I loved the chrome ribs on the early vinyl roofs on the 1964 Fords and Mercurys. Really replicated the convertible look.
Agree that 1957 was peak Exner and this Chrysler exemplifies that. Hard to believe the same designer did the bizarre early sixty models.
Have you seen those before? I was looking and didn’t see them on any brochure or internet pics, so my theory was it wasn’t originally equipped that way.
They were available in 1963 and ‘64. Gone in 1965. The vinyl roof craze hadn’t taken off yet and the option was quite rare. Here’s a ‘63 Galaxie.
The chrome ribs were on the vinyl roofs on the fastback 1963 – ‘64 big Fords and Mercurys. In 1965 they were gone. This was early in the vinyl roof craze and the option was rare at the time. Here’s a ‘63 Galaxie –
Thanks! All the others I saw must have been non-vinyl roofs.
The Rambler was inspired by the Topolino, and early prototypes were built on Fiat chassis. The top is a direct copy.
My Aunt Gert had a 1948 or so Nash when they lived in Boston. She and her partner called it the “Nash Can.” They traded it for a new 1953 Ford Mainline convertible and drove that car to Florida
That Nash is a my favorite here, which is amusing since it’s also the cheapest. I’d love just to see one of these convertibles again some time – can’t remember when I last saw one. I think the convertible is the most interesting (from a modern standpoint) of all these Nashes, though I don’t I would have bought one new.
In any event, here’s a Nash convertible ad for folks’ viewing pleasure:
Am I crazy, (yes), or did that 300C go for much less than they usually sell for? Forty Thousand? I realize it’s not a convertible, but still, forty thousand? How was that possible?
I don’t know off hand what the book value for a 57 300 is, but I’d agree with your sense it should be more than that. It seemed like most cars I looked at met or exceeded the market. The exciting thing about buying at auction is that there are usually a few cars that sell under value.
My vote for Duesenberg’s sexiest exhaust piping is the 8-into-1 monel “sewer-pipe” system. It was prone to cracking but has great visual appeal.
At the time, the Mercedes-Benz 6.9 was the largest displacement in a passenger car offered by a European manufacturer in the post-war era but earlier there had been many which were larger including several by Mercedes-Benz.
I didn’t know M-B had prewar engines larger than that. Has there been a European engine larger than 6.9 since the W116?
AMG produced 7.0, 7.1 & 7.3 versions of the M120 V12 and installed these in several MB models. The big V12s were also sold to Pagani which used the 7.0 & 7.3 and Aston Martin which used the 7.3. There was also Bugatti which sold a surprising number of its 8.0 litre W16s. Some specialists did small runs using 7.0 litre Jaguar V12s and Rolls-Royce displayed a 9.0 litre V16 but there was never any suggestion of a production run.
As late as 1973 the trade press was reporting Mercedes-Benz was experimenting with a 7.4 liter version of the 600’s M100 V8 so a successor to the 300 SEL 6.3 could appear. It’s not clear if that was true but the first oil shock that year anyway put things on hold and it wasn’t until 1975 the 6.9 appeared. Around 1990, aware BMW already had a V16 prototype running in a 7 Series, the factory flirted with an 8.0 litre W18 which would actually have been a good fit in the big engine bay of the W140 but engineering issues (weight, drive-train stresses, fuel consumption etc) doomed the idea which anyway would have fallen victim to the world-wide economic difficulties which began early in the decade. The days of the big engines may be done unless hydrogen combustion can be used and for any sort of volume production to be viable, that will rely on infrastructure development which will happen only if a critical mass of geographically suitable customers exists.
Dr Porsche’s glorious Mercedes SSK had 7.1 litres of supercharged six in 1928: there may possibly be others from the Edwardian era just as big.
The MB 770K Grossers (W07 & W150) used 7.7 litre straight-eights, the same capacity as the V12 in The Rolls-Royce Phantom III. However, in terms of the European “genuine production cars” of the inter-war era, the ones with the largest displacement were probably the Hispano-Suizas with the J12 engine. That was a 220 hp 9.4 litre V12 (a square 4″ x 4″ bore x stroke) which was later stroked to 4.7″ to yield 11.3 litres and rated at 250 hp. The large capacity was needed because the company eschewed their usual use of overhead camshafts, the pushrod configuration generating less noise. The straight-8 in the Bugatti Royale was an impressive 12.8 litres but whether something with a run of six can be considered a genuine production car is open to question although it was just another model on the factory list and only lack of demand limited the build.
Post-war, among the Europeans, only Mercedes-Benz and the Russian Zil went beyond 6.8 litres although there was a whole Transatlantic ecosystem (Jensen, Monteverdi, Facel Vega, Iso et al) which used big US V8s and Jensen fitted branded valve covers so at least part of the engine was European.
The W116 was NOT the first to offer electronic ABS; they’ve been claiming that for decades, but it’s not true.
The Bosch system offered by Mercedes was preceded by the Kelsey-Hayes Sure-Track two-wheel system, offered on some Lincoln models and the Thunderbird beginning in mid-1969 and subsequently built under license in Japan by Nissan and Toyota; an AC Electronics two-wheel system used on the Chrysler Eldorado and Olds Toronado (as “Track Master” or “True-Track”) starting in 1971; and, most significantly, the Bendix Sure-Brake four-wheel system, developed with Chrysler as an option for the 1971 Imperial.
The Bendix system was extensively covered in the automotive press at the time, and Bendix and Chrysler published an SAE paper on it in 1971 (doi:10.4271/710248). It was an electronically controlled four-wheel, four-sensor, three-channel vacuum-controlled system, really the first of its kind. Chrysler didn’t sell a lot of them (at launch, ABS was a $344 option), but it was commercially available about eight years before the Bosch system.
The Bosch system was the first four-sensor, four-channel system, controlling the rear wheels independently (where the Bendix system, like a fair number of ’80s antilock systems, controlled both rear wheels together), but that’s a much more incremental “first.”
Thanks, I made an edit to reflect this info.
I know it’s rude to stare, but I cannot help doing so when I see a federalized W116.
It’s as if MB told this cool upper-class Euro sophisticate that it had to go to America, and it said ‘NEIN!”, and then clung on with the the rear bumper to Sindelfingen, whilst a determined bunch of mustachioed bratwurst-munchers heaved away at the front one.
Eventually, it all stretched out, leaving the poor thing with startled and staring eyes and a front bumper half way to the New World, where despite the disfigurement and loss of heart, monied types paid a lot for her anyway.
Oh, the indignity of it all.
It’s OK, it had to be said. Those bumpers do look absurd.
I have long considered the 57 DeSoto as a close second to the 57 Chrysler 300C in the styling department. Both of these are just beautiful.
And it is always the right time to swoon over a Duesenberg.
This may be the first time I have seen a solid red 57 Fairlane convertible since one day in the 1970’s when my childhood babysitter’s new husband drove one briefly as a daily driver. That one had a black roof and had the most thoroughly oxidized red paint I had ever seen.
Only $1 million for a restored open Duesenberg? I suspect pre-war classics have peaked, since there are no active buyers left who remember them as new. In 20 years, early Ferraris may be in the same boat.
Toys or status markers?
Had seen a hardtop adventurer parked at rhinecliff ny train station years ago. Always stuck in my mind.. My brother had a two door post 57 Ford custom. Great design. I think more pleasing than a chevy. My farmer neighbor ran the crap out of a similar rambler in black in the fields.. Poor little thing. A friend has a Merc park lane same colors, needs a refreshing though, he also has about six 69 x100s.. One which he bought new and wrecked but kept …. Lot of great pics of some very cool cars.. Thanks for posting.. Lovin my 63 comet, pic from last weekend at great Barrington mass show…