Player shows the Auto Market feed. Open the episode for this date on your platform of choice.
This week in the collector car, motorcycle, and aircraft markets. Bonhams clears 110 cars from the old Harrah Collection in Reno, two Lamborghini icons head to RM Sotheby's, brand-backed restomods keep coming, and there are records set in the air.
Good morning. It's Thursday, June 11. I'm Sharon, and this is Auto Market from ALT/FNDATA, a weekly look at the collector car, motorcycle, and aircraft auction markets.
This week: Bonhams clears 110 cars from the old Harrah Collection in Reno, two Lamborghini icons head to RM Sotheby's, the brand-backed restomods keep coming, and there are records set in the air.
The big sale this week is in Reno. On Saturday, June 13, Bonhams will auction 110 vehicles from the National Automobile Museum, formerly the Harrah Collection. More than 80 lots come from the original Harrah collection of limited-production cars and one-off concepts, and another 30 come from the Minden Automobile Museum in Nebraska. Every lot is offered without reserve.
The headline lots lean toward the rare and the experimental. A 1936 Cord experimental limousine is estimated at 450,000 to 650,000 dollars. A 1954 Lincoln Capri coupe that ran the Carrera Panamericana, the Mexican road race, is estimated at 150,000 to 250,000 dollars. Other highlights include a 1960 Fiat aerodynamic concept that was gifted to the museum by Sergio Pininfarina himself, and a 1902 Capitol Chariot steam prototype. The museum recently finished a multi-year, 4 million dollar renovation, and it is using this sale to clear space.
Two icons are heading to RM Sotheby's. First, a 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, bodied by Bertone, crosses the block at the Sealed auction on June 17, with an estimate of 2.2 to 2.6 million dollars. It is an early-production example, one of just 338 P400 S Miuras built, completed in Sant'Agata in January 1969 and finished in silver over tan. It last sold from the Angus Mitchell collection through RM in 2024.
And a fully restored 1985 Lamborghini Countach, one of 300 of the most powerful version built, will be offered through RM Sotheby's in August, with an estimate of around 1.1 million dollars.
A theme running through the week is the brand-backed reinvention of classics. Boreham Motorworks has revealed a reborn Ford Escort Mark 1 RS, a rally icon rebuilt with Ford's blessing. The German engineering firm HWA is building the HWA EVO, a modern tribute to the Mercedes 190E DTM touring cars of the late 1980s. And the Italian outfit Kimera Automobili has revealed the K39, a Koenigsegg-powered reimagining of the Lancia 037 rally car. All are limited-run, high-price builds aimed squarely at collectors.
Two one-offs caught the eye this week. Porsche, working with Disney and Pixar, unveiled a trio of special-edition 911s tied to the new Toy Story 5 film, which will be sold for charity. And the actor Jason Momoa, with Hedley Studios, revealed a one-of-a-kind electric Mini Bentley Blower, a scaled recreation of the 1920s race car with 100 custom touches.
A couple of cars worth watching on Bring a Trailer this week. A 2016 Porsche 911 R with just 291 miles, number 538 of 991 built, is a barely-driven example of a modern future classic. And a European-market 2001 BMW Z8, with 18,000 miles, is the kind of modern classic that has appreciated steadily over the past decade.
Two notes for the enthusiasts. Honda is marking 50 years of the Accord, a car that started life as a practical compact and became one of the best-selling nameplates in history. And in a win for the purists, Subaru has teased three new models with manual transmissions, bucking the industry's long drift away from the stick shift.
Two milestones in the air this week. Bombardier's new Global 8000 business jet flew from Montreal to Nice in just over 6 hours, a record for the route. And a company called Helios Horizon flew what it says is the first aircraft to take to the air on solid-state batteries, with stratospheric test flights planned for later this year.
On the equity side, Ferrari, ticker RACE, had a rough day on Wednesday, closing down about 3.1% in New York, the weakest of the luxury names. The move followed a report that Ferrari's first all-electric car has had a slow start in China. Stepping back, a Seeking Alpha analysis this week argued that Porsche and Ferrari, long seen as opposites in the market, are increasingly converging in strategy. Closing Price has the full market wrap this evening.
In motorcycles, the Bonhams Online Summer Sale is still live, with bidding closing Sunday, June 15. It spans more than 300 lots and over a century of motorcycling history, and more than 250 of them are offered without reserve.
On the calendar: the Bonhams National Automobile Museum sale in Reno is this Saturday, June 13. The Bonhams motorcycle sale closes on Sunday, June 15. And RM Sotheby's Sealed, with the Miura, closes on June 17.
That is Auto Market for Thursday, June 11. Closing Price publishes this evening at 5 PM Eastern, and Open Bid returns tomorrow morning at 6.
I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA.
