Hitler's race car to be auctioned off
12-05-2006, 05:45 PM
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Hitler's race car to be auctioned off
http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/12/04/...ion/index.html
Hitler race car could fetch $12 million
A rare 1939 German sports car commissioned by Adolph Hitler is expected to command the highest price ever paid for any automobile at auction, according to Christie's, which will conduct the auction in Paris in February 2007.
The car, one of five remaining "Auto Union D-Types," is expected to sell for more than $12 million, said Rupert Banner, head of Christie's motor cars department.
In 1933, after becoming Chancellor of Germany, Hitler offered 500,000 reichmark for a company to design a race car to show off the nation's technological prowess. Originally, Mercedes-Benz got the nod. But Ferdinand Porsche, then an engineer with Auto Union, which today is known as Audi, was able to secure the financing to build a revolutionary car he had designed.
That car was modified over the next few years to become the 1939 Auto Union D-Type.
The D-type had a number of features that were extremely advanced for its day, including an engine mounted behind the driver and four-wheel independent suspension. Its twin-supercharged 3-liter V12 engine can produce 485 horsepower, giving the car a top speed of 185 miles per hour.
In many ways, the D-type offered a glimpse into what would become the future of racing. It's fundamentally very similar to Formula 1 and Indy race cars of today. "It's the same as a modern day race car, just without fins," said Banner.
One thing it doesn't have, of course, is modern safety technology. Race cars in those days didn't even have seatbelts. It was seen as preferable to be thrown from the car in a crash. One safety advance the D-type did have was a removable steering wheel, allowing the driver to be more easily removed in the event of a fire
Gallery: History of the Microcar
D-type cars won several Grand Prix races throughout Europe. Two days after Germany invaded Poland, the same day that Great Britain declared war on Germany, the car Christie's will be auctioning won a Grand Prix race in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Banner said. It was the last race held in Europe until after the war. "This was a legendary period in racing," Banner said of the pre-war years.
A number of D-type cars were lost or destroyed after World War II, according to Christie's. The car that will be sold in Paris was taken to Russia after the war, where it was disassembled to study its technology.
The car was re-discovered in Ukraine in the late 1980s. It was still in pieces, but was otherwise undamaged. Another car discovered nearby had had its chassis sawed in half, Banner said.
The current record for a car sold at auction, according to Christie's, is £5.5 million, or almost $11 million. That was paid for a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe sold by Christie's in 1987.
As for the connection to Hitler, "It's not something people really want to be associated with," Banner said. But the car's value rests on its technological importance, Banner said.
Ian Kelleher, managing director of RM Auctions, a competing auction firm that specializes in classic cars, agreed that the Auto Union D-type is extremely valuable, but felt that it might not go for as much as Christie's was expecting.
The market for single-seat race cars is simply very limited, Kelleher said.
"You can't drive the Auto Union anywhere but on a track, and it's a lonely way to spend $10 million," he said, referring to the low-end estimates of the car's value.
The D-type will be sold as part of Christie's "Retromobile" auction of antique cars.
Ferdinand Porsche also designed another car for Hitler, but for a very different purpose. That car, inspired by the success of the inexpensive Ford Model T in the United States, ultimately became known as the Volkswagen Beetle. It also had a rear-mounted engine as do today's Porsche sports cars.
Hitler race car could fetch $12 million
A rare 1939 German sports car commissioned by Adolph Hitler is expected to command the highest price ever paid for any automobile at auction, according to Christie's, which will conduct the auction in Paris in February 2007.
The car, one of five remaining "Auto Union D-Types," is expected to sell for more than $12 million, said Rupert Banner, head of Christie's motor cars department.
In 1933, after becoming Chancellor of Germany, Hitler offered 500,000 reichmark for a company to design a race car to show off the nation's technological prowess. Originally, Mercedes-Benz got the nod. But Ferdinand Porsche, then an engineer with Auto Union, which today is known as Audi, was able to secure the financing to build a revolutionary car he had designed.
That car was modified over the next few years to become the 1939 Auto Union D-Type.
The D-type had a number of features that were extremely advanced for its day, including an engine mounted behind the driver and four-wheel independent suspension. Its twin-supercharged 3-liter V12 engine can produce 485 horsepower, giving the car a top speed of 185 miles per hour.
In many ways, the D-type offered a glimpse into what would become the future of racing. It's fundamentally very similar to Formula 1 and Indy race cars of today. "It's the same as a modern day race car, just without fins," said Banner.
One thing it doesn't have, of course, is modern safety technology. Race cars in those days didn't even have seatbelts. It was seen as preferable to be thrown from the car in a crash. One safety advance the D-type did have was a removable steering wheel, allowing the driver to be more easily removed in the event of a fire
Gallery: History of the Microcar
D-type cars won several Grand Prix races throughout Europe. Two days after Germany invaded Poland, the same day that Great Britain declared war on Germany, the car Christie's will be auctioning won a Grand Prix race in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Banner said. It was the last race held in Europe until after the war. "This was a legendary period in racing," Banner said of the pre-war years.
A number of D-type cars were lost or destroyed after World War II, according to Christie's. The car that will be sold in Paris was taken to Russia after the war, where it was disassembled to study its technology.
The car was re-discovered in Ukraine in the late 1980s. It was still in pieces, but was otherwise undamaged. Another car discovered nearby had had its chassis sawed in half, Banner said.
The current record for a car sold at auction, according to Christie's, is £5.5 million, or almost $11 million. That was paid for a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe sold by Christie's in 1987.
As for the connection to Hitler, "It's not something people really want to be associated with," Banner said. But the car's value rests on its technological importance, Banner said.
Ian Kelleher, managing director of RM Auctions, a competing auction firm that specializes in classic cars, agreed that the Auto Union D-type is extremely valuable, but felt that it might not go for as much as Christie's was expecting.
The market for single-seat race cars is simply very limited, Kelleher said.
"You can't drive the Auto Union anywhere but on a track, and it's a lonely way to spend $10 million," he said, referring to the low-end estimates of the car's value.
The D-type will be sold as part of Christie's "Retromobile" auction of antique cars.
Ferdinand Porsche also designed another car for Hitler, but for a very different purpose. That car, inspired by the success of the inexpensive Ford Model T in the United States, ultimately became known as the Volkswagen Beetle. It also had a rear-mounted engine as do today's Porsche sports cars.
12-24-2006, 05:33 PM
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amazing
Pretty amazing piece of work considering the lack of cnc machines that we have an abundance of today. Very beautiful looking car as well. No wonder they never caught hitler, he was fast and furious way back in the 40's
03-12-2007, 12:43 PM
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///o\\\///o\\\
Update:
'World's most valuable car' fails to sell
Following postponement to research its background, Hitler-era German race car finds no buyer.
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com staff writer
POSTED: 2:58 p.m. EDT, March 12, 2007
auto_union_front.01.jpg
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After a sale was postponed to answer questions about the car's racing history, an ultra-rare 1939 German racing car expected to fetch the highest price on record for any automobile did not find a buyer at an auction.
The results of the investigation revealed that the car did not have the exact history that was originally believed, but that was not expected to substantially alter its value, Rupert Banner, head of Christie's motor cars department, told CNNMoney.com before the sealed-bid auction.
The car, an Auto Union-Grand Prix V12, is one of five remaining "Auto Union D-Types." Its value had been estimated at more than $12 million.
Best of the Geneva Motor Show
The sealed-bid auction was completed March 4. A Christie's spokeswoman declined to comment on the number of bids received or the amount of the highest bid.
Christie's plans to auction the car at a later time, the company said, but a date for that has not been set.
The car was originally scheduled to be sold in Paris on Feb. 17. That sale was cancelled Feb. 9 when Christie's and Audi Tradition announced that further investigation was needed to confirm the car's racing history.
Audi Tradition is a branch of Audi that researches the brand's history and heritage. In the 1930s, Audi was one of four brands that made up Germany's Auto Union car company.
Later, after the firm was reconstituted in West Germany following World War II, the company was named Audi but retained the four-ring emblem that symbolized the combination of four companies.
In 1933, after becoming chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler offered 500,000 reichmarks for a company to design a race car to show off the nation's technological prowess. (At the time, 500,000 reichmarks was equal to about $150,000, or $2.3 million in modern terms, according to the Economic History Services Web site of Miami University of Ohio.)
Originally, Mercedes-Benz got the nod. But Ferdinand Porsche, then an engineer working with Auto Union, was able to secure some of that financing to build a revolutionary car he had designed. That basic design was modified over the next few years to become the 1939 Auto Union D-Type, the last of the line.
The D-type had a number of features that were extremely advanced for its day, including an engine mounted behind the driver and four-wheel independent suspension. Its twin-supercharged 3-liter V12 engine can produce 485 horsepower, giving the car a top speed of 185 miles per hour.
In many ways, the D-type offered a glimpse into what would become the future of racing. It's fundamentally very similar to Formula 1 and Indy race cars of today.
"It's the same as a modern day race car, just without fins," Rupert Banner, head of Christie's motor cars department, said in an interview with CNNMoney.com in January.
One thing it doesn't have, of course, is modern safety technology. Race cars in those days didn't even have seatbelts. It was seen as preferable to be thrown from the car in a crash. One safety advance the D-type did have was a removable steering wheel, allowing the driver to be more easily removed in case of a fire.
D-type cars won several Grand Prix races throughout Europe. This car was originally believed to be the one that won a Grand Prix race in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the last race held in Europe until after the war. In fact, it was not.
The car did race on the famed Nurburgring track in 1939, the investigation revealed, finishing in 5th place. It also finished 6th at the 1939 French Grand Prix, a race in which two other D-types finished 1st and 2nd.
The car was one of 18 that were hidden in a mineshaft in eastern Germany during the war. They were discovered by invading Russian troops at the war's end. A number of the cars were subsequently lost or destroyed, according to Christie's.
It was taken to Russia after the war, where it was disassembled to study its technology.
The car was rediscovered in Ukraine in the late 1980s. It was still in pieces but was otherwise undamaged. Another car discovered nearby had had its chassis sawed in half, Banner said.
The current record for a car sold at auction, according to Christie's, is £5.5 million, or almost $11 million. That was paid for a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe sold by Christie's in 1987.
Ferdinand Porsche also designed another car for Hitler, but for a very different purpose. That car, inspired by the success of the inexpensive Ford Model T in the United States, ultimately became known as the Volkswagen Beetle. It also had a rear-mounted engine, as do today's Porsche sports cars.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/AUTOS/03/10/...ale/index.html
'World's most valuable car' fails to sell
Following postponement to research its background, Hitler-era German race car finds no buyer.
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com staff writer
POSTED: 2:58 p.m. EDT, March 12, 2007
auto_union_front.01.jpg
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After a sale was postponed to answer questions about the car's racing history, an ultra-rare 1939 German racing car expected to fetch the highest price on record for any automobile did not find a buyer at an auction.
The results of the investigation revealed that the car did not have the exact history that was originally believed, but that was not expected to substantially alter its value, Rupert Banner, head of Christie's motor cars department, told CNNMoney.com before the sealed-bid auction.
The car, an Auto Union-Grand Prix V12, is one of five remaining "Auto Union D-Types." Its value had been estimated at more than $12 million.
Best of the Geneva Motor Show
The sealed-bid auction was completed March 4. A Christie's spokeswoman declined to comment on the number of bids received or the amount of the highest bid.
Christie's plans to auction the car at a later time, the company said, but a date for that has not been set.
The car was originally scheduled to be sold in Paris on Feb. 17. That sale was cancelled Feb. 9 when Christie's and Audi Tradition announced that further investigation was needed to confirm the car's racing history.
Audi Tradition is a branch of Audi that researches the brand's history and heritage. In the 1930s, Audi was one of four brands that made up Germany's Auto Union car company.
Later, after the firm was reconstituted in West Germany following World War II, the company was named Audi but retained the four-ring emblem that symbolized the combination of four companies.
In 1933, after becoming chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler offered 500,000 reichmarks for a company to design a race car to show off the nation's technological prowess. (At the time, 500,000 reichmarks was equal to about $150,000, or $2.3 million in modern terms, according to the Economic History Services Web site of Miami University of Ohio.)
Originally, Mercedes-Benz got the nod. But Ferdinand Porsche, then an engineer working with Auto Union, was able to secure some of that financing to build a revolutionary car he had designed. That basic design was modified over the next few years to become the 1939 Auto Union D-Type, the last of the line.
The D-type had a number of features that were extremely advanced for its day, including an engine mounted behind the driver and four-wheel independent suspension. Its twin-supercharged 3-liter V12 engine can produce 485 horsepower, giving the car a top speed of 185 miles per hour.
In many ways, the D-type offered a glimpse into what would become the future of racing. It's fundamentally very similar to Formula 1 and Indy race cars of today.
"It's the same as a modern day race car, just without fins," Rupert Banner, head of Christie's motor cars department, said in an interview with CNNMoney.com in January.
One thing it doesn't have, of course, is modern safety technology. Race cars in those days didn't even have seatbelts. It was seen as preferable to be thrown from the car in a crash. One safety advance the D-type did have was a removable steering wheel, allowing the driver to be more easily removed in case of a fire.
D-type cars won several Grand Prix races throughout Europe. This car was originally believed to be the one that won a Grand Prix race in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the last race held in Europe until after the war. In fact, it was not.
The car did race on the famed Nurburgring track in 1939, the investigation revealed, finishing in 5th place. It also finished 6th at the 1939 French Grand Prix, a race in which two other D-types finished 1st and 2nd.
The car was one of 18 that were hidden in a mineshaft in eastern Germany during the war. They were discovered by invading Russian troops at the war's end. A number of the cars were subsequently lost or destroyed, according to Christie's.
It was taken to Russia after the war, where it was disassembled to study its technology.
The car was rediscovered in Ukraine in the late 1980s. It was still in pieces but was otherwise undamaged. Another car discovered nearby had had its chassis sawed in half, Banner said.
The current record for a car sold at auction, according to Christie's, is £5.5 million, or almost $11 million. That was paid for a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe sold by Christie's in 1987.
Ferdinand Porsche also designed another car for Hitler, but for a very different purpose. That car, inspired by the success of the inexpensive Ford Model T in the United States, ultimately became known as the Volkswagen Beetle. It also had a rear-mounted engine, as do today's Porsche sports cars.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/AUTOS/03/10/...ale/index.html