1955 Jaguar D-Type. D-Type photos by Simon Clay, courtesy RM Auctions.
The allure of Jaguar’s D-Type racer shows no sign of diminishing with age. When a 1955 D-Type with a documented racing history and many of its original components crossed the auction block in Paris on Wednesday, bidders responded enthusiastically, pushing the selling price to 3,696,000 euros (about $4.95 million, including the 12 percent buyer’s fee) and establishing a new record for the model.
Delivered to its first owner, Australian racer Bib Stillwell, in January of 1956, chassis XKD-520, the seventh D-Type that Jaguar built, quickly established course records at the Bathurst 500 and the Rob Roy Hill Climb before going on to win the Bathurst Road Racing Championship in 1956. Stillwell raced the car into the 1957 season, where he drove it for the last time at Albert Park in March.
The car then passed through a string of owners before David Finch bought it in November of 1958. Finch replaced the car’s original 3.4-liter inline six-cylinder engine with a Jaguar-supplied 3.8-liter inline six, a common in-period upgrade that made the D-Type more competitive by raising output from 250 horsepower to 300 horsepower. Proof came in the form of a victory at the Queensland Tourist Trophy race of 1961, but a subsequent event resulted in minor damage to the car’s nose. Rather than replacing its original bodywork, Finch had a Sydney panel beater replicate the long-nose hood used on the D-Types that had proven victorious at Le Mans.
The car’s first restoration came at the hands of a new owner in 1962, and in 1967 it was purchased by Richard Attwood, who would go on to take victory at Le Mans behind the wheel of a Porsche 917K in 1970. Sold again in 1977, chassis XKD-520 underwent a thorough refurbishing, and was used for both track days and vintage events, such as the Mille Miglia. In 2004, the car sold to Clive Jarman, who contracted CKL Developments to track down an original “short” D-Type nose, which the car wears today (the custom long nose was included as part of the sale). Described by Chris Keith-Lucas (of CKL Developments) as “one of the best production D-Types in existence today,” the car’s record-setting price reflected its condition, history and originality.
Due to conversion rates, the previous record for a Jaguar D-Type sold at public auction depends on what currency the car was sold in. The 1956 shortnose D-Type that was part of the Ecurie Ecosse collection (XKD-561) sold in December for £2,577,500, or about $4.2 million at the time. Yet the first production D-Type (XKD-509) sold in 2008 for £2,201,500, which at the time converted to about $4.4 million. Bonhams handled both prior sales.
1971 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman Landaulet. Photo by Patrick Ernzen, courtesy RM Auctions.
Another top sale in Paris was a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 600 “Six Door” Pullman Landaulet, recently discovered after more than three decades in storage. A two-owner car and one of just 26 six-door Landaulet models constructed, RM described the Mercedes as the “holy grail” of the Mercedes-Benz 600 range. This example came complete with a nine-inch Sony television set, an eight-speaker Becker Grand Prix audio system and even an in-car telephone, all cutting-edge electronics in 1971. In need of a thorough restoration, the car’s tattered appearance prompted RM to assign a pre-auction estimate of just €80,000 to €120,000 ($108,000 to $162,000), but the final selling price far exceeded that at €537,600 ($725,491).
Other cars cracking the top 10 in Paris included a 1982 Porsche 956 Group C Sports Prototype that finished third at Le Mans in 1982, which sold for €2,352,000 ($3,174,024); a 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spyder, which sold for €1,960,000 ($2,645,020); a 1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, which sold for €1,288,000 ($1,738,156); a 1936 Delahaye 135S, which sold for €1,008,000 ($1,360,296); a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster, which sold for €823,200 ($1,110,908); a 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 S “SV Specification,” which sold for €520,800 ($702,820); a 1990 Ferrari F40, which sold for €515,200 ($695,262); and a 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300 S Roadster, which sold for €448,000 ($604,576).
1966 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super Polizia. Photo courtesy RM Auctions.
Though high-end cars were the order of the day, buyers with a more modest acquisition budget could have taken home a 1957 Austin-Healey 100-6 BN4, which sold for €36,400 ($49,122); a 1957 Fiat Multipla, which sold for €33,600 ($45,343); a 1966 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super Polizia, which sold for €28,000 ($37,786); a 1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Berlina, which sold for €21,280 ($28,717), or a 1956 Fiat 600, which sold for €14,000 ($18,893).
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