Classic Cars Auction

DRIVING JOY “UNPLUGGED”

Just in time for the summer season, 107 classic cars and motorcycles are up for sale in Vienna, each delivering their own promises of motorized joy! They will go under the hammer at the Classic Cars auction at Dorotheum Vösendorf in Vienna on 15 June, 2019.

The top lots include an extremely rare Beetle Cabriolet from 1952, also known as the “pretzel convertible” after the shape of its rear window:

The VW Beetle Cabriolet is still one of the most popular convertibles of all time. They were produced from 1949 in cooperation with the body construction company Karmann from Osnabrück. After a pre-series of 25 vehicles passed the tough VW tests with bravura, Wolfsburg ordered a first series of 1,000 units. Just three years later, the ten thousandth convertible came off the production line and production did not end until 1980. The convertibles built until 1952 are known as pretzel convertibles, because of their striking rear windows. Starting in 1951, there was a special feature for one year: the front side parts were equipped with flaps for ventilation of the footwell, soon called “rheumatism flaps”. With DM 6950, the convertible was half as expensive as the standard model.
(Read more about the VW Beetle Cabriolet here!)

The auction’s historical highlights include cars by Jaguar, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. Most notably, a S. S. 100 Jaguar 2 ½ Litre from 1938, a pre-war sports car par excellence and one of only 198 of its kind worldwide; a Ferrari 250 GT/E Pininfarina 2+2 Series III; and an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Berlinetta Touring from 1948, considered a pinnacle amongst post-war supercars with its elegant body and a powerful sports car engine…

In 1936 – one year after the name Jaguar was introduced – the sports car was also given a new engine. It was now called S.S. 100 Jaguar and kept what it promised. Soon the relatively inexpensive sports cars romped around on the racetracks in the UK and drove everything into the ground. The 3½ litre followed in 1937 as the next development stage, but WWII meant an abrupt end of the production after only 300 pieces. After the war Lyons gave the company another new name, Jaguar Cars. That has remained until today and the S.S. 100 is regarded as the founder of its legacy and as one of the pre-war sports cars par excellence!
(Read more about the S.S. 100 Jaguar here!)

“A not only grand, but glorious, touring car“
With these words began the test report of the American Road & Track magazine. And that says it all. With the end of the 1950s, the time of Ferrari’s unique pieces came to an end, something closer to series production began. There was a two-seater coupé designed by Pininfarina and a convertible, as well as the Berlinetta by Scaglietti with a shortened wheelbase for racing and as an open counterpart the California Spider. Although Ferrari, or better said the Carrozzeria Ghia, already built individual 2+2 seat sports cars in the 1950s, Enzo Ferrari saw in it a gap, which had to be closed and gave the order for the Pininfarina.
(Read more about the Ferrari 250 GT/E Pininfarina here!)

In 1925 Alfa Romeo presented the 6C, a completely new car that rivalled its big-car counterparts. The famous in-line six-cylinder engine made a name for itself. In 1927, 1500 of the 6C models went into production. Over the years, the cubic capacity grew to 1,750 ccm and increased further to 1,900 ccm and 2,300 ccm in 1933. In 1939, the 6C finally reached 2,500 ccm in its last evolutionary stage. At the 29th IAA in March 1939 in Berlin, the 6C 2500 Tourismo with a wheelbase of 3,250 mm and the more powerful 6C 2500 Sport with a shorter wheelbase of 3,000 mm were presented. After the war, production was resumed in initially very small numbers. As before the war, the 6C were very expensive vehicles, which could therefore be individually fitted out by a wide variety of body artists.
(Read more aout the Alfa Romeo 6C here!)

The Heinz Prüller Collection

Some cars deserve special attention on account of their previous owners. This rings true for the car once driven by iconic sports commentator Heinz Prüller, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation’s unrivalled Formula One expert commentator. When “the voice of Formula One” was off the air, this 1992 Alfa Romeo Spider 2.0 was his favoured ride. A similar example is the 1982 Porsche 911 SC 3.2 litres, a unique prototype specimen which was driven for many years by Helmuth Bott, top executive of research and development at Porsche from 1979 to 1988, and as such responsible for the conception of a number of Porsche’s most iconic models.
(Read more about the Porsche 911 SC here!)

The orange VW-Samba, a completely revamped 963 Volkswagen T1 Special Edition equipped with no less than 21 windows, is a nostalgic classic. The archetypal child of the 1960s actually made its maiden voyage by ship to a dealership in San Francisco, the city that only a few years later would become a VW bus paradise!
(Read more about the Volkswagen T1 here!)

View the auction catalogue now and find out more about each car!