Bonhams’ Auction in Paris was a car show on its own right

For a few years, other renowned auctioneers also join the Rétromobile event with a small outlet stages but at the same time, organise their own auction in the heart of Paris. Bonhams fills the Grand Palais near the Champs Elysée with astonishing rarities and exotics like the Bugatti that proved to be the most expensive car of all the Rétromobile week Auctions, a new Stratos, a Maserati Mostro or a Toyota Formula-1 car.

I already wrote about the Artcurial stage that offered an incredible set of cars of all epochs, purposes and price ranges. Artcurial’s Auction is an exclusive element of one of the greatest classic car shows on earth.

Artcurial’s auction is a rare treat for connoisseurs

But if you would miss that, and you only visit the Grand Palais during that week, you will still be well served. Bonhams grouped together a fine selection of cars and the Grand Palais offered a most appropriate stage for the show.

Judging from the record breaking prices, Bonhams’ plan worked out well. Bonhams’ first European auction of the year realised a total of 20 million euros, its best ever result in its Grand Palais location, and the most expensive car of the lot took the top spot of all three Paris Auctions of the week. Below I will present some of my favourites from the Grand Palais.

The cars are parked on the two sides of the hall, pre-WWII on the left post-war on the right, while the centre is occupied by the stage where the auction will take place, surrounded by podiums for the featured cars.

The top location was offered to a pre-war French luxury car, a silver Voisin, that I did not find among the auction lots, so I take it served decoration purposes.

The central podium is occupied by  magnificent 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster, with a striking coachwork a with highline doors, designed by the famous Parisian automotive designer Giuseppe Figoni.

The two-seat drophead proved to be the star lot in the Bonhams’ Grand Palais Sale, selling for an impressive €4,600,000 – the most valuable lot across all the collectors’ motor car sales taking place in Paris that week.

There was a number of brilliant classic cars, like the 1939 Bugatti Type 57C Stelvio Cabriolet, with a body designed by Gangloff.

This car was one of the very last pre-war Bugattis produced before the outbreak of WWII and was estimated to sell at about 1.5 million euros (but it didn’t…).

My personal favourite of the pre war cars was a 1937 Horch 853 Spezialroadster with coachwork by Erdmann & Rossi.

Horch’s impressive 853 Spezialroadster was produced in different series with styling that evolved over time. The second series included just five examples, a prototype and four subsequent ‘production’ versions. Built on a shortened chassis, they were distinguished by an extremely long bonnet, that makes you think about having more under the bonnet than the actual inline 5 litre engine.

The 1935 Mercedes Benz 500k Cabriolet A was sold for an impressive 1,6 million euros. The 500K was a supercar of its day, designed by in-house coachworks Sindelfingen and engineered by Hans Nibel, who created the chassis for the first legendary ‘Silver Arrows’ racing car. One of only 31 Cabriolets built, this car was delivered new to the celebrated French film actor of the era, Henry Garat.

Jumping a few decades, the 1963 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster sold for slightly above 1 million euros. Although SLs are a common sight at classic car shows, this car was one of only 200 Roadsters built with disc brakes and an all-aluminium engine.

Another favourite was the 1952 Pegaso Z-102 Cabriolet with Coachwork by the factory ENASA studio that was sold for over 700.000 euros.

I could write for ages about this brilliant car that rose to prominence again at Auctions of the past few years, but I simply recommend to revisit my article from 2018 on the Pegaso exhibition of Autoworld.

Pegaso exhibition at Autoworld – a forgotten brand worth remembering

A well selling Alfa of the Auction was was the light blue 1955 Alfa Romeo 1900C SZ Coupé with coachwork furnished by Carrozzeria Zagato that was bought for over 724.000 euros..

Another brilliant Alfa was a 1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS Coupé with Coachwork provided by Carrozzeria Bertone.

1963 Lancia Flaminia Sport 2.5-Litres 3C ‘Double Bubble’ Coupé was sold for slightly under 250.000 euros.

This striking Zagato-bodied Lancia featured the Milanese coachbuilder’s renowned ‘Double Bubble’ body form in which low overall lines and a rounded streamlined shape are achieved by the iconic roof bulges above each front seat.

Without detailing too many recent cars I still note the 1973 Maserati Bora 4.9-Litre Coupé sold for nearly 140.000 euros.

One of the newest “cars” of the Auction was a 2008 Toyota TF108 Formula 1 car. The team’s 2008 drivers included the Italian Jarno Trulli and German Timo Glock, both consistently finishing in points-scoring positions, including podiums in France and Hungary. Toyota finished 2008 with 56 points, ranked 5^th that year that proved to be the team’s penultimate season.

The car was sold for 82.000 euros, but contained no tech secrets: the chassis number ’05’  car was presented in show car specification, minus its engine and electronics, and is sold for display purposes only.

Arguably a highlight of the event, the New Stratos Coupé built in 2019 was sold for €690,000. This car was the first of a limited run of just 25 new-generation Stratos, inspired by the legendary 1970s Lancia rally car.

The cars are featuring a 540bhp 4.3-litre V8 engine, and a Ferrari 430 Scuderia chassis (in this concrete case from 2009), and this car was  the first specimen to be offered at auction.

I attach below a more comprehensive gallery:

For the introduction to the Rétromobile event and links to the detailed impressions, please visit the main article:

Rétromobile 2020: the queen of classic car shows is on!