Porsches and Ferraris Steal the Spotlight at Upcoming Auction
A Europe-only BMW Z1, Aston Martin Vanquish S and hot-rodded Fiat 500 among classics being sold on Bring a Trailer.
The online auction site Bring a Trailer (or BaT to the enthusiasts who frequent the site) has grown over the years into one of the best places to find collectible and just flat-out cool classic cars. The company even has expanded their selling services to include facilitating the auctions of entire collections. One of the collections Bring a Trailer is currently selling is the Hadjopulos Collection, a 40-vehicle assortment of classic European sports cars, American classics and even a few rally cars. There’s something there to appeal to just about any taste in vehicles. The first round of auctions ended on December 18 with the remaining cars from the collection set to be auctioned off in mid-January of next year.
Among the rarest cars in the collection (at least in the U.S.) was this 1990 BMW Z1, a convertible BMW that was not imported to the U.S. when new and was only sold in Europe. BMW produced around 8,000 Z1s during a production run that ran from 1989 to 1991. Over the last few years enthusiasts have imported Z1s to the U.S. but this is still one rare classic Bimmer. The Z1 was powered by the same 2.5-liter inline-6 cylinder that was used in the E30 models from the same era. It also utilized the same 5-speed gearbox. One of the coolest things about the Z1 is the very unique door design. Rather than opening outward like a conventional car, the Z1’s doors drop down into the body when you want to enter or exit the vehicle. This example is described as a project. It runs but hasn’t really been driven for a couple of years. With a little elbow grease though it’s just the thing for garnering some dropped jaws at the local Cars and Coffee meet. The Z1 hammered at $35,500, which is certainly a fair price for something so unusual.
Another one of our favorite cars from the collection was this beautiful 1985 Porsche 944 finished in factory Graphite Metallic with a Linen-colored leather interior. The 944 sold for a very strong price of $16,100. These old Porsches from the 1980s are finally come out of the shadows as desirable collector cars. The selling price of this example is a good indicator of where the market is going for these cars. Nice ones like this are fast appreciating in value. This one showed only 40,000 miles on the odometer and included desirable options like sport seats, a limited-slip differential and light but strong factory Fuchs alloys more commonly found on 911s from the same era. The 944’s 4-cylinder put out 150-horsepower, just enough to have fun but stay out of trouble with the law.
One of the coolest looking vehicles sold in the auction had to have been this 1970 Fiat 500. The little runabout was modified with Abarth components for more performance. Abarth is a company that has raced and built Fiats and other classics over the years. This 500 has a larger 695-cc engine fitted with a dual-barrel carburetor as well as other performance upgrades. The Fiat uses a 4-speed manual gearbox, has 12-inch alloy wheels and was repainted in a beautiful light blue. The 500 sold for the bargain price of $8,500. Whoever the winning bidder was, they got a terrific deal for a very unique vehicle.
If you missed out on first part of the collection being auctioned off, don’t despair. The rest of the collection will hit the Bring a Trailer auction block in mid-January. That portion includes some even more valuable and unique vehicles. Among the vehicles available in January are a 2005 Aston Martin Vanquish S, a Ferrari Testarossa, DeTomaso Pantera and a handful of vintage Porsches.