Tag: RM Auctions

  • 2012 Lexus LFA for sale in boring color, but with low mileage

    The 2012 Lexus LFA was a high-water mark for Toyota’s luxury brand. The car never got a direct successor, but a practically untouched example with less than 500 miles is scheduled to cross the block at RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island auction on May 22.

    Finished in Steel Gray, this car isn’t as distinctive as the brown LFA that came up for sale earlier this year, but it’s still quite rare. Number 430 of 500 cars built, it’s one of only 11 finished in this particular hue, according to the listing.

    The LFA was meant as a halo car for Lexus, giving the brand more prestige and using some of parent Toyota’s Formula One experience to do it. It’s powered by a 5.2-liter V-10 that makes 552 hp and 334 lb-ft of torque, with a 9,000-rpm redline. The engine and the LFA’s carbon-fiber body still seem modern today, but the 6-speed single-clutch automated manual transmission gives away the car’s age.

    2012 Lexus LFA (Photo by RM Sotheby's)

    2012 Lexus LFA (Photo by RM Sotheby’s)

    Production of the LFA ended in December 2012, and the last car reached the U.S. in February 2013. The listing claims Lexus imported approximately 190 cars to the U.S., although other sources say 178 cars were imported.

    Either way, the LFA was a slow seller. Five new, unregistered cars remained up for grabs as of January 2020 likely due to the outlandish $375,000 starting price. Some dealerships held onto their LFAs as display pieces to drive showroom traffic.

    It’s unclear if this LFA will meet its pre-auction estimate of $425,000 to $500,000, which is a significant increase over the $388,300 the owner originally paid for it. However, that’s still a lot less than the aforementioned brown LFA, which was listed for sale through an exotic-car dealership earlier this year with a $680,000 asking price.

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  • Rare 1993 Cizeta V16T headed to auction

    If you’re steeped in 1990s nostalgia, but think a Ferrari or Lamborghini is too common, this 1993 Cizeta V16T is for you. Scheduled to cross the block January 22 at an RM Sotheby’s auction, it’s one of just nine built.

    Cizeta was the brainchild of former Lamborghini test driver and engineer Claudio Zampolli. After leaving Lamborghini, he moved to Los Angels and started a business working on supercars of the city’s many wealthy residents. But Zampolli wanted to build his own car, and teamed up with music producer Giorgio Moroder to make that happen.

    Zampolli specified a transversely-mounted 6.0-liter V-16, with a 5-speed manual transmission. The powertrain was cloaked in bodywork that resembled the contemporary Lamborghini Diablo, which makes sense, as Diablo designer Marcello Gandini also penned the V16T.

    The supercar was initially marketed as the Cizeta-Moroder V16T, but the partnership between Zampolli and Moroder dissolved after the first prototype was built, so all production cars were branded solely as Cizetas.

    1993 Cizeta V16T (Photo by RM Sotheby's)

    1993 Cizeta V16T (Photo by RM Sotheby’s)

    The car currently for sale—chassis 101—was ordered by Singapore’s Hong Seh Motors on behalf of the Brunei Royal Family, according to the listing. The Sultan of Brunei was legendary for extravagant taste in cars, purchasing three of the nine V16T production models, along with thousands of other exotics.

    Chassis 101 was shipped from the Cizeta factory in Modena, Italy, to Singapore in March 1993, but was never delivered to the Brunei Royal Family, according to the listing. Instead, it gathered dust at Hong Seh Motors for over 25 years, before being purchased by its current owner in 2020.

    As a result, it only has 611 miles on the odometer, all of which are believed to have been accumulated during testing at the factory, according to the listing. The car is righthand drive, and has horizontal slats over its side air intakes like the prototype V16T, rather than the vertical slats used on most other production cars, RM Sotheby’s noted.

    History is littered with failed supercar builders, but that hasn’t stopped new generations of dreamers from trying to launch their own supercars. Some are even turning to hydrogen or battery-electric powertrains.

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  • 1955 Jaguar D-Type headed to auction

    Before the invention of track-only supercars, wealthy enthusiasts could simply buy a race car like this 1955 Jaguar D-Type. The rare Jag will be auctioned off by RM Sotheby’s Jan. 22.

    Introduced in 1954, the D-Type earned three straight 24 Hours of Le Mans victories from 1955-’57, the last two years with privateer teams. Jaguar built just 17 works race cars (including  11 “long-nose” variants), plus 54 customer race cars. Some D-Type chassis were also converted into XKSS road cars, a process that was cut short by a 1957 fire at Jaguar’s Coventry, England, factory, which destroyed the final five cars earmarked for conversion.

    The car up for auction—chassis XKD 518—is not a Le Mans veteran, but is noteworthy for a couple of reasons. It left the factory not in traditional British Racing Green, but in red—a color normally associated with Jaguar’s Italian rivals. XKD 518 was also sold to its first private owner by future Formula 1 czar Bernie Ecclestone.

    1955 Jaguar D-Type XKD 518 (Photo by RM Sotheby's)

    1955 Jaguar D-Type XKD 518 (Photo by RM Sotheby’s)

    That first private owner was race driver Peter Blond, who ran XKD 518 at British tracks like Silverstone and Goodwood during the 1956 and 1957 seasons. Blond sold the car in August 1957, and it changed hands many more times over the years, ending up with its current owner in 2008.

    Under the hood sits a 3.4-liter XK inline-6 with a numbers-matching block and head, which makes 245 horsepower, according to the listing. XKD 518 left the factory without the trademark D-Type fin, and with a low windscreen, according to the listing, but it sports those items now. They were added to the car at some point during its racing career, and are thus period correct, the auctioneer noted.

    Pre-auction estimates for the red D-Type are between $5.7 million and $7.5 million, which seems like a relative bargain compared to the $21.8 million paid for a Le Mans-winning D-Type in 2016. Note that this car failed to sell at a 2018 auction, because bidding didn’t meet an $8.8 million reserve.

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