Cheap thrills at Retromobile Bonhams Auction 2018 - Group 4 Fiat X/19 and Mercedes Benz 300 SLS Paul O'Shea aluminium replica

Cheap thrills at Retromobile Bonhams Auction 2018 - Group 4 Fiat X/19 and Mercedes Benz 300 SLS Paul O'Shea aluminium replica

Two cars sold at Bonhams Paris retromobile auction which would be of no interest to collectors who want assets and no interest in driving - but represented good value for those who might want to actually drive an exciting competition car - for a prices lower than build costs.

1 - Fiat x/19 Group 4 - with FIA HTP papers - £11,225 including premium.

Ok - it's based on a 1300 stocker and has been prepared to Gp4 spec - but it has valid HTP papers and is surely going to be event eligible.

You could not buy an X/19 - prepare to the standard to get papers - for anything close to what this cars sold for.  It was advertised as having a fresh motor - presumably a 1300? - and it's probably the only HTP papered Group 4 around at the moment.

Before the sale it was estimated at £22-27k - even if it was battle scarred - it was well bought. 

2 - Mercedes Benz 300 SL Roadster built to alumium SLS Paul O'Shea replica spec. - £561,280 including premium.

Mercedes had one alumiuim 300 SLS roadster built for Paul O'Shea for his successful SCCA campaign and the car achieved its' objective of winning the 1957 title. 337 Kgs lighter than a stock roadster the car featured an aluminium body as well as a number of other performance enhancing features.  

The wherabouts of the factory car and sister model have always been subject to debate but Mercedes say the cars were destroyed and so if you wanted one - you would have to build a replica - which is exactly what George Distler did using factory blueprints and a talented team of specialists and no doubt a significant budget. The finished car recently competed in the Carrera Panamericana retrospective - coming 11th overall without a support team and went on to compete at numerous other historic events with success.

The car is well known in it's own right these days and in September last year at Bonhams Chantilly failed to sell at an estimate for £1.3-2.2 m.

So 5 months later the car crosses the block and hammers at approximately 40% of what it was estimated at 5 months ago......

For a full list of results from Bonhams Retromobile 2018 auction - click here 

To build the same car today using an original 300 SL Roadster as a basis - has got to be double the sale price of this car - somebody got a bargain....

If you want an alloy 300 SL Gullwing - contact one of our customers - Classic Sport Leicht who have a genuine factory alumium car for sale


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