Own a Remarkable Piece of History for a Cool Million

On March 10th on Amelia Island, Florida RM Auctions will be auctioning a very unique piece of automotive history.

While we complain in modern times when our AC Compressor and AC Evaporator aren't keeping us cool enough, this beauty had no such amenities and yet it is a sight to behold.

 It is an extremely rare 1913 Hispano-Suiza Alfonso XIII, chassis #718 - one of only four ever built. It was named after the King of Spain at the time, a young auto enthusiast who bought many of Hispano-Suiza's models - eventually building a fleet of 30. In honor of their best and most respected customer, they named this model the Alfonso XIII, and with a 3.62cc inline four-cylinder engine and a top speed of 80mph (which was excellent for the time) it certainly lived up to it's namesake.

 The attention to detail in the making of this vehicle is striking: original Belriot two bulb headlamps (an early example of a hi-beam low-beam set-up), intricately woven and fabulously preserved interior upholstery, wood-framed windows, and special markings on the trunk hardware, leaf springs, and the original dash chassis plate to name just a few highlights.

It also features both an open, summer body and a closed winter body (winter body shown): both are immaculately preserved. The story goes in the mid-80's two avid car collectors were in Seville, Spain. They met an antique dealer and asked him if he knew of any Hispano-Suiza cars that might be in the area, and he pointed them in the direction of his client, the Marquis de Sanlucar de Barrameda.

After going to his estate and sampling some of the local wine, he agreed to sell them his grandfather's car - kept in a storage area for wine barrels and untouched for 40 years. They were blown away with how preserved the vehicle was and happily received their purchase.

 Lucky find, which will now move to the hands of the next lucky auction winner with a million dollars to spare.

The Amazing Auto Auction that is Barrett-Jackson

Every few months the automotive sales goliath that is Barrett-Jackson rears its head. This even is not like a mechanics special auction where all the cars need a new diesel injector or diesel fuel pumps, no these are classics. Well not all of them are classics, some are future classics.

Barrett-Jackson is a traveling auction that specializes in high end cars that private collectors and dealerships are looking to sell but would never reach their full potential if sold on a lot. Over the years this auction has seen cars from complete concepts to extreme race cars to the complete body off numbers matching restorations that fetch millions. Barrett-Jackson is basically every little boys dream car buffet we all had a car poster on the wall, for me it was the Countach.

The money that people are willing to throw down to get some of these rides is almost as impressive as the cars themselves. Some cars have cleared the 3 million mark and others don’t even hit the reserve, it all comes down to the buzz around a specific car. Unlike police auctions or estate sales this auction widely advertises the cars that are for sale and lets potential buys get all the info about the cars as well as documentation that proves numbers matching. Some cars sold have unique background such as movie cars or even classic James Dean driven cars. People will pay good money for cars that have a history and Barrett-Jackson is where these cars are sold. In other words if you have a classic car with a good history and you are looking to sell then this auction is the place for you to sell that car.