They say true race history ALWAYS adds value

"TrackRatMk1" (trackratmk1)
09/17/2013 at 19:13 • Filed to: Auction

This incredible piece of machinery pictured here is !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It competed fiercely with the legendary Silver Arrows of Auto Union and Mercedes. Just two short weeks ago I took this picture above at Lime Rock Park, the car sitting humbly under a canopy during a torrential downpour. Not a soul in sight.

Today I learned that after Lime Rock, the car was shipped off for competition at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and was then sold at the subsequent Bonhams auction for the US equivalent of $9.4 MILLION .

I suppose I shouldn't be so shocked... when I saw it the first time, I knew it was worth millions. After all it is the only one in the world. But sitting there in the rain, it looked so lonely. Not a crowd around it, or a gaggle of photographers. Not a soul.

Looking back, it's rather funny... even amazing. If Tiffany's had a $10,000,000 diamond on display, you can bet it would be encased in a cube of impenetrable glass, wired with sensors, and with armed guards standing at the ready, prepared not just for a hungry thief but something as dramatic as a Danny Ocean heist.

But thievery isn't the point of this. Vintage racing is. I saw this car move, attack corners, and roar on the straights with other cars side by side. It wasn’t treated as a priceless gem, or protected like a magnificent piece of art. Yet in my eyes it is worthy of admiration equal or greater to our society's popular benchmarks of beauty.

I am proud to have seen such a legendary car. May it continue to be driven in vintage events around the world, inspiring those who appreciate it for years to come. I hope this piece of moving art continues to be valued for all of its historic AND modern value by its next owner.

DISCUSSION (9)

190e30-Now with COSWORTH > TrackRatMk1
09/17/2013 at 19:29

I too go to Lime Rock. I've gotten to be the same way. Considering that car is there every year, it almost blends in and I barely even notice it. Weird to know it may be gone

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > TrackRatMk1
09/17/2013 at 22:16

Kinja'd!!!

f86sabre > TrackRatMk1
09/17/2013 at 23:19

It is a beautiful car. The patina on the gauges is lovely. To think of the places it had been, the people who had driven it and the thought and care it had recieved to get it this far is impressive. Thanks for the write up.

Several years ago I was at the Goodwood FOS. I stopped to get something out of my backpack and, like a typical American lout, I set it on a tire of the car I was standing next to. After a second I realized what I had done. I gently lifted my bag off of the tire of the Marmon Wasp, the car that Ray Harroun drove to victory in the first Indy 500, said a silent sorry to the historic car and just stood there for a minute looking at the machine. The car is damn near priceless, but they were running it up the hill.