Evaluation: Recent restoration | Handsome two-door, four-seat body has immense metal trunk built with a recess for the folded top. Discovered in Europe in 1951 by Dr. Ralph W.E. Cox, displayed at Winthrop Rockefeller’s Museum of Automobiles in Arkansas. Recently restored and earned second in class at Pebble Beach in 2015. Excellent paint, chrome, upholstery, and top. The engine compartment is in good order, with only a little fluid seepage. Still a concours-quality car.
Bottom Line: Sold by Bonhams in Scottsdale in 2014 from the Cox collection before the most recent restoration and showing 36,999 kilometers (22,990 miles) for $1,430,000. The odometer today shows only 37,019 kilometers (23,003 miles), about enough to drive on and off the Pebble Beach show field. The coachwork, which folds the top compactly behind and flush with the passenger tonneau, is distinct from the usual Sindelfingen Cabriolet design; if anything, it’s more attractive. Like the other classics in today’s sale, however, it fell short of the consignor’s expectations or even a reasonable bid. Collectors who have progressed to buying heavy classics are typically too experienced to be drawn into an ego-driven bidding war; they seem to make up their minds before the auction and sit on their bidding paddles (or keyboards) when their estimation of value is exceeded.
