MICROCAR NEWS Online

This 1941 American Bantam Convertible Coupe sold at the Gooding & Company Scottsdale auction January 21-22 2010 for a hammer price of $39,000

Link to the Gooding description page HERE

This car was bought by a member of The Vintage Microcar Club!  The same person also purchased the 1956 BMW Isetta Bubble Window cabrio from the Russo & Steele auction that took place the same weekend.

against the high winds and damage caused by collapsed tents and poles falling at the 2010 Russo & Steele Auction in Scottsdale AZ.  I was wondering why this car had not crossed the block.
The original listing for this car is HERE –  More photos of damaged cars here
(not for the faint of heart, but no other microcars…)

Auction results:
This 1961 Autobianchi Bianchina apparently sold at RM Auctions in Scottsdale AZ on Friday Jan 22 for $60,500
(don’t know if that is hammer price or if it include’s Buyer’s premium)

Link to RM Auctions listing for more info and pics

This 1957 Bubble Window Isetta sold Friday Jan 22 at RM Auctions in AZ for $33,000 (don’t know if that is hammer price or price with buyer’s commission yet…)

Note this is NOT a cabrio like the one at Russo & Steele

Link to the listing for the car.

This 1956 BMW Isetta Bubble Window cabrio just sold in Scottsdale AZ at the Russo & Steele auction for $42,000.

This was an ALL RESERVE auction (as opposed to Barrett-Jackson which is all NO Reserve) and the reserve was off at $39,500.  Bidding was at $39,500 and the reserve was not met and they rolled the car away and were on to the next car when the seller apparently changed his mind and they went back to it for another $2500.

This was restored by Greg Hahs and I think I know who the guy in the hat was that bought it. We will see if it shows up in his collection, I don’t think he had a Bubble Window cabrio.

The results from this auction were from watching the Live Feed, the official Russo & Steele Auction site does not yet have result from this auction.   This car was not touched by the damages caused by high winds that caused some tents there to collapse.

This 1936 FIAT Topolino just sold at Russo & Steele Scottsdale AZ 2010 auction for $14,000 (hammer price)

This was an ALL RESERVE auction (as opposed to Barrett-Jackson which is all NO Reserve) and the reserve was off somewhere around $10,000.

Where it is from I don’t know, where it is going, I don’t know.

The results from this auction were from watching the Live Feed, the official Russo & Steele Auction site does not yet have result from this auction.

“Terminally Cute” is how the announcers describe it, but for awhile on Tuesday, this car had the top sales spot (along with a Messerschmitt KR175 at $40,000) and probably annoyed some sellers of cars selling in the $20K range.
Expect a Behind the Scenes story of what it is like to sell a car at Barrett-Jackson from Richard Lewis (the restorer and seller) in a future issue of MICROCAR NEWS magazine.  If you look *really hard* you can see Richard standing on the left side (our left) of the Auctioneer podium.  He is wearing a dark jacket and baseball cap.  He says that as soon as the car was brought out someone dragged him away from the car and plopped him there.  Apparently standard procedure so everyone knows who the seller is and it prevents you from bidding on your own car.

This car had a “hammer price” of $43,000
SpeedTV’s own online “magazine” referred to the sale price as $47,300
but they also showed a photo of a different car when mentioning it.
and the NY Times said it sold for “nearly $50,000”

Wow, the price just keeps going up even though the auction has ended.

Here is a list of Microcars offered at this year’s Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction.

Check if you get Speed Channel or SpeedTV and you can watch these cross the line on the days they are listed:

Tuesday January 19 2010:
(click pics to go to detailed listings for cars)

1972 HONDA Z600 $25,000

Lot# 52 1956 MESSERSCHMITT KR175 $40,000

Lot# 74 1956 BMW ISETTA $43,000

Wednesday January 20 2010:

Lot# 420.1 1957 HEINKEL 200 $25,000

Thursday January 21 2010:

Lot# 630 1962 KING MIDGET III $14,500 for the pair	Lot# 630.1 1958 KING MIDGET MODEL III sold with Lot 630	Lot# 711 1951 CROSLEY HOOK AND LADDER FIRETRUCK $100,000
Lot# 737 1957 BMW ISETTA 300 CONVERTIBLE $29,000	Lot# 741 1962 TROJAN 200 $40,000	Lot# 741.1 1957 BMW ISETTA 300 $22,000

Friday January 22 2010:

Lot# 919 1958 BMW 600 $30,000

Apparently Vintage Microcars are a hit at Auto Shows (after the April 2009 NY Auto Show where we had 4 cars).

The Montreal Auto Show contacted us trying to get some Vintage Microcars for display at their show January 15-24 2010.
They were very insistent about having a Peel P50 in attendance so we hooked them up with Jeff Lane at The Lane Motor Museum.  Mario Palma Jr from the Toronto area also agreed to supply some vehicles and now they will have 8 models for the public to view over the course of the show:

1949 Rolux Baby – Mario Palma Jr.
1956 P.Vallee Chantecler – Mario Palma Jr.
1957 VELAM Isetta – Mario Palma Jr.
1958 FIAT Multipla – Mario Palma Jr.
1959 Frisky cabriolet – Mario Palma Jr.
1965 Peel P50 -Lane Motor Museum
1965 Peel Trident – Lane Motor Museum
1975 Mini Comtessa – Mario Palma Jr.
photos of the cars, but not really the show itself here:
www.SalonAutoMontreal.com/en/microcars/

update: Mario Palma Jr. just sent some photos from the show!

Happy New Year!  Sue and I are happy to announce that we are ready to open registration to MicroSouth 2010!  We’ve gone a bit higher tech this year and have an online registration form, here is the link and password info:

*Link Removed as Event is over now*

For 2010 vehicle participation is being limited to nice original or restored vintage microcars (600cc or less) but we are extending an invitation to a few vintage scooters and scooterists to join us which should be fun!  Once your registration is confirmed you will get more specific info about the host hotel, location and activities as available.

We’ve ordered up perfect weather, have a fantastic venue lined up for Saturday and look forward to seeing each of you very soon!  Until then, Peace, Love & Microcars!

Billy & Sue Paul