Results from the auction by RMAuctions in Monterey CA on August 12-14 2010
note: Prices listed as SOLD are HAMMER PRICE, a 10% buyer’s premium was added.
click pics to go to auction listing page for more info.

1970 Subaru 360 "Police Car" $15,000	1970 Honda Z600 "Taxi" $4000	1960 FIAT Multipla "Taxi" $42,500
1957 BMW Isetta Bubble Window cabrio $37,500	1951 Mochet CM-125 Luxe $19,000	1957 Messerschmitt KR200 $50,000
1958 Goggomobil TL-400 Transporter $80,000	1953 Biscuter 100 runabout $11,000	1960 NSU Prinz III $20,000
1960 BMW 600 $45,000

Vintage Microcars to be auctioned by BONHAMS during the big Monterey events weekend  August 12-13 2010:
click pics to go to detailed listings for cars,
note that ALL sales under $100,000 will have a 15-17% Buyer’s Premium added!
also- note that the Fiat Giardiniera was previously sold by Bonhams in CT just 2 months ago and the same photos and description are used in this auction, but the “estimate” is almost DOUBLE what the actual sale price was 2 months ago? What is up with that? Did the original sale fall through? or maybe the seller had a matching set of identical cars….

all prices shown are HAMMER PRICE and do not include the Buyer’s Premium

1967 FIAT Abarth 850 TC/R sold for $45,000	1971 FIAT 500L sold for $12,000	1959 FIAT 600D sold for 10,500
1951 FIAT 500C Giardiniera sold for $45,500	1951 FIAT 500C Topolino Sedan sold for $10,000	1959 BMW Isetta sold for $12,000

At least 10 Vintage Microcars up for auction by RMAuctions in Monterey CA on August 12-14 2010
See anything you fancy?  More may be added later, this is all listed as of 6/27/2010
note: Prices listed as SOLD are HAMMER PRICE, a 15% buyer’s premium was added.
Not all results are in as RM has not updated their site yet. Any info came from sources at the site.
click pics to go to auction listing page for more info.

1970 Subaru 360 "Police Car"	1970 Honda Z600 "Taxi"	1960 FIAT Multipla "Taxi"
1957 BMW Isetta Bubble Window cabrio $37,500	1951 Mochet CM-125 Luxe $18,000	1957 Messerschmitt KR200 $50,000
1958 Goggomobil TL-400 Transporter $80,000	1953 Biscuter 100 runabout $11,000	1960 NSU Prinz III $13,500
1960 BMW 600

“Peel P50 for sale”

That is the top search term that keeps showing up day after day after day in the logs.
OK, well now you found something didn’t you?
Seriously people, do you think that current owners are just tired of them and looking to get rid of them?
If and when they sell, they sell privately.  And there is generally a broker involved. And there is also a good deal of time and effort invested in the deal.

After the P50 appeared on Top Gear there were gobs of people trying to find one to buy with such requests as
“I don’t need a restored one”, or “It doesn’t have to run, that’s OK”
and then people were astounded to find that there were not several to choose from for under $1000.
After all, they are small, so why would they possibly cost any money?

Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museums bought a replica from Andy Carter in the UK and apparently liked the attention that a REPLICA created that they started making their own copies for all the branches of their “Museums”.  Of course much of the stuff in them is replicas to begin with so it sort of makes sense for that venue.

So. For those of you that have landed here looking for a Peel P50 for sale, what do you think is a fair price for a Peel P50?
And why should someone sell their P50 to YOU?  Are you worthy?

update June 23 2010: Oh Look!  There is one being sold HERE by a Dealer on German eBay Right Now!

Among the cars being sold by BONHAMS at the 2010 Greenwich CT Concours is a collection of Vintage Italian Cars and these include the following Vintage Microcars to be sold June 6 2010:
click pics to go to detailed listings for cars,
note that ALL sales under $100,000 will have a 17% Buyer’s Premium added!

Lot # 446 1965 Autobianchi Bianchina Cabriolet	Lot # 456 1969 Fiat 500L	Lot # 457 1969 Fiat 850 Special 'Indroconvert"
Lot #460 1959 Fiat 600 Jolly	Lot #461 1960 Fiat 600 Multipla Milan Taxi restored	Lot #462 1958 Fiat 500 Jolly
Lot #464 1958 Abarth Zagato 750 Double Bubble	Lot #466 Fiat 500C Giardineira	Lot #468 Fiat 500B Topolino

1958 BMW Isetta – $30,000
located in Auburn CA
original engine replaced with some sort of 660cc thing.

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/2461245927.html
if the link does not work, the listing has expired

This 1938 Bantam Boulevard Delivery sold for $39,000
at RM Auctions Ft. Lauderdale on March 27-28 2010

Link to Auction Listing

Price is “Hammer Price” without additional 10% Buyer’s Premium

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 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.

We last wrote about Spare Parts Collections in the letters section of Microcar News Issue #3 2008

Since then we have heard a smattering of other stories from people about their experiences with this “company” in Uruguay.
They have a nice website and a nice eBay page as seller : SPAREPARTSCOLLECTIONS
Attempts to get any comments from Martin Corbo or anyone else regarding the complaints we had been receiving were met with very defensive and hostile email responses that among other things claimed

“in every case we have resolved the issue even if it would involve compensation to the client for the inconveniences (that is another of our policies, for your record).”

At the time, this was counter to what I was hearing from The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum which has apparently now filed a lawsuit against Martin Corbo, Fabian Scavone and Plinio Gani, who all represent SPARE PARTS COLLECTIONS.
I guess they have some “unresolved” issues….

The lawsuit was filed on July 13 2009 and other than being about Breach of Contract, details will probably have to remain under wraps until a judgement is rendered.

We do have a bit more background on Spare Parts Collections and eBay (more…)

 In another world; Microcar Collectors and Enthusiasts have their own community.

Like Airplane Enthusiasts that can be part of a community that has a Runway as the main drag so you can park your Plane in the garage, taxi out and take off, the Microcar Community has homes with Garages as the centerpiece of the house and sleeping quarters upstairs or out back.

Vehicles that can exceed 55 mph are banned and tickets are regularly given out for vehicles that are not going slow enough or emitting enough blue smoke.

Every home has a microcar enthusiast in it.  They may own a microcar, they may own several or they may WANT to own one.  Many have tools to work on their cars, some have no tools or no mechanical expertise to do so.

But the neighborhood is friendly and what good is a friend if you cannot borrow their tools?

So a great swap goes on continuously, the same tools are loaned out to neighbors again and again, no one has to own every single special tool needed, they can just go next door or down the block and BORROW it.  As long as it is returned in a reasonable period of time, everything works out well. (more…)