For Sale: Auto Union D-Type, one owner (A. Hitler) - Page 2

Mr. M

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob

Well that is not strictly true. At the time, Bentley, Bugatti, and Alfa Romeo were kicking ass on the track. Duesenberg, Pierce Arrow, Cadillac, Peerless were all comparable American luxury cars ...as were European marques like Dalahaye, Hispano-Suiza, Voisin, Isotta-Fraschini, Rolls-Royce, Daimler, Lancia ...there were many great car makers in the 1930s, the Germans were not the only ones producing amazing cars at that time.

BTW, look at this ridiculous Hispano-Suiza limousine from 1923.

Glad to see you Rob. Do post more often, I really enjoy reading your posts.

That limousine looks more like a bus than it is a car.

Giannis

it is sure a great and historic car. I would love to buy it of course, but i can't afford to. Sadly..

merve_extreme

Its an excellent piece of work by Auto Union,but i dont think Hitler actually must have driven it many times.
Maybe he had a driver to drive it around the track while he watched.

SDNR

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mirage77

Glad to see you Rob. Do post more often, I really enjoy reading your posts.

That limousine looks more like a bus than it is a car.

Thank you for that James ....but I am kind of in semi-retirement from the forum ....I have enjoyed my time here and wish you all the best

cawimmer430

I'm sure Hitler also had a thing for BMW. After all, Germany's most deadly fighter plane, the Focke Wulf FW-190 was powered by BMW 801 Radial Engines.

The standard Luftwaffe fighter, the BF-109, was powered by Daimler-Benz DB601-605 inverted V12 engines.

Deutsch · **One of the hottest Audi's up for auction -** 12-28-2006, 01:38 AM

If I could splurge on this sucker... I would...

Quote:

1939 Auto Union Type D Expected to Fetch Highest Price Ever for Car in February '07 Auction

One of Two Original Auto Union Type D Silver Arrow Racecars Known to Exist

Dec 27, 2006

by: George Achorn, phtoos by Christie's Images Ltd. 2006

That an original 1939 Auto Union Type D racecar will be auctioned is no small matter. These racecars, with engineering by Ferdinand Porsche, are some of the greatest racing cars in history, and also some of the rarest with only two original Type D racecars known to exist. For that reason, the auction house or record Christie’s suggests that this Auto Union will break the record for the most expensive automobile ever sold.

The ‘Silver Arrow’ era is arguably one of the greatest eras in racing history. With mobilization as a major goal for his country and successful race teams and race drivers a major source of national pride for the masses, Nazi leader Adolph Hitler funded the development of ground-breaking racecar design from Auto Union (the precursor to Audi AG as we know it today) and Mercedes-Benz.

The Auto Unions in particular were revolutionary in design, masterminded by the great Ferdinand Porsche. Porsche was the first to place the engine amidships in a racecar, with the driver in the front for better balance. The cars also featured fully independent de Dion suspension. Earlier Type A, B and C Auto Unions featured a supercharged 16-cylinder engine that was later changed to a supercharged 12-cylinder for the 1938 race season to meet new international Grand Prix regulations that restricted the displacement of the engine to three liters. By this time, the Porsche had left the Auto Union project and adaptation of his basic design to meet the new regulations was supervised by Robert Eberan-Eberhorst. Drivers of the Type D models included Tazio Nuvolari, Hans Stuck, H.P. Muller, Georg Meier and Rudolf Hasse.

This particular Auto Union chassis, chassis #21 according to sources at Audi Tradition, is reported by Christie’s to have won the 1939 Grand Prix at the talented hand of “The Flying Mantuan”, the legendary Tazio Nuvolari. Audi Tradition also reports that this chassis won the 1939 Grand Prix of France in Reims by driver H.P. Müller.

Another interesting aspect of racing during that period is provided by Audi Tradition, and suggests why it is hard to pinpoint the exact history of a given silver arrow from the era. According to our source, both Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz employed the practice of the ‘Driver Car’ or ‘Winner Car’ whereby all of the components were pulled from the cars after a race and re-installed in the cars for the next race, and not uncommonly mixed from chassis to chassis.

Original Auto Union racecars are the rarest of breeds. While many of these cars were built and campaigned by Auto Union in the years prior to World War II, the legendary Auto Union silver arrows fell on a harder fate than their counterparts from Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union and its several facilities, including its Zwickau headquarters ended up behind the Iron Curtain when the geopolitical divider dropped.

It is said Auto Union staff did their best to hide the cars from the Russians, squirreling eighteen of these legendary machines away in a mineshaft, though the cars were eventually discovered by the Russians and shipped by train back to Russia to be examined for their technology. Only two Type D racecars are known to have survived, though a very small number of display cars that were never raced are also in the hands of a very select group of collectors.

For many years, the components of this particular car and several others sat, largely dismantled, within the borders of the Soviet Union. It and what amassed to two or three others were located there in pieces, the bodies separated from the chassis and marked for the scrap heap when they was saved by the American Paul Karassik who found the stash in the mid 1980’s.

From Russia, the Auto Union chassis and parts were shipped west to England where the body of this Type D was recreated by Rod Jolley Coachbuilding and made to the exact dimensions of the original. Following this process, this ’39 Type D and a second ’38 Type D were rebuilt and fully restored by Crosthwaite and Gardiner, the same company who would later recreate in exact detail additional Auto Union silver arrow replicas for Audi AG and is reported to be currently creating an exact replica of the ’39 Type D for the Audi Tradition collection. In 1994, Dick Crosthwaite track tested this restored Auto Union for the first time following its reassembly at the fabled Nurburgring, from whence it was sold by Karassik to an English owner, all the time being meticulously maintained according to Christie’s.

The other Auto Union Type D with racing pedigree known to exist, saved by Karassik and rebuilt by Crosthwaite and Gardiner is a 1938 example owned by Audi AG, kept as part of the Audi Tradition collection and recently displayed at the Audi Forum New York City last October. The 1939 iteration set to be auctioned features an engine with dual superchargers good for 485 hp versus Audi’s ’38 Auto Union that features a single supercharger and 420 hp. Further differences between the ’38 and ’39 cars can also be spotted by the well-trained eye, including a different hunchback design at the rear, modified so that the car could accept the second supercharger underneath the aluminum bodywork.

The 1939 Auto Union Type D is slated to go under the auctioneer’s gavel on February 17, 2007 as a lot within the Christie’s International Motor Cars auction at Paris’ Retromobile 2007, one of Europe’s most prestigious vintage automobile exhibitions.

In late January of 2007, sources at Audi have shared that the 1939 Auto Union will be air-freighted to New York City where it will be displayed for one or two days at the Audi Forum New York City so that Americans interested in viewing the car before it goes on sale in February can take a closer look at the car on their own soil, then be able to bid via Christie’s New York offices on the day of the auction should they be interested in doing so.

Christie’s expects this Type D will sell for upwards of $12 million. If so, that will break the previous record of roughly $11 million paid in 1987 for a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe.

Other significant vintage automobiles expected to be sold alongside the 1939 Auto Union Type D include a 1951 Talbot Lago T26GS "Barquette" driven single-handedly by Pierre Levegh in the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans, a one-owner 1936 Mercedes-Ben 540K A, a 1927 Amilcar MCO with six speed records as claim to fame, the only remaining 1930 Derby K4 Low-Chassis Roadster and a nearly 100-piece pedal car collection.

Public Auction: Friday 16 and Saturday 17 February, Retromobile, Paris
Public Information: +33 (0)1 40 76 83 76 / +44-(0) 20 7389 2133 / - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

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Tumbo · **Re: One of the hottest Audi's up for auction -** 12-29-2006, 05:32 PM

1939 Auto Union Type D Expected to Fetch Highest Price Ever for Car in February '07 Auction

That an original 1939 Auto Union Type D racecar will be auctioned is no small matter. These racecars, with engineering by Ferdinand Porsche, are some of the greatest racing cars in history, and also some of the rarest with only two original Type D racecars known to exist. For that reason, the auction house or record Christie’s suggests that this Auto Union will break the record for the most expensive automobile ever sold.

The ‘Silver Arrow’ era is arguably one of the greatest eras in racing history. With mobilization as a major goal for his country and successful race teams and race drivers a major source of national pride for the masses, Nazi leader Adolph Hitler funded the development of ground-breaking racecar design from Auto Union (the precursor to Audi AG as we know it today) and Mercedes-Benz.

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Monster · **Hitler’s race car tipped for auction world record. -** 01-31-2007, 01:57 AM

From wheels magazine - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

This 1939 Auto Union D-typ has a mid-mounted, 3.0-litre, twin-supercharged V12, 360kW through its rear wheels weighs 850kg with top speed at 295km/h. I am amazed

Quote:

Hitler’s race car tipped for auction world record
29-01-07
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Saved from the car crusher, an ultra-rare Auto Union is expected to fetch $15m, says DYLAN CAMPBELL.

An ultra-rare race car commissioned by Adolf Hitler and recently saved from being crushed is tipped to set a new world record at auction.

The 1939 Auto Union D-Type is estimated to fetch a jaw-dropping $A15 million when it goes under the hammer at Christie’s February 16-17 Retromobile 2007 auction in Paris.

Thought to be one of only five related cars in existence – one of which is shown in our main photo – the Ferdinand Porsche-designed D-Type was commissioned by Hitler to help prove what he believed was the superiority and might of the Third Reich.

According to Christie’s, among its many victories, the car being auctioned in Paris won the 1939 Belgrade Grand Prix, in the hands of the legendary Tazio Nuvolari and the 1939 Reims GP, with Hermann Muller at the wheel.

Christie’s also claims that the Auto Union D-Type is one of the most significant cars in motorsport history and one of the most important cars ever to appear at auction.

After securing the German chancellery in 1933, Hitler announced a 500,000-reichmark grant to any car-maker able to build a race car with futuristic technologies that would flaunt the Third Reich’s technical prowess internationally.

Although Mercedes-Benz originally took on the challenge, it was Auto Union – today known as Audi – which delivered the finished product. The engineer behind the project was an Auto Union employee by the name of Ferdinand Porsche…

The car was contextually ultra-modern and proved to be devastatingly competitive.

With its never-before-seen mid-mounted, 3.0-litre, twin-supercharged V12, the D-type sent an amazing 360kW through its rear wheels – rocketing its 850kg to an astonishing 295km/h.

Safety rated low on the engineers’ list of priorities and, like most of its contemporaries, the car lacked even a roll cage. In those days, it was considered preferable to be flung from a car in a crash, rather than contained within it. Not surprisingly, casualty rates in the early days of motorsport were high.

According to Christie’s, several D-type cars were lost or destroyed in the aftermath of World War II. The car up for auction in Paris was one of two taken to post-war Soviet Russia to be stripped down and studied for its technologies. It was here that, in 1982, the dismembered racing relics were discovered, largely intact and ready for the crushers.

The discovery came after a decade-long search by Ukraine-born American classic car collector, Paul Karassik, who, according to Britain’s Telegraph, smuggled the disassembled cars back to the US under the false floor of a campervan.

Karassik approached British restoration firm Crosthwaite and Gardiner about rebuilding the two cars using the largely complete set of parts. Following the meticulous restoration which followed, one car was sold to Audi and the other – the Belgrade GP-winning car – was bought by Abba Kogan, a Brazilian collector who lives in Monaco.

It’s Kogan’s car that’s up for sale and tipped to break the current 20-year-old record of world’s highest auction price for a car, held by a 1931 Bugatti Royale that was auctioned in Britain for a lip-biting $A13.8 million.

Other race car highlights of Christie’s Retromobile auction include the 1951 Talbot Lago T26GS "Barquette" in which Pierre Levegh single-handedly drove 23 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1952, and a 1928 Amilcar MCO which broke six 1100cc class speed with works driver Morel at the wheel.

Imhotep Evil

Quote:

Originally Posted by cawimmer430

I'm sure Hitler also had a thing for BMW. After all, Germany's most deadly fighter plane, the Focke Wulf FW-190 was powered by BMW 801 Radial Engines.

Well BMW also received some suport in sport/endurance racing, as opposed to GP racing for MB and AU. Ofcourse that's because the 328 was esentially the only real german sport car.

Habitual Speeder

Auto Union Type D Auction by Christie's Delayed Until Further Notice

Feb 18, 2007

Source: George Achorn

Photos: Christie's Images Ltd. 2006

In an interesting turn of events, the auction house Christie’s pulled the 1939 Auto Union Type D (chassis #21) from its auction offerings in Paris on February 12. Expected to fetch upwards of $12 Million, making it the most expensive car ever to sell at auction, this super rare silver arrow is still expected to go up for sale, though not until a more accurate report of the car’s history is created.

Contacted earlier this week, a Christie’s representative issued the following statement:

Christie's announced that it will postpone the sale of the 1939 Auto Union - Grand Prix V12 Type D race car from the February Retromobile sale in Paris pending further exploration into the car's race history, in collaboration with Audi Tradition.

A follow-up call to Audi Tradition in Ingolstadt netted no further information.

This particular Auto Union just finished a whirlwind world tour in the weeks before the expected sale, visiting London and New York City in an effort to net exposure to parties interested in purchasing the car.

With an expected sale price estimated at over $12 Million, breaking the price record for an automobile sold at auction currently held by a Bugatti Royale, it’s no doubt that the Auto Union fell squarely under a mighty large magnifying glass.

“Sillver Arrows”, the name given to these World War II era racing cars from Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz, are some of the rarest and most storied cars in the world. Their tie to geopolitical events at the time, campaigned even after World War II had begun by German teams under the eye of the Nazi regime already adds a high degree of intrigue. Even more interesting are the Auto Unions, designed by Ferdinand Porsche and later virtually the entire collection of pre-war cars taken back to Russia for testing, evaluation and more. Very few of the Auto Unions survive today. As a Christie’s representative pointed out when the car was on display at the Audi Forum New York City, all other competition Silver Arrows from Auto Union and Mercedes are in museum or factory collections, making the sheer availability of one of these cars an opportunity that likely won’t come around again for many years.

So why was the car removed from the sale? Could it be a fake, a replica of an original Auto Union Type D as speculated by the website - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER?

That idea is possible, if not probable. Even before the building of spot-on replicas of pre-war Auto Unions was undertaken by Audi AG to rediscover some lost heritage, replicas of high-end vintage cars were not a new art. It’s also not unheard of that skilled reproductions, such as those of the also super-rare Bugatti breed, might turn up and even be portrayed as real.

Further greying the issue of the silver arrow Type D is the long history of significant re-building starting with the common practice employed by race teams like Auto Union at the time called ‘Driver Car’ or ‘Winner Car’. Following this practice, all components of a car are pulled post-race and re-installed for the next race… not always on the same car.

Since this Auto Union Type D is reported to have been an actual competition car, it is reasonable to expect that it would have been subjected to these sorts of rebuilds and perhaps even more in the abusive environment of a racing campaign where it could have been subjected to crashes, etc. However, this history is also what gives the car its value. Though several Type Ds are known to exist elsewhere, only this car and the ’38 in the Audi Tradition collection are known to have been run in competition. The rest were display vehicles that never turned a wheel in a race and thus less valuable.

Also complicating things is the lack of documented history during the car’s time post war, when it was spirited away behind the Iron Curtain and eventually found, mostly intact but certainly in pieces.

Finally, virtually all of the bodywork on the car was painstakingly recreated during the car’s restoration. The original aluminum panels of Chassis 21 were long gone when it was rediscovered in the former Soviet Union.

Whatever the specific reasons for the sale’s delay were, Christie’s is being no more informative than the above statement, leaving those intently watching the sale to wonder.

Our own best guess is that this car is certainly not a fake. However, while performing research of the car for a December 27, 2006 article (linked below) reporting on the planned auction, competition victories reported for the car by Christie’s and by Audi Tradition were not the same. The two reports didn’t conflict, though they did suggest that both sides might not have had the same report or the full information. Likely, a buyer ready to spend $12 Million plus on a vintage car would want to know for certain which races the car could count to its credit. That’s not as sexy a story as the car being a fake, but a likely scenario based on the Christie’s statement and the known descriptions provided much earlier in the process.

For reference, the original Christie’s report mentioned the car’s having won the 1939 Belgrade Grand Prix driven by Tazio Nuvolari. Audi Tradition reported a Grand Prix of France win in the same year at the hands of H.P. Muller.

In all likelihood, the car will go back up for auction once Christie’s and Audi Tradition have managed the most complete history of Chassis #21 that can be agreed upon. Any further developments will be reported on this website.