After canceling what had been billed as the auction of the most expensive car ever sold, Christie’s, the famed auctioneer, has announced the sale is back on.
The car is one of the last remaining examples of the Auto Union Silver Arrows, the world beating racers that along with Mercedes-Benz dominated Formula racing in the 1930s.
This car was so advanced that when the Russians took over East Germany and discovered it after World War Two they had it sent back to the Soviet Union to be studied. It was eventually recovered, spirited out of the country and restored in England.
It was set “to go under the hammer” at Retromobile, the vintage car fair held February 17th in Paris, as the centerpiece of Christie's rare car auction. Its racing heritage set against the backdrop of pre-World War Two Europe makes this 1939 Auto Union D-Type one of the most important cars in motor-racing history.
The Auto Union racer’s design was revolutionary. Famed engineer, Ferdinand Porsche, placed the driver in front of the engine and the fuel tanks, and gave all four wheels independent suspension. This breakthrough mid-engine design evenually became the standard for Formula One race cars and is seen today on some of the world’s most exotic street cars.
As with many new designs, the concept exceeded the available technology. It required a special set of skills to learn to drive the cars because the backend had a tendency to cut loose. Drivers such as Bernd Rosemeyer, Tazio Nuvolari, Hans Stuck and others were able to tame the slippery Auto Union racers and pilot them to victory. As they raced in Grand Prix events across Europe, the Auto Union cars were updated and refined. From its inception in 1933 until its final model, a modified D-Type was introduced in 1939, over 20 Auto Unions were built. Today, only five remain. This is the only one left in private hands.
This car, one of two D-Types currently in existence last raced at the French Grand Prix in July of 1939. By September, the world was at war and what many consider to be the golden age of Formula racing was over. During the War many of the cars were lost or destroyed. Two D-Types survived, a 1938 and a 1939 model. These were discovered after the War in Zwickau, eastern Germany (where Auto Union had its headquarters) by Soviet occupation forces. These were unlike anything the troops had ever seen before. That’s when the cars were taken to Russia to be disassembled and studied.
It was there, in the 1980s, that an American car collector, Paul Karassik, after searching for over ten years, discovered the cars stripped down into individual parts and waiting to be crushed. Krassik bought the pieces just in time and shipped them out of the former Soviet Union to the West. He then had them reassembled by specialists in Britain with technical support from AUDI AG.
Audi’s historical branch, Audi Tradition became very interested in the project because the company can be traced back to Auto Union. Its four-ring logo symbolizes the brands Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer, which were combined to form Auto Union. After several post-War mergers Audi was reborn as a new company with the potential to tap into its predecessor's past racing glories.
One of the biggest problems facing the restorers was the lack of a body. The cars' aluminum body panels were gone. Using the original underpinnings, Rod Jolley Coachbuilding started to recreate the body soon after it arrived in England from Russia. Care was taken to insure that the new body conformed to the exact dimensions of the original.
The rest of the car was fully restored by Crosthwaite and Gardiner of England, who had the skills to recreate everything including the nuts and bolts. Krassik wanted to test the completed cars and he enlisted a willing Dick Crosthwaite to take them to the Nürburgring in October 1994. Crosthwaite, an admitted "car freak" jumped at the chance. It was the first time, "the two cars had run together since before the War," he said. He wanted to hear the sound of those two engines roaring around the track.
Audi heard about the test and eventually bought the 1938 car from Karassik. The 1939 D-Type went to a private owner. It’s this car that’s slated to be sold.
The car’s provenance and rarity were expected to drive a bidding frenzy to the tune of $12 to $15 million. Such competitive spending would shatter the current record and earn the D-Type a place in the winner’s circle as the most expensive car ever sold at auction.
The current world record for a car at auction is for a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe, which was sold in London in November 1987 (also by Christie’s) for £5.5 million, or $9.8 million.
Rupert Banner, Head of Christie’s International Motor Cars, said of the D-Type, “This may be considered to be among the most important cars ever to pass under the gavel.”
This high profile sale generated a lot of interest but also raised doubts about the authenticity of the car. With so much money riding on the auction it was decided to pull this star car from the line up until the questions could be answered. The rest of the auction went on as planned and produced two sales of over $1 million but there was nothing that could compete with the earning power of the fabled Silver Arrow.
Christie’s and Audi Tradition spent the next three weeks in a joint effort to conduct additional research on the race history of the 1939 Auto Union D-Type.
They discovered that in fact there had been some confusion about the car’s identity. The car’s chassis was frame 19, and not 21-- the chassis of the 1939 French Grand Prix winner, as had been thought.
That didn’t mean the car didn’t have a racing pedigree. Audi’s records confirmed that chassis 19 was a genuine 1939 D-Type chassis and that it was first raced by Rudolf Hasse in the Eifelrennen on May 20th 1939 at the Nürburgring. Hasse finished in 5th place.
Hans Stuck, the legendary Auto Union driver was at the wheel for its next outing, the 1939 French Grand Prix. He didn’t win but finished in the 6th spot, behind the company's 1st and 2nd place finishers. While the car didn’t win, it’s believed that this is the only Auto Union to which Grand Prix racing results can be attributed
Now that the authenticity concerns have been put to rest there’s an opportunity for all of us to pool our pennies and make a sealed bid. I’m off to buy a lotto ticket, crack open my piggy bank and get out the metal detector to scavenge the beach for buried treasure. The details are below for all of you who’d like to best my bid.
Christie’s Bidding Announcement:
Based on our now completed research, we are accepting sealed tender bids for a period of one week today and invite prospective bidders to contact Christie's London office directly to receive applications for this tender.
Visit www.christies.com to explore special multi-media sale promotions, browse our illustrated catalogues and leave absentee bids through LotFinder®, Christie's online search engine.
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