CAR AT CENTRE OF LE MANS DISASTER BREAKS AUCTION RECORD
A vintage British racing automobile at the centre of motorsport’s many lethal accident sole for a record-breaking £843,000 ($1,323,000, 982,000 euros) at a British auction on Thursday.
The 1953 Austin-Healey 100 Special Test Car, which had been left inexperienced in an English stable for 42 years, was concerned in the 1955 Le Mans mess which claimed the lives of French driver Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators.
“This is a illusory outcome for the Austin-Healey and a world record for any automobile of this make at auction,” a mouthpiece for the Bonhams auction house said.
“Everyone is delighted,” he added. “The auction went on for about 10 mins and there was a tense, vehement and inside ambience in the room as four bidders competed for the car.
“We had bidders in the room and over the phone, though the automobile eventually went to a in isolation customer who was in the room.”
The car, which was driven by Englishman Lance Macklin during the luckless 1955 race, was shunted by Levegh’s automobile which afterwards fireballed into the crowd.
The auctioned vehicle, which also competed in the 1953 24-hour race, was impounded by French authorities after the accident prior to being expelled behind to the Donald Healey Motor Company eighteen months later.
It was afterwards remade and easy prior to being paid for by Thursday’s seller in 1969.
The automobile remained unrestored in the owner’s stable until it was brought to auction at Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, southeast England.
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A vintage British racing automobile at the centre of motorsport’s many lethal accident sole for a record-breaking £843,000 ($1,323,000, 982,000 euros) at a British auction on Thursday.
The 1953 Austin-Healey 100 Special Test Car, which had been left inexperienced in an English stable for 42 years, was concerned in the 1955 Le Mans mess which claimed the lives of French driver Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators.
“This is a illusory outcome for the Austin-Healey and a world record for any automobile of this make at auction,” a mouthpiece for the Bonhams auction house said.
“Everyone is delighted,” he added. “The auction went on for about 10 mins and there was a tense, vehement and inside ambience in the room as four bidders competed for the car.
“We had bidders in the room and over the phone, though the automobile eventually went to a in isolation customer who was in the room.”
The car, which was driven by Englishman Lance Macklin during the luckless 1955 race, was shunted by Levegh’s automobile which afterwards fireballed into the crowd.
The auctioned vehicle, which also competed in the 1953 24-hour race, was impounded by French authorities after the accident prior to being expelled behind to the Donald Healey Motor Company eighteen months later.
It was afterwards remade and easy prior to being paid for by Thursday’s seller in 1969.
The automobile remained unrestored in the owner’s stable until it was brought to auction at Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, southeast England.
car – Yahoo! News Search Results