Iso Daytona, Porsche 917 Spyder and Maserati 200SI heading for auction ...

[Wouter Melissen]

Next week the scenic Californian city of Monterey will be flooded with car enthusiasts eager to attend one or more of the many fantastic events like the Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Over the years the ever expanding auctions have become events in their own right, many of them lasting for more than one day. As our first preview of the Monterey Motoring Week, we today take a look at three cars to be offered by the three biggest auctioneers; RM Auctions, Bonhams and Gooding & Co.
One of the more unusual cars in the RM line-up is this Iso Daytona. Built for an Italian exotic car dealer by Neri & Bonacini, it was destined for series production. Sadly only two to five examples were constructed. This is the prototype, which has been carefully prepared for racing. The rare and beautiful machine is estimated to sell for a hefty $550,000 - $750,000.
For their annual auction at the Quail Lodge, Bonhams has consigned the complete collection of noted Porsche collector Michael Amalfitano, who passed away in December of last year. The star car of the collection is this Porsche 917 Interserie Spyder. The chassis actually started life as one of the John Wyer / Gulf 917K Coupes, taking two wins before crashing heavily at Le Mans in 1970. The repaired chassis re-appeared in its current configuration in the 1972 Interserie championship in the hands of Ernst Kraus. It raced for the better part of two seasons with commendable results against very stiff competition. Amalfitano acquired the car in 1987 and it has since been completely overhauled by Gunnar Racing. The spectacular 917 is offered ready to race.
Gooding traditionally provides the week's finale with their Pebble Beach auction. One of the many great cars in their catalog is this Maserati 200SI Prototipo. As the name suggests, it was the very first of the line and it was used for development purposes for three seasons during which it was driven by almost all of the company's works drivers with considerable success. Because of its regular upgrades, the car was often raced with bare metal panels. It has been restored to this configuration and regularly raced before the current owner decided to part with it. Chassis 2401 has a stiff $2.4 - $2.7 million pre-sale estimate.

Enjoy the links:

1966 Iso Daytona - Images, Specifications and Information

1955 - 1957 Maserati 200SI Prototipo - Images, Specifications and Information

1971 Porsche 917 Interserie Spyder - Images, Specifications and Information

[cmcpokey]

wonderful collection of cars here. i generally dislike Isos, but this one is lovely.

[csl177]

First time I saw the Iso Daytona from across the paddock, I would have sworn it was a one-off Ferrari. Unique and usable, it will be interesting to see how it fares at auction... wish we could be in Monterey this year.

I know 917.031 and helped a friend photograph it in March. It is impeccably finished, like all restorations from Gunnar. As 917s aren't sold often, it too should be an indicator of how well high-end car collectors are doing in this economy. Will $2-3 million be enough, or will it sell for more? Sadly, Mike Amalfitano passed away last year. He excersized it occassionaly but it would be a treat to see it run hard at vintage races again... 917 sounds are wonderful.

Some additional photos:

[Kitdy]

I saw the 200SI at the Woodbridge Italian Car show, along with about 100 other Italian cars and a few bikes.

My friend was gobsmacked by the Maserati.

RM, do you know anything about Engineering Automotive, based outta Concord?