Auto Union D-Type '39 up for sale at Christie's in Feb.07

[Skaala]

Auto-Union 1939 Grand Prix Car May Fetch Record Price in Sale Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- One of only two 1939 Auto-Union D- Type race cars believed to be in existence will be sold by Christie's International Plc in Paris next year, with the auctioneers predicting the highest price ever achieved for a car at auction. The car, which carries chassis number 21, won the Belgrade Grand Prix in the hands of Italian ace Tazio Nuvolari, in an era when Mercedes-Benz and Auto-Union, both of Germany, dominated Grand Prix racing, according to Christie's. The auctioneer expects the car to fetch about 6 million pounds ($11.7 million), exceeding the 5.5 million pounds paid for a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe in November 1987. ``We're delighted to be entrusted with this car,'' Rupert Banner, the director of Christie's Car Department, said in an interview. ``Due to its near-mythical status we're confident it will break the world record price for a car.'' The D-Type, with its massive V-12 engine located in the center of the chassis and churning out 550 brake horsepower, was ideally suited to Nuvolari's aggressive driving style, and he drove the car to victory in Belgrade in the months before World War II broke out. Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 and, eager to boost Germany's international standing, he offered a prize of 500,000 Reichmarks (about $100,000 at 1930s exchange rates) to the manufacturer that could design and produce a Grand Prix car by 1934. He was persuaded to split the prize between Mercedes- Benz, with their W25, and Auto-Union, which produced the C-Type, designed by Ferdinand Porsche with a centrally located V16 engine; that car gave rise to the later D-Type. As attacks on Germany increased in World War II, engineers at Zwickau, in Saxony, hid the cars, only for them to be destroyed or taken as war booty by Russian soldiers. Chassis 21 was discovered, in pieces, at a ZIL automobile factory in Moscow, waiting to be crushed for scrap in 1976. Rescued by Latvian enthusiasts, it ended up in England and was fully restored by classic car experts Crosthwaite & Gardner in 1994. Christie's spokeswoman Zoe Schoon said the seller had requested anonymity. Auto-Union grouped German carmakers Horch, Audi, DKW and Wanderer in 1932 as a means of surviving the effects of the worldwide great depression. The auction will be staged in Paris on Feb. 16 and 17, 2007. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Peterson in London at [email protected] .

pics
http://www.eastnews.com.pl/news/tema...temat=00124230

video:

1938 Auto Union Type D Silver Arrow - YouTube

1938 Auto Union Type D Silver Arrow - YouTube

french news report on the auction:
http://www.youtube.com/index?unavail