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

From speedarena.com

Car Features
Auto Union Type D Auction by Christie's Delayed Until Further Notice
By Source: George Achorn
Feb 18, 2007, 13:25

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 www.ClassicDrives.com?

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.