Wednesday, January 15, 2020
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Eight-cylinder engines run finer than six-cylinder and less fine than twelve-cylinder. Aggregates with 16 cylinders are a bit finer, but much rarer and mostly quite old. You can buy a few of them now.
In the early days of car manufacturing, the pursuit of performance culminated in ever larger engines. In the 1930s, 16-cylinder was the latest craze, used by the US luxury manufacturer Cadillac in even large scale in production models. The era of this “Sixteen Series” lasted at Cadillac from 1930 to 1940. Around 4,300 cars were built with the quiet sixteen-seater during this time, which initially had 7.4 and later with 7.1 liter displacement and between 165 and 185 hp.
Oldest and most expensive auction item: the Sport Phaeton from 1930.
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Today these are rare gems, of which the car collector John D. Groendyke has collected 17 pieces in his classic car collection. The freight forwarder from Oklahoma now wants to reduce this. The auction house RM Sotheby’s will be offering seven of its Cadillac V16s as part of the Scottsdale Auction Week from January 16 to 17.
Most expensive object: Sport Phaeton
The oldest and most expensive auction object is a Sport Phaeton from 1930, which according to Sotheby’s could bring in the equivalent of between 800,000 and one million euros. Between 1930 and 1931, 85 of these Sport Phaeton were produced, 17 of which, according to Sotheby’s, still exist. The Groendyke-Phaeton with the serial number 47 was once bought by the Kellogg family and later resold several times to collectors and restored several times by them. Accordingly, the car is characterized by a good condition and a complete history.
Largely in original condition: a 1931 V16 with the name Blue Boy.
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In contrast, a 1931 V16 with the name Blue Boy is largely in its original condition. The seven-seater owes its title to its blue exterior paint, which the first owner, Congresswoman Ira C. Copley, commissioned to pay homage to his university. The collector’s item, which was also resold several times later, with a lot of patina, is characterized by a particularly low odometer reading of around 35,000 kilometers. Despite the low mileage and complete history, Sotheby’s expects revenue of “only” around 90,000 to 135,000 euros.
Latest V16: Fleetwood Convertible Coupe
Second most expensive V16 from the Groendyke collection: the Imperial Convertible Sedan from 1935.
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The youngest V16 and also visually significantly more modern than its other sixteen-cylinder brothers up for auction is a convertible coupé that was built by Fleetwood, of which only seven were built and only three still exist. One of the special features of the luxury liner restored in the 1990s is an original car radio. Sotheby’s states the expected proceeds from 200,000 to 250,000 euros.
Very impressive and with the equivalent of 540,000 to 670,000 euros the second most expensive V16 from the Groendyke collection is the Imperial Convertible Sedan from 1935, which was prepared by award-winning restorers and offers a ready-to-drive original V16 engine.
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