While I have found recent enjoyment in watching car shows lately (By the way on HD net there is a show starting Friday at 8:00 pm called "Star Racer", in which contestants compete in formulas for stardom), this weekend proved to be no different when I decided to watch "The worlds most expensive car".

This car is known as the AutoUnion. This car was made by the company we know today as ....AUDI. This car, which was only 1 of 5, was made in 1939 by Audi as a request by Hitler, for a car to be designed that no one could beat on the track.

In Paris France, there is a collectors car auction that attracts over 120,000 people. This "AutoUnion" was to be at the auction, as a worth of a reported $15 million dollars. Word was out about this car being there, as many of these multi-million dollar car collectors have never seen one with their own eyes, as these cars are DEREZ, (I had to do it ) exept this one.

So what is so funny about this ????

Well CHRISTIES, who is an Auctioneer of exotic items, and as one collector put it..."If CHRISTIES says a car is what they say it is, than it is". Well, as the show started from begining to end, the focus is on CHRISTIES, as well as the car, People are talking about the worth or value of the car, in their opinion.

This car is also known as "chassis number 21".....this is the car that one the France Grand Prix, behind all of the glory of the car in 1939. But here is the opinion of Wayne Carini of F40 motorsports (by the way during this episode, he brought back his clients vintage "Superfast" Ferrari at $465,000)........."At the race, there was no chassis numbers put down, it was just the car was raced under the number, so the number seven for instance, this car raced at.....and, and, that is just a piece of bodywork you take off and you put number seven on a different chassis, so it's hard to say, is this the actual chassis that the driver won the race in." He describes the reason behind this as being "They were just a tool back then, (the car) and it wasn't important what number the chassis was."

After that comment , they interviewed good ol' Rupert Banner from CHRISTIES who had this to say, "Its alway difficult to qualify, I mean these things can come out at the last minuite, but the publicity as you well know has been extremely sensitive for this, and that can bring all type of people out of the woodworks who perhaps have something to say." ...........Ya think ???

So when the auction starts, there is a major announcement........."THERE WILL BE NO SALE OF THE AUTOUNION" It has been withdrawn pending further investigation of the cars history.......WHAT!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently , CHRISTIES was just "tipped off", that this is NOT the famous chassis number 21, that won the French grand prix, but the less prestigeous number 19. How the numbers were switched still remains a mystery, and Audi would not comment.

As Christopher Sangi, the big man at CHRISTIES put it , "At CHRISTIES' perspective ,our number one goal is to get it rite, in this case we had to stop ,take more time with industry leaders to get the story rite, to make sure we knew exactly what we were selling. We're the worlds' leading auction company, and that is what we do best."

Well, I've got to tell you, if I was one of those car collectors that flew half way around the world with a focus on buying that AUTOUNION, I would be pretty pissed off that Christies didn't make sure of their research BEFORE this annual event , and would burn someones ears off about the "that is what we do best "comment !!!! And as for the AUTOUNION........it still sits somewhere that nobody knows, and nobody knows the value of it.

The Auto Union Racecars were designed by Dr Ferdinand Porsche

T.C.

Click to view attachment

The same thing happened to McQeen's 908. Pulled from the auction at the last minute.

Christies did the right thing.

The advertised the car based on the best information that they had at the time. If that happened to be wrong (which it seemed to be in this case), and they sold the car under false pretenses, Christies would have been culpable.

More importantly, Christie's reputation would have been damaged. Using Tron's quote from the first post ""If CHRISTIES says a car is what they say it is, than it is." That kind of trust has to be earned and protected. Their reputation is the reason why the "Most expensive car in the world" was being sold there.

Christies is also protecting the buyers interest by pulling the auction until they are sure of the car's pedigree. The buyers know this, even while they are unhappy about the sale being postponed.

The buyers that flew 1/2 way around the world for the car will do so again when the car is brought to the block. They will do so knowing that the car is, in fact, what Christies says it is.

Christies played this one right.

Zach

They will get back in their private jets, along with the other cars they just bought, and go back home.....ooohh I feel sorry for them...
If someone can spends that kind of money on a car...it is a car after all....I cant feel sorry for them.

Rich

You DO realize that the auction in question was a year or two ago, right? Old news, VERY old news, and we've talked about this before, like when it was happening. The Cap'n

Here's something about Hitler that y'all may not be aware of:

1943- Hitler places an order with GM- that's General Motors, by the way- for 800 of the tanks they were manufacturing for the Allied war efforts--- and tells them he'll pick them up on his way through.

Now, the source on this was my boss. I've never actually researched it to find out if its true or not; but my boss is a pretty big history buff so until I feel up to checking it out, I'll just take it at face value.

Besides... it's a humorous thought..... I could be speaking German right now and have a teener as a daily driver if WWII had ended under different circumstances.

I wouldn't. If I had that kind of money I'd probably fly half way around the world for lunch. And Christies needs to protect their reputation. I don't blame them. Although you would think that #19 would be worth just about as much as #21 regardless.

I haven't watched it yet, but it's recorded on my HD DVR.

If I had that kind of money I'd buy 500 acres of undeveloped mountain land in Colorado, then build a cabin right in the center of it with little but a dirt road to take me there. Then get me a jacked up 4x4 for getting to and from the cabin. Then I'd keep about 10 million dollars (a very comfortable financial cushion for the rest of my life, because I'd be hunting for the bulk of my meals) and give the rest away to family, friends, and charity and/or disease research organizations. Living in a cabin in the mountains I'd be perfectly happy the rest of my life.

Then again, I'm married now, so the likeliness of that ever happening are slim to none. But, I'd still buy the land, build the cabin, and use it as a retreat whenever I wanted. After all, my wife can't stand the cold, but she did promise me (in her vows, by the way, so I DO have a record) that she'd allow me a cold vacation every year if I wanted it; so the cabin would work out nicely. And I'd still just keep enough money to get us by and give the rest away. I think it's unfair (and makes you a complete prick) to have hundreds of millions of dollars-hundreds of billions (cough cough oil companies) and keep it all for yourself. I mean seriously, a person could live an incredibly lavish lifestyle every day of their life for 20 million and still have enough left over to leave to relatives after they die.

So anyway... sorry to go off on that completely unrelated tangent. I only meant to post about the cabin, I swear

I own #20.

Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates agree with you.

No, I didn't know ! HD net just showed it on Saturday, so it was new news to me. Oh well.

Yes, CHRISTIES' did the rite thing, especially considering the liability consequenses. I just find it interesting that to claim yourself to be the best auctioneer in the world with a reputation to have your stuff together, and then turn around and tell the world on auction night, that you didn't do your research to the absolute best of your abililty.....thats kind of funny to me I mean, they got "tiped off" that their information was incorrect ? How ? The Tipster knew this information, and not the world famous, repitable CHRISTIES ???

It's been on several times in the last couple of months. They're milking that one and the one where the guy goes to Monterey for all they're worth.

The Cap'n

But why are they milking those episodes ?