7 Oddballs (and One Airplane) Keeping It Weird at the Arizona Auctions
Over 2000 vehicles are expected to change hands at the 2024 Arizona auctions at the end of the month. Most of them will be classic muscle cars, vintage trucks, resto-modded muscle cars, or resto-modded trucks (joking aside, there is quite a bit of interesting and high-dollar kit crossing the block this year, which you can read about here). One of the best parts about an auction event this big, though, is the unusual stuff that pops up in between all the mainstream collector vehicles. Scottsdale always brings out some weird and wonderful, and 2024 is no different. Here’s the stuff that caught our eye.
1989 Daimler DS420 Limousine
While Jaguars of the ’50s and ’60s had the whole “Grace, Space, Pace” thing down pat, their Daimler cousins sometimes struggled with that first one. Particularly the 1968-92 DS420, with its matronly body work and its awkward bustle-back trunk, never had much in the way of “Grace.” “Space” was never a problem with the DS420, though, and these English limousines have shuttled around important people for decades.
Including, in this car’s case, Queen Elizabeth II. She reportedly used it on her 50th Anniversary tour of New Zealand in 2002, following the car’s apparent six-figure restoration. It then sold to an owner in the U.S. who is a “devoted DS420 collector,” of all things.
Given Elizabeth’s 70-year reign, there are lots of cars out there with a Queen connection. Prices have been as varied as the vehicles themselves, but perhaps the latest and closest comp was a 1966 Vanden Plas Princess Limousine the Queen used on an official trip to Jamaica. It sold in 2022 for $110,000.
1957 Reliant Regal MkIII
That Daimler limo may have been fit for a queen, but the only thing regal about this Reliant is its name. Built by Reliant, the company best known for its budget three-wheeled Robin and nifty Scimitar sports estate, the Regal was one of the company’s first postwar models. It was also the follow-up to the similarly ironically named “Regent” and “Prince Regent.” Available as a saloon, van, estate or pickup, Regals also came with various engines, all of them tiny. To drive one, all you needed was a motorcycle license, which in Britain was a significantly cheaper way of motoring.
As a Mark III, this one has an ash-framed fiberglass body and a 747-cc side-valve four-cylinder churning out 16 eager horsepower. According to Bonhams there is currently no soft-top included with this tripod, but can you imagine driving it in the rain? For Scottsdale, it has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate.
1969 AMC AMX “Banacek”
Ever heard of a show called Banacek? I haven’t, but I have heard of George Barris, who turned his customizing skills to this AMC AMX two-seater for the 1970s detective series. What started as a standard 1969 390/315hp automatic AMX had its top chopped, windshield moved further back, and its bodywork lengthened with that massive schnoz. The rear is even cooler, with louvers that run all the way down the back window and just keep going, right until they run into the rear bumper. Chrome side pipes, Ram Air scoops, Cragar SS wheels, and tri-color Murano Pearl/Tangerine Candy/Copper paint complete the picture.
If you like oddball AMCs but want something a little less outrageous and expensive, there’s a ’72 Javelin SST Alabama State Police car crossing the block at the same auction.
1961 Panhard PL 17 Sedan
An unusual sight in this country, the Panhard PL 17 was a rather popular car in Europe. Similar to another French people’s car, the Citroën 2CV, the Panhard embraced a front-engine, front-wheel drive layout with its air-cooled parallel twin laid way out in the front of the chassis.
While aimed at the same kind of customers as the Volkswagen Beetle, the PL 17 never made the same kind of financial or cultural waves as the VW. Its 848-cc engine was both smaller and had half the cylinders of the VW, and it was never priced competitively, either. But the Panhard punched above its weight. With 50 horsepower from the top-spec Tigre engine (which this example reportedly has) it made more grunt than a 1192cc Type 1 Volkswagen, and despite their size and the unusual layout of their drivetrains, PL 17s took the top three places overall at the 1961 Monte Carlo Rally. Panhard’s flat-twin engine would also find success on track in small displacement classes, powering Deutsch-Bonnet’s (DB) race cars in Europe and Bill Devin’s earliest race cars here in the States. The PL 17 sedan on offer in Scottsdale has a $20,000-$30,000 presale estimate.
1971 Citroën Ami 8
Like the Panhard, this Citroën isn’t such an unusual sight on a cobblestone street in the French countryside, but it certainly is in the deserts of Arizona. The Ami (which, adorably, translates to “friend”) came about in 1961, and was loosely based on the 2CV. With France recovering well from the war, Citroën perceived a need in the French market for a car that was still affordable but larger, more practical and a little more powerful than its everyman 2CV.
Amis were built from 1961-78 and came in various body styles that included vans, estate wagons, fastbacks sedans and even an extra-odd notchback sedan with a steep, reverse-raked rear window. This one is a 1971 wagon model—one of the more conventional-appearing Ami body styles—that still doesn’t look like anything else on the road. It is represented as an older restoration with a 1998 engine rebuild and 2012 repaint. There is no presale estimate, and we don’t carry the Citroën Ami in the Hagerty Price Guide, but our colleagues in the UK do, at least in saloon form. They currently put a ’71 Ami at between £2000 and £10,000 (about $2500-$12,700).
1960 Hillman Minx IIIA Convertible
Looking a little bit like a ’56 Ford that shrank in the wash, this Hillman Minx is part of a family of mid-size family cars sold in various forms from 1931-70. Part of Britain’s Rootes Group, Hillman was sister-companies with Singer, Sunbeam and Humber, and cars built on the Minx’s platform included the Singer Gazelle, Sunbeam Rapier, and Humber 80. One version even sold in Japan, produced and sold there as the Isuzu Hillman Minx. A left-hand drive MkIIA convertible, the blue one on offer in Scottsdale has a very attainable $10K-$15K estimate.
2006 Hummer H1 Alpha
If you like the look of an H1 Hummer with its monster size and macho angles but the wheels are just a little too…round, then look no further. This one rides on custom Mattracks Tracks attached to upgraded suspension. And if an H1’s 300-hp turbodiesel just doesn’t do it for you, this one also spins its wheels tracks with 500hp thanks to a new turbo and exhaust. Other mods include (but are not limited to) all-LED lights, full WARN recovery accessory kit and 16,500-pound rear winch, brush guard, air lift hooks and bezels, and a windshield light bar hoop.
1952 Beechcraft Model 18
You at least need a driver’s license to actually use almost all the vehicles that Barrett-Jackson sells. Occasionally, you’ll also need a motorcycle license, or for certain car, even a racing license to use them as intended. This auction, however, is one of the rare occasions when you’ll need a pilot’s license.
Sold new by Kansas aircraft company Beechcraft to the Canadian military, this Beech 18 entered civilian use in the early 1960s and reportedly has a detailed history since. The most interesting parts of that history, though, start in the 1980s, with its use in movies and TV shows. It seems this thing was the go-to plane for production companies that needed a ’50s or ’60s aircraft in the background. The credits include episodes of Unsolved Mysteries and House, as well as the films Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight (1994), Terminal Velocity (1994), Man on the Moon (1999), All the Pretty Horses (2000), and even Ford v Ferrari (2019). It has also done commercials for Pepsi, Honda, and Bud Light.
Remarkably, this isn’t the first airplane offered in Scottsdale. Barrett-Jackson sold a 1929 Ford 4-AT-E in 2009 for $1.21M, a 1958 Cessna in 2016 for $66K, and a wild 1954 Taylor Aerocar in 2020 for $275K.
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This Beechcraft is the one “Shelby” in which he buzzes the crowd waiting for the introduction of the “new” Mustang.
This Beechcraft is the one from the “Ford v Ferrari” movie in the scene where, with the Ford execs as passengers, “Shelby” buzzes the crowd waiting for the introduction of the “new” Mustang.
V Tails are still flying everywhere. Not many 18’s still flying getting rare
Looks like the plane used in the Saturday AM TV show “Sky King”
There is some resemblance, but as I remember the shows (yes, I’m that old), they started with a Cessna T50 “Bamboo Bomber” and finished the series with a Cessna 310. I wound up putting about 1300 hours on a later 310 before going to pressurized twins, which is probably why the memory is still clear.
Bamboo bomber was Beech 17 a WWII twin trainer – with a wooden frame
Beech 18 – a 7-11 seat business/military transport
Sky King was initially a Bamboo Bomber but was switch after frame rot to a Cessna 310 – modern horizontally opposed cylinders with tip tanks (called the Song Bird in the TV show).
The forked-tail doctor killer was the V-Tail Bonanza (V-35)
– this name because inexperience pilots (typically doctors who could afford one) got into a high-performance airplane, flew into bad weather, got disoriented and then overstressed it in flight.
A Beech 18 was also featured in the movie “Its a Wild Wild Wild World” with Buddy Hacket as the pilot – flying acrobatics, through a hanger and flying through a sign.
Actually the movie was called “It’s a mad mad mad mad world”
In the oddball class a Beach Bonanza V-tail seems more appropriate. Wouldn’t mind having one to take people out on a jaunt, “singing bye bye Miss American Pie”.
They have great aviation history and heritage but do watch for thermals!
The old “Fork-tailed Doctor-killer.”
The D-18 was old when King Kong was just a chimp. Those two radial R-985 engines are thirsty and leak/burn oil even in normal operation. It is a tough airplane, but it is WW2 technology, which is 80 to 90 years out of date now. The airplanes are a little younger, but things change very slowly in aviation. A few of very last D-18s had tricycle gear, this one and most of the others were taildraggers. D-18s are still in use, and they sound so good . . . but they are becoming real maintenance hogs, like most old airplanes.
I remember Banacek, from the early 70’s starring George Peppard.
So do I. I wonder if Andrew Newton knows how it’s pronounced?
Ban a check
I’m too young for the show (my first recollection of George Peppard is probably the A-Team 😁), but I assume it’s pronounced like “ban a check.”
It looks like it’s from the episode where a modern “safety car” was stolen from a freight train while the train was in motion. Banacek drives a Packard and solves every case.
I remember the series as well. He was either driving a Packard or being chaufferred in a Caddy Limo if available. Never recall seeing this Barris ‘classic’, though. It wasn’t the experimental safety car, though. Wonder why it was never featured or even cameoed?
what was the car in the Phoenix episode?
yeah, good show.
Remember Banacek, do not remember this car. Front end is very reminiscent of the mid-engine AMX III prototypes.
Beach 18 was Sky King’s first “Songbird”. For the kids, Sky King was a Saturday kids TV show of a rancher who was also a pilot. I think later shows featured a Piper twin.
Sky King got started in a Cessna “Bamboo Bomber” (AKA “AT-17 Bobcat”, so named for the high wood content in its construction). Later, he transitioned to a Cessna 310. Didn’t fly a Beech as it was a Cessna show. Skipper and Penny flew a Cessna 172.
I thought Penny was the star of that show…..:
What I liked most was the cool ’59 De Soto wagon Sky drove. I recall that Penny was always getting into some kind of danger, and calling out, “Help me Sky! Help me Sky.”
Didn’t Sky fly a Bonanza at one point?
I think Sky’s first plane was a Cessna Bamboo Bomber. Later he and Penny flew around in a Cessna 310
The 1957 Reliant Regal MkIII makes me think of this quote, “Perhaps today is a good day to die!”
I complimented a Beech 18 owner on his lovely airplane. Without skipping a beat, his response was: “thanks, best machine in the world for turning money into noise”. Great answer!
Sounds like owning any boat!
Definition:
boat n.: 1) a small vessel for travel on water. 2) a hole in the water into which money is poured without ever filling up.
I remember the show, the car, and this episode. The Banacek AMX was in an episode where it disappeared while being transported via rail if I remember correctly. It was a concept car for a fictitious car company. Banacek, a private investigator that worked primarily for insurance companies, was hired to find the car, which of course he did. His fee was based on the value of the item recovered. He lived in a fantastic home in Boston and drove a 1930s Packard roadster.
Those two AMC’s are really fun. Love that police car in the link. Luckiest cop in 1972 got to drive that.
Banacek (George Peppard) also drove a 1941 Packard Darrin convertible.
Add this ’69 AMX to the long list of great-looking cars destroyed by the wretched taste of George Barris. Like the Monkeemobile by Dean Jeffries, this abomination is a testimony to the sad state of TV and movie “custom cars”.
What are you talking about? They were great fun. Man, I’d love to go cruising in this or the Monkeemobile.
A lot of custom cars are very bizarre-looking. I think this AMX, while too “over the top” for me, is perhaps one of the more tasteful ones. The Monkeemobile is just ludicrous, but I guess it fit the vibe of the Monkees show.
The Hillman – Dad had a black ’61 convertible, red interior, same styling as the car pictured – is/was hardly an oddball; but was indeed like a shrunken version of a mid-50s American car. That was part of its charm, plus being tossable and generally fun little cars to drive. I learned to drive stick on that car, come to think of it.
She was to Jimmy Buffett.