105 Rock House Road, Easton, CT 06612, US
THE 340
1951 Ferrari 340 America Spider / 0140 A Chassis
Following Up on My Story About The
340 Spider America and driving him home in the rain :;
Here is the car years later, feelings hurt.
He’s been traded time and again for profit.
He misses drivers who loved him,
I guarantee he and Luigi Chinetti loved each other,
and me too.
I rode him home like a thoroughbred so I could bring this beautiful creation home to my father.
He never wanted to part with it
1951 Ferrari 340 America Spider / 0140 A Chassis
Spider
Coachwork: Vignale
Chassis #: 0140 A
Engine # 0140 A
Sold for $2,530,000 at 2010 Gooding and Company - Pebble Beach Auctions.
Chassis 0140 A was shipped to Vignale in Turin on October 22, 1951. It was given spider coachwork and painted in a deep red with tan corduroy upholstery.
There were only five 340 Americas fitted with similar Vignale coachwork, though this example carries a number of unique features that differentiate it from the others.
There are slotted taillights recessed into sweeping rear fenders, two chrome strips running along the flanks, two parking lights mounted atop the rear of the front fenders and a lack of the typical Vignale 'portholes.'
When complete, the car was sent to the United States, like many of the other 340 Americas.
It was sent to the official Ferrari dealer, Luigi Chinetti.
The car appeared on Ferrari's New York Auto Show stand at the Grand Central Palace in Manhattan. A short time after its auto show debut, it was sold to George Joseph Jr. of Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Chinetti paid $20,000 for the Ferrari.
In October of 1952, the car was entered in several local races, including the Buckley Field Naval Air Station with Dabney Collins behind the wheel. The Ferrari ran into valve problems part way through the race which abruptly ended its first outing.
After the race, the engine was rebuilt under the factory warranty. A short time later, the Ferrari was loaned to James Donald, a prospective buyer of the car with an affinity for 12-cylinder cars, and was raced in Aspen. By April, Mr. Mauro had repossessed this very expensive car, and put it on display at the Sportorama Auto Show at the University of Denver. It was soon sold to Mr. Donald. It was on display in 1957 at the Granny Johnson Memorial Concours and at the La Junta Airport races.
On May 31st of 1958, Mr. Donald raced his Ferrari. On the first run in the car, Mr. Donald was struck from behind by an Austin-Healey, putting him out of the race. The car was soon repaired and finished in silver, but it was later repainted in the original dark red.
In 1960, the car was sold to West Coast Ferrari dealer and racer Jack McAfee for $5,000. McAfee retained the 340 until 1964, at which point Bill Weber of St. Louis acquired the car.
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Three years later, it joined the stable of David Tunick
In the early 1970s, it was purchased by Joel Finn, who in turn sold it to Bill Markell of New York. In 1975,
After the restoration, it was shown at the 1982 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and displayed in the Postwar European Class through 1960.
It was awarded The Hans Tanner Memorial Trophy for Best Ferrari.
Two years later, it was shown at the International Ferrari Concours d'Elegance in Carmel Valley. That same year, it raced at the Monterey Historics.
In 1986, it participated in the Mille Miglia retrospective. Mr. Nickel drove the 340 in 1991 and 1992 edition of the Colorado Grand.
A cosmetic restoration was performed in 1992, in preparation for its second appearance at Pebble Beach. In 1994, the car was honored with a First in Class at the FCA International Concours in Monterey. A few days later, it participated in the Monterey Historics. It raced at the Historic Grand Prix at Monaco the following summer and returned again to Laguna Seca.
In 1999, it was invited to return to the Pebble Beach Concours for a third time. IN 2001, Mr. Nickel put the car on display at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.
In 2010, this vehicle was offered for sale at the Pebble Beach Auction presented by Gooding & Company.
The car was estimated to sell for $2,000,000 - $2,600,000.
As bidding came to a close, the car had been sold for the sum of $2,530,000 inclusive of buyer's premium.
340 Vignale Spider
FEATURED CARS
1938 BUGATTI 57 C
1927 Mercedes-Benz S-Type 26/180 Sportwagen
1927 Mercedes-Benz S-Type 26/180 Sportwagen
The Bugatti Type 57 is perhaps Jean Bugatti's most celebrated non-racing Bugatti. Powered by a long-stroke, inline eight-cylinder engine, the powerplant offered smooth, seamless performance and was the epitome of elegant engineering. This remarkable 57C proved to be the last Bugatti purchased by Prince Napoléon before the onset of WWII. Throughout the conflict, the prince served under pseudonyms in the French army and the Resistance, and subsequently received awards for gallantry, culminating with the Legion d’Honneur. Although it cannot be confirmed, it is probable that Prince Napoléon retained 57677 for the duration of the war, as he did his Type 57SC.
Following WWII, the 57C Stelvio was exported to the United States, where it eventually found a home with Robert Fergus, an engineer living in New York. The next known owner, L.S. Juillerat of New York, is recorded in Hugh Conway’s 1962 Bugatti Register.
Years later, David Tunick of Greenwich, Connecticut, acquired the Stelvio for his growing stable. A pioneering collector and automotive enthusiast, Mr. Tunick owned many fine cars over the years, yet always maintained a preference for supercharged pre-war cars of outstanding pedigree and performance. At its height, the Tunick Collection included some of the finest sporting machines of the 1920s and 1930s, from a magnificent Mercedes-Benz SS to a lovely Zagato-bodied 6C 1750 Gran Sport.
Bugatti with chassis number 57677 was equipped with a supercharged 3.3-liter engine, number 31C. Completed in May of 1938, this late-build 57C featured a number of significant chassis improvements, including rubber engine mounts, a stiffened frame and revised engine timing. Other improvements included Bugatti-Lockheed hydraulic drum brakes and an optional Cotal gearbox.
1927 Mercedes-Benz S-Type 26/180 Sportwagen
1927 Mercedes-Benz S-Type 26/180 Sportwagen
1927 Mercedes-Benz S-Type 26/180 Sportwagen
1927 Mercedes-Benz S-Type 26/180 Sportwagen - Estimate $5,500,000 - $6,500,000. Coachwork by Sindelfingen; matching-numbers, original-bodied example won its class at Pebble Beach Concours in 2004; formerly property of Alliston Boyer, David Tunick and Henry Petronis, including over 40 years in Petronis Collection.
HERMAN GOERING'S 1937 540 K MERCEDES
1927 Mercedes-Benz S-Type 26/180 Sportwagen
HERMAN GOERING'S 1937 540 K MERCEDES
Automobile Collector David Tunick owned one of The Great Automobile Collections of all Time
Owned by David and Jacques Tunick
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Hermann Goering's "Blue Goose"
In 1936, Mercedes-Benz introduced the 540K special, designated 540Ks. Based on the shorter 2,980 mm (117 in) wheelbase chassis, its body was carefully crafted.
Its price tag of 28,000 Reichsmarks, some RM6,000 above the price of standard models, only 32 were ever built.
In 1937, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering ordered a 540Ks, in his favorite color of sky blue with his family crest on both doors. It included armor-plated sides and bulletproof glass.
Nicknamed the "Blue Goose",
Goering was often photographed in the car.
On May 4, 1945, the US Army, C Company, 326th Engineers, 101st Airborne Division 'Screaming Eagles' entered Berchtesgaden, and on finding the car took possession. Major General Maxwell Taylor used the car as his command vehicle in West Germany until it was commissioned by the US Treasury.
Shipped to Washington, D.C., it successfully toured the United States in a victory bond tour.
In 1956, the car was auctioned off by the US Army at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and sold to
Jacques and David Tunick of Greenwich, Connecticut, with a high bid of $2167
In 1958, Tunick sold the car to the private collection of veterinarian Dr. George Bitgood Jr., who had it repainted in black and the chrome re-plated.
Kept private,
Bitgood only displayed it once, at the 1973 county fair in
After Bitgood's death, the "Blue Goose" was shown by his family in June 2002 at the 101st Airborne Reunion at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The car was then sold to Carnlough International Limited of Guernsey, on the agreement that it be restored to its condition "as found" at Berchtesgade
Stephen Tunick Previews a Book about David Tunick's Historic Early Car Collecting with thousands of Photos from around the world
collector cars online
TUNICK BROS. SERVED IN WWII
SOLD TO THE SULTINATE OF MUSCAT AND OMAN
HERMAN GOERING'S 1937 540 K MERCEDES
DAVID TUNICK AND HIS BROTHERS JACQUES AND ABE SCRAPPED MORE METAL FOR THE WAR EFFORT THAN ANY OTHER BUSINESS IN THE US WHILE BROTHERS ARCHIBALD AND GEORGE SERVED AS CAPTAINS IN THE ARMY
TUNICK BROS. IN WWII
SOLD TO THE SULTINATE OF MUSCAT AND OMAN
SOLD TO THE SULTINATE OF MUSCAT AND OMAN
DAVID TUNICK ON THE WING OF A FIGHTER
TUNICK BROS. WITH SURPLUS YARDS IN CHAMBERSBURG, PA AND STAMFORD, CT BECAME ONE OF THE LARGEST ARMY, NAVY SURPLUS EXPORTERS IN THE U.S. SPECIALIZING IN "BABY MACKS" TANK ENGINES, BREN GUN CARRIERS, ARMY DUCKS, JEEPS, HALF-TRACKS AND ALLISON AIRCRAFT ENGINES
SOLD TO THE SULTINATE OF MUSCAT AND OMAN
SOLD TO THE SULTINATE OF MUSCAT AND OMAN
SOLD TO THE SULTINATE OF MUSCAT AND OMAN
SOLD TO THE SULTANATE OF MUSCAT AND OMAN
In 1952 an American oil company CITIES SERVICE Petroleum Corporation received the concession in the Dhofar Region to drill for oil
They bought this Army Duck
from Tunick Bros. Inc.
That's the old American Cyanamid Building on the
Post Road
TUNICK BROS. HISTORY
