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February 24, 2012

Record Price for Oldsmobile sold at Public Auction

When a raggedy 1911 Oldsmobile Limited shocked the collector car world nearly five years ago by selling for $1.5 million at RM’s Hershey auction, many observers wondered what somebody would pay for a nice and shiny version of that car. We came as close to answering that question when a beautifully restored 1912 Oldsmobile Limited sold for $3.3 million at RM’s Milhous sale.

The price topped the weekend’s auction of the Milhous brothers collection in Boca Raton, Florida, and according to RM constitutes a record price for any Oldsmobile sold at public auction. (It just barely beat out the Oldsmobile F-88 that sold at Barrett-Jackson’s 2005 Scottsdale auction for $3.24 million.) The selling price isn’t the only thing massive about the Oldsmobile. Built in the final year of Oldsmobile Limited production, the car stands seven feet tall on 43×5 tires and stretches 17 feet long. Meant to compete in the realm of ultra-luxury cars, the Limited sat on a 140-inch wheelbase, drew its power from a 60hp 707-cu.in. T-head six-cylinder engine, and sold for as much as $6,300 new, a time when the Ford Model T sold for no more than $900.

According to RM’s auction description, this particular Limited, one of less than 140 built in 1912 and reportedly the only 1912 Oldsmobile Limited in existence, carries a distinctive five-passenger touring body (most 1912 Limited touring cars were of the seven-passenger variety) and was originally sold to a customer in Canada. After a museum stay, it then went to a number of collectors. It was purchased for auction at $1.265 million. Its anticipated resale range was from $1.4 million to $1.6 million.

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