A VINTAGE motor that’s over 100 years old and once belonged to royalty is up for auction.
A Hispano-Suiza H6 from 1919 is going under the hammer after being restored – and it could be yours for a cool £435,000.
Jam Press/Tom Gidden Courtesy ofThis vintage Hispano-Suiza H6 from 1919 is up for auction in Paris[/caption]
Jam Press/Tom Gidden Courtesy ofIt could fetch up to £435,000 according to luxury auction house RM Sotheby’s[/caption]
Offered by luxury auction house RM Sotheby’s as part of their January 31 Paris auction, the incredible motor was first owned by King Alfonso XIII of Spain.
According to the auction site’s description, the H6 was made in France before being transported to the king and was the first production H6 to be sold.
The luxury convertible – which can do up to 85mph – has been fully restored with a rich green and black paintjob and comes complete with the royal crest of the House of Bourbon on the rear doors.
The new owner will also get a copy of a Geo Ham painting of the actual car undertaking royal duties.
According to an article on published in the Hispano-Suiza Society Newsletter in Auugst 2005, King Alfonso XIII had the motor from brand new for 12 years until 1931.
It was then owned by Patricio Chadwick of Spain for a number of years before the current collection acquired it in the early 1990s.
King Alfonso XIII owned the car during his marriage to Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg – the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
The couple’s wedding day was famously disrupted by an assassination attempt.
Since its restoration, it’s won 2nd place in Class and the Alec Ullmann Award for the most historically significant Hispano-Suiza at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2004, and the Targa d’Argento in its class at Villa d’Este in 2007.
This comes as another culturally important motors goes up for sale – a BMW supercar once owned by Michael Jordan.
The basketball legend bought the swish motor back in 1991 from a dealer in Illinois, where he famously played for the Chicago Bulls, and it has only clocked up 30,000 miles since then.
The auction is set to end on January 8.
Elsewhere, a Nash 600 from 1949 was found abandoned in a barn with only 27,000 miles on the clock by car detailing company WD Detailing – who decided to bring it back to its former glory.
Jam Press/Tom Gidden Courtesy ofThe luxury convertible was once owned by King Alfonso XIII of Spain[/caption]
Jam Press/Tom Gidden Courtesy ofDespite its age, the motor can do up to 85mph[/caption]