alsancle

500k for a long wheelbase 320 Cab A is probably a record too.

Also, they changed the color, added the hood screens, and removed the rear splats. I would not feel bad about that result.

I wouldn't even call this a short tail special roadster. It is more of a one off roadster with Special Roadster features. Nice looking car but the 4 million is plenty of money given it is more than the last price on a short tail.

I just had a chance to look at the pictures on a real computer (instead of my phone). Very well done in the big scheme when talking about replicas but not a million dollar one in a million years.

That may be a new record for a 500k Special Roadster "Short Tail" to my knowledge. The 8 million estimate was to get the 4 million buyer. 3.08 is a new high water mark for a Cab A. The Mulliner price is more than double what it sold for 10 years ago but does seem like a bargain in the context of the other sales.

I'll second the motion that something is off on the wheels and front end. Front fenders don't look right either. The dead nuts replicas with original chassis were a million not too long ago.

So the two shade purple and silver car are actually the same one. That eliminates one convertible coupe from the survivor list. There are probably a couple more cars that have been painted so they get counted twice.

From a color perspective, I actually prefer the other with the painted wheels. That said, not sure I would be painting anything other than a Challenger plum crazy purple.

By current count, there are about 20 known cars that are not 8-35 sedans. I would like to figure out original production. Some of the standard reference guides state production in the thousands which I do not believe.

Matt, That is a really nice looking car. I see the owner had a common issue which is finding 650-18 tires. The 700-18s that are on the car make it impossible to install the sidemount covers. There are a number of choices in the 700-18 size but nothing in the 65-18. Maybe when you get a chance you could ask him where he found it. This is one of the 10 or so known convertible coupes.

I think all the chrome on the engine is correct with the exception of perhaps the heat tube and the head bolts. The finish looks to be a bit shiny of course.

Gremlins are actually making a comeback. You could one with a v8 and a 4 gear. Unfortunately the image I always think of is Ramone in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" pulling in the HS parking lot.

The 8-52 long wheel base cars were only built in 1932 and seem to be exceedingly rare. There are only a few known (2,3?) to survive. I don't know if anything other than the sedan body was ever mounted on this chassis.

If you get out your CCCA register (I was looking at the 2012 one) you will see that out of the 10 or 12 Royales in club, 80% are 8-35 Sedans. I assume they high rate of survival correlates to the highest rate of production originally. This particular car has the wood wheels which are known to be on only a 2 or 3 surviving cars.

There was thought to be 3 8-48 chassis built with custom bodies by Dietrich. This is the long survivor. The 2 others were a convertible victoria and a convertible sedan. I'm wondering if the convertible victoria is confused with the 8-35 car I posted earlier in this thread. The body on this car is identical to the 835 Packard that was in Harrah's collection for many years and then to Nethercutt.

How many 540k/500k cars has Jim restored over the years?

The Victoria was a closed 2 door with seating for 5. The trunk was an option although it seems most cars came with it. There are 5 or 6 known 8-35 Victorias and maybe 2 or 3 of the 8-31. Not the factory photo with the polished top and no accessory trunk.

Craig, be sure to take pictures of any MB you see and post it here! Unfortunately I'll be stuck at work. My lone car trip may be to the ACD festival this year.

Is that a factory body with the split windshield? Interesting. Sorry Curt, I can't help but they do look pretty close to pay dirt don't they? What else was in that lot? Any blowers?

The Caribbean used the same transmission as the standard models. It really isn't anything special or valuable. A 3 speed with overdrive would have some value but not the 2 speed.

I think cloning it would be a waste of time. It won't be worth any more than stock and all the GTO pieces you need to get will put the whole thing under water. If somebody wants a 69 GTO there are enough to choose from.

It was my understanding that they did build one but who knows. I do know that the build records exist so the record could be somewhere.

The purple convertible coupe was restored to match the catalog colors by John Barker who was the Royale club expert for many years. It is now in Sweden. The colors are not for everyone and I think definitely hurt the resale price. However, they did build at least one with those colors.

The 3 window coupe is very rare with 3 or 4 known to my knowledge. This is the one that Barry Brown found in a garage in Canada where it had sat for 50 years. I would own this now if I didn't get talked out of it. It is now in Ohio hopefully being restored. There is a beautifully restored one with wood wheels down in Texas that is fairly regularly seen on the Concours circuit.

The convertible victoria is not known to have survived. The picture I posted is the only one I have ever seen of it.