The Canadian auction house, RM, was chosen to oversee liquidation of the onetime Bertone Museum, and its 30-car auction at the end of May in Italy promises to be one of the high-end sales season’s very peaks. Six of the cars will be actual Bertone creations, dating from the 1963 Chevrolet Testudo.
Arguably, the wildest of the bunch will prove to be Bertone’s sensation from 1970, the original Lancia Stratos HF Zero, the prototype of the stellar Stratos road, racing and rally cars that followed it. Pre-auction sales estimates run from 1.0 to 1.8 million euros. Another prize is the Lamborghini Marzal, best known by its framed-Plexiglas gullwing doors, which Prince Rainier and Princess Grace drove at the start of the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. The Marzal heavily inspired the shape of the production Lamborghini Espada; pre-sale estimate is 1.0 million to 1.8 million euros.
RM Auction’s sale marks the first time that Bertone prototypes such as these have been offered to private bidders. The sale is set for the evening of May 21 at the Spazio Villa Erba in Cernobbio, Como, during the Villa d’Este concours. To learn more, visit www.rmauctions.com.
