This 1939 Auto Union V12 D-Type was suddenly yanked from Christie's auction list during the Retromobile Show over the weekend, which was expected to fetch up to $15 million. The Christie representatives with whom I spoke said the car was removed from the auction to check its racing history, but rumor has it that investigators were trying to determine just how much of the race car's parts were the true originals.
Anyway, a $15-million price tag for a vintage car is practically unheard of, but for that matter, this Auto Union model's specs were largely unparalleled in 1939. Its 3-liter, 450-horsepower engine could blast a Grand Prix driver to speeds up to 200 mph (I mean how many cars now can reach 200 mph, today?).
The car's power derives largely from a supercharger, on which speed-demons of today, such as the Porsches et al, still rely. Acceleration is gained through a supercharger that blasts compressed air into the engine. The car was recovered in the former Soviet Union where collectors found it, and its other 1930s Auto Union siblings, stripped down. Supposedly, Stalin had ordered the cars' dismantling in order for engineers to to learn what the German engineers were up to. The car was eventually recovered and restored in the early 1990s.
