{"id":197307,"date":"2026-03-19T02:56:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T02:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/197307\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T02:56:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T02:56:40","slug":"this-museum-in-tampa-bay-is-auctioning-off-a-set-of-exceedingly-excellent-cars-and-you-should-buy-one-or-several","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/197307\/","title":{"rendered":"This Museum In Tampa Bay Is Auctioning Off A Set Of Exceedingly Excellent Cars, And You Should Buy One (Or Several)"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re like most readers of The Autopian, one of the biggest problems you face every day is a painful overabundance of money. There are stacks of the stuff everywhere, and you just don\u2019t know what to do with it all! The alerts you get on your phone announcing new, high-dollar deposits are so loud and nonstop that it\u2019s like having an alarm going off constantly. And the checks! Don\u2019t get me started on the checks! Huge, chaotic wads of checks coming in your mail slot every day, looking like bouquets of cubist white lilies dumped on your floor, waiting to be deposited. It\u2019s nonstop! But what can you do about it?<\/p>\n

Luckily, there\u2019s an answer. You can relieve yourself of some of that pesky money by trading it for cars \u2013 cars that are up for auction\u00a0right now\u00a0from the collection of the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum<\/a>! And holy crap, is there some good stuff in here. There are 18 cars up for auction, and this is one of those rare cases where pretty much any of the cars in this auction would be a fascinating car to have.<\/p>\n

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I should mention that this auction, done in conjunction with our pals at Hagerty, does\u00a0not\u00a0mean that the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum is in any danger of closing \u2013 they\u2019re doing just fine. According to the museum\u2019s president, Oliver Cerf,<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a thoughtful, limited release of vehicles that are no longer central to the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum\u2019s curatorial direction, allowing the museum to stay focused on the engineering history it exists to share.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, the good news is that the museum is fine, and it\u2019s even better news if you can get one of these cars, which, as I mentioned, are all fantastic. The Tampa Bay Automobile Museum has a curatorial focus on innovative cars, ones that attempted to do things a bit differently, which is why we see cars from front-wheel-drive pioneers like Citro\u00ebn or rear-engine streamliner proponents like Tatra, or even early hybrid gasoline-electric cars like the Owen Magnetic.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a full list of the cars up for auction, from oldest to newest:<\/p>\n

1916\u00a0Owen Magnetic O-36 Touring Chassis<\/p>\n

1929\u00a0Durant 6-66 Coupe<\/p>\n

1931\u00a0Hanomag 3\/16 Coupe<\/p>\n

1935\u00a0Georges Irat FDW Roadster<\/p>\n

1936\u00a0Tatra T75 Convertible<\/p>\n

1937\u00a0Citro\u00ebn 7CV Berline<\/p>\n

1939\u00a0BSA Scout Series 6 Roadster<\/p>\n

1943\u00a0Volkswagen K\u00fcbelwagen Type 82<\/p>\n

1950\u00a0Allard P1 3.6-litre Saloon<\/p>\n

1950\u00a0Tatra Tatraplan<\/p>\n

1951\u00a0Hotchkiss-Gr\u00e9goire Sedan<\/p>\n

1954\u00a0Citro\u00ebn 2CV<\/p>\n

1955\u00a0Salmson 2300S<\/p>\n

1957\u00a0Talbot-Lago America Chassis<\/p>\n

1968\u00a0Ford Zephyr Mk IV AWD Police Car Prototype<\/p>\n

1973\u00a0Citro\u00ebn SM<\/p>\n

1998\u00a0Renault Sport Spider<\/p>\n

See what I mean? What a great list! Let\u2019s take a look at my, oh, five favorites here.<\/p>\n

1950 Tatra Tatraplan<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Tatraplan! Oh, I love these Czech wonders so very much. The Tatraplan was a sort of modernized, postwar take on the Tatra rear-engined formula, and in some ways can be considered the rebirth of the 1936 Tatra 97 \u2013 the smaller of the rear-engined Tatras with a flat-four engine, and the car that Hitler prevented from being sold because of its resemblance to Porsche\u2019s KdF-Wagen, the car that would become the Volkswagen Beetle.<\/p>\n

The Tatraplan was a similarly-sized car to the old T97 \u2013 think a bit bigger than a Beetle, and with four doors \u2013 and also had a flat-four air-cooled engine. The bodywork is still streamlined, but with a more updated design vocabulary. It\u2019s a fascinating car, a vision of what the future could have looked like, had history taken a different, and arguably more exciting, path.<\/p>\n

This example seems really well maintained \u2013 not\u00a0too perfect that it couldn\u2019t be driven, but definitely show-car quality. In looking at the pictures of the car on the auction, I\u2019m struck by a couple of things I think the Tatraplan doesn\u2019t usually get much credit for: first, the luggage capacity. Like a Beetle, it has two cargo areas, one up front in the nose, the other behind the back seat. That back seat area is surprisingly roomy:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You can also see the funny rear window setup there, where you look through one set of glass panes and then again through another curvier set on the rear of the car to see behind you:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The engine room is between the two sets of windows. It\u2019s weird.<\/p>\n

Back to the luggage room, though: look how much space is in the front trunk:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Okay, sure, that spare tire is taking up most of that space, and it sure seems like there would have been a better way to mount that thing to take up less room, but it\u2019s a surprisingly big compartment in there.<\/p>\n

Also, the Tatraplan has one of the weirdest interior rear-view mirror setups that I\u2019ve ever seen:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s mounted from the ceiling, but at the height of a dash-mounted mirror? Why? Is it adjustable on that long arm? I have so many questions. Bidding is currently at about $70,000 for this thing, so that should help clear out some of those pesky stacks of cash.<\/p>\n

1953 Citro\u00ebn 2CV<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I know I\u2019m a little 2CV-obsessed lately<\/a>, but I think that\u2019s understandable. This one is a beautiful example of an old \u201cripple-bonnet\u201d 2CV, and it\u2019s currently only $7 more than the $5,000 I paid for my 2CV. I doubt it\u2019ll stay that cheap, but that did catch my attention. This one is kind of an ideal example of what I picture when I think of an early 2CV \u2013 that particular color gray, the plaid lawn-chair-style seats, the delightful utilitarianism.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This one even still has the canvas trunk lid, which wasn\u2019t replaced by an actual steel lid until 1957. It does have the 425cc engine, good for an Earth-rending 14 horsepower, a nice jump up from the original 9 hp 375 cc flat-twin.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why is this kind of austerity so damn appealing? What\u2019s the matter with me?<\/p>\n

1943 VW K\u00fcbelwagen Type 82<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Also austere and utilitarian, but in a very different way, is this K\u00fcbelwagen, the soldier version of the Beetle. While I\u2019m not crazy about the original owners of this car or how it was used, I\u2019ve always been fascinated by K\u00fcbels because of my love for the Beetle. Considering that the Beetle was designed to be an economical family car, the fact that it could be adapted into such an effective military vehicle is pretty amazing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This one looks really authentic and has all the proper details; this isn\u2019t some body stuck on a postwar VW pan with a postwar engine, everything here looks to be from the right period, like that strange air cleaner setup you see above there that was unique to K\u00fcbelwagens.<\/p>\n

Oh, and since I was going on about unexpectedly roomy cargo areas, have you ever seen how much room is behind the rear seat of a K\u00fcbel?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a pretty good-sized trunk back there! I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever really gotten a good look under that lid before!<\/p>\n

Because people seem to like WWII stuff, this one is currently at $19,250, so maybe less of a bargain.<\/p>\n

1950 Allard P1 3.6\u2011litre Saloon<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Okay, enough utilitarian stuff \u2013 let\u2019s look at something with a deeply strange, ethereal beauty, like this 1950 Allard. I usually equate Allard with small track-focused sports cars, so seeing the traditional inverted-T Allard grille on something larger always kind of throws me, but in a good way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Ford Flathead V8 gives good power (for the era) and is not so exotic that upkeep would be a nightmare. This feels like something you could actually drive. And driving it should be a pretty great experience, with a well-tuned suspension and light body made of aluminum and wood, two materials that at least tend not to rust.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One of these won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1952! The pewter gray\/blue two-tone is also an interesting choice, even if I thought it was half primered when looking at it in the thumbnail.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s currently still under $10,000, which seems like a great deal for such a rare and novel car like this!<\/p>\n

1968 Ford Zephyr Mk IV AWD Police Car Prototype<\/p>\n

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For my last pick to feature, I was tempted to go for this wonderful Citro\u00ebn SM<\/a>, but then I really looked at this amazing thing, and noted that it\u2019s currently only at $4,400, which feels like a\u00a0steal. What makes it interesting isn\u2019t that it\u2019s a Ford Zephyr police car \u2013 though that definitely doesn\u2019t hurt \u2013 but that it\u2019s an AWD prototype police car, with engineering by Harry Ferguson Research.<\/p>\n

You may recognize the Ferguson name from the term Ferguson Formula, which was what the FF stood for in the Jensen Interceptor FF<\/a>, one of the first true all-wheel drive GT cars.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This Zephyr was one of 22 cars fitted with the advanced FF AWD system, along with Dunlop-developed anti-lock brakes, one of the first cars to employ both of those advanced bits of engineering in actual driving situations. These also got the larger 3-liter Ford Essex V6 engine, the same one I had in my old Reliant Scimitar, so I can attest how good that motor is.<\/p>\n

This car is such an amazing technological milestone; the technology being tested here is now commonplace on many modern cars, and in the case of anti-lock brakes, almost everything. Plus, it\u2019s all wrapped up in a really cool-looking police car package, complete with chromed bumper-bells! How cool is that?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be really curious to see how these cars do at auction; if any of you Autopians pick one of these up, please let us know!<\/p>\n

Top graphic image: Tampa Bay Automobile Museum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re like most readers of The Autopian, one of the biggest problems you face every day is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[91564,9689,91565,8580,91566,135,91567,137,136,91568,91569],"class_list":["post-197307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-allard","tag-auction","tag-citroen","tag-ford","tag-furguson-formula","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-automobile-museum","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tatra","tag-zephyr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}