To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVEEstimate:
$55,000 - $70,000
- Formerly part of Harrah's Automobile Collection
- One of the great American chassis of its era
- Unusually sporting and well-proportioned bodywork, converted
from a factory body
- Charming older restoration, ideal for touring
- Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Full Classic
This Locomobile Model 48 is one of the few survivors with open
two-passenger roadster coachwork, an ideal choice to maximize the
great performance beneath. Acquired by Harrah's Automobile
Collection in 1963 from H.H. Soper of Twin Falls, Idaho, it is
noted in the Harrah's research file as having been "converted from
a touring as evidenced by door jambs for rear doors still visible
inside rear deck...the cowl indicates the original body to have
been a 4-passenger 'Sportif.'" Indeed, the Sportif's original body
number remains stamped under the right-hand seat cushion.
There were plans to restore the car with a new Gunboat Roadster
body, but the Model 48 was instead sold by Harrah's, much as it had
been acquired, to longtime collector Merrill Maxfield of Utah in
1973. A bill of sale in the file indicates that the car was later
sold by a dealer in Huntington, Indiana, to John Dupps, Jr. of
Germantown, Ohio, in 1995. Mr. Mitosinka added the car to his
collection in June of 2010. During Mr. Mitosinka's ownership the
Locomobile was shown at the Palos Verdes Concours d'Elegance, the
magneto was rebuilt, the fuel tank and radiator were cleaned, and a
new battery was installed.
An older, apparently cosmetic restoration, still retaining some
original finishes to the engine compartment and with considerable
patina, the car is equipped with Locomobile-badged headlamps with
Smith lenses and a complete complement of Warner and Waltham
gauges. LeBaron badges, not apparently associated with the original
Sportif coachwork, were added to the modified body at some point in
time. The Locomobile is offered with a small selection of spare
parts as well as a wheel tool, side curtains, and boot for the dual
rear-mounted spares, and a partial Harrah's research file. The car
is fitted 20-inch wire wheels and dual rear-mounted 20-inch wire
wheel spare tires.
Few surviving Model 48s have this car's style and drama, an
appropriate counterpoint to the robust engineering that made this
one of the great American automobiles of the Jazz Age.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction,
please visit the RM website at
rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/mt20.
