1911 Mercer Type 35R expected to fetch $3M in Monterey

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1911 Mercer Type 35R Raceabout

The history books are filled with defunct American automakers, from Duesenberg and Studebaker to Plymouth and Pontiac. But few of them are as missed by vintage automobile enthusiasts as Mercer. The company only operated between 1909 and 1925, but in that short span of time it produced one of the earliest, most successful racing machines: the legendary Type 35R Raceabout.

One of the fastest vehicles of the 1910s, the Mercer Type 35R Raceabout was a bare-bones two-seat speedster with an 4.8-liter inline-four that produced just 55 horsepower. Considered, according to specialist Shelby Myers, to be the Ferrari 250 GTO of its day, the Type 35R was capable of reaching speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour - positively blinding over a century ago.

This 1911 example is one of the finest and best-known in existence. It belonged to legendary collector Henry Austin "Austie" Clark, Jr., and was a regular fixture at vintage racing events and classic car shows across America. Chassis 35-354 resided for 65 years in Clark's Long Island Automotive Museum, remaining in his family long after the museum closed and merged into the Henry Ford Museum. Now it's going up for auction for the first time in its long life, consigned to RM Auctions that will put it on the block in Monterey during the Pebble Beach weekend, where it is projected to fetch between $2.5 and $3.5 million.

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1911 Mercer Type 35R expected to fetch $3M in Monterey originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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