Classic Boat – July 2019

Saleroom

COYS

The VW wallowing wagon

It’s got the freeboard of an ice-lolly stick, top speed in water

of 6 knots and is guaranteed to cause maximum embarrassment

in any marina, yet the VW Schwimmwagen – swimming car

• is a prized amphibian artefact of World War Two.
  With no rudder, the Schwimmwagen’s front wheels exerted
  only a vague influence on direction and the fold-down prop had
  no reverse. For going backwards, there was prayer and a paddle,
  aided if desperate by running the wheels in reverse and hoping
  the tyre tread agitated the water. In short, it’s an icon, and
  though nearly 16,000 were built, survivors number less than

200. And that means there’s a hefty price to pay for such woeful
     performance. Estimate at the May auction was £75,000-100,000.

RM SOTHEBY’S

Rather rarer Riva rival

A rare French interloper could make waves in Italy when it

comes under the hammer on the shores of Lake Como.

From humble beginnings, Frantz Liuzzi went on to build

boats that rivalled Riva in the affections of the Riviera jet set.

Buccaneering movie star Errol Flynn owned one and this Liuzzi

Lido, Sois Sage II, was campaigned by racer Roger Brunet and

won the 1957 Paris six-hour race in his ownership. Even in standard

tune, moulded mahogany Lidos could nudge 100km/h (62mph).

Still bearing Brunet’s race famous race number, and lightly

used since restoration in 2010, Sois Sage II is today powered by a

5.7-litre Chrysler V8. Moreover, it’s just one of five known surviving

Lidos. Despite being rarer than contemporary Riva rivals, it was

pitched more attainably at £35,000-£53,000 at the May auction.

If a picture paints a thousand words, words

can also illuminate pictures. Six-Metre

sleuths have unlocked the secrets of this

mystery 1920s yachting scene, brought the

past into the present and even identified the

boats, aided by the renowned accuracy and

famed attention to detail of celebrated British

marine artist Montague Dawson (1890-

1973).What’s more, at least two of the

yachts survive, CB has discovered.

When the painting, titled Racing for the

Corinthian Challenge Cup on Lough Derg,

appeared at a Bonhams marine sale,

catalogue notes stated: “It has not been

possible to identify the specific race and

those yachts depicted in this spirited work

but further research should bear fruit.”

Indeed it has. CB contributor and

yachting historian Nigel Sharp immediately

identified them as 6-Metres and named K19

as the 1925 Fife-built Finvola, currently for

sale. Tim Street, 6-Metre aficionado,

identified K8 as well, as a 1925 Fife, also

still in existence, and the boat in third,

apparently K14, as the 1924 Echo designed

by Sir Thomas Glen-Coats.

He added: “For a period during the 1920s

the Clyde fleet of Sixes used to visit Ireland

for a series of team races. From the look of

this, here they are in a Force 4 westerly and

well in the lead, as with the two Fifes and a

Glen-Coats, they would almost certainly

have been much superior at that time.”

Whether or not such scholarship augments

the value, it certainly adds to the appeal of

the painting which sold for £75,062.

Yachting mystery solved by 6-Metre sleuths

BONHAMS

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By Dave Selby