You've been asking big questions this week. Like, is an old white Torana worth $833,000? Or is a 2017 Holden ute worth a million? To answer these and other critical problems you've put to us I've put together our top brains trust (the Sultan on the Zoom directly from the corner bar at the Oxford Think Tank of South Australia – the Kensi Hotel) and yours truly.
So, Lloyds Auctions sold the Torana we showed you last week for the price of what? Well for around the same money you can buy a used cotton undershirt considered to be a holy grail of LeBron James memorabilia at Julien's Auctions next week.
In the art caper you can buy a painting by any Australian living artist for well under the price of the white Torana. Of course, dead artists always bring more money and a close friend and mentor of Mick's, Hans Heysen's painting of an old gum tree and two horses, sold for $500k over reserve last year at Deutscher and Hackett.
One of the big buyers of Australian muscle is Melbourne's Adrian Portelli, who is single-handedly bidding up the value of beefy classics. Adrian started and owns LMCT-plus, which gives you "access to the LMCT+ platform where you'll receive exclusive discounts from over 400 automotive, trade, homeware and lifestyle partners Australia-wide".
OK, what will a white Torana buy you outside lockdown land? Look, I get Australian muscle cars in Australia, but it's like, with due respect to Hans Heysen, comparing his gum trees and horses with Pablo Picasso's Guernica. So, feast your eyes on the piece of art in the pic above.
It's Ferruccio Lamborghini's first production car, the Touring built 350GT, that debuted at the 1964 Geneva Motor Show. This piece of metal is not only a vehicle, it's a sculpture. It's a masterpiece. Just looking at it makes you a better person and blows your mind more than an LMCT+ promotion or pint of Cooper's best extra stout.
There are five Italian artists you should know about: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Giotto Bizzarrini, Gianpaolo Dallara and Carrozzeria Touring. Bizzarrini worked at Alfa and Feezer (the 250 GTO came from him) before going out on his own. Fred Lamborghini commissioned him to design a V12 engine to put into the perfect touring car. And he got his own designer, Dallara, to draw the tubular chassis and Carrozzeria Touring to do the body.
Fred went into the supercar business for two reasons. One, the margins were better than his tractor-building outfit and two, he had a blue with Enzo Feezer because of his cars' clutch quality and less than sexy interiors. "Ferrari, your cars are rubbish!" Fred said. "Lamborghini, you may be able to drive a tractor but you will never be able to handle a Ferrari properly," Enzo replied. Anyway, the 350GT was the outcome and it was a better car than Fezzer was turning out at the time. Only 143 were built.

