Curtis Leaverton Collection Heads to Auction
Gooding Christie’s announced the first major collection that will be offered at their 2026 Amelia Island Auction, the Curtis Leaverton Collection. The 19-lot collection will be offered entirely without reserve and features a little of something for every collector and enthusiast. The auction will take place at the Omni Amelia Island Resort March 5 and 6, 2026 and judging by the offerings in the Curtis Leaverton Collection should be quite the impressive sale.
Highlights of the Curtis Leaverton Collection include:
The 1932 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Series V Gran Sport represents the ultimate evolution of Alfa’s legendary prewar six‑cylinder sporting line, combining race-bred engineering with some of the most elegant coachwork of the era. Developed from Vittorio Jano’s successful 6C platform, the Gran Sport used a shortened, lightweight chassis and a supercharged 1.75L DOHC inline-six producing around 85 hp, good for roughly 145 km/h, at a time when the 6C 1750 was dominating events like the Mille Miglia and Spa 24 Hours. Built in very limited numbers between 1930 and 1933, the Series V Gran Sport was typically bodied as a spider or roadster by top coachbuilders such as Zagato, Touring, and Figoni, and today is revered as one of the most desirable prewar sports cars.
Estimate: $1,750,000 – $2,250,000
Built by Vincent Motorcycles in Stevenage, England from 1948 to 1955, the Black Shadow emerged as one of the world’s first true superbikes and the fastest production motorcycle of its era. Introduced at the 1948 London motorcycle show with a claimed top speed of 125 mph, the Black Shadow was developed from the earlier Rapide when managing director Frank Walker refused to authorize the project, forcing founder Philip Vincent and engineer Phil Irving to secretly construct two prototypes that proved the concept.
The Black Shadow’s legendary status was cemented in 1948 when Rollie Free piloted a specially prepared variant to 150.313 mph at Bonneville Salt Flats while lying prone in a bathing suit, an iconic image that captured the motorcycle’s extreme performance. Despite its technical brilliance and cult following, only 1,774 Black Shadows were built before Vincent ceased production in December 1955.
Estimate: $80,000 – $120,000
Built by JaguarSport between 1990 and 1992 as a road‑going derivative of the Le Mans–winning XJR-9 Group C prototype, the Jaguar XJR-15 was styled by Peter Stevens and constructed around a carbon-fibre and Kevlar monocoque. It was powered by a mid-mounted 6.0L naturally aspirated Jaguar V12 producing about 450 hp, giving 0 to 60 mph times of just over 3 seconds and a top speed near 190 mph. Only around 50 examples were produced, many destined for the single-make JaguarSport Intercontinental Challenge race series, and its combination of raw motorsport pedigree, minimal concessions to comfort, and pioneering carbon construction have since earned it a reputation as one of the earliest examples of the modern hypercar.
Estimate: $900,000 – $1,200,000
The Austin‑Healey 100S was a purpose-built racing variant of the standard Austin-Healey 100 produced in 1955, developed directly from the Special Test Cars that successfully campaigned at Sebring and Le Mans. Named “S” for Sebring to commemorate the marque’s class victory there in 1954, only 50 production examples were hand‑built at the Donald Healey Motor Company in Warwick, featuring an all-alloy body with no bumpers or weather protection to reduce weight by approximately 200 lbs. Under the hood, it boasted a Weslake-designed aluminum cylinder head that boosted the 2.6L inline-four to 132 horsepower, and it pioneered the use of four-wheel Dunlop disc brakes on a production car, making it one of the most advanced and desirable British sports racers of the 1950s.
Estimate: $450,000 – $600,000