Equipment
RHD. Silver wire wheels. Fresh and better than new. Like a bride: something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Although in this case the new vastly outnumbers the old. Freshly completed by Steve Hart Racing in the UK with a 2 litre engine using an original cylinder head, crankcase, sump, cam covers, 45DCO3 Webers and gearbox differential. The frame and body are newly built. Some miscellaneous bits thought to be from 2459, the crashed and parted out Cunningham car, include taillights, front wheel hubs and dashboard switches, which are cited in support of the borrowed part, its identity number. Vetted by Richard Crump and with an FIA Historic Technical Passport, it is one very pretty and accurate tach needle turned into a car.
Market commentary
There is little Birdcage about this car except its exceptionally accurate and meticulous re construction. Christening it with the chassis number of Briggs Cunninghams comprehensively crashed and parted out 2459 is a disservice that the seller attributes to the taillights, front wheel hubs and dashboard switches, hardly the core of an automobile. In the marquee at Mecums Monterey auction the bidding stopped somewhere way short of the announced high bid. It is a marvelously accurate resurrection with FIA papers that will admit it to many important and enjoyable events. It would be a good value at the $750,000 high bid it brought at Worldwides Houston auction in 2010. The reported high bid here is a pipe dream.