1906 Classic Cars for Sale
The Vanderbilt Cup draws 250,000 spectators, Rolls-Royce launches the Silver Ghost, and American roads still belong to the horse.
Nineteen-oh-six is the year the automobile begins to split into two clear camps. On one side, the grand touring car, large, expensive, hand-assembled, aimed at the carriage trade. On the other, the light runabout, simpler and cheaper, aimed at the professional class. Henry Ford is thinking about the second group. Everyone else is still chasing the first.
The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost makes its debut this year, though it would not carry that name officially until 1907. The 40/50 HP six-cylinder chassis, built at Manchester, sets a standard for mechanical refinement that British coachbuilders would drape in increasingly elaborate bodies for the next two decades. Buying a Silver Ghost in period meant choosing a coachbuilder separately. The chassis arrived bare.
American production is climbing. Estimated output across all manufacturers reaches roughly 33,000 units for the calendar year. The Vanderbilt Cup race on Long Island draws enormous crowds and demonstrates, somewhat brutally, that American roads and European racing machinery are not yet well matched.
- Rolls-Royce introduces the 40/50 HP six-cylinder chassis at Olympia in November, the car that would be retroactively named Silver Ghost, with a 7-liter engine producing an estimated 48 horsepower.
- The Vanderbilt Cup, run October 6 on Long Island's public roads, draws an estimated 250,000 spectators, ends in crowd-related chaos, and is won by Louis Wagner in a Darracq at an average speed of 61.4 mph over 297 miles.
- Total US automobile registrations cross 100,000 for the first time, though horses still outnumber motor vehicles in every American city by ratios exceeding 50 to 1.
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Browse Pre-War ClassicsMarket: A documented 1906 Silver Ghost chassis with original or period coachwork starts above $500,000 and has sold past $1.5 million with full factory correspondence. American brass-era tourers from Thomas or Locomobile range from $60,000 to $200,000 depending on body condition and mechanical authenticity. Replacement engines, period-correct but not original, reduce value by 30 to 50 percent at specialist auction.
Buyer's note: For Silver Ghost examples, request the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust record, which documents original chassis specification, coachbuilder, and first owner, details that cannot be reconstructed from the car alone.