Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale, AZ, January 12–20, 2019
Worldwide Auctioneers, Scottsdale, AZ, January 16, 2019
Russo and Steele, Scottsdale, AZ, January 16–20, 2019
Bonhams, Scottsdale, AZ, January 17, 2019
RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, AZ, January 17–18, 2019
Gooding & Company, Scottsdale, AZ, January 18–19, 2019
Search This Issue
Page -1
Baby, You’re a Star
44 AMERICAN
BUYER HOOKS a BIG ONE
’67 “Eleanor” Mustang Runs Off With $385k
™
CAR COLLECTOR
$174k Lands This 1970 Hemi ’Cuda
March–April 2019
www.AmericanCarCollector.com
• The Biggest Bargains and Eye-Poppers from Arizona’s Auctions
• Why You Should Get in Bed With an El Camino or Ranchero
• Chill, Dude. We Show You How to Upgrade Your Mustang’s A/C
Keith Martin’s
Page 4
Eight Sales That Define the Market
Volume 8 • Issue 44 • March–April 2019
CAR COLLECTOR
The Scoop
CORVETTE
2008 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
Z06
$33k / Barrett-Jackson
A pickled high-spec Corvette
for Toyota Avalon money
— John L. Stein
Page 54
GM
1967 CHEVROLET CAMARO
SS 396 conVertIble
$258k / Gooding & Company
Big money for a rare example,
and worth every penny
— Dale Novak
Page 56
FoMoCo
1967 FORD MUSTANG
“eleAnor” MoVIe cAr
$385k / Barrett-Jackson
A “Gone in 60 Seconds” star
car shines on the auction block
— Chad Taylor
Page 58
AMERICAN
™
MOPAR
1970 PlyMouth heMI
’CUDA 2-DOOR HARD TOP
$174k / RM Sotheby’s
There are no cheap Hemi
’Cudas, but this 4-speed model
is a bargain — Elana Scherr
Page 60
6 AmericanCarCollector.com
Keith Martin's
The Rundown
COLUMNS
10 Torque: Spotting trends at auction — Jim Pickering
44 Cheap Thrills: Arizona’s cheapest buys
— B. Mitchell Carlson
46 Horsepower: Leverage market knowledge and buy smart
— Jay Harden
48 On the Road: Taking a 1970 Barracuda back to baseline
— and joy — Elana Scherr
50 On the Market: An El Camino or Ranchero is a better
buy than you might think — John L. Stein
138 Surfing Around: Must-have automobilia
— Carl Bomstead
FEATURES
20 Good Reads: Modifying the Aerodynamics of Your Road
Car, Mustang Special Editions, The Definitive Pontiac GTO
Guide, and COPO Camaro, Chevelle and Nova
— Mark Wigginton
24 Desktop Classics: 2017 Ford GT — Daytona 24 Hours
— Marshall Buck
26 Snapshots 1: Scenes from the Arizona auctions
— ACC Staff
28 Snapshots 2: The Barrett-Jackson X-factor
— Daren Kloes
PLUS: The ACC Insider’s Seminar — Chad Tyson
86 Market Moment: 1958 Edsel Villager wagon
— Chad Taylor
94 Glovebox Notes: 2019 Ford Mustang GT coupe
— B. Mitchell Carlson
130 Junkyard Treasures: Owens Salvage Company,
Wellington, TX — Phil Skinner
USEFUL STUFF
12 What’s Happening: Car events of note
14 Crossing the Block: Upcoming auctions
8 AmericanCarCollector.com
22 Parts Time: Aftermarket pieces for your vehicles
24 Cool Stuff: Happy hauling and healthy batteries
34 Wrenching: Rebuilding a vintage Mustang’s a/c system
42 Readers’ Forum: What was your all-time best buy?
72 buy It now: 2009–13 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
— Chad Tyson
106 One to Watch: 1971–76 Cadillac Eldorado convertible
— Chad Taylor
128 The Parts Hunter: Flathead mains, Corvette grilles and
little green trees — Pat Smith
132 Showcase Gallery: Sell your car in ACC’s
classifieds section
134 Resource Directory: Get to know our advertisers
137 Advertiser Index
AuctIonS
70 Market Overview
Top 10 auction sales, best buys — and Arizona trucks
— Chad Tyson
74 Barrett-Jackson — Scottsdale, AZ
The mega-auction sells 1,820 of 1,821 for their
second-highest total ever of $124m — John Boyle
88 Mecum — Kissimmee, FL
Mecum sells 2,173 of 3,363 automotive lots in central Florida
totaling $93.7m — John Hoshstrasser
98 Russo and Steele — Scottsdale, AZ
Russo and Steele pulls in $11.7m on 304 cars sold to kick off
their year — Brett Hatfield
108 Worldwide Auctioneers — Scottsdale, AZ
Third-year sale sees 54 of 72 cars change hands for almost
$9.2m — B. Mitchell Carlson
118 Roundup
Highlights from Gooding & Company in Scottsdale, AZ,
RM Sotheby’s in Phoenix, AZ, and Bonhams in Scottsdale, AZ
Page 8
TORQUE
Jim Pickering
The Next Collectible
Where is the market headed? Talk to the buyers
In total, the 2019 auctions brought $247m,
which was pretty close to last year’s total of
$249m. Combine that with Mecum’s $94m
Kissimmee sale, and January 2019 kicked
off with $341m in collector car sales. That’s
good news for the market, but what can we
learn from it?
In truth, the big numbers do tell a
A
story, but it’s only part of a bigger story.
Understanding the market requires more
than just knowing about the cars and the
numbers they bring on an auction block.
If you really want to be able to see trends
before they become yesterday’s news, you
have to wade in waist-deep and start talking
to the people who are buying and selling
to try to understand their motivations. The
market is a construct, made up of motoring
history, psychology, sociology and economics.
The proportions of each factor vary per
person, too. It’s an ever-changing balance
that can be hard to nail down — but an auction
gives a good snapshot.
These topics come up all the time here at
ACC — after all, tracking the market is at
the core of what we do.
This year, we discussed the market
at ACC’s seminar at Barrett-Jackson in
Scottsdale, AZ, where I was joined on stage
by Ken Lingenfelter, Jay Harden, Sam
Stockham, Carl Bomstead and B. Mitchell
Carlson. We picked cars to buy, sell, and
hold in 2019. We talked about Tri-Five
Chevrolets, Grand Nationals, fourth-gen
F-bodies, and Ford and Chevy trucks from
the 1970s. Many of our choices came down
to more than just observed values, and were
shaped by observed behaviors.
Even that caused trouble, though, as Jay
and Carl both used the “but what are you
going to go do with it?” sentiment to support
their own picks and question each other’s —
Carl at the seminar, and Jay later that night.
In Carl’s case, it was a Buy for V12 and
V16 CCCA Full Classic coupes, and for Jay,
it was a Hold on well-done resto-mod muscle
cars. The fundamental difference there is in
how each views the usability of an old car.
Jay wants go to roast tires and stand out in
a car built to be used, while Carl sees value
in an organized tour that recognizes and
celebrates stately vintage classics. The two
10 AmericanCarCollector.com
fter years of watching the market
at SCM and ACC, once thing has
become clear: change is the only
constant.
Scottsdale’s numbers are in.
Jim Pickering
At Barrett-Jackson and other auctions, vintage trucks remain the hot ticket
picks are at opposite ends of the car spectrum.
You can find sales from this January’s
event that support both, so who is right?
For an end-user, it depends on your point
of view, your budget, and your immediate
circle of friends. I tend to believe both panelists
would be at home in each other’s picks.
But Jay’s muscle cars are probably more in
line with a younger demographic at an entry
level, and if we’re talking about the future,
that’s an important factor.
Trucks, trucks, trucks
From my time at Barrett-Jackson, a few
things stood out. First, it seemed like there
were a greater number of modified cars
on-site this year, and they tended to do well
across the auction block. From Corvettes
through Mustangs, Novas, Chevelles and
beyond, there were simply more nicely done
non-stockers on offer than I remember seeing
in years past. But bigger than that was
the downright frenzy that seemed to circle
around classic American pickups.
I’ve written about trucks here several
times now, and the same trends seem to keep
right on moving. Blue-collar idols drove
these things when they were new — the kind
of people today’s buyers looked up to for
answers and for help when we were young.
Maybe interest here is reclamation of that
past, or maybe it’s because old trucks are
just cool.
Either way, something drove a buyer to
pay a huge $137,500 for a nice 1969 K10
shortbed Chevrolet at Barrett-Jackson, and
it wasn’t alone in achieving a hefty price.
I spoke with Rick Anderson, who bought
a very nicely done 1972 K10 shortbed on
¾-ton axles. Rick was buzzing post-block
as his daughter crawled all over their new
$63,800 purchase. “I’ve always wanted one.”
was his response when I asked him why he
chose it — that and the one next to it was
lifted too much, with too-large tires.
Price aside, I can’t argue with his reason-
ing. Still, there’s no wider spread in values
than what we’re seeing between unrestored,
rough rigs and shiny top-level restos. Even
years after the trend began, money is still
being made by skilled builder-sellers.
The next big thing
A few years ago, the hot ticket was ’70s
Trans Ams. Then it was Fox-body Mustangs.
After that, trucks and SUVs took over as
rising stars, and they obviously continue to
hold strong in that spot. But for how long?
The market is trending younger, both
in terms of buyers and in terms of the cars
being bought. Newer trucks will start to
do well — Jay gets into that a bit in his
“Horsepower” column on p. 46. But that
doesn’t mean that classics are a bad buy,
or that Tri-Five Chevrolets will bottom out
completely when their current buyer pool
ceases to be buying.
After all, if there’s one thing that’s
constant about the market, it’s that next year
will be different. A
Page 10
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Let Us Know About Your Events
Do you know of American-car-related events or happenings that we should publicize?
Contact us at American Car Collector, P.O. Box 4797, Portland, OR 97208 or online at
comments@americancarcollector.com.
Lone Star Nationals
Goodguys Hit the Road
for Gatherings
Goodguys Rod & Custom
Chad Taylor
Vintage Parts to the Horizon
The Portland Swap Meet is a do-not-miss outing for most of us at ACC World
Headquarters — especially ACC Editor Jim Pickering. Why? This is the largest car-parts
extravaganza on the West Coast, and many of the parts are for and from American iron. This
year’s Partsfest takes place April 5–7. With more than 3,500 vendor stalls crammed with literally
tons of car parts, there is something for every vintage gearhead. More information is at
www.portlandswapmeet.com. (OR)
And... Next door to the Portland Swap Meet is the PIR Auto Swap Meet, which runs
from April 4 to 6. This is a bucket-list event for any gearhead. Hundreds of booths will fill
every available space inside the road course at the Portland International Raceway. Need an
unobtanium part? It’s probably here — or next door at the Portland Swap Meet. Bring a sturdy
wagon or cart to tote your treasures. Gates open at 7 a.m. daily and admission is $7. For more
information, visit www.portlandraceway.com. (OR)
North Carolina Nationals
Acres of Cars and Parts
at Spring Carlisle
Spring Carlisle, a giant swapmeet, car
Jim Pickering
12 AmericanCarCollector.com
corral and auction — and the kickoff to the
East Coast car-show season — once again
takes over Carlisle, PA, from April 24 to 28.
This is one of top five automotive swapmeets
in the world, and it’s a great way to shake
off winter. This is massive — 150 acres
and more than 8,100 vendor booths. This
is where you’ll find that hard-to-get part.
More than 2,000 cars are on sale in the car
corral. Not happy with the offerings in the
corral? The Carlisle Auction at the Carlisle
Expo Center will run more than 500 cars
across the block from April 25 to 26. www.
carsatcarlisle.com
Association events will scorch tires and
burn plenty of high octane this March
and April. The Goodguys 10th Spring
Nationals is set for March 15–17 at
WestWorld in Scottsdale, AZ, and the
9th Spring Lone Star Nationals heats
up Fort Worth, TX, from March 8 to 10.
The 37th All American Get-Together
is March 30–31 in Pleasanton, CA, and
the Goodguys Meguiar’s 19th Del
Mar Nationals is April 5–7 in Del Mar,
CA. Finally, the 5th North Carolina
Nationals rolls into the North Carolina
State Fairgrounds in Raleigh on April
26–28. www.good-guys.com
Page 12
CROSSING THE BLOCK
uPcoMIng AuctIonS—Compiled by Chad Tyson
(Images are courtesy of the respective auction houses unless otherwise noted)
STAR CAR: 1930 Cadillac 452 V16 roadster at Bonhams’ auction in Amelia Island, FL
MARCH
Russo and Steele
Where: Amelia Island, FL
When: March 6–8
Web: www.russoandsteele.com
Bonhams
Where: Amelia Island, FL
When: March 7
Web: www.bonhams.com
Last year: 88/101 cars sold / $13.2m
Featured cars:
• 1964 Shelby Cobra 289 roadster
• 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6
STAR CAR: 1930 Cadillac 452 V16
roadster
Gooding & Company
Where: Amelia Island, FL
When: March 8
Web: www.goodingco.com
Last year: 82/86 cars sold / $35.8m
Featured cars:
• 1915 Packard Twin Six 3-35
• 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 R
• 1974 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon
Hollywood Wheels
Where: Amelia Island, FL
When: March 8–10
Web: www.hollywoodwheels.com
RM Sotheby’s
Where: Amelia Island, FL
When: March 8–9
Web: www.rmsothebys.com
Last year: 87/102 cars sold / $27.6m
Featured cars:
• 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 roadster
• 1935 Auburn Eight custom Speedster
STAR CAR: 1930 Duesenberg Model J
dual-cowl phaeton
BlueChipCar by Motostalgia
Where: Amelia Island, FL
When: March 9
Web: www.bluechipcar.com
Last year: 50/67 cars sold / $2.4m
Smith
Where: Cape Girardeau, MO
When: March 15–16
Web: www.smithauctionsllc.com
Mecum
Where: Phoenix, AZ
When: March 14–16
Web: www.mecum.com
Featured cars:
STAR CAR: 1959 Bonneville Streamliner
Super Shaker
• 1932 Duesenberg Model J Torpedo berline
• 1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger R/T
convertible
STAR CAR: 1930 Duesenberg Model J dual-cowl phaeton at RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island auction
14 AmericanCarCollector.com
Premier Auction Group
Where: Punta Gorda, FL
When: March 14–16
Web: www.premierauctiongroup.com
Featured cars:
• 2008 Dodge Viper ACR coupe
• 1958 Cadillac Series 62 convertible
Page 14
CROSSING THE BLOCK
uPcoMIng AuctIonS—Compiled by Chad Tyson
(Images are courtesy of the respective auction houses unless otherwise noted)
STAR CAR: 1959 Bonneville Streamliner Super Shaker at Mecum’s sale in Phoenix, AZ
Southern Classic
Where: Murfreesboro, TN
When: March 23
Web: www.southernclassicauctions.com
RM Auctions
Where: Fort Lauderdale, FL
When: March 29–30
Web: www.rmsothebys.com
Last year: 241/336 cars sold / $19m
Featured cars:
• 1937 Packard Graber convertible
• 1953 Hudson Hornet sedan
• 1953 Buick Skylark convertible
APrIl
Mecum
Where: Houston, TX
When: April 29–30
Web: www.rmsothebys.com
Last year: 241/336 cars sold / $19m
Featured cars:
• 1967 Shelby GT350 fastback
• 1970 Pontiac GTO convertible
• 1956 Chrysler New York St. Regis 2-dr hard
top
Barrett-Jackson
Where: West Palm Beach, FL
When: April 11–13
Web: www.barrett-jackson.com
Last year: 697/700 cars sold / $38.8m
16 AmericanCarCollector.com
STAR CAR: 1967 Chevrolet Corvette custom convertible at Barrett-Jackson’s auction in West Palm
Beach, FL
Featured cars:
STAR CAR: 1967 Chevrolet Corvette
custom convertible
• 2009 Ford Mustang AV-X10 custom coupe
Branson
Where: Branson, MO
When: April 29–30
Web: www.rmsothebys.com
Last year: 146/218 cars sold / $2.8m
Silver Auctions AZ
Where: Peoria, AZ
When: April 13–14
Web: www.silverauctionsaz.com
Southern Classic
Where: Jeffersonville, IN
When: April 20
Web: www.southerclassicauctions.com
Carlisle
Where: Carlisle, PA
When: April 25–26
Web: www.carlisleevents.com
Last year: 292/475 cars sold / $5.8m A
GOOD READS
Mark Wigginton
Modifying the Aerodynamics of Your Road Car
by Julian Edgar, Veloce, 248 pages, $39.12, Amazon
If you have always wanted to understand aerodynamics in vehicles
but don’t have the time, advanced math skills or personal downforce
needed for an engineering degree, this is the book for you.
Starting from
basic concepts and
heading quickly
into face-melting
math, Julian Edgar
has written a truly
interesting, useful
and readable book
on aero. There
are even projects
you can undertake
on your own car
designed to solve
issues of drag or
flow that came
right from the
factory.
I haven’t seen
another book like
this, which is both
accessible and
hugely informative
at the same
time. Well done!
Lineage:
(
is best)
The Definitive Pontiac GTO Guide 1964–1967
by David Bonaskiewich, CarTech, 192 pages, $33.26, Amazon
This is another well-done “definitive” guide from CarTech.
Author David Bonaskiewich is a deeply invested Pontiac guy (his
first car was a 1970
LeMans) and has brought
his years of research to
bear on the early years of
the GTO.
It all started as a
Tempest stuffed with a
389-ci V8 in 1964, an
idea that Pontiac engineers,
backed by John
DeLorean, had to put
some more horsepower
on the street without a
lot of corporate interference.
It resonated with
the market, and soon the
GTO was celebrated by
eager buyers and even
pop songs.
It’s a detailed look at
the history of the Goat,
full of great stories,
trivia and the details collectors
crave. If you are a GTO fan, GTO owner or wannabe owner, you
should check it out.
Lineage:
Fit and finish:
20 AmericanCarCollector.com
Drivability:
Fit and finish:
Drivability:
by Jonathan Klein and Jeffrey Klein, CarTech, 192 pages, $31.92, Amazon
There have been Mustangs coming out of the Ford factory since
Mustang Special Editions
1964, so about 55 years. But throughout that time, thanks to the success
of the initial car
and the passion of the
owners, there have
also been plenty of
variations on the base
model.
Even back in
1964, according to
authors Jeffrey and
Jonathan Klein, there
were 50 different
factory options and
50 ways to customize
your individual car
(and, no, I don’t have
the math to tell you
how many possible
discrete combinations
that offers).
Then the factory marketing folks started
creating special editions with a certain set of those options, and then
more choices within the special editions… You can see how this goes.
The Kleins have created a detailed look at the special editions
they have been able to identify — 662 in all.
So, Mustang fans, prepare to geek out with Mustang Special
Editions.
Lineage:
Fit and finish:
Drivability:
Ultimate Muscle Cars
by Matt Avery, CarTech, 204 pages, $33.89, Amazon
COPO Camaro, Chevelle & Nova: Chevrolet’s
Hold up your hand if you know what COPO stands for. You in the
back, you must be a Big Chevy fan!
For the rest of us, it stands for Central Office Production Order, but
what it really allowed was
the creation of singular
cars that came from the
factory floor, as if by
magic.
Designed to notify the
factory when a certain part
or parts were wanted or
unwanted on an order, the
COPO makes perfect sense
when you are dealing with
fleet orders, and all those
taxis need heavy-duty
suspensions and larger gas
tanks as they come off the
line.
But when dealers and racers got ahold of the idea, it meant the
factory engineers would take a look at your order, see what needed to
be added or subtracted, decide if any extra engineering was needed to
make it all happen, and then happily internally absorb those design and
fabrication costs. Win!
This is a fun read on an interesting loophole and the folks such as
Don Yenko, who drove high-performance cars right through it.
Lineage:
Fit and finish:
Drivability:
Page 20
New Products to Modernize Your Street Machine
PARTS TIME
Jim Pickering
Speed in a Box
Adding
a modern
overdrive
transmission
to your classic
is a great idea,
as that extra
gear (or two)
can turn a highstrung
classic
Camaro into an
easy freeway
cruiser. But
here’s the rub:
Many modern
overdrive transmissions don’t have the provision for an OE-style
cable-driven speedometer, and that means dash surgery and a
non-stock-looking aftermarket gauge in your otherwise stocklooking
interior. Not good. Speedhut has solved the problem with
its Speedbox — an add-on component that uses satellite GPS and
the vehicle speed-sensor signal from your modern transmission
and converts it into a turning, mechanical cable. Hookup is simple,
with a control box that can be mounted under the dash or in the
engine compartment, and the VSS/GPS signals are more accurate
across a range of speeds than any factory gear and cable setup. Get
it from www.speedhut.com for $345.
Planks for
Professional
Brake Tubing
Flaring Tool
Makin’ Brakes
It may be hard to imagine, but c
the Memories
Classic trucks brought
big money in Arizona, and k
to that in many cases was go
looking bed wood. If your r
original bed has weathered o
dry-rotted, then it’s time
to replace it, and Summit
Racing’s got you covered
with a variety of options
for your Ford, Chevy or
GMC from Bed Wood
and Parts. These kits are made in
Kentucky and are complete, with all the hardware needed for installation.
The Red Oak planks are kiln-dried, pre-drilled and pre-finished,
and kits come with new bed strips as well. Prices vary by application
and finish. Check them out at www.summitracing.com.
A New Grille
Owners of 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air, Impala, Biscayne,
Yeoman, Brookwood and Delray models can finally buy
an all-new grille assembly. OER’s 1958 full-size grille
is an exact reproduction of the original unit, done in
stamped aluminum with correct black-painted accents.
If your grille isn’t perfect, this is the part you need — and
you don’t need to get muddy in a parts yard to find it. $649.99 from
www.oerparts.com.
22 AmericanCarCollector.com
’69 are now 50 years old. Wear item
as brake pads and wheel cylinders h
likely been replaced a number of
times by now, but what about steel
brake lines? The time is now to
replace them, and the Eastwood
Company has the tools for the job.
The Professional Brake Tubing
Flaring Tool ($199) makes
perfect, production-quality
45-degree flares quickly and easily. It
will do single, double and bubble flares
and can adapt to 37-degree AN-style flares with the proper die set.
Eastwood also offers a quality Deburring Tool ($33.99) that’s vital for
cleaning up tubing prior to the flare, as well as a Professional Tubing
Cutter ($24.99) that makes cutting steel line to length a breeze. Pair
all this with a good tubing bender from Eastwood ($15.99), and you’ll
be able to make any steel line, from brake lines to fuel lines. Check
them out at www.eastwood.com.
Tubing bender
Deburring Tool
Professional
Tubing Cutter
Page 22
COOL STUFF
Chad Taylor
Trusty Tie-Downs
Here at
ACC, we always
encourage our
readers to drive
their vintage
cars or trucks.
But sometimes
you just gotta
haul your classic.
Whether being
trailered home
from the track or
experiencing an
unexpected stop
on the side of the
road, secure your car with Mac’s Pro Pack Premium Tie Down Strap
Kit. The Pro Pack includes four 10,000-pound, two-inch-wide ratchet
straps, four 10,000-pound axle/wheel straps with protective fleece
sleeves, and a heavy-duty padded storage bag to keep everything
organized. Get your car home safely and securely by picking up the
Pro Pack for $249.95 at www.summitracing.com.
Set It and forget It
With your classic tucked
away in the garage and lessthan-perfect
driving conditions
outside, it can be hard to keep
that battery charged up. Worry
no more with Griot’s Garage
Battery Manager V. This is not
your old trickle charger from a
decade ago. The microprocessorcontrolled
charger features
multi-phase charging to recondition
batteries in less-than-perfect
health, and an exercising mode to maintain a healthy battery. There
are also a number of other functions including over-voltage protection
and short-circuit protection. Check out all the Battery Manager V’s
features and order yours now for $89.99 at www.griotsgarage.com.
DESKTOP CLASSICS
Marshall Buck
2017 Ford GT — Daytona 24 Hours
For 2017, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing
entered four cars in the 24 Hours of
Daytona race. Of their four-car effort, No.
66 finished highest, placing 5th overall
and winning the GTLM class. It was
driven by Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais.
This highly detailed racer is a fairly
new release by True Scale Models (TSM),
who are no stranger to the Ford GT; their
2015 auto-show version was shown here
in ACC #34.
This model is beautifully finished, and
the sheer volume of detail inside and out
is very impressive, from interior parts to
brake calipers. All parts are cleanly attached, and there is much to see from every angle. Yes, this wins as a
very good model.
24 AmericanCarCollector.com
Detailing
Available colors: Three-tone red,
white and blue
Scale: 1:43
Quantity: Estimated 750
Price: $86
Detailing:
Accuracy:
Overall quality:
Overall value:
(
Ratings
is best)
Production date: 2018
Web: www.tsm-models.com
Vintage Cars, Modern Art
Is your apartment or house in need of some updates? Start by
hanging photos from CarGirl Art. The prints highlight the beauty that
comes from old cars displaying the wear and tear of a life well lived.
From a Model A or Packard to a row of early Willys wagons, there
will be a photo to spark memories in any classic-car admirer. Choose
and purchase your favorites at www.cargirlart.com, with prints starting
at $10.
Snow Removal 101
We are inching
closer to spring every
day, but winter is still in
full swing. Make your
routine of clearing off
your snow-covered car
less of a hassle with
the Snoshark. This ice
scraper on steroids
features a large paddle
made of nylon, covered
with a foam sleeve and with an ice scraper on one side. The paddle
can pivot on the attached handle to either remove layers of snow or
scrape ice. To get the hard-to-reach places on a truck or SUV, the
handle can be extended to 29 or 37 inches. Make your winter a little
easier by picking up a Snoshark for $59.99 at www.snoshark.com.
Page 24
SNAPSHOTS: Scenes from Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale
Jim Pickering
The Gary Sinise
Foundation auctioned
a 1981 Jeep
CJ7 for charity at
Barrett-Jackson
— it made $1.31m.
Sinise (right)
stands with the
Jeep next to
Richard Rawlings,
owner of Gas
Monkey Garage
Jim Pickering
Jim Pickering
Chris Allison of Restocreations polishes his 289
FIA Kirkham Cobra at Barrett-Jackson — it sold for
$104,500
26 AmericanCarCollector.com
Chad Taylor
This 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Split-Window coupe was decked out to hit the
slopes. It skated to a $77k auction result
Page 25
Jim Pickering
After a $90,200 trip across the block, a ’65 Mustang fastback rolls back to the preview tent at Barrett-Jackson
Jim Pickering
Shari, Rick, and Brandi Anderson became the
proud owners of a $63,800 ’72 K10 shortbed at
Barrett-Jackson
Jim Pickering
Jeff Gordon was on site at Barrett-Jackson, selling his 2016 C7.R Corvette for
$600,000. All proceeds went to the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, which
supports pediatric cancer research
March–April 2019 27
Page 26
SNAPSHOTS: Buying and Selling at Barrett-Jackson
The Barrett-Jackson X-Factor
“My cars are a whole lot more fun
than today’s 0.05% CD rate.”
— Paul Pogue
Paul Pogue of Dallas, TX, with his 1938 Ford DeLuxe convertible, one of four cars he brought to Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction
On the ground and in the money at Scottsdale’s biggest auction event
Story and photos by Daren Kloes
E
ach year, American Car Collector provides in-depth coverage of all the January
collector-car auctions in Arizona. We reflect, analyze and compare them with
one another using nerdy terms and statistics that only true car aficionados can
fully appreciate. But while a certain amount of sameness may apply among the
different auctions, the experience of buying or selling a car at Barrett-Jackson is
truly like no other.
Lifestyle event
To start with, B-J’s press release references to its Scottsdale auction as an “automo-
tive lifestyle event” are not just hyperbole. The company has gone to great lengths
to brand the experience with a deep line of merchandise, VIP experiences, celebrity
appearances, charity auctions and even its own lines of car-care products and shop
cabinets.
January’s event has become pervasive, and you’re just as likely to see articles about
it in The New York Times or Wall Street Journal as you are in the pages of American
Car Collector. More than 300,000 attendees plus hours of broadcast television cover-
28 AmericanCarCollector.com
ing the event have completed the recipe needed to create
a one-of-a-kind loyal following.
Seller experience
“You’ll get the most money at Barrett-Jackson,” said
Paul Pogue from Dallas, TX. “I have attended many
auctions, including Barrett-Jackson, going on 12 years
straight. Nowhere will you find more bidders per square
foot.”
Pogue brought four of his 17 cars to the sale,
including a parade-level 1938 Ford DeLuxe convertible
(Lot 479.1) that he had bought at B-J five years earlier.
His self-proclaimed “love of Americana” was further
reflected by his other consignments, which included a
’29 Ford Model A and two Dodge Vipers.
Pogue was one of several sellers with multiple cars
consigned. Many were collectors, rather than dealers,
Continued on p. 30
Page 28
SNAPSHOTS: Buying and Selling at Barrett-Jackson
Barrett-Jackson, continued from p. 28
but recognized the cars as investments all the same. Multiple makes and models create
a hedge on their investments akin to a mutual fund. While it may be unrealistic to
experience a home run with every car sold, all were hoping for some upside on the collective
sale of their designated portfolios. Regardless of the outcome, Pogue summed
it up with an oft-heard sentiment among car collectors when he said, “My cars are a
whole lot more fun than today’s 0.05% CD rate.”
No reserve
With the exception of a few $500,000-plus examples, all of the cars at B-J are
offered at no reserve, making it unique among the Scottsdale auctions and helping the
company achieve a 99% sell-through rate in 2019.
“As a bidder, the worst words you can hear from an auctioneer are ‘reserve not
met,’” said Phillip Jackson, who traveled to the auction from Tennessee. “Here, if
you’re bidding, you’re buying, and that makes me a Barrett-Jackson guy all the way.
It’s the only auction I do anymore.”
While a no-reserve auction may be the last bastion of pure capitalism, the format
does create opportunities for a steal or two — even at the world’s most famous
collector-car sale. An obscure model or one that is offered at the beginning or end
of the day may not find the two serious bidders in the room needed to push the value
past the wholesale price. Take Lot 633, a clean 1971 Chevrolet K10 4x4 pickup with a
recent engine rebuild and a/c. $20k to $30k wouldn’t have been a surprise, but slot it
in early Thursday morning, and $11k would have brought it home. Or how about the
super-nice 48k-mile ‘94 Corvette (Lot 1685) that sold for $5,500, or about the same as
a well-used decade-old Mazda 3? Every auction has at least one bargain, but B-J was
rife with deals if you look beyond the obvious.
TV time
To maximize the bid, prime time is where it’s at. At Barrett-Jackson, this equates to
the several hours that the Discovery Channel and Motor Trend Network devote to the
live auction on broadcast television.
“I want my TV time,” said Tim Ciri from Portland, OR. He conceded to a
Wednesday afternoon slot as long as his ’69 Baldwin Motion Camaro tribute car (Lot
489) would be featured during the broadcast — and with at least three full minutes of
bidding time. His well-executed tribute car sold for $51,700.
Any Barrett-Jackson veteran can attest to the value of prime-time placement
numbers that can sometimes multiply the value of a car. If it were easy, consignors
would just pay extra to guarantee a Saturday afternoon number. But it’s not that easy.
Barrett-Jackson determines placement on the docket, and sellers can only hope their
car is worthy of the golden hours. If you do get lucky with a choice spot, you’ll have to
pay a premium consignment fee.
Bargain hunters took the opposite approach in an effort to steer clear of prime time.
Scott Hensrude avoided the limelight entirely when he showed up on Monday and
bought a custom ’72 GMC pickup (Lot 97) for $19,250 — an early-bird discount over
what similar offerings brought later in the week.
“We made a good buy on the truck, then my son drove it home to Washington state
the very next day,” said Hensrude. “He flooded it once, but otherwise made it without a
hitch. It’s all about the experience.”
Phillip Jackson from Tennessee likes the guaranteed
action at Barrett-Jackson. “Here, if you’re
bidding, you’re buying,” he said.
Hensrude stayed the full week and managed to buy
four more cars, including a 1970 Shelby GT350 convertible
(Lot 1046.1). “I have always wanted one, and
Barrett-Jackson is the place to get it. I’ll be back again
next year,” he said.
Barrett-Jackson has evolved to become much more
than a mere auction. It has taken on a life of its own
with the air of a great big club whose loyal membership
holds its national convention once a year. Buyers and
sellers alike are “B-J Believers,” holding court as if they
are reciting the club’s credo over open hoods and Candy
Apple paint jobs. But there’s one thing as reliable as a
Nash Ambassador... they’ll all be back next year. A
“I want my TV time,” said Tim Ciri of Portland, OR.
He knows the media exposure helps push sales
Acc’s experts offer buy-Sell-hold Advice during Insider’s Seminar
Each weekday, before the auction cars
start crossing the block, Barrett-Jackson
hosted the “Behind the Hobby” Collector Car
Symposium at the Equidome, with seminars
and talks with industry insiders and experts
from 9 to 11 a.m.
ACC was there on Wednesday. The topic
of discussion? Which American cars to buy,
sell and hold on to in the current market.
Editor Jim Pickering moderated the
ACC panel, with a cast of experts rounded
out by Jay Harden, Carl Bomstead, B.
Mitchell Carlson, Sam Stockham and Ken
30 AmericanCarCollector.com
Lingenfelter.
For the “cars to buy right now” discus-
sion, the panel didn’t present many pre-1970
ideas. Well, other than Bomstead’s thoughts
on CCCA Full Classic V12 and V16 coupes.
Late-’70s trucks,
late-’80s SUVs and post-
2000 sports cars were the picks here.
When it comes to selling, Harden recom-
mended getting out while the getting is good
on early Broncos, while Stockham advised
divesting from the Chevy SSR.
For the “hold” category, Bomstead and
Carlson both said to keep certain separate
Continentals, whereas Lingenfelter said
to keep Grand Nationals in the garage for
a bit longer. The big departure here was
Stockham’s thoughts on 1967–72 and ’73–79
Ford trucks, as they’re still so far behind the
valuation of contemporary GM models.
It was a fun game of back-and-forth, with
friendly barbs traded among the generationally
diverse panelists.
Come check us out at next year’s Barrett-
Jackson’s Behind the Hobby Collector Car
Symposium. — Chad Tyson
Page 32
WRENCHING: HOW TO
Chillin’ With Your Classic
Revitalizing the a/c system in a vintage Mustang doesn’t have to be
stressful, thanks to Original Air Group
by Jim Pickering, Chad Taylor and Chad Tyson
make the classic-car experience fun, you need to control that heat.
A bunch of original ’50s, ’60s and ’70s cars came with air conditioning from
S
new, but chances are that original system isn’t functioning well — or at all. That’s
where Classic Auto Air can help. They make kits to install R134a-based modern a/c
systems into classic cars — and they also offer, through Original Air Group, conversion
kits that can update your original a/c system with R134a refrigerant, all-new
hoses and lines, and all the components you need to make it work like new — without
changing the look of the control unit inside the interior.
ACC’s 1966 Mustang was an a/c car from new, but when we got it, the compres-
sor was missing. So we ordered Original Air’s Stage 2 Performance Upgrade Kit for
’66 Mustangs, which included a new rotary compressor and clutch assembly, mounting
brackets, all the hoses and fittings required, a high-performance condenser,
and a new filter/dryer. It’s an affordable, better alternative to replacing original
components one by one, and it makes swapping from hard-to-find R12 refrigerant a
breeze. Here’s how we did it.
34 AmericanCarCollector.com
ummertime is the best time to drive your classic car. But it’s also the hottest,
most uncomfortable time of year in many parts of the U.S. A cool July or
August sunny morning cruise can quickly turn into a sweltering, sweaty
afternoon in a vinyl-clad classic-car interior, and that isn’t fun for anyone —
especially not for your significant other, kids or grandkids. If you’re trying to
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
orIgInAl AIr grouP PArtS lISt (www.originalair.com)
22-102 Stage 2 Performance Upgrade Kit, 1966 Mustang,
$699.99
OTHER PARTS AND TOOLS
Used a/c lower mount bracket for 1965–66 Mustang, $50
A/C belt, $15
tIMe SPent: Four hours
dIffIculty: JJ
(J J J J J is toughest)
Page 33
2
1
4
An air-conditioning system may seem complex, but it’s actually pretty simple. The system
uses a compressor, condenser, dryer, expansion valve and evaporator. Refrigerant (R134a) is
pumped by the compressor through the lines of the system, making its way to the condenser
ahead of the radiator. It cools from a gas to liquid form here, passes through the dryer, and then
moves to the expansion valve. As refrigerant passes through the valve and into the evaporator inside
the car, it’s rapidly cooled, and the cool air blows into the car via a fan, directly onto your otherwise
overheated passengers.
With the
battery disconnected,
the first step is to
evacuate the system of
any remaining R12,
which should be done
at a licensed a/c shop.
As our compressor was
missing and our system
open to the atmosphere,
we skipped
this step. From there,
we loosened the drive belts and pulled the cooling fan. On our Mustang, the fan is held to the
water pump with four 7/16-inch bolts. If the original compressor was still fitted, this would be
the time to remove it as well.
5
With the fan
and pulley
out of the
way, we started working
on removing the
factory dogleg compressor
bracket, which
isn’t used with the
new, smaller rotary
compressor. It’s held
in place with two bolts, both of which pass into the water pump.
6
The dogleg
bracket sat
between the
a/c idler pulley and the
water pump. Original
Air supplies a spacer
that goes in this location,
which keeps the
idler pulley aligned
correctly.
March–April 2019 35
ACC’s Mustang was a factory a/c car
from new, but like a lot of classics on
the road today, its original a/c was
inoperative and missing a few parts. Getting a
system like this back on line might seem daunting,
but Original Air Group makes it easy —
especially if your unit still blows lukewarm air,
as ours did.
3
Original Air’s Stage 2 kit includes everything
you need to make an original
a/c system function better than it did
when new. The parts include a new rotary compressor,
a special adapter bracket for that compressor,
a liquid hose, liquid line, a 90-degree
fitting, discharge and suction hoses, a new condenser
and dryer, an idler spacer, expansion
valve, firewall grommet, and assorted O-rings,
lubricants and decals.
Page 34
WRENCHING: HOW TO
7
The factory condenser and dryer also needed to be removed,
which required some front-end disassembly. Original Air suggests
removing the grille for this task, but we found we could
do the whole job by just removing the hood-latch assembly. Hood-latch
alignment is adjustable, so we made sure to mark where everything was
prior to disassembly.
8
Next up were the factory horns, both of which were in the way.
Note the overspray on the original condenser — it had probably
never been out of the car.
9
The factory discharge hose on the condenser
was next, as it won’t be reused.
R134a refrigerant is not compatible
with the traditional rubber seals and hoses used
with R12, so they all need to be replaced when
converting to the new refrigerant.
10
The original liquid line also needed to
be disconnected from the dryer — it
passes through the firewall down low
on the driver’s side of the car. The kit supplies
all new lines for this, too.
11
The radiator mounted to studs that are
mounted to the original condenser, so
the radiator needed to be loosened
and set aside to get the condenser out of the
car. If your car still has a fan shroud, it’ll need
to be removed first. Ours was long gone.
13
12
With the radiator disconnected from the original condenser, we
lifted the condenser and dryer assembly out of the car.
36 AmericanCarCollector.com
The original brackets that held the OE condenser in the car need
to be transferred over to the new unit, but placement is straightforward,
as the new unit has marks that show where they go. We
used 5/16-inch hex-head self-tapping screws. We also hooked up the new
dryer to the condenser and tightened the fitting before putting the
assembly in the car.
Page 36
WRENCHING: HOW TO
14
Leaving all mounting hardware loose helps in assembly, as
some brackets may need to be removed for clearance and then
reinstalled once the condenser is in the car. Installation is as
simple as removal — being careful not to damage the fins of the new
condenser.
15
The radiator is next, followed by the hood-latch assembly — but
we left the horns off, as they block access to the discharge-hose
fitting. Note how the Original Air unit blends in, looking like a
stock piece.
The original a/c lines were next to go, including their mounting
brackets. These lines pass through a rubber grommet in the firewall,
which is fastened to the car with two 5/16-inch bolts. With
the grommet bracket unbolted, both lines could pass through easily.
16
17
To access the a/c lines inside the car, we unbolted and removed
the under-dash a/c evaporator and fan unit and set it on our
workbench. With the firewall grommet removed, the lines and
unit came out as one piece, after unplugging its power and ground wires.
18
With the hoses removed from the unit, the next step was to remove
the original expansion valve at the evaporator inlet fitting.
A couple of big adjustable wrenches worked here, but it’s impor-
tant to be careful not to bend or kink the hard lines mounted to the evaporator
assembly. The original sensing bulb is part of this assembly, and it
needs to be removed, too. You’ll find it under a few layers of cork tape.
38 AmericanCarCollector.com
19
After cleaning as much of the original cork-tape residue as possible
from the suction tube, we then installed the new expansion
valve and routed its new sensing bulb to the factory location on
the suction tube.
Page 38
WRENCHING: HOW TO
20
The Original Air system comes with new cork tape, which covers
over the new sensing bulb. The trick here is to make sure there
are no air pockets between the sensing bulb and the tube. We
then installed both the suction and liquid lines to the under-dash unit before
reinstalling it in the car and routing them back through the firewall in
the stock location.
21
The only factory bracket we needed to mount the new compressor
just happened to be the one we were missing, but we were able
to source one locally from a Mustang shop. The bracket bolts to
the face of the cylinder head and supports the original compressor from
below. Original Air’s custom bracket, which comes with the kit, bolted in
place on top of that OE bracket. The new rotary compressor then bolted in
place on top of the new bracket.
22
The new compressor mounts to the bracket with the line fittings
pointed to the driver’s side of the car. The bracket’s bolts are slotted,
so the compressor could be moved forward or aft to achieve
proper alignment with the crank and idler pulleys. Then, once we were
satisfied with the alignment, we tightened everything down. The factory
trigger wire controls the new compressor, just as it would have the OE unit.
23
With all the hoses routed, we installed them, one by one, making
sure to oil each set of threads and only tighten slightly past handtight.
All the hoses come from Original Air plugged off, as any
contamination will hurt the system and void its warranty. These hoses
feature different fitting sizes, which makes installation simple.
40 AmericanCarCollector.com
24
After reinstalling the horns, the water pump pulley, cooling fan,
and retightening the alternator and power-steering belts, we
measured for a new a/c belt using a piece of string, and then
proceeded to our local a/c shop to have the system charged with a fresh
shot of R134a. Summer may be a few months away, but now our Mustang
is once again ready for the warm days to come. A
Page 40
What’s Your All-Time Best Buy?
READERS’ FORUM
Crowdsourcing Answers to Your Car Questions
Contact us at: American Car Collector, P.O. Box 4797, Portland, OR 97208 or online at comments@americancarcollector.com
This month’s Readers’ Forum
question:
ACCers have been buying and selling
cars for years, and we’ve all got a story
of a great deal we made at one time or
another.
Here’s your chance to share your
stories. What was the best buy you ever
made and why?
Did you get a 289 Cobra for a song
in 1975? Maybe you bought an LS6
Chevelle for $3k in 1982. Or perhaps you
paid top price in 2008 for a Boss 302 that
turned out to be a totally original and
wonderful driver. Whatever it is, we want
to hear about it.
Readers respond:
As someone who works at the National
Corvette Museum, if you don’t own one
when you start working there, you hope to
one day. For me, that day was in December
of 2016. For years I’d casually looked online
at Corvettes, and the C3 Stingrays with
their curvy, unmistakable body style really
appealed to me. It was never something I
thought I’d buy — not anytime soon, at least.
One day, I stopped in a local GM dealership
that my husband worked in at the time,
and outside sat a 1974 Mille Miglia Red
Corvette. I joked with some of the employees
that maybe it was my Christmas present.
Turns out, the owner was trading it in, and
the dealership had planned to just send it to
the local auction house. The car had multiple
owners over the years — all in Kentucky. I
was able to buy the car for just over $6,000
— about half what it was worth. — Katie E.,
via email
n n n
I would choose my 1972 Pontiac Grand
Prix that I bought in the spring of 1976.
Purchased it from the original owner who
was meticulous with the car. I had been
searching for a 1969–72 Grand Prix for a
number of months, only to be disappointed
after going to see a number of them. I spotted
this car advertised for sale in a small
two-line ad in the newspaper and called the
gentleman selling it.
He assured me it was in showroom
condition. I was really hoping he was being
truthful, given it had all I wanted as far as
42 AmericanCarCollector.com
ACCer Katie with her 1974 Mille Miglia Red Corvette, purchased for about $6,000
options and color. When I arrived at his
house, he took me to the garage and when he
opened the garage, I was looking at one Mint
Blue Metallic, black vinyl top/interior Grand
Prix. It was in the mint condition he said it
was. He showed me all the service records
and log sheet he kept on the car. Test drove
and came back and left a deposit. Picked it
up two days later.
Kept that ride for eight years. Graduated
college with it, got married with it and
brought home my newborn twin sons with
it. In between all that are pressed many great
memories in the joy of owning it.
I had to sell about a year after my sons
where born, as I needed a more family-type
car to haul all of us around. I sold it for
half of the original cost paid. Felt I got my
money’s worth out of that purchase. My wife
and I still had our ’78 Camaro and didn’t
want to give that up just yet, so I purchased
a nice 4-door Olds. — Rick G., Arlington
Heights, IL
n n n
for it, found it in Springfield, IL, and after
two trips, bought it. It then took almost 20
years before my wife suggested that I should
restore it in this lifetime.
The restoration took over eight years. It
was invited to the 50th Anniversary Detroit
Autorama, and Bill Warner invited it to the
Amelia Island Concours in 2003. What a
fun car — all-aluminum body, tube frame,
small-block Chevy, and it weighed 1,600
pounds. After 37 years of ownership, I sold
the car to a fella in Texas. It was sold again
at Pebble Beach in 2017 and ended up back
in Wisconsin. The new owner has the same
passion for the car that I had, and he is going
to reproduce it in limited quantities. — Bill
H., via email
n n n
I was a used-car dealer for 41 years. In
1966, I bought a sharp, red ’63 Corvette
Split-Window for $1,200 from a Dallas
wholesaler. I retailed the car a few weeks
later to a young man from Fort Worth, TX,
for $1,800! Most money I had ever made
on a used sale! Hindsight! — Mike L., via
email
n n n
In 1973, I bought a 1970 Plymouth
Superbird with under 13,000 miles and
equipped with a 440 and 4-speed. I paid
$1,250 for it!
I sold it in 2005 for almost six figures!
My 1959 Troy Roadster was featured
in Hot Rod magazine in October 1960 when
I was in high school. In 1975 I did a search
— Zon D., Mooresville, NC
n n n
I think one of my best buys was the
purchase of a stock 327 L79, 4-speed 1966
Page 41
Corvette roadster with under 20,000 miles
in 1971.
I was 19, working in the service depart-
ment of Lake City Ford in Williams Lake,
BC, and we had a new guy start in the parts
department. He showed up with this ’66
Corvette.
The car was a gift from his wife’s father,
who was a doctor in L.A. and needed to sell in
order to buy a 4x4. They wanted $3,800 for it.
I tried for about three weeks to make
a deal but couldn’t get him below $3,000,
which was about $800 more than I had. My
dad told me to go to the bank and get 22
$100 bills and hit him up at 7:30 am before
the shop opened. I laid them out on the counter
in front of him and made the final offer.
About two minutes later, I was the owner for
$2,200 cash.
I added a block heater and a set of studded
snow tires to make it my daily driver. A
few years later, I sold it for $3,800. — Stan
F., via email
n n n
My all-time best buy? It must be our
1957 Fairlane 500 Sunliner that I found in
a western North Dakota oats barn in 1976.
I was on a business trip in my ’76 LTD
Brougham when a local friend told me of a
’57 Sunliner that might be available — all
original with 36,000 miles. I had always
wanted one because it was the first car I can
remember having as a kid in Milwaukee.
I thought I paid way too much at $1,700,
but I didn’t think I’d find another in that condition.
I towed it all the way back home on a
bumper-to-bumper hitch. My mom and dad
were waiting for me to arrive at my house,
and as soon as I rounded the corner with the
Ford, my mom started to cry. So many great
memories.
Today, some 43 years later, we still have
her and five others. A few years back we
treated it to a full, body-off-frame restoration.
— Todd D., Wichita, KS
n n n
In 2008, Saleen Performance made 25
Anniversary Sterling Saleen Mustangs.
MSRP was $100k, and many sold for $150k–
$200k because of demand. I wanted one badly,
but the cost was too high. Plus, the exchange
rate for the Canadian dollar was bad.
I watched eBay for three years, but prices
were still high. In March 2011, I bought
one in Raleigh, NC, for $68,000. It had 734
miles with a 6-speed, 620 hp and 600 ft-lb.
Currently it has 9,500 miles on the odometer.
Mine is one of 10 in North America
and number 5 of 25 built. It gathers quite a
following when I go to show-and-shines. —
Les H., Edmonton, AB, CANA
March–April 2019 43
Page 42
CHEAP THRILLS
B. Mitchell Carlson
BESTof the LEAST
Gooding & Co. Lot 2: 1963 Cadillac Series 75 8-passenger sedan
V
arious pundits have claimed that the market is starting to
stagnate going into 2019. Auctions in the Phoenix area in
January generally proved that to be correct. Yet we’re no
strangers to low prices in this column. Every March/April
issue, that’s where we boldly go.
of the sales chart from this year’s Arizona auctions.
(On star ratings,
So, once again, and back by popular demand, I present the bottom
is best)
1963 Cadillac Series 75 8-Passenger Sedan
Gooding & Company Lot 2, VIN: 63R053755
SOLD at $24,640
The 1963 model year was one of Cadillac’s most drastic restyles. If
anything, it was Cadillac’s way of admitting defeat against the more
conservatively designed Lincoln Continental from 1961 on. Traditions
die hard, however — the series 75 sedans and limousines continued to
use the wrap-around windshield from all ’59 and ’60 models.
This Caddy has been in California from new until this auction,
and was in a couple of well-respected collections, most notably J.B.
Nethercutt’s. Boasting a mere 35,926 miles from new, this had always
been well cared for. At no-reserve, it was a pretty decent buy — factoring
that you have somewhere to park 21 feet of Caddy.
Cheap:
Thrilling:
(unless you have velvet Elvis posters)
Well-bought factor:
1934 Lincoln Model KA 4-Door Sedan
RM Sotheby’s Lot 178, VIN: KA2850
SOLD at $22,400
A lot of Full Classics have been restored in rather bright and
garish colors, but this mostly original KA represented the unfiltered
truth. It was reportedly originally ordered like this for a wealthy
Southern California family so that they could go through impoverished
areas and not have rocks thrown at them. This family kept it for
over four decades, after which it was in a museum before going into
44 AmericanCarCollector.com
1998 Freightliner FL-60 Tractor
Worldwide Auctioneers Lot 73
Sold at $12,100
Worldwide had Duesenbergs, Alfa Romeos, even two 1935 Auburn
851 SC speedsters in contrasting colors… and a Freightliner truck?
This mud hen in a pond full of swans was a consignor’s car trailer
hauler. It was rated for under 26k GCVW, and not having air brakes
means that you didn’t need a CDL to operate it (at least without crossing
any state lines).
Fun from the cheap seats at the Arizona auctions
RM Sotheby’s Lot 178: 1934 Lincoln Model KA 4-door sedan
the collector market. Like the Gooding Cadillac limo, this Lincoln
had its original paint, glass and interior — all of which were very
presentable.
Unfortunately, plain yet original doesn’t play well in today’s mar-
ket full of resto-mods. It ran across the block fairly late on the first
night at RM Sotheby’s, but for half of the auction-house guesstimate,
this was very well bought if you have any interest at all in CCCA Full
Classics. The best buy of the low sales.
Cheap:
Thrilling:
(especially if you forget that these get about 8 mpg and decide
to tour with it and don’t bring a few spare gas cans)
Well-bought factor:
Page 43
Bonhams Lot 90:
1951 Crosley CD Four
Super Convertible
My car buddy and chauffeur for the week, Roy, checked it out,
as he’s a Snowbird and lives in a 40-foot fifth-wheel trailer at one
of the parks down in the Phoenix basin. His tow rig is a ’99 Dodge
Ram 2500 with a 5.9L Cummins, and he knows a thing or two about
big tow rigs for big trailers. His assessment of the Freightmaligner:
“Don’t want it. Ran hard and put away wet. I’m better off with my
Dodge.”
Cheap:
Thrilling:
(unless you have the complete boxed set of DVDs from every
season of “Movin’ On” — plus “B.J. and The Bear”)
Well-bought factor:
1951 Crosley CD Four Super Convertible
Bonhams Lot 90, VIN: CD304956
SOLD at $8,960
This Crosley was just completed a year ago and is hands-down the
highest-condition car in our class of 2019. If anything, it was a tad
overdone, as leather upholstery wasn’t an option when new.
With an auction house guesstimate of $15k–$25k, I at least figured
the car would crack five digits. Unfortunately (or is that fortunately?),
this is what can happen near the end of a sale when a car is noreserve.
If you always wanted to scratch that Crosley itch, you’d have been
hard-pressed to do better for the money. Well bought!
Cheap:
Thrilling:
(especially if a smart car is just too damn big for you)
Well-bought factor:
1965 Chevrolet Malibu Custom 4-Door Sedan
Russo and Steele Consignment 6514/Run TH281
SOLD at $5,500
Usually, if you say “1965 Chevelle,” most muscle car folks’ ears
perk up. Well, they can go back to rest, since this was a 4-door sedan
with a 283/Powerslide.
On top of that, this was done by one of those folks who had a
couple of wounded cars lying around but felt the need to combine
them into one good one — “good” being a relative term.
While billed as being a rust-free California black-plate car, the
rest of the story was that the interior was gone or toast (literally,
in the California sun). To remedy that, someone installed a 1989
Cadillac DeVille’s blue velour bench seats and door panels — in
the Crocus Yellow Chevelle. Classy! Now you know why it was the
lowest-selling American car here.
Cheap:
Thrilling:
(unless you’re not in much of a hurry and are colorblind)
Well-bought factor:
Barrett-Jackson Lot 2:
1978 Oldsmobile Delta
88 Royale sedan
1978 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Sedan
Barrett-Jackson Lot 2, VIN: 3N69N8X185607
SOLD at $2,200
While the Monday docket at B-J had some truly tasteless autos,
this workaday Olds oil burner shone out as The Chosen One the moment
I spotted it.
Now, granted, this did have promise of doing better, as it’s a one-
owner car with all documentation from new. Still, with a kindergarten
repaint over toddler prep work, black did this car no favors (even if
that was the original color). The garnish was the “Oldsmobile” and
“Diesel” badges on the trunk, both mounted crooked and far out of
alignment with each other.
Yet at least for $2,200, some bearded Millennial who wants a
Greasel to run on the cheap can now learn the joys of owning the
diesel engine we all ran away from four decades ago.
Well-bought factor: A
Cheap:
Thrilling:
(unless you like to Roll Coal incognito)
While billed as being a rust-free California
black-plate car, the rest of the story was that the
interior was gone or toast (literally, in the California
sun). To remedy that, someone installed a 1989
Cadillac DeVille’s blue velour bench seats and door
panels — in the Crocus Yellow Chevelle. Classy!
Courtesy of Russo and Steele
Russo and Steele Consignment 6514: 1965 Chevrolet Malibu
Custom 4-door sedan
March–April 2019 45
Page 44
HORSEPOWER
Jay Harden
TheSMART BUY
How can I use my market
knowledge to save money?
My 1997 Chevy Tahoe LT, purchased
for $3,500, may never have value as
a collectible, but it has proven nearly
priceless for its utility
O
ne of the first questions I’m typically asked is which cars
can be bought and sold quickly in order to turn a tasty
profit. If the answer were straightforward and foolproof, I’d
be writing this while floating in my private pool in downtown
Margaritaville. Of course, I’m not.
The question I’m hardly ever asked, yet one that I ask myself
constantly, is which cars can I buy and sell without losing money?
Granted, the thought of not losing money certainly isn’t as sexy as the
thought of making money, but that doesn’t mean we should avoid the
discussion.
Rather than asking how I can best leverage market knowledge
to amass assets, I’m interested in a much more mundane question
here: How can I best leverage market knowledge to avoid amassing
liabilities?
From appliance to collectible
If you’re anything like me, you need at least one usable car that
can be driven every day. These cars are used and enjoyed without
constantly agonizing about an avalanche of depreciation — or worse,
trying to maintain a perilous state of appreciation. Like an appliance,
a car like this just needs to work. But if you buy it and treat it right,
good things can happen.
46 AmericanCarCollector.com
I stumbled upon this idea several years ago when I sold a four-
wheel-drive Nissan Hardbody pickup that I drove for over a decade.
I bought the truck to give my Chevelle a break from daily duties and
proceeded to beat on it almost every day that I owned it. I camped
and fished and hunted out of it, but I also did my best to keep it clean
and well maintained.
When I finally conceded that stuffing my wife into the jump seat
while my firstborn child rode up front with me would likely result in
me sleeping in the truck on a permanent basis, I jumped on Craigslist
and did a little pre-sale analysis. I looked at asking prices and condition
and equipment and amenities, and I was shocked at what I found.
I washed the truck one last time, thanked it for its service, and posted
an ad.
Within 24 hours I was trading the title and keys for a stack of cash
three $100 bills thicker than the stack I’d used to buy it. There was no
negotiating at all, just two happy guys trading paper.
After 65,000 miles and a young adulthood worth of adventures,
my truck was still taking care of me. Who knows how much I spent
on insurance and gas and tires — it doesn’t really matter. I paid for
the service of using the truck, but few would argue that I lost money
on the deal. I bought the truck when Hardbodys were a dime a dozen
and just happened to be selling it when the interest in them began
Page 45
gaining steam.
I asked the guy I sold the truck to about his motivation to buy my
truck, and his answer was informed and informative. He had been
looking for and test-driving trucks like mine for the better part of
six months. He knew what he wanted, and he knew what they were
worth. Mine was the best example he had seen that he could afford,
and it was exactly what he was looking for. Oh, and his dad drove one
when he was a young boy.
On to the next one
Now, I don’t want to give the impression that I somehow had the
foresight when purchasing that truck to anticipate my little windfall,
because I didn’t. I got lucky, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t let that
experience influence another. To replace my truck, I needed a fourseater
four-wheel drive that was daily-driver dependable.
I began my search with new and lightly used 4-door pickups,
but I simply couldn’t wrap my head around their asking prices. The
thought of smashed Cheerios and tiny, muddy handprints all over a
$50,000 truck worked the anal-retentive and cheapskate pieces of my
psyche into a terrible tizzy.
I’d also spent a bunch of time looking at earlier GM trucks —
specifically 1973–87 Blazers. But those were rapidly becoming
collectible, with values growing to the point that I couldn’t justify
buying a nice one.
That’s when I stumbled across a 4-door, four-wheel-drive, one-
owner 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe LT with leather interior and 99,600
miles. I dropped everything I was doing and headed out the door to
meet the owners.
I combed over the truck intently. I verified the lack of accident his-
tory with paperwork and a thorough visual inspection. I checked for
tapelines and overspray and fluid leaks and shade-tree shenanigans.
Luckily, I found none. Instead, I received a stack of paperwork and an
earful about the truck’s history.
The truck was well maintained, clean, rust-free, accident-free, and
everything worked. And the best part? It cost me $3,500, or roughly
5% to 7% the cost of a new one — plenty cheap to factor in potential
and predictable maintenance and still feel warm and fuzzy about the
deal.
Ahead of the wave
Now, is my Tahoe a collectible? No way. Will it be? Maybe, but
that will take a while.
If we imagine valuation as a tidal wave running from one end of a
timeline to the other, with showroom-new vehicles on the crest of the
leading wave, GM’s GMT400 (1988–98) trucks are at the very bottom
of the trough behind that lead wave. They’re too old to be new,
and too new to be old. As such, their valuation is almost inherently
limited to their utility.
Chevrolet’s square-body trucks (1973–87), on the other hand, are
instructive. They are seeing their values swell dramatically as of late.
Those trucks are essentially riding a second wave of desirability after
seeing their own stock hit rock-bottom five to seven years ago. That
puts the GMT400s, like my Tahoe, smack-dab in the middle of two
waves of desirability — one falling, the other rising.
Does that mean I’ll make my money back on the Tahoe 10 years
from now? I’m not much of a gambling man, but that’s a bet I’d be
willing to make. Either way, right now I have a truck that works when
I need it, and there’s a lot of value in that. A
March–April 2019 47
Page 46
ON THE ROAD
Elana Scherr
Shoulda ’Cuda Woulda
There’s no sense dwelling on the decades of misfires by other mechanics.
It was time to make our friend’s 1970 Barracuda right
W
e have plenty to do on our own fleet, but we keep taking
on additional work in the form of friends’ cars.
This is mostly because my husband, Tom, just can’t
see an untidy automobile without wanting to fix it. He’s
like the lady who hosts that new Netflix show about
organizing houses (“Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”), only instead of
holding up a dusty ceramic figurine and asking “Does it spark joy?”
he pokes around in a greasy engine bay and asks “Does it spark? No,
seriously, is the ignition working?”
If houses have a tendency to fill up with knick-knacks and unused
Ping-Pong tables over the years, cars tend to get cluttered with fixes
gone wrong — especially when multiple mechanics each added their
own finishing touches to the décor over the years.
Such was the case for our friend Dave Elitch. He owns a glossy
green 1970 Barracuda that he bought when he was just a kid in 1999.
He has slowly restored it over the past 20 years.
It was originally a 318-ci Gran Coupe, but even at 15 years old,
Dave knew he wanted a big block. He gave it a good try, pulling out
the small block and attempting to replace it with a 413.
It didn’t go great.
“My dad thought they were interchangeable with a 440 block. I
found out the hard way that they were not,” Dave said.
After that, Dave stepped away from the wrenching and had a
professional mechanic build and install the rowdy 440+6 combo that
loped into our yard.
It was a lovely engine. It rumbled like thunder at idle and growled
like a dog who’s just spotted the mailman when you stepped on the
48 AmericanCarCollector.com
gas. What it didn’t do, though, was a burnout. Or a hot restart. Or a
cold restart. Oh, and it overheated in traffic, which in Los Angeles is
to say it overheated always and everywhere.
“I just want it to run as good as it looks,” Dave told us.
Killing the gremlins
Some of the gremlins were easily tracked down and dispatched.
Three burnt plug wires were replaced and rerouted. Somewhere
in all the different repair shops over the years, someone had removed
the fuel filter and never replaced it — easily fixed.
There was an exhaust leak on the passenger’s side header, and
someone had installed some custom valve-cover spacers to clear the
aftermarket rocker arms. Those dribbled oil.
Attempts to check the torque at the tires led to the discovery of a
gnarly axle bang when you tried to launch it. That was due to a missing
pinion snubber. We installed one.
Dave had no great love for the lumpy cam, so that came out —
along with its roller rocker arms. In its place, we used a cam from
Bob Karakashian (Mr. Six Pack), a student of Chrysler engineer Tom
Hoover, whose personal cars have set records in the stock-appearing
factory drags.
We have one of Bob’s cams in Tom’s ’69 Charger and one on the
shelf for our own Six Pack ’Cuda, so it seemed like a good choice for
Dave’s car.
Since the radiator was out for the cam swap, we put in a larger
26-inch Griffin unit and a new fan to address the overheating issues.
Page 47
The spring has sprung
One of the main complaints Dave had, other
than the overheating, was the hard-start issue.
The distributor was oddly set up for a street car.
Rather than a stockish 5–10 degrees of initial
advance, it was set for 25. Re-curving the distributor
got us down to a more start-friendly 15.
For once I was useful — normally these
weekends involve Tom doing the hard parts while
I disassemble, clean, and then lose bolts in the
background. But I got pretty good at removing
and replacing the tiny springs inside the distributor.
Well, I got good after the first try, which
launched a wee spring sky high. I never found it.
It’s probably in South America.
At one point, Tom joked that all the mis-
matched pieces were keeping each other in
check, because as we fixed them one by one, it
seemed like the ’Cuda was running worse rather than better.
A new set of carbs were needed
Um, about those carbs...
After a particularly frustrating day of rechecking cam timing
and questioning our distributor mods, he finally pulled the Six Pack
setup off and discovered the reason for the high initial advance in the
distributor.
The previous mechanic had been using timing to cover up a carb
issue. The tamper-proof plugs on the outboard carbs were not, in fact,
tamper-proof. Someone had been in there before, broken off both
idle-mixture screws, put the lead plugs back in and
sold the carbs on eBay to an unsuspecting Dave.
A closer inspection of the center carb showed it
was warped at the base and worn out at the throttle
shaft. No wonder we couldn’t seem to chase down the
tune — the air/fuel mixture was changing on its own!
It’s never a fun phone call to tell someone their
$1,700 carburetors are junk, but Dave was a good
sport about it.
With a new set of carburetors on the engine, tun-
ing was just a process of changing jets and making
sure all three carbs were adjusted in preparation for
a life of idling in traffic as often as experiencing
wide-open muscle-car glory.
Finally tidy
There was one last moment of reproduction-part
comedy when the newly-purchased choke thermostat
wouldn’t open, no matter how warm the engine was.
Eventually we realized that the new part looked like a proper
coiled bimetallic strip, but it wasn’t one. It was just a coiled piece of
metal. Guess nobody told the repro folks what the purpose of the part
was.
We cobbled together a workable choke using the original spring
and the new housing. Now the ’Cuda fires up at a touch of the key and
will lay a pair of rubber suspenders for as long as you’re brave enough
to hold the pedal down.
I think when Dave picks it up he’s going to find that it both sparks
— and sparks joy. Tidy. A
March–April 2019 49
Page 48
ON THE MARKET
John L. Stein
HE MARKET
John L. Stein
1971
1971 Ford Ranchero
With muscle-car punch and prices below blue-chip cars and pickups,
El Caminos and Rancheros are easy-money sleepers
P
eering through the living room window as a fledgling teenager,
the world seemed full of possibilities. Maybe, I thought,
in a few years I could become the fifth Beatle. A Grand Prix
racing driver like Jack Brabham and Jim Clark. Or...the pool
guy with a Ford Ranchero. Yep, true confession!
That’s because, while I didn’t know who Steve McQueen was at
the time, for me the real King of Cool was the city college student
across the street who moonlighted cleaning pools in his 1964
Ranchero.
With a California tan and his Phoenician Yellow ride filled with
pool chemicals, leaf-nets and a pole jutting out the back of the little
six-foot bed, I thought Phil definitely had it made in the shade.
Both car and truck
Half car and half pickup, the Ranchero and the El Camino occu-
pied a unique middle point in the Ford and Chevy model ranges from
the late 1950s until the 1980s — nearly three decades in all. Clearly
more car than truck in design, engineering and intended purpose, in
some ways they are odd fellows, neither fish nor fowl.
On the plus side, these “utes” (as the Aussies call ’em) are stylish,
sporty, versatile and relatively rare. On the minus side, they seat three
people maximum, carry too much weight over the front end, and can’t
begin to compete with real pickups when the workload toughens up.
But who cares? With the V8 punch of a muscle car, a zippy,
carefree attitude, and prices that often lag behind blue-chip cars and
pickups, they’re right on target for collectors who want something
unusual, stylish and cool for easy money.
El Camino cool
Chevrolet produced five El Camino generations between 1959
and 1987, with a three-year hiatus from 1961 to ’63. Always using
Chevrolet passenger-car platforms, the El Camino began as a stylish,
finned late-’50s ride, transformed into a rather plain workaday vehicle,
50 AmericanCarCollector.com
1970 Chevrolet El Camino, sold at $14,850 at Branson’s October
2018 auction
evolved into a big-block-equipped street weapon, and finally faded
away into a choked-down and big-bumpered whimper at the end.
Ten years after I’d envied the pool-cleaner neighbor with his
Ranchero, I bought a 1970 El Camino SS 396. It was Champagne
Gold with a white vinyl roof, gold interior and a column-shift automatic.
I paid $800 — more than my buddies and I would typically pay
for a fixer-upper. But I was captivated by its “396” big-block (actually
402-ci), its gutsy gold paint, the SS 396 badges and the aftermarket
air shocks out back.
With humility, I learned why it had been parked under a hedge:
The V8 ran on six cylinders. After bartering some motorcycle work
to a local gas-station owner, he diagnosed the woes as crossed
spark-plug wires. After that the SS 396 ran better: enough to burn
rubber — all I really cared about at the time — but flat cam lobes or
sacked lifters still hamstrung performance. The big block likewise
Page 49
devoured gas, delivering 8 mpg or so, and the air shocks blew out
after I overfilled them.
Nevertheless, the Chevelle-based 1968–72 El Camino big blocks
remain my personal favorites. I’d like another one — especially an
elusive 454-ci 1970 LS6 that I just know some Farmer Brown has
squirrelled away in the shed.
el cAMIno hIghS: Fantastic finned 1959 and 1960 body design;
Chevelle-like styling from 1968 to ’72; available big-block V8s and
Muncie 4-speed options; and a Super Sport package with CowlInduction
hood.
el cAMIno loWS: Produced well into the Malaise Era, the once-
rowdy El Camino’s eventual base 3.9-liter V6 produced just 110 hp.
the VerdIct: Plenty of V8 powertrains available; solid styling in
1959–60 and from 1964 to ’72.
Save those Rancheros
Ford built seven generations of Rancheros from 1957 to ’79. You
simply can’t beat the finned 1957–59 models for ’50s nostalgia, and
with cars like the ’57 Ranch Wagon approaching $70,000 today, a top
’57 Ranchero is a comparative bargain.
In 1960, the Ranchero was radically downsized to utilize the
new Falcon body structure. Small and roundish, its available grunt
included only a “Thriftpower” 6-cylinder for 1960–62, but a 260-ci
V8 thankfully arrived a year later, making the 1963 Ranchero best
runnIng the nuMberS
Opinions from subject-matter experts can be helpful in decision-
making. But they aren’t everything, tinted as they are by personal
tastes and experience. And so, to help make the case for the El
Camino and Ranchero nameplates mentioned above, here’s a value
chart utilizing prices of various model years of each vehicle, compared
to their engineering origin.
Prices are from the ACC Pocket Price Guide and NADA (as
among the second-generation models.
The third-gen Ranchero adopted the “square” styling cues of the
1964-65 Falcon, fully integrating with ’60s design language and leaving
the rounded post-war forms behind.
Based on the new Torino for the fourth-generation in 1968–69, the
Ranchero styling then really leapt ahead for the 1970–71 fifth generation.
With a sharply beaked front bumper, a long hood topped by an
available shaker intake, and a minimalist greenhouse, this generation
is — for me anyway — the zenith of Ranchero design. From 1972
to the 1979 finale, the Ranchero became chunkier and increasingly
ungainly.
Ford offered plenty of Ranchero V8 power choices, from the
early 260- and 289-ci units to 351-ci Cleveland, 390-, 400-, 428- and
429-ci motors…and even an enormous 460-ci (7.5-liter) behemoth in
1974–76. Although, admittedly, this oversized engine arrived during
the Strangled ’70s, when the horses had all been chased back into the
barn by EPA mandates. The one to get? The 1970–71 Ram Air Cobra
Jet or Super Cobra Jet 429.
rAnchero hIghS: Seven distinctive generations; wide range of V8
power; almost all built in Ohio.
RANCHERO LOWS: Strangled engines and styling missteps in the
final generation.
the VerdIct: Generally strong styling and powertrains make nearly
any year from 1963 to ’76 worth owning. A
noted). The selected models represent the earliest and latest included
in the ACC guide, plus a midpoint model.
El Caminos and Rancheros from the 1950s through 1970s are
represented — three decades in all. Not surprisingly, in most cases
El Caminos and Rancheros offer better value than the cars on which
they’re based. The takeaway? Phil the pool guy knew what was happening
all along.
1959 Chevrolet
El Camino
Chevrolet Model
1959 El Camino
1959 Impala 2-door hard top
1966 El Camino 396
1966 Chevelle SS 396
1972 El Camino SS 454
1972 Chevelle SS 454 LS5
ACC Median Value
$49,500
$52,500
$27,500
$45,000
$30,250
$33,000
Advantage
Impala (+6%)
Chevelle (+64%)
Chevelle (+9%)
1957 Ford
Ranchero
Ford Model
1957 Ranchero
1957 Courier Sedan Delivery*
1964 Ranchero
1964 Falcon Futura*
1971 Ranchero GT
1971 Torino GT
* NADA Guides
ACC Median Value
$27,500
$36,600
$8,000
$10,900
$32,500
$24,000
March–April 2019 51
Advantage
Courier (+33%)
Falcon (+36%)
Ranchero (+35%)
Page 52
CORVETTE PROFILE
2008 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06
Minty Z at a “Drive It!” Price
Courtesy of Barrett-Jackson
Low miles beg
the question:
Is vigorous
use or
mothballs
the right path
forward?
VIN: 1G1YY26E085124447
by John L. Stein
• 7.0-liter LS7 V8 engine
• 6-speed manual transmission
• Hurricane cold-air intake
• Dry-sump lubrication
• Kooks Headers
• CORSA Performance exhaust
• Power-steering fluid cooler
• Gearbox oil cooler
• Differential oil cooler
• PFAVT adjustable coil-over dampers
• Front 6-piston brake calipers
• Rear 4-piston brake calipers
• Radially vented and cross-drilled brake rotors
• Head-up display
• 9,294 miles
ACC Analysis This car, Lot 668, sold for
$33,000, including buyer’s pre-
mium, at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale,
AZ, on January 17, 2018.
If you’ve never heard the Ram Jam song “Black
Betty,” grab a cold one, sit back and listen to it on
YouTube while staring at a picture of this built C6 Z06
— and imagine what you’d do to the gas pedal at the
next local track day. And also, savor the knowledge
that the $33,000 it cost to buy this car was less than
other people pay for a new Toyota Avalon. Score!
The sixth-generation Corvette debuted for 2005,
with the 7-liter Z06 following up for 2006. Its 505hp
rating was audacious at the time, and even a
decade later it’s impressive, given that cars like the
54 AmericanCarCollector.com
Challenger SRT Demon require a supercharger to
surpass that output. Also in the Z06’s favor, the hydroformed
aluminum chassis kept the curb weight down
to 3,132 pounds — a passion of Corvette engineers
— allowing the high-output Z06 to take on European
supercars costing far more.
On a test drive with the Corvette engineers at the
time, one told me, “You cannot hurt this motor.” What
he meant was that the engineering, componentry and
assembly standards for the Corvette engines were so
high and so thoroughly vetted during prototyping and
certification that nothing the average driver could dish
out could bring the motor to its knees. Although almost
certainly there would be the occasional exception to
this, the confidence that the engineers had in their
products — especially the beloved Z06 — sticks with
me today.
Professionally built
Whoever modded this Z06 knew what they were
doing, and they spent a considerable amount getting it
done. They replaced the intake and complete exhaust
system with high-quality aftermarket pieces, uncorking
the engine somewhat and creating — along with
significantly more noise — a potential bump in the Z06
motor’s output.
It might have helped the auction result if a dyno
sheet was provided to prove the point, but I saw no
evidence of this. Fortunately, the powertrain adds all
seem to be bolt-on pieces, meaning that the car can
hypothetically be returned to stock someday if the new
owner so chooses. But that may be costly to do, as no
Page 53
mention was made of take-off parts being included in
the sale. And anyway, if you wanted a stock Z06, why
buy this one?
In the chassis department, the matte-gray forged
wheels add a custom look, but whether they’re
meaningfully stiffer or lighter than the base Corvette’s
narrower cast wheels — an advantage that would be
felt on winding roads or a road course — is debatable.
But they do look good. As well, the adjustable
coil-overs are a standard add for track work, but
getting the setup right requires considerable study and
experimentation — requiring the owner-operator to
become a student of car setup.
Low miles, perfect buy
After more than a decade since rolling off the
Bowling Green assembly line, this wicked beauty had
covered less than 9,300 miles at its sale in Arizona.
Breaking it down, that’s just 845 miles per year, 70
miles per month, or 2.3 miles per day. Heck, if you’re
any kind of athlete, you’ll go farther than that under
your own power in that time.
Bottom line here, any sub-10,000-mile supercar is a
great find, and in this case the low mileage is evidence
Any sub-10,000-mile supercar is a great
find, and in this case the low mileage
is evidence that this built Z06 was
someone’s special toy rather than a daily
driver.
that this built Z06 was someone’s special toy rather
than a daily driver.
That said, time is eventually just as erosive as is
heavy use to certain parts and components such as
rubber seals, tires, hoses and fluids. And so, sooner or
later, all will need to be refreshed and/or replaced on
this car to keep it in tip-top, safe driving form. But this
falls under the umbrella of normal care and feeding,
and would not and should not have been a deterrent
to buying a Corvette that’s spent the overwhelming
majority of its life parked.
Appearances count
Speaking of being parked, appearances — together
with logic and common sense — suggest this particular
Z06 was kept indoors. The black paint looks good
and the black interior does too. And a telltale sign of
good care, the front air dam below the splitter appears
undamaged, as do the wheel-rim edges. Good deal.
The interior features include GM’s handy head-up
display, and the nice red stitching accents on the upholstery.
Any black-on-black Corvette deserves special
attention, and this one was crafted to near perfection.
Store it or throttle it?
If this C6 Z06 had 92,940 or 192,940 miles on the
clock, there’d be no doubt that it’s a daily driver and
that the new owner should continue apace. But the low
miles on this car bring up a question: Is vigorous use
or mothballs the right path forward?
I vote for the lead-foot approach for three reasons:
1. There are plenty of Z06s around; Chevrolet built
7,731 of them for model year 2008 alone, and
plenty more since, so they are hardly scarce.
2. This car was engineered, assembled and later
modified to be driven hard, so why deny yourself
the pleasure of doing so? Life’s for living.
3. The previous owner already tried the tactic of
pouring lots of money into this car and then
barely used it, only to be rewarded with it selling
for a fraction of the original investment. The new
owner is not likely to derive any great benefit
from continuing this strategy.
Were this my buy, I’d join SCCA in a heartbeat, take
care of any servicing needs, throw a change of clothes
and a torque wrench for tightening the wheel lug nuts
in the back, and head for the next solo event or track
day — listening to “Black Betty” on the Bose audio
system all the way. Well bought. A
(Introductory description courtesy of Barrett-
Jackson.)
2009 Chevrolet Corvette
Z06
Lot 204, VIN:
1G1YZ25E395114480
Condition: 1
Sold at $49,280
ACC# 6865763
detAIlIng
Years produced: 2006–13
Number produced: 7,731
(2008)
Original list price: $71,000
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $40,500
Tune-up/major service:
$250
VIn location: Plate at base
of windshield
Engine # location: Right
front cylinder-head deck
Club: National Corvette
Restorers Society
Web: www.ncrs.org
Alternatives: 1969 Corvette
427/390 L36 coupe; 1995
Corvette ZR-1 coupe; 2011
Corvette Grand Sport coupe
Acc Investment grade: C
Comps
Bonhams, Amelia Island, FL,
3/8/2018
2007 Chevrolet Corvette
Z06
Lot F181.1, VIN:
1G1YY26E175129736
Condition: 1
Sold at $53,000
Mecum Auctions, St. Charles,
IL, 9/15/2011
ACC# 184106
2007 Chevrolet Corvette
Z06
Lot S141, VIN:
1G1YY25E5751000001
Condition: 1
Sold at $59,400
Mecum Auctions, Canal
Winchester, OH, 11/6/2010
ACC# 168135
March–April 2019 55
Page 54
GM PROFILE
1967 CHEVROLET CAMARO SS 396 CONVERTIBLE
Top Camaro at a Top Price
Mike Maez, courtesy of Gooding & Company
Some
pre-market
buzz
suggested
the car would
fall flat in the
mid-$100k
range. But
rule number
one prevailed
— always
do your
homework
56 AmericanCarCollector.com
VIN: 124677N223399
Engine number: T05I6MQ7N223399
by Dale Novak
I
n April 1967, Dave Conner placed an order for a
new Camaro convertible destined for fame as a
Super Stock drag racer. Conner’s order included
the L78 big block, M21 Muncie 4-speed gearbox,
and Posi rear end with 4.10 gears. Finished in
Tuxedo Black over gold, the new car cost $3,761.25.
In 1968, Conner’s Camaro appeared at Raceway
Park in New Jersey wearing a new “Batcar” livery
inspired by the Batman franchise’s distinctive color
scheme. In 1970, Conner sold the Camaro to fellow
racer Sherman Gerlach of West Virginia. He continued
to race the Camaro — known as Gerlach’s Batcar —
through 1975, setting an NHRA record at the Indy
Nationals and capturing several class wins in the
process.
After it was retired from racing, the car was
returned to its original configuration and remained in
Gerlach’s ownership until 2009, when it was sold to
the current owner.
In the consignor’s care, the Camaro was carefully
restored to showroom condition, preserving original
details where possible. It has since been shown at the
Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals, earning Concours
Gold and Outstanding Display awards.
This car was inspected by Jerry MacNeish of
Camaro Hi-Performance Inc., who confirmed the car
is a real L78.
ACC Analysis This car, Lot 23, sold for
$257,600, including buyer’s pre-
mium, at the Gooding & Company Scottsdale, AZ, sale
held on January 18 and 19, 2019.
With the introduction of the new 1965 Ford
Mustang, Lee Iacocca and his team at Ford set
the stage for one of the most invigorating eras in
American automotive history.
Soon, GM, Chrysler and AMC engineers and
designers were burning the midnight oil to bite into
Ford’s market pie.
Enter the Camaro
In September 1966, the new Chevrolet Camaro hit
showroom floors. The game-changer for Chevrolet
was the ability for Camaro buyers to order a big-block
396 engine. Up until that time, the Mustang could only
be spec’d with the K-code 289, which, while a marvel
of high-performance engine technology, was no match
for the extra cubic inches of the 396.
With the 396 Camaro, buyers could not only buy a
Pony car that was arguably as cool and relevant as the
Mustang, but one that could leave a smoky trail out back
— and compete on the dragstrip right out of the box.
The big blocks weren’t cheap, however. While the
base 327 V8 only ramped up the sticker $92.70, the
top-of-the-line big-daddy 396/375 sticker shocked
most buyers to the tune of $500.30. Given that, out of
220,906 1967 Camaros sold, only 1,138 buyers decided
to set the big-block 375-hp beast between the fenders.
Page 55
One hell of a rare car
There are no definitive records for how
many Camaro convertibles were built
with the 396/375 L78 engine, but we can
extrapolate based on the data we do have.
We know that 34,411 Super Sport
Camaros were built. Of those, 1,138 had
the L78. That means that about 3.3% of
the total production (SS Camaros) were
purchased with the L78 engine option.
The other number we can work with
is how many total V8 convertibles were
built — which was about 12% of total
production. Applying that percentage to
SS production suggests that about 4,100
Super Sport convertibles were sold.
From there, we can apply the 3.3% (L78
production) and that leaves us with about
136 units.
Gooding suggested in their catalog text an
interpolated number of approximately 150 built and
sold — which is certainly a safe assumption to use.
Personally, I’d consider the number to be much lower,
as the odds of guys ordering L78 Super Sport convertible
Camaros versus hard-top coupes would be pretty
small — especially for a stripped-down car like our
subject Camaro.
Be that as it may, it gets even more rare if we start
to factor in color and options, especially the optional
performance 4.10 Posi axle, which was not a standard
regular production option (RPO) offering — meaning
a guy had to ask specifically for it to be included. If we
continue to make further assumptions about the total
produced — such as how many were Tuxedo Black —
that number gets pin-point tiny.
Dialing in the numbers
From those numbers, it’s clear our subject car is
damn rare. One blog I read described the car as the
GM version of the Hemi ’Cuda convertible — that sort
of rare. It’s likely more rare than a 1967 Yenko (107
built), or at least very close to it.
But we can keep digging. The car is well docu-
mented to have only 1,500 miles on it — presumably
one quarter-mile at a time, and the restoration is
minty fresh and appears to be very well done.
Noted Camaro/GM authority Jerry MacNeish also
blessed the car as an original L78 model. While his
report didn’t verify the authenticity or originality of
detAIlIng
Years produced: 1967–69
Number produced: 136
(1967 L78 convertible,
approximate)
Original list price: $3,761.25
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $257,600
(this car)
Tune-up/major service:
$500-plus (costs multiply
for NOS parts)
VIn location: Driver’s side
A-pillar
Engine # location: Engine
pad ahead of passenger’s
side cylinder head
the components or stampings, he did issue a certificate
of authenticity that the car left the GM factory as an
infinitely rare L78 convertible.
Other documentation includes the full ownership
history of the car since it sold new in Worthington,
OH. It also includes copies of some of the track time
It’s clear our subject car is damn rare.
One blog I read described the car
as the GM version of the Hemi ’Cuda
convertible — that sort of rare.
It’s likely more rare than a 1967 Yenko
(107 built), or at least very close to it.
slips, magazine articles, and a national Concours
Gold from its somewhat pampered life (if you can consider
drag racing a pampered existence). The engine
was also reported to be original to the car when it left
the GM factory and the sale included a notarized affidavit
that the engine is, in fact, original to the car.
Check, please
Some very rare 1967–69 Camaros have rung the
bell well into the six figures. Using the ACC Pocket
Price Guide, a 1967 Yenko will chime in around
$295k under the right circumstances. There are other
Camaros, such as COPOS and the ultra-rare ZL1s,
that can easily go north or south of that number. These
are well-publicized cars that contain a lot of known
data — meaning they don’t fly under the radar.
I must admit, at first, this sure seemed like a ton of
money for what appeared to be a $150k Camaro. In
fact, most of the pre-market buzz was expecting the
car to fall flat in the mid-$100k range. But, rule number
one prevailed — always do your homework.
By digging deep into the data, the Gooding estimate
of $250k–$325k starts to make more sense, and, given
the final sale of $257,600, it shines a spotlight on some
excellent research by Gooding.
I did my homework — and I assume the buyer did
as well. This is one immensely rare, well-documented
Camaro with excellent pedigree — and it deserved
every penny. Call this a market-correct result. A
(Introductory description courtesy of Gooding &
Company.)
March–April 2019 57
Club: Camaro Research Group
Web: www.camaros.org
Alternatives: 1970 Plymouth
Hemi ’Cuda, 1968 Ford
Mustang GT 390, 1968
Dodge Dart GTS
Acc Investment grade: A
Comps
1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS/
SS 396 L78
convertible
Lot S121.1, VIN:
124677N180816
Condition: 2Sold
at $66,340
Mecum Auctions, Dallas, TX,
9/5/2013
ACC# 227409
1967 Chevrolet Camaro
Yenko coupe
Lot 14, VIN: 124377N229158
Condition: 1Sold
at $350,000
Gooding & Co., Amelia Island,
FL, 3/8/2013
ACC# 215565
1967 Chevrolet Camaro
rS/SS nickey Stage III
coupe
Lot S97, VIN: 124377N184950
Condition: 1
Sold at $446,250
Mecum Auctions, St. Charles,
IL, 10/3/2008
ACC# 117955
Page 56
FOMOCO PROFILE
1967 FORD MUSTANG “ELEANOR”
Star Car Hits Huge Payday
Courtesy of Barrett-Jackson
Huge money
rains onto a
real “Gone in
60 Seconds”
Eleanor movie
car, but it’s
not a real
Shelby and
it’s not real
fast
58 AmericanCarCollector.com
VIN: 7R02S211287
by Chad Taylor
T
his is an original car from the movie “Gone in 60
Seconds.” This car was used in the street scenes
in the movie, and it comes with a Certificate
of Authenticity from Cinema Vehicle Services
signed by Ray Claridge, president of Cinema
Vehicle Services.
Also included is a license plate that was on the car in
the movie. This Mustang is powered with a 351-ci Ford
Motorsport crate engine mated to a 3-speed automatic
transmission, and it is equipped with Total Control
suspension.
ACC Analysis This car, Lot 1437, sold for
$385,000, including buyer’s pre-
mium, at Barrett-Jackson’s January 12–20 auction in
Scottsdale, AZ.
Way back in 2000, we started the new millennium
with the remake of 1974’s “Gone in 60 Seconds.” The
new version starred big Hollywood names, including
Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie.
It did not, however, earn critical acclaim.
Surprisingly, it got no Oscar nominations. The thing it
did have was cars. Lots and lots of badass cars.
An almost 10-year-old me saw this movie, and it has
rumbled in my head ever since.
At that time, only one star stood out: a now-legendary
1967 Shelby GT500 fastback, known as “Eleanor.”
The car’s the real star
In my opinion — then and now — Nicolas Who
Cares and Angelina Whatever just stole the screen
time this car deserved. It didn’t matter that the film
was cheesy and often implausible. When is the last
time you saw a Mustang jump off a flatbed tow-truck,
soar beautifully over cars and then land on the other
side without issue?
Like me, many car folks noticed this gorgeous
customized fastback. They have become so popular,
in fact, that they are often referred to as a legit model,
the GT500 E, and owners of these argue about who
has a “real” Eleanor.
Yes, they’re arguing over a car that is not a replica
— but a continuation car. A real continuation GT500
of a fake GT500 built for a movie. Oh, the irony.
But with fame comes money. Any time one of the
cars built for “Gone in 60 Seconds” crosses the block,
it brings a ton of real fast cash.
Big bucks for real movie cars
In 2013, Mecum sold one of the original 11 cars that
Cinema Vehicle Services built for the movie. The car
sold for an absurd $1,070,000.
Granted, that million-dollar Eleanor was featured
in shots with Nic Cage. Another CVS-built car, much
like our subject car, sold at Barrett-Jackson in 2009 for
$217k. Another one sold at Mecum in 2013 for $267.5k.
Page 57
detAIlIng
Years produced: 1967
Number produced: 11
(Cinema Vehicle Services)
Original list price: N/A
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $326,250
Tune-up/major service:
$300
VIn location: Upper flange of
left front fender apron
Engine # location: N/A
(crate motor)
Club: Mustang Club of America
Web: www.mustang.org
Alternatives: “The Fast and
the Furious” 1970 Dodge
Charger R/T, 1968 Ford
Mustang “Bullitt,” “Smokey
and the Bandit” 1977
Pontiac Trans Am
Acc Investment grade: A
(one of the original 11)
Comps
How disappointing. This GT500 will not be going far in 60 seconds. The new owner
will get tons of style points and bragging rights on owning a real-deal Eleanor,
but she or he will not win many races.
At $385,000, it seems like our Eleanor has seen
some appreciation over the past few years.
A fake Shelby in a real movie
I have mixed feelings about this sale. On one hand,
you have a fake, highly customized Shelby, but on the
other hand you have a legitimate movie star of a car
with signed documentation proving its celebrity.
I also need to mention that this car sports a 351-ci
Ford crate engine mated to a 3-speed auto. How
disappointing.
This GT500 will not be going far in 60 seconds.
The new owner will get tons of style points and
bragging rights on owning a real-deal Eleanor, but
she or he will not win many races.
Ultimately, it comes down to style over substance.
Which do you prefer? And how much are you willing
to spend to get it?
Although this very slow car is still very cool, $385k
seems too much to spend on a piece of memorabilia
that looks great but has no grunt. I would rather suffer
through the sub-par acting to remember Eleanor
in her glory days of high-speed jumps off a ramp
truck. A
(Introductory description courtesy of Barrett-
Jackson.)
1967 Shelby GT500
fastback
Lot 2512, s/n 67402F2U00943
Condition 1Sold
at $440,000
ACC# 256719
Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale, AZ,
1/10/15
This car sports a 351-ci Ford crate engine mated to a 3-speed auto.
1967 Ford Mustang
“Bullitt” replica fastback
Lot 118, s/n 7R0S106536
Condition 2Sold
at $90,567
Bonhams, London, U.K.,
12/3/18
ACC# 6887684
1967 Shelby GT500 Eleanor
fastback (movie car)
Lot S135, s/n 7R02C179710
Condition 2
Sold at $1,070,000
Mecum Auctions, Indianapolis,
IN, 5/18/13
ACC# 216486
March–April 2019 59
detAIlIng
Years produced: 1970–71
Number produced: 666
(1970)
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $198,000
Tune-up cost: $300
Chassis # location: VIN
plate on the driver’s side
dash
was also suffering from a reputation for poor build
quality at the time, and you’ll see this reflected in the
reviews.
Motor Trend’s A.B. Sherman complained about
the window seal, the seats and the visibility in his
May 1970 write-up, and that was just in the first few
paragraphs. Other reviews criticized the cost and the
fuel mileage.
Yeah, bringing out a 10-mpg, $5,000 Plymouth at
the start of a double-whammy fuel crisis and economic
Fans of the ’70s-style models joke that if
Plymouth had introduced the sleek and
powerful E-body ’Cuda in 1964 before
the Mustang debuted, we’d be using the
term “Fishy Cars” instead of “Pony Cars.”
downturn pretty much guaranteed that the Hemi
’Cuda wouldn’t be around for long.
It wasn’t Plymouth’s best timing.
Here’s the thing, though. None of that matters now.
Do the windows rattle in the doors? Yup, but you won’t
hear it over the sound of 425 big horses and the dying
squeals of reproduction Goodyear Polyglas tires.
The ’Cuda is everything muscle cars should be —
bright, brutal, cartoonish and fast. You don’t have to
know anything about car collecting to appreciate the
good looks and great rumble of a Hemi car.
This Hemi car
There are no cheap Hemi ’Cudas, but there is a
wide spread in exactly how pricey they are.
At the top are the ultra-rare 1971 convertibles.
Those are the ones making headlines with multimillion-dollar
sales. They made fewer than 20 of them,
so you can imagine it’s hard to find a real one.
1970 drop-tops are second, also with seven-figure
price tags.
Our 1970 hard top is the most common of the Hemi
’Cudas, although that’s a bit like saying that diamond
studs are the most common gemstone jewelry. I still
want some.
This particular fish gets a bump in price from its
4-speed transmission and accompanying “Trak Pak,”
which includes the coveted and unbreakable Dana 60
rear end.
Red paint works as well on Plymouths as it does on
Corvettes and Ferraris, so the high-impact Tor-Red
probably didn’t hurt as it rolled across the auction
block.
One performance option we don’t see on this car
are the color-matched “Elastomeric” bumpers.
Nothing against chrome, but the color-keyed option
makes these cars even more of a stand-out. It clearly
didn’t bother the buyer. I call this ’Cuda well-sold at
$173,600.A
(Introductory description courtesy of RM
Sotheby’s.)
1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda
2-door hard top
Lot S118, s/n BS23R0B179117
Condition 1
Sold at $154,000
ACC# 6829730
Mecum, Kansas City, MO,
3/24/17
Club: Plymouth Barracuda
Owners Club
Original list price: $4,700$5,200
Engine # location: Pad
located on the right side of
the block to the rear of the
engine mount
Web: www.pbcoc.com
Alternatives: 1970–71 Dodge
Challenger Hemi, 1970-71
Plymouth ’Cuda 440+6,
1969–70 Ford Mustang
Boss 429
Acc Investment grade: A
Comps
1971 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda
2-door hard top
Lot 39, s/n BS23R1B204626
Condition 1Sold
at $418,000
Worldwide, Scottsdale, AZ,
1/17/18
ACC# 6856543
1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda
2-door hard top
Lot 532, s/n BS23R0B105818
Condition 2Sold
at $148,500
Leake, Oklahoma City, OK,
2/24/17
ACC# 6827773
March–April 2019 61
the fastest modified production-bodied cars at the lakes
were channeled, low-slung mid-1920s Model T Ford
and Chevrolet roadsters, such as our subject car.
A Chevy, not a Ford
This iconic racer mated Spurgin’s 1925 Chevy
roadster with Giovanine’s 183-ci Chevy 4, built in
1947 and 1948.
Before the flathead V8 ruled the lakes, clever ma-
chinists and engine builders mixed and matched parts
to optimize horsepower. This engine had a sturdy Ford
Model “C” crankshaft, Curtiss OX-5 aircraft engine
connecting rods, an Olds OHV three-port head milled
for a sky-high 16.25:1 compression ratio, a Winfield
cam, Mallory ignition and twin Duke Hallock-designed
side-draft carburetors. It cranked out about 150 hp —
quite a lot of power for a relatively small engine with a
lightweight, streamlined body and chassis.
The S-G roadster first ran at the October 1947 SCTA
meet, turning 118.89 mph and finishing 15th that season.
Prior to 1948, it was streamlined with an aluminum
track nose and hood, and a full belly pan. The Chevy
front axle was replaced with a ’32 Ford I-beam, and
hydraulic brakes were installed on the rear wheels.
By the final 1948 SCTA meet, the roadster turned a
two-way average of 123.655 mph, achieving a perfect
1,800-point score and the Class A Championship by
setting a record at every meet.
In March 1949, the speedy roadster made the cover
of Hot Rod, and was included in the SCTA Hot Rod
Exposition at the Los Angeles National Guard Armory.
Spurgin sold the car in 1954 to Carl Borgh, who installed
a GMC 6 and turned 141.73 mph at El Mirage.
Re-engineered, it topped 149 mph at Bonneville, ran
its last race at Lions dragstrip in 1957, and then disappeared
for four decades.
Back from the dead
David Lawrence found the derelict racer in Apple
Valley, CA, in the late 1990s. Fortunately, the frame,
streamlined body and other trademark features were
still intact.
Dr. Ernie Nagamatsu acquired the car in 2004
and commissioned a superbly accurate restoration,
with research help from the families of the previous
owners. Completed in 2009, the roadster won class
awards at the Grand National Roadster Show and
Palos Verdes Concours, and was shown on the lawn at
Pebble Beach.
detAIlIng
Years produced: 1925, 1947
Number produced: 519,229
(all production, 1925)
Original list price: $525
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $212,800
(this car)
Tune-up/major service:
$200 (approximate)
VIn location: N/A
Clubs: Goodguys, National
Street Rod Association
(NSRA)
The Spurgin-Giovanine Class-A dry-lakes roadster
remains one of the most beautiful and successful of
the early post-war SCTA racers. Don Montgomery,
whose hot rod pictorials helped preserve the early
racing era, wrote that the Spurgin-Giovanine’s flawless
performance in the 1948 SCTA Championship
season “was an incredible milestone feat in land speed
history.” For collectors, its dry-lakes honors and Hot
Rod cover-car appearance make it a very special
survivor.
Gooding & Company estimated a $250,000 to
$300,000 range for this car at its Scottsdale auction.
But that’s largely uncharted territory with few sales to
compare.
When the now-deceased Ralph Whitworth paid
$385k for the ex-Jim Khougaz ’32 Ford racer and
$440k for the ex-Tom Beatty belly tank in 2007 for his
stillborn museum in Winnemucca, NV, he was pretty
flush, and he arguably overpaid — as both of those
cars sold for substantially less in subsequent auction
sales.
Ross Myers owns a superb collection of historic
hot rods at his Three Dog Garage in Boyertown, PA.
He recently bought the ex-Norm Grabowsky “Kookie
Kar” — and he purchased the Spurgin-Giovanine
roadster. “I was intrigued by its early history,” Myers
says, “and the fact that its original parts were still
intact. Most racers of its era were either wrecked or
robbed of their originality over the years.”
I think the price paid was very fair for both seller
and buyer. Very few early historic racing hot rods
from this era have survived, and this is one of the best
of all time. Well bought and sold. A
(Introductory description courtesy of Barrett-
Jackson.)
Web: www.goodguys.com,
www.nsra.com
Alternatives: Other ’30s-to’40’s-era
period dry-lakes
and Bonneville racers
Acc Investment grade: A
Comps
1932 Ford 404 Jr. roadster
Lot 244, VIN: 1B34926
Condition: 1Sold
at $324,000
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, CA,
8/24/2018
ACC# 6877262
1932 Ford roadster,
Ex-Jim Khougaz
Lot 210, VIN: 18155453
Condition: 2+
Sold at $187,000
ACC# 265231
RM Sotheby’s, Fort Worth, TX,
5/2/2015
1951 Tom Beatty Belly Tank
Lakester
Lot 28, VIN N/A
Condition: 4
Sold at $440,000
Gooding & Co, Pebble Beach,
CA, 8/18/2007
ACC# 46531
March–April 2019 63
detAIlIng
Years produced: 1937–40
Number produced: 3,255
(standard station wagon;
M-H conversions unknown)
Original list price: $947
($1,800 for an M-H conversion)
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $239,250
Tune up/major service: $100
VIn location: Top of left frame
rail, near steering box
Engine # location:
Bellhousing
in Deluxe trim, the Marmon-Herrington started at
$1,805, plus some extra depending on the wheels and
tires you ordered. So it was easy to pay $2,000 for a
Marmon-Herrington Ford back in 1940. That works
out to about $35,500 in today’s dollars, or roughly the
price of a basic three-row AWD crossover, which is
what you were buying.
What you got for your money was a new Ford
vehicle, either a truck or a passenger car, with an
upgraded clutch and transmission, a single-range
transfer case, and a modified rear axle with universal
It’s unlikely that you could ever find
another car like this in anything like this
condition, no matter how much you were
willing to spend.
joints to drive and steer the front wheels. The car’s
frame was also updated with additional bracing. Early
conversions were full-time AWD, but starting in 1939,
Marmon-Herrington vehicles were equipped with the
ability to disconnect the front axle and run in RWD
mode.
Trucks and wagons were popular conversions, but
the M-H kit could theoretically be installed on just
about any Ford. While Marmon-Herrington vehicles
were expensive, having a big SUV was not a status
symbol in that era. Consequently the modified trucks
and wagons tended to be purchased by businesses
for work purposes. Oilfields, mining operations and
forestry were popular applications for MarmonHerrington
trucks.
A rare gem
Today, it’s comparatively hard to find a Marmon-
Herrington vehicle, and truly rare to find one in show
condition. There never were very many made, and
these rigs had tough lives. It’s not surprising that only
a few survived, and extant examples are now counted
in the tens, not the hundreds.
The subject vehicle, a woodie wagon, resided in New
England at least since the ’50s, and was purchased,
restored, and placed in a collection back in 2000. This
particular woodie won its class at Pebble Beach in
2003, and has collected other top awards as well.
It’s hard to establish a comparable price for a ve-
hicle like this, but let’s start by noting that concourswinning
Ford woodies of the era have been known
to sell for well over $100,000 (ACC# 256715). Solid
examples routinely trade in the mid to high five figures
(ACC# 6878965) and sometimes peak over $100,000
(ACC# 245185). The most recent recorded sale of
another Marmon-Herrington conversion in the ACC
Premium Auction Database was a 1939 pickup truck
that went for $66,000 in 2016 (ACC# 6805337).
Yet for all that, this sale is unique. This vehicle
brings together the rarity of the Marmon-Herrington
conversion on a passenger car with the quality of a
Pebble-winning restoration.
It’s unlikely that you could ever find another car
like this in anything like this condition, no matter
how much you were willing to spend. With that in
mind, $252,000 is a great buy on an unmatched and
irreplaceable piece of Americana. A
(Introductory description courtesy of RM
Sotheby’s.)
1940 Ford Deluxe woodie
wagon
Lot 818, VIN: 99A211735
Condition: 1Sold
at $203,500
ACC# 201943
RM Auctions, Hampton, NH,
6/9/2012
1939 Ford Model 91
Marmon-Herrington
pickup
Lot 70, VIN: 184907508
Condition: 3
Sold at $33,000
Worldwide Auctioneers,
Houston, TX, 4/23/2016
ACC# 6799603
Club: Early Ford V8 Club of
America
Web: www.earlyfordv8.org
Alternatives: 1935–40
Chevrolet Suburban, 1941–
42 Chrysler Town & Country,
1953–57 International
Harvester Travelall
Acc Investment grade: A
Comps
1939 Ford Deluxe woodie
wagon
Lot 147, VIN: 185024182
Condition: 2
Sold at $209,000
RM Auctions, Monterey, CA,
8/15/2009
ACC# 141207
March–April 2019 xx
65
Page 64
RACE PROFILE
1964 FORD FALCON SPRINT RACER
Special-Interest Steal
Courtesy of Barrett-Jackson
Putting a
special-interest
racing car into
a generalinterest
auction
can be a
recipe for
disappointment
VIN: 4H13F100999
by Thor Thorson
T
66 AmericanCarCollector.com
his 1964 Ford Falcon Sprint is an SCCA
Trans-American FIA/GT race car. The 999
VIN and the fiberglass doors, front fenders,
hood and trunk lid identify this Falcon as a “63
Prototype” car.
It was driven and built by Shelby team driver Bob
Johnson and was sold in 1967 to SCCA driver Jim
Harrell, who raced it in the 1968 SCCA A-Sedan
races.
The race car was acquired by its fifth, and current,
owner in 2016 and recently underwent a complete
mechanical restoration, leaving all cosmetics in as-is
condition from the 1968 season.
It is now powered by a 289-ci 458-hp 8-cylinder
engine mated to a Super T-10 4-speed manual transmission
and a 9-inch Ford rear end with Detroit locker
and 3.50 gears.
This documented race car was a First in Class
Group 6 winner and is Goodwood eligible. It includes
FIA papers and an SVRA Medallion.
ACC Analysis This car, Lot 1064, sold for
$79,200, including buyer’s pre-
mium, at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale, AZ, auction on
January 19, 2019.
American and European society began evolving
very quickly by the mid-1960s. From an automotive
standpoint, in the U.S. it involved the influx and
acceptance of small cars, first with Volkswagen and
European sports cars, followed by the Corvair and
Falcon.
The new generation of buyers was interested in
performance and competition: NASCAR racing was
becoming a major professional sport in the U.S. and
sports-car racing was capturing amateur hearts
and minds. After struggling to recover from the war,
European economies were starting to boom and buy
cars — an item of great import to global manufacturers
such as Ford.
The result was that Ford corporate started thinking
seriously about small performance cars and getting
the Ford name associated with winning races.
Going faster
It started with Ford putting the small 260 V8 into
a few 1963 Falcons, and was followed by a complete
redesign of the Falcon for 1964 — one much edgier
and aggressive-looking.
The Falcon Sprint was introduced with the 289
V8 and a 4-speed manual transmission plus various
go-fast options available. Simultaneously, Ford was
working on the Mustang — the car that kicked off the
Pony Car revolution.
Page 65
As this was happening, Ford was getting more
involved with both U.S. and European road racing.
In 1963, Ford agreed to supply three race-prepared
Galaxie 500 427s to British racer John Willment so
he could contest the Jaguar dominance in U.K. sedan
racing. Although huge and lumbering, they proved very
competitive and served Ford’s purposes very well.
As soon as the new Falcon Sprint was available, it
was pressed into service as a more appropriately sized
racer. Ford quietly helped prepare a new pure-race
version of the Sprint for both European and American
use, using fiberglass body parts, engine modifications
and various other tricks to get the weight down and
performance up to racing standards.
These cars were not technically built by Ford,
but lots of help was given to the guys who built
them. A number were shipped to the U.K. to replace
the Galaxies, while a few ended up with important
Ford-friendly American racers to be run in the SCCA
A-Sedan wars.
A real racer
Our subject car was originally raced by Shelby
American driver Bob Johnson, and has been a
dedicated racing car from new. It and the other
racing Falcon Sprints were very successful for a few
years but fell victim to the Mustang’s hegemony. The
Mustang’s wild success caused Ford to neglect the
Falcon Sprint both in the general market and as a
racer, so it faded from prominence as newer and faster
Mustangs and Shelby GT350s took over the spotlight.
In spite of this, the Falcon Sprint maintained some
distinct racing advantages. The biggest of these was
weight. Aside from bodywork, the Mustang and Falcon
of 1964–65 were virtually identical; platform, engine,
transmission, and most suspension were the same.
Allowable racing weight, however, was a different
matter: The Falcon was allowed 2,160 pounds, while
the Mustang had to weigh 2,700 pounds. That is 540
pounds, or 20%! The Mustang was allowed substantially
more tire (seven-inch rim vs. 5.5) and had less
frontal area for better aerodynamics, but the weight
advantage was huge.
By 1967, the Mustang had evolved to the point that
the Falcon was obsolete as a racer. They soldiered
on, of course, but nowhere near the front. Engines
were now 5 liters (302 ci). Chevrolet introduced the
Camaro, AMC the Javelin, and the Trans-Am wars
superseded everything that came before.
Location, location, location
In the U.S., vintage racing is active and has a par-
ticular affection for the grids of American sedans. But
we tend to group everything in the general category
together, which means that a 1964 Falcon Sprint runs
against Trans-Am Camaros, Mustangs and the like. As
such, it is a beloved but uncompetitive antique.
In Europe, all racing is done to FIA International
rules, and they use absolute dates for eligibility. The
essential split is 1966: cars built before then (Jaguars,
Galaxies, Falcons, early Mustangs) run as a separate
group from the later ones (Trans-Am primarily), which
means that a good Falcon Sprint is a very serious
weapon for the battle. Thus, they are far more valuable
in Europe, and particularly the U.K.
Beyond that, there are at least 10 major auction
houses (and lord knows how many minor ones) with sales
taking place all over the world, and each venue tends to
have a set of strengths and weaknesses for a particular
type of car. Racing cars are notoriously difficult to sell
well at auctions for a number of reasons, which makes
choosing the right venue critical to a result.
Scottsdale in January is emphatically not where you
want to sell a weapons-grade racing car. In general,
racers don’t go there, and the few who do tend to
frequent the lower-volume specialty events such as
Gooding or RM Sotheby’s.
There are relatively good auction venues for selling
racing cars; they are generally associated with major
racing events so that the appropriate buyers are
paying attention. Goodwood in the U.K. and Monaco
are the best in Europe, Monterey is good in the U.S.,
as are some of the marque-specific auctions like RM’s
Porsche event. But putting a special-interest racing
car into a general-interest auction can be a recipe for
disappointment.
My English colleagues all shook their heads when
they learned of this sale. As it was, nobody in that
circle knew it was going to be sold, and their consistent
feeling was that if presented at a race car-specific
auction, such as the one held alongside the Goodwood
Revival, it could have returned a significantly better
result — perhaps as much as 30% or 40% more.
Hopefully the successful purchaser will enjoy playing
with this Falcon Sprint. If not, they can probably do
very well by shipping it to the U.K. and selling it where
people really want to race it. Very well bought. A
(Introductory description courtesy of Barrett-
Jackson.)
detAIlIng
Year produced: 1964
Number built: Approximately
10–15
Original list price: N/A
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $79,200 (this
car)
Tune-up/major service:
$250
VIn location: Top of left front
inner fender apron
Engine # location:
Bellhousing at starter
mount
Club: Falcon Club of America
(FCA)
Web: www.falconclub.com
Alternatives: 1964–65
Mustang 289, 1963–65
Jaguar S-Type 3.8,
1963–64 Ford Galaxie 500
Acc Investment grade: B
Comps
1965 Shelby GT350 R
fastback
Lot 162, VIN: SFM5R096
Condition 3+
Sold at $720,000
ACC# 6877335
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, CA,
8/24/2018
1963 Ford Galaxie 500
2-dr hard top
Lot 217, VIN: 3N66R143030
Condition 3+
Sold at $623,561
Bonhams, Chichester, U.K,
9/9/2017
ACC# 6852258
1964 ford falcon fIA racer
Lot 280, VIN: N/A
Condition: 2
Sold at $99,027
Silverstone, Warwickshire,
U.K., 2/23/2013
ACC# 215546
March–April 2019 67
Page 66
TRUCK PROFILE
1962 cheVrolet corVAIr 95 RAMPSIDE PICKUP
Dare to Be Different
Courtesy of Barrett-Jackson
Don’t think
that you’re
always
leading the
market when
you pay big
VIN: 2R124S100774
by B. Mitchell Carlson
I
68 AmericanCarCollector.com
n 1962, only 4,102 Corvair 95 Rampside trucks
were
built. This truck
is registered
in the
Corvanatics Corvair 95 Registry and is one of
only 101 registered. All of the registry paperwork
is included. It was completely restored and is in
show-quality condition.
As the trim tag indicates, this truck was born
Crystal Turquoise, but during the restoration it was
painted Woodlawn Green and Cameo White.
Everything on the exterior has been replaced or
restored, including all the glass. It’s equipped with the
custom chrome package, which includes the windshield
trim, bumpers and hubcaps.
ACC Analysis This truck, Lot 175, sold for
$77,000, including buyer’s pre-
mium, at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale, AZ, auction on
January 15, 2019.
The Chevrolet Corvair was introduced in October
1959 with a goal of taking on the Volkswagen Beetle.
GM figured they could beat VW at their own game
with one-upmanship. VW had a 4-cylinder air-cooled
engine, so GM built a 6. VW had a small coupe, GM
made a four-door sedan.
GM was also gunning for VW’s Type II truck as
well. That little truck was considered so much of a
threat that it eventually was the targeted vehicle of
the 1964 “Chicken Tax,” which is still with us today:
a 25% tariff on imported light-duty trucks. Yet before
legislation, GM and Ford were the first to fire back
with compact vans and pickups.
Both introduced for the 1961 model year, the Ford
Econoline and the Chevrolet Corvair 95 (as in 95-inch
wheelbase) showed the future of American light-duty
vans. The Corvair had its air-cooled engine in the
back — thanks to Ford’s familiar powertrain from the
year-old Ford Falcon, and it became the sales winner
overnight.
Each of those two manufacturers also offered
a pickup truck variant. American tastes generally
deemed the drop-side VW pickups as too rudimentary,
so both domestic competitors offered styleside pickups
— essentially vans with the roof cut off behind the
driver.
Corvair had two versions: the Loadside and the
Rampside. Both had a lower section than the Ford
Page 67
behind the cab and ahead of the rear wheelwells.
The Rampside was unique, featuring a sidemounted
tailgate that dropped to the ground,
creating a ramp into the side of the truck bed.
A niche market
With the Rampside, GM had a truly unique
truck. Appliance, music and hardware stores
thought they were a godsend; Rampsides were
just the thing to deal with heavy and awkward
refrigerators, pianos and lawn mowers. Chevy
even got sales from Ma Bell, as the Bell System
authorized purchases of Rampsides for supervisors
of cable construction crews (as a reel of
cable could be easily rolled in and out of the
back).
But despite the novelty of the Rampside, sales
were never really there. After a mediocre first
year of 10,787 sold, sales plummeted in subsequent
years until it was discontinued after 851 were
built in 1964.
The Loadside fared even worse. After a paltry 2,475
first-year sales, it never made it to 1963 after 369 measly
sales in 1962 — it’s the rarest Corvair of all time.
Corvair cult
By and large, Corvair people are into both the cars
and the trucks interchangeably. I’m ACC’s resident
Corvair loony, and my first “collector car” was a $50
1961 Corvan 95 in 1983.
Early on, Rampsides were at the top of the Forward
Control (FC) pecking order — back when $2,500
would buy the nicest one on the planet and I was
getting paid $50 to take running vans. Today, you’ll
likely have to pony up $2,500 to get the worst one in
the junkyard.
In the past two decades, several factors have seen
Rampside prices move smartly up. First, to a certain
extent, GM has finally embraced the FC (even if they
still have a cold shoulder for Corvair cars). Secondly,
Corvairs of all stripes have finally moved out of the
bargain basement of collector-car pricing. Finally, the
vintage pickup and SUV craze of the past decade-plus
has moved all pickups smartly up the valuation guides
— especially those that are left of center.
A new reality for a Rampside?
Corvair forums lit up like Christmas trees almost as
soon as this hammered sold, wondering if there was
anything about it that made it special. The answer is a
resounding no.
First off, it’s not exactly an authentic restoration.
Originally, it was Crystal Turquoise Metallic rather
than this color-change repaint and added belly stripe.
That respray — with the cargo floor and ramp deck in
an incorrect gray in lieu of body color — covers quite
a few small dents and dings in the cargo box, so the
new owner certainly didn’t get their money’s worth in
body prep and paint.
The engine bay looks pretty in the catalog images,
yet it has a correct-for-1964-only alternator rather
than the stock generator. The interior was trimmed out
quite well with good workmanship, with a lot of repro
parts that have become available only in recent years.
While the reproduction seat features Deluxe
Corvair forums lit up like Christmas trees
almost as soon as this hammered sold,
wondering if there was anything about
it that made it special. The answer is a
resounding no.
Rampside vinyl, the painted steel doors (in lieu of the
Deluxe trim, which has vinyl panels) confirm that this
is a standard trim Rampy. 1961 was the final year that
GM sourced wide whitewall tires that went all the
way to the rims, so the correct optional whitewall was
approximately an inch wide.
Call me picky, but a vehicle should set a new record
price either because it’s concours lawn-quality accurate
or the modifications in work and materials justify
it. Neither was the case here.
Had this been a CORSA Concours Senior Award
winner, done in the correct original colors to precisely
match the way it rolled out of St. Louis Assembly
Plant’s truck line, $77k still shouldn’t have been the
number.
Trucks may be stars right now, but in the general
market, Corvair-powered FCs still carry too much
baggage for even today’s new breed of truck collector.
That said, $50k would not have surprised me, meeting
the above criteria with concours provenance to back
it up.
Spend your money the way you want to, but don’t
think that you’re necessarily leading the market when
you do so. Chalk this one up as very well sold. A
(Introductory description courtesy of Barrett-
Jackson.)
detAIlIng
Years produced: 1961–64
Number produced: 4,102
(1962); 18,342 (all years)
Original list price: $2,165
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $16,500
Tune-up/major service:
$275
VIn location: Tag spotwelded
to the driver’s door
frame, adjacent to the
driver’s left ear.
Engine # location: Front top
of the driver’s side half of
the engine block, between
the engine fan plenum
cover and the generator
bracket/oil fill casting.
Club: CORSA (Corvair Society
of America)
Web: www.corvair.org
Alternatives: 1960–66
Chevrolet C-10 pickup,
1961–67 Ford Econoline
pickup, 1964–70 Dodge
A-100 pickup
Acc Investment grade: B
Comps
1964 Chevrolet Corvair 95
Rampside pickup
Lot T62.1, VIN: 4R124S103314
Condition: 3+
Sold at $13,750
ACC# 6877396
Mecum Auctions, Monterey, CA,
8/23/2018
1962 Chevrolet Corvair 95
Rampside pickup
Lot 340, VIN: 2R1245S105776
Condition: 2+
Sold at $19,170
MAG Auctions, Reno, NV,
8/12/2017
ACC# 6843571
1961 Chevrolet Corvair 95
Rampside pickup
Lot 540, VIN: 1R124S120408
Condition: 3+
Sold at $19,800
Branson, Branson, MO,
4/15/2016
ACC# 6799488
March–April 2019
69
Page 68
MARKET OVERVIEW
Arizona truck prices soar over the past five years
Pickups in the Desert
Are Hotter Than Ever
is most useful for saying that any random truck could
have gone for this amount, without getting too stuck in
the weeds. Let’s also keep in mind that these auction
trucks are primed and shined for maximum dollar on
sale day (usually), and are probably more expensive
than what one finds while hunting on Craigslist.
In 2015, buyers picked up 248 new-to-them trucks at
an average price of $37,079, with the median at $30,250.
The top seller was from Barrett-Jackson — a 1940 Ford
Boyd Coddington custom pickup at $374,000.
For 2016, just 150 pickups found new homes over
the auction week. They averaged $46,761 (plus $9,682
over the previous year) and the median calculated to
$36,300. Top seller again came from Barrett-Jackson
— this one a 1957 Chevrolet custom truck nicknamed
“Quicksilver” that went for $214,500. This is the peak of
average truck prices in our timeline.
The numbers dip a little in 2017. On 237 lots, the av-
erage fell by $10,154 to $36,607, with the median truck
value this year coming in at $29,700. To the surprise of
no one, Barrett-Jackson sold the highest-priced truck
this year as well. It was a 1950 Chevrolet 3100 custom
that sold for $205,700.
The numbers jumped back up in 2018. The average
Barrett-Jackson 2019 Lot 432 sold for $36,300, right below the 2019 median
truck price in Arizona
by Chad Tyson
Y
ou know that we’ve been watching pickup prices move up and up and up for
a while now.
Instead of vague notions and feelings, let’s dig into the sold truck prices
over the past five years in Arizona.
What we’re going to look at is the number of sold pickup trucks, what the
average and median (half sold above this point, and half sold below) prices were, and
the top-selling price for each year at all the auctions take place during the Arizona
Auction Week. I find that using the high price and median gives a fair snapshot of
the overall numbers in that we have the ceiling and the middle point. The average
BEST BUYS
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 2-dr hard
top, $44,000—Barrett-Jackson,
AZ, p. 82
70 AmericanCarCollector.com
1931 Duesenberg Model J
Custom Berline, $506,000—
Worldwide Auctioneers, AZ,
p. 110
1941 Cadillac Series 62
convertible, $58,800—RM
Sotheby’s, AZ, p. 119
1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302
fastback, $50,400—Bonhams,
AZ, p. 124
1936 Packard Twelve
series 1407 coupe, $11,550—
Worldwide Auctioneers, AZ,
p. 117
sold price rose by $7,215 to $43,822 on 239 lots. The
median value came in at $35,200, again up over the
previous year. High seller, again from Barrett-Jackson,
was a custom (I’m sensing a theme here) 1941 Dodge
Power Wagon for $220,000.
This year, 2019 for those still counting, our average
checks in at $43,679 (minus $143 from 2018) and the
median is $37,400. Auction companies sold 190 trucks
in total. Barrett-Jackson’s high seller — top of the week,
too — was a custom (you knew it) 1958 Jeep FC170 sold
at $159,500. This is the highest median in our timeline.
From start to end on our timeline, the truck market
in Arizona showed appreciable growth — even with
the number of lots fluctuating year-to-year — ranging
from 150 to 248 trucks. On average, you’d have
spent $37,079 on a truck in 2015, while that number
increased by $6,600 (17.8% increase) over the five-year
look back. Median value increased by $7,150 from
2015 to 2019. A
Page 70
MARKET OVERVIEW
TOP 10
SALES IN THIS ISSUE
buy It NOW
WHAT TO PURCHASE IN TODAY’S MARKET — AND WHY
2009–13 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
At the ACC seminar on
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1981 Jeep CJ-7 Custom
SUV, $1,310,000—
Barrett-Jackson, AZ, p. 87
1930 Cadillac 452 Series
4260 sport phaeton,
$940,000—RM Sotheby’s,
AZ, p. 118
1965 Shelby Cobra 289
roadster, $912,500—
Gooding & Co., AZ, p. 122
1935 Auburn 851 SC
Boattail Speedster,
$687,500—Worldwide
Auctioneers, AZ, p. 112
1969 Chevrolet Corvette
convertible, $522,500—
Worldwide Auctioneers, AZ,
p. 116
1931 Duesenberg
Model J Custom Berline,
$506,000—Worldwide
Auctioneers, AZ, p. 110
2005 Ford GT coupe,
$352,000—Mecum
Auctions, FL, p. 96
1969 Dodge Daytona
2-dr hard top,
$330,000—Barrett-Jackson,
AZ, p. 84
2006 Ford GT coupe,
$318,500—RM
Sotheby’s, AZ, p. 126
Speedster, $291,500—
Worldwide Auctioneers, AZ,
p. 110
10
72 AmericanCarCollector.com
1932 Auburn 12-160A
Modified Boattail
Wednesday morning, January 16,
at Barrett-Jackson’s “Behind the
Hobby” series, Ken Lingenfelter
joined ACC writers Jay Harden,
Carl Bomstead, B. Mitchell
Carlson, Sam Stockham and
Editor Pickering on stage. While
the seminar panelists offered a
variety of opinions for cars to
buy, sell and hold, the one that
caught my ear was Lingenfelter’s
pick to buy: a 2009–13 Chevrolet
Corvette ZR1.
The usual focus is on buying
something up and coming, rather
than on a downward slide, as cars
in that 2009–13 range are often
regarded as used cars — even if they are tagged as future collectibles.
These last of the C6s were top-level performers. The supercharged LS9 pumps out 638 hp and 604 ft-lb
of torque. It also reportedly hit 192 mph on the Autobahn. Motor Trend tested a 2013 ZR1 against the SRT
Viper GTS — the ’Vette was 2.1 seconds faster per lap around Laguna Seca.
List MSRP started at $103,970 in 2009 and grew to $111,600 by 2013. Recent sales in the ACC Premium
Auction Database show these cars selling for $66,000 to $91,300 in 2018. A possible 40% reduction in price
with no loss for those 638 ponies? Where do I sign?
There’s no guarantee that these top-of-the-line Corvettes will ever be worth as much as previous kings
of the ’Vette hill — the L72, L88 or early Fuelies — or that they’ll ever sell for over their MSRP. However,
it’s positioned atop the performance hierarchy of this era of Corvette, which only bodes well for its future
collectibility.
AuctIonS And totAlS In thIS ISSue
$100m
$120m
$140m
$160m
$20m
$40m
$60m
$80m
$0
Mecum Auctions
Kissimmee, FL
January 3–13, 2019
Barrett-Jackson
Scottsdale, AZ
January 12–20, 2019
Worldwide Auctioneers
Scottsdale, AZ
January 16, 2019
Russo and Steele
Scottsdale, AZ
January 16–20, 2019
Bonhams
Scottsdale, AZ
January 17, 2019
RM Sotheby’s
Phoenix, AZ
January 17–18, 2019
Gooding & Company
Scottsdale, AZ
January 18–19, 2019
$124.4m
$93.7m
—Chad Tyson
$48.2m
$36.9m
$9.2m
$11.7m
$16.1m
Page 72
BARRETT-JACKSON • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
Scottsdale 2019
A 1981 Jeep CJ-7 built for the Gary Sinise Foundation sold twice,
topped by a sizable corporate donation, for a total of $1.3m
Barrett-Jackson
Scottsdale, AZ
January 12–20, 2019
Auctioneers: Mast
Auctioneers; Joseph Mast,
lead auctioneer
Automotive lots sold/
offered: 1,820/1,821
Sales rate: 99.9%
Sales total:
$124,436,300
High American noncharity
sale: 2005
Saleen S7 Twin Turbo
coupe, sold at $687,500
Buyer’s premium:
10%, included in sold
prices
1981 Jeep CJ-7 custom SUV, sold at $1,310,000
Report and photos by John Boyle
Market opinions in italics
Condition Ratings
ACC’s 1–6 scale for describing
vehicles in Market Reports
1
2
3
4
5
6
Perfect: National
show standard
Excellent: Club
show-worthy, some
small flaws
Average: Daily driver
in decent condition
Meh: Still a driver,
with some visible flaws
Questionable:
A problem-plagued
beast that somehow
manages to run
Lost cause:
Salvageable for parts
74 AmericanCarCollector.com
T
hey call themselves “the world’s greatest collector
car auctions.” I have to admit I came away
impressed with the sheer number and quality
of the offerings that appeared at the largest
and oldest of the Scottsdale sales. It’s been
awhile since I last attended Barrett-Jackson and I was
surprised by what I saw — and didn’t see.
You could count the ’30s classics on one hand (with
a digit left over), and no ’60s-built Cobra roadsters
were on offer. Sure, there were plenty of stock — and
restored to better than new — examples of Detroit
muscle, but on entering the main hall, what grabbed
one’s attention was the number of cars that may have
kept their old-school looks but were packed with
modern technology.
Company president Steve Davis summed up
the changes: “From resto-mod Camaros to custom
Broncos, the hunger for classic styling with modern
technology is skyrocketing. A major generational shift
has occurred…”
I heard more than one conversation in which
auction-goers picked their favorite C1 and 2 Corvette
resto-mods.
The top charity car was a 2019 Ford GT Heritage
edition, VIN 001, benefiting the United Way of
Southeast Michigan. It sold for $2.5m to Rick
Hendrick. The first 2020 Shelby GT500 went to
Craig Jackson for $1.1m to support juvenile diabetes
research. Four Bumblebee Camaros from the
“Transformers” film series sold as a single lot for
$500,000 plus an extra $25k donation. A tastefully
modified 1981 Jeep CJ-7 built on the “Gas Monkey
Garage” TV series for the Gary Sinise Foundation
sold twice for a total of $300k, and a sizable corporate
donation raised the final total to $1.3m.
The sale of a nice 1974 Pinto hatchback for $18,150
surprised more than a few. The $77,000 brought by a
1962 Corvair Rampside pickup left a few heads shaking
while making flat-engine Chevy fans happy.
The $124 million in total vehicle sales shows a
healthy jump over last year’s $114 million while selling
91 more cars.
With nearly 2,000 cars up for grabs, plus 250
vendors selling everything from therapy pillows to
artwork, Alaskan vacations, retro-style carbon-fiberbodied
Corvettes to helicopters, Barrett-Jackson is
part carnival and part concours. Still, it remains a
place for car enthusiasts to meet and see the latest
trends as well as longtime favorites. A
Page 74
BARRETT-JACKSON • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
clASSIcS
#1389-1937 CORD 812 Sportsman S/C convertible.
VIN: 31631F. Maroon/tan leather.
Odo: 1,034 miles. An eight-year-old restoration
showing some wear. Noticeable paint touch-ups
on left front panel, windshield trim lightly
scratched. Chips where convertible top fits tonneau.
Sidepipes and hood-vents trim excellent.
Very nice interior. Cond: 2+.
SOLD AT $68,200. Tri-Five Chevys seem to be
the barometer for assessing the values of ’50s
cars. Five years ago, the ACC Pocket Price Guide
gave these a value range of $49k–$69k; today it
lists a median of $44k... But all the news isn’t
bad since it also notes an 11% rise over the past
year. This was a very clean example, which deservedly
sold a few thousand above price-guide
values.
SOLD AT $231,000. Restorer Henry Portz is
described as a leading member of the ACD club.
In the ’80s, be began collecting parts for what
became a 30-year restoration. After being finished
in 2011, the car went through a couple of
owners, and when being returned from a European
collection, the engine block froze and
cracked, necessitating a new block stamped with
the original number. This car appears in the ACC
Premium Auction Database as being sold with
21 fewer miles, for $100k, at the Bonhams’
Amelia Island sale in March 2018 (ACC#
6863715). Our reporter quoted the Bonhams’
catalog: “...never left the factory officially in its
present configuration, but was assembled over a
thirty-year period using original Cord 810/812
parts.” Indeed, the definitive Cord book, Cord
Complete by Josh Malks, gives this serial to an
un-supercharged Beverly sedan. If true, that
might explain the 2018 bargain price. At any
rate, the sale result here is fully priced for a
Sportsman.
GM
#827-1957 cheVrolet bel AIr 2-dr hard
top. VIN: VC57L1600838. Sierra Gold/white/
dark bronze cloth & white vinyl. Odo: 93,548
miles. 283-ci V8, 2x4-bbl, auto. Seller said it was
a 30-year-old restoration and had just been wetsanded
to prepare it for sale. It worked, as it’s
one of the very few cars without polishing
scratches. Very straight body with better-thanfactory
shutlines. Bumpers have minor polishing
scratches. Body and window stainless very good.
Interior looks unused, with excellent soft trim
and dash and refreshingly free of ’50s clichés—
no tissue dispenser or fuzzy dice noted. Engine
compartment clean and detailed. Cond: 2.
76 AmericanCarCollector.com
SOLD AT $60,500. A great-looking car, this is
what I think of when the Beach Boys sang “409.”
Last sold at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2012
(ACC# 6742871), where it changed hands for
the exact price that it did here; likely a case of
paying slightly too much then, rather than a
market or condition retreat today. Fairly sold
and perhaps slightly well bought.
#135-1965 cheVrolet corVAIr corsa
convertible. VIN: 107675W232918. Evening
Orchid/white vinyl/white vinyl. Odo: 14,234
miles. 164-ci turbocharged H6, auto. An older
restoration; the paint has a few minor scratches,
SOLD AT $231,000. Number 27 of the 69 COPOs
in ’69. As with many cars that were racers,
this one has a bit of a story. It seems after a couple
of years of racing, it was sent to a body shop
#1018-1963 cheVrolet IMPAlA SS convertible.
VIN: 31867B206271. Palomar Red/
black vinyl/black vinyl. Odo: 67,666 miles. 409-ci
V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Said to be a seven-year-old restoration;
car features a very straight body with
very good paint. Replated bumper shows some
waves. Original-finish aluminum grille looks
untouched, showing a dullness that stands out
against the rest of the car; still, it’s better than
having it too shiny. Back panel trim very good.
Stainless atop door has wear from elbow-out
motoring. Good interior trim but driver’s seat
looks a bit overstuffed. Console trim shows slight
pitting. Engine bay clean and detailed with
chrome dual-snorkel air cleaner and factory battery
and hose clamps. Cond: 2-.
door dings and a golf-ball-size shallow dent on
driver’s side quarter panel. Aside from that, body
is straight with decent panel gaps. Bumpers have
nicks and scratches. Door-handle finish worn, but
windshield and window trim good. Top fits very
well with no wrinkles; clear plastic window. New
tires on factory wheels with wire-wheel hubcaps.
Very good seats and carpet, minor pitting on
radio bezel; the radio itself is a newer, periodlooking
unit. Engine bay is driver quality, but
clean and dry. Front trunk shows no signs of rust
or crash damage, but its gray pebble finish is
worn. Cond: 3.
SOLD AT $16,500. The seller said this was a
project he did with his late father. The one-yearonly
Evening Orchid paint sets it apart, although
may not be the first choice for an example with
the turbocharged engine. Clearly well enjoyed, it
sold right where price guides say it should have,
so it’s ready for its next makeover.
#1402-1969 CHEVROLET CAMARO COPO
ZL1 coupe. VIN: 124379N609965. Dark green
metallic/black vinyl. Odo: 890 miles. 427-ci V8,
4-bbl, auto. Exceptional bodywork in a great
period color. Small chip at front of trunk opening,
excellent chrome and stainless; has factory
look, i.e. not too shiny. Base interior is as dark
as a coal mine, not that anyone cares in the
COPOs. Heart of the car is the all-aluminum ZL1
motor, which is spotless along with the rest of the
engine bay. Decal states antifreeze was added
2-69. Formerly owned by Reggie Jackson.
Cond: 2.
Page 75
BARRETT-JACKSON • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
to be tubbed. Well, someone messed up and took
out the entire trunk floor. The damage was so
extensive it required major surgery. At any rate,
the catalog notes: “This car has been rebodied.”
Perhaps that’s why, despite its rarity and condition,
it sold for about half of the ACC price-guide
median. It’s still a COPO with the mighty ZL1,
but there is a story attached.
#757.5-1970 PontIAc trAnS AM coupe.
VIN: 228870N127815. White/black vinyl. Odo:
60,700 miles. 400-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. Nice paint
on a straight body. Hood sits a bit high, other
panel lines are good. Very nice Endura plastic
nose. Correct finish on window stainless, a couple
of chromed-over blemishes on back bumper.
Blue stripe decal is lifting at base of spoiler. Interior
very nice, with a few small bumps/waves on
dashpad. Equipped with factory a/c. Engine bay
clean, with aftermarket hoses. Seller notes recently
upgraded suspension and that it was lowered
two inches. Comes with records of frame-off
restoration. Cond: 2.
better than most two-year-old cars. Underhood is
clean and original. Photos show the underside of
the car to be as clean as the top. Cond: 2. SOLD
AT $99,000. A former ACC cover car (May–June
2018), where our Dale Novak called its $73,920
(ACC# 6863642) sale at Bonhams Amelia Island
an incredible buy, especially considering it sold
for $110k in late 2016 at Mecum Dallas (ACC#
6814167). It’s good to see the car recoup some
of its past losses, and considering its rarity and
the market for original cars, this one was again
well bought.
#1310-1970 CHEVROLET CHEVELLE SS LS6
2-dr hard top. VIN: 136370A137728. Cortez
Silver/Parchment Pearl vinyl. Odo: 5,667 miles.
454-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. Beautiful paint, far better
than any GM plant was capable of in 1970. Super-straight
body; the only negative is the trunk
lid sits high, probably because of new rubber
seals. Front bumper has minor waves but has
correct factory sheen. Excellent window stainless.
Beautiful interior—the only fault there is a Sha
Na Na tape in the 8-track. I’d like to think anyone
cool enough to drive this car would have
better taste. Underhood correct and detailed,
with period Delco battery. Comes with build
sheets, books and awards. Cond: 1-.
SOLD AT $45,100. One of just 3,196 Trans Ams
in the model’s sophomore year. Sold well below
the ACC median of $55k; I couldn’t find any
glaring issues, so perhaps the buyers were put
off by the modified suspension, which might give
it a “street racer” image instead of a blue-chip
collectible one.
#1283-1970 oldSMobIle 442 W-30 2-dr
hard top. VIN: 344870M182832. Twilight Blue/
blue vinyl. Odo: 81,785 miles. 455-ci V8, 4-bbl,
4-sp. Original paint shows a bit of age, but has a
nice shine and was good enough to win a preservation-class
award at a concours last year. Front
bumper has some light wear and scratches, as
does the stainless, but with a car this age and
with this many miles, comments about age and
wear are just nit-picking. The interior shows
SOLD AT $159,500. A sub-6k mile, matchingnumbers
car that underwent a full restoration in
2000 using original and date-coded parts, this
car has won nearly 100 first place awards since.
Well equipped with Cowl Induction hood, 12-bolt
rear with Positraction and a 3:31 ratio, buckets
and console. Fully priced, but it’s not likely you’ll
find a nicer one. Original MSRP was $4,682.55.
#432-1972 CHEVROLET C10 Super Cheyenne
pickup. VIN: CCE142B142489. Blue &
white/blue vinyl & cloth. Odo: 20,231 miles. 350ci
V8, 4-bbl, 3-sp. Well-applied, recent paint. No
signs of use or abuse. Side trim likely repop.
Good window trim. Spotless interior largely
stock. Houndstooth seat covers fit well. Nice dash
fitted with modern radio. Speakers in door panels.
Driver’s door-lock plunger broken off. Engine
bay not open. Cond: 2.
March–April 2019 77
Page 76
BARRETT-JACKSON • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
given condition and rarity, I’ll say it was well
bought. The 1LE is offered on 2019 cars, meaning
this one will hopefully go to a collection
rather than the track.
CORVETTE
SOLD AT $36,300. The Super Cheyenne package
included heavy-duty suspension, brakes,
shocks and springs. With the integral cab lights
and bed rails, this certainly looks the part of a
top-of-the-line pickup from the period. Last seen
last year at this same sale, where it brought
$40,700 (ACC# 6862419). The 1967–72 Chevy
trucks are the poster child for rising truck values;
I can’t explain why this unit lost almost $4k in a
year. Could be it got lost in the shuffle of so
many trucks at Barrett-Jackson. Suffice it to say,
the price paid is very fair in today’s market and
may look like a bargain next year.
#1532-1992 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28 1LE
coupe. VIN: 1G1FP23F9NL107659. Blue/gray
cloth. Odo: 1,961 miles. 5.0-L fuel-injected V8,
5-sp. Well-cared-for original paint (with plenty
of official, factory orange peel) marred only by a
chip on driver’s door. Dash in excellent shape;
seat foam is aging, so seat covers are baggy.
RPO 1LE includes upgraded brakes, an aluminum
driveshaft, baffled fuel tank, special shocks,
stiffer suspension, 145-mph speedo, 5,000-rpm
tach, oil cooler and no fog lights (to clear the
grille for more cooling). Most, like this car, deleted
anything that might sap power or add
weight. This one has hand-crank windows. Nice
wheels and tires. Hood not open. Cond: 2.
#1353-1953 CHEVROLET CORVETTE roadster.
VIN: E53F001290. Polo White/black cloth/
red vinyl. Odo: 30,298 miles. 235-ci 150-hp I6,
3x1-bbl, auto. Number 290 of the 300 Corvettes
produced in the inaugural year. An older restoration
with the expected chips, the worst being a
somewhat touched-up two-inch chip at the leading
edge of the passenger’s door. Sink marks
visible on hood, including a two-inch circle, but
no cracking. The fiberglass bodies on these are
notoriously bad. However, this one has decent
gaps, but both doors and trunk sit proud. Fresh
interior likely better than new. Wide whitewalls
are yellowing. Engine bay is clean and correct,
but has modern battery. Cond: 2.
high-performance brakes, subtle indirect LED
lights, and custom engine cover over the supercharged
LS1. Cond: 1.
SOLD AT $269,500. Builder/seller told me he
bought it as a ’54 body with no chassis or powertrain.
In other words, no running ’54 Corvettes
were harmed in the making of this custom. Multiple
Ridler and Goodguys award winner and
featured in several magazines. Now, $269k is a
lot of money for any car, and I’m not normally a
fan of too-perfect customs, but this car is well
worth the money.
SOLD AT $220,000. Restored about 20 years
and 800 miles ago by NASCAR driver Mark Martin,
and on display in his museum for a while. In
California since 2008 and recent service includes
new brake, cylinders, a valve job and new interior.
As it sits, it would be a fine museum display
or, with new tires, a good driver, but before
heading to a show field, it will need some work.
Well sold for condition.
SOLD AT $46,200. Sold at Barrett-Jackson Las
Vegas in 2017 for $31,900 (ACC# 6852673).
What makes this car special is the 1LE RPO option
code, which produced specially equipped
cars for SCCA Showroom Stock racing. The option
was first offered in 1989, and 1992 had the
highest production of the third-generation cars,
with only 116 non-a/c units produced. These are
so rare they’re not in my various price guides, so
78 AmericanCarCollector.com
#1354-1954 CHEVROLET CORVETTE custom
convertible. VIN: E54S004299. Soul Red/red
fiberglass/Deep Earth leather. Odo: 265 miles.
5.7-L supercharged V8, auto. Exceptional work
on a full-blown, no-expense-spared, show custom.
A real ’54 body, widened three inches in
rear and just under two up front, on a custom
frame with C4 suspension. Doors modified for
power windows (remember, the early C1 Corvettes
had side curtains). A ’56 top and windshield
were added to give the car the look of the
1954 Motorama Corvette show car. Clever
touches abound, my favorite being custom CNCmachined
fender trim having a cut-out “Corvette”
which illuminates with flashers. Vintage
Air a/c system, custom wheels, custom gauges,
#781.1-1961 CHEVROLET CORVETTE convertible.
VIN: 10867S110883. Roman Red/white
vinyl/red vinyl. Odo: 888 miles. 283-ci 270-hp
V8, 2x4-bbl, 4-sp. NCRS Top Flight award winner,
so not much to nit-pick. Straight body, stainless
trim fits perfectly. Trunk sits slightly high, as
does rear of driver’s door. Paint has minor polishing
marks. Correct T-3 headlights. Seller
claims original, not repro, spinner hubcaps.
Frame painted gloss black. Beautiful interior
with red and black carpets and ’60s-style seat
belts. Cond: 2+.
SOLD AT $99,000. Last seen at the 2005 Russo
and Steele Scottsdale auction, where it sold for a
then-hefty $77,785 (ACC# 1562205). At that
time, our reporter noted it in 2+ condition, with
a fresh restoration, and summed it up as a
“Scottsdale price but not completely crazy.” If it’s
the same restoration, it’s been very well taken
care of. Sold right where it should have; buyer
and seller should be very happy.
#1070.1-1966 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
coupe. VIN: 194377S109814. Marlboro Maroon/
black vinyl. Odo: 78,938 miles. 427-ci 390-hp V8,
4-bbl, 4-sp. A matching-numbers, one-owner car
until 2010, and verified as the real deal by Cor
Page 78
BARRETT-JACKSON • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
vette expert Roy Sinor. An older restoration. Won
an NCRS Top Flight award in 2014, where it
scored a 96.8. So any flaws are pretty much of
the nit-pick variety. The most I found were some
waves on right front bumper and some wrinkles
in the passenger’s seat. Mirrored display showed
a very clean chassis. Well equipped with factory
AM/FM and Positraction. Comes with original
documents, restoration photos and some original
parts. Cond: 2+.
#727.1-1996 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Grand
Sport coupe. VIN: 1G1YY2255T5600772. Admiral
Blue/black leather. Odo: 815 miles. 5.7-L
330-hp fuel-injected V8, 6-sp. Practically a new
car with its low miles. Paint has slight polishing
marks. Driver’s seat has more wear than I’d expect
for miles, but I guess if the owner couldn’t
drive it, he thought he could at least sit in it.
Aftermarket tinted windows. Windshield also
looks like it’s tinted, which may not find favor
with your local police. Uncurbed wheels. Engine
bay not open for inspection. Said to have Bloomington
Gold certification. Cond: 2+.
with ps, pb and wire wheels. Engine compartment
with chrome dress-up kit correct, dry and
detailed. Cond: 2-. SOLD AT $62,700. There
are a lot of these out there. Many I see are coming
out of long-term ownership, presumably as
owners sell off their collections, so it’s not uncommon
for these to need some work. This car’s
needs seem fairly minor. Still, it was fully
priced—if not a bit well sold—for condition
and having the base engine.
SOLD AT $137,500. Everyone’s favorite C2, a
‘67 big block; the only thing it lacks is one of the
larger engines. This is still a big step up from the
base 300-horse or optional 350-hp 327. This was
fully priced, and perhaps a bit generous, but
that’s to be expected with a car of this quality
and documentation.
#510.1-1967 CHEVROLET CORVETTE coupe.
VIN: 194377S1003220. Marlboro Maroon/black
vinyl. Odo: 36,219 miles. 327-ci 350-hp V8,
4-bbl, 4-sp. Original paint is free from major
cracks, but has numerous nicks and small scrapes
and an 18-inch discolored strip on rear deck.
Good panel gaps. Excess sealer on A-pillar. Both
bumpers have waves. Window stainless good.
Turbine wheels in very nice shape. Seats are very
good with just a few wrinkles; carpets also good.
Dash not cracked, but glovebox stainless has the
usual small dents. Underhood is nice driver quality,
clean and correct. Fan shroud worn and exhaust
manifolds show use, age. Cond: 3-.
SOLD AT $40,700. One of 810 Grand Sport
coupes built with the RPO Z16 Option group with
Admiral Blue paint, red fender hash marks and
white racing stripe. One of the most collectible
C4s; the ACC price guide says these have increased
14% in the past year. Considering the
miles and condition, very well bought.
FOMOCO
#1057-1957 ford thunderbIrd convertible.
VIN: C7FH260712. Starmist Blue/dark blue
cloth, white hard top/black & white vinyl. Odo:
83,969 miles. 292-ci V8, 4-bbl, 3-sp. Older restoration
holding up well, with minor polishing
marks. A few sections of orange peel, and a section
of the tonneau, are discolored from where
hard top has been sitting on, which stands out.
Hard top headliner is so old it’s likely original,
with plenty of water stains around all windows. It
also has an ancient hard rubber seal with large
chunks missing. Both bumpers shine nicely but
have waves. Stainless trim is very nice. Good
dash and steering wheel. Two-tone seats and
door panels are also very good. Original Town &
Country radio upgraded to AM/FM. Car equipped
SOLD AT $66,000. Claimed original paint and
matching-numbers drivetrain. In a sea of restored
cars, this was fun to look at. A step above
the base 327/300 car, this 350-hp example
showed care and light use during the past 51
years. Selling for just under the ACC median of
$68k, this was well bought if you prize originality.
80 AmericanCarCollector.com
#669-1958 edSel VIllAger wagon. VIN:
W8UT702216. Red & white/red & white vinyl.
Odo: 88,101 miles. 361-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. Very
thick older repaint still presents fairly well. Front
bumper worn, with minor scratches. Side trim
shows well, but taillight bezels and rear window
trim pitted. Seats look correct and are well fitted.
Neat dash has wild rotating speedometer, transmission
buttons in wheel hub and a 45-rpm record
player mounted beneath it. Fitted with
power steering and brakes. Engine compartment
clean but not detailed, and glass Edsel washerfluid
bottle fitted. Comes with period picnic jug
and bongo drums. Cond: 3.
SOLD AT $33,000. Sold seven months earlier
with six fewer miles at Barrett-Jackson’s Northeast
2018 sale for $26,400 (ACC# 6872612). At
the time, our correspondent said that prices for
these have remained static for years. Well, he
spoke a bit too soon, as this sale likely netted a
tidy little profit for the seller and brings value to
meet various price guides.
#551-1959 MERCURY MONTEREY convertible.
VIN: N9WA551017. Salmon/white vinyl/
Salmon & white vinyl. Odo: 26,249 miles. 383-ci
V8, 4-bbl, auto. Decades-old repaint could almost
pass for original, being slightly dull with
minor issues and scratches. Still, it’s good enough
to take to most events. Stainless has a nice shine,
with only the occasional dent. Good bumpers.
Headlight trim well worn; looks like they’ll begin
to pit in a couple of years if left unattended.
Well-fitted top with plastic window mimicking the
factory reverse-slope back window. Interior redone
in correct pattern, but comes across a bit
generic. Dash nice with only minor issues to
Page 80
BARRETT-JACKSON • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
chrome and stainless. Engine bay clean and dry,
but paint blistering off one of the manifold
shields. Seller was on hand to answer questions—always
a plus. Cond: 3.
family and still have some serious performance.
This was a nice example with all the right parts
and was very well bought.
SOLD AT $44,000. Sold right where price
guides said it should. Despite its flaws, or perhaps
because of them, I liked this car. It came
across as honest and solid. As it sits, it’s a car
you can enjoy without worry, yet not be ashamed
to be seen in. Said to be a three-owner car, this
example shows up twice in the ACC database,
selling for $36,000 in 2011 (ACC# 6761418),
and selling to the seller for $49,500 at this same
sale in 2015 (ACC# 6778930). Seller lost about
a thousand a year during his ownership, not a
terrible loss for enjoying something so unique...
Imagine a 1950s convertible that’s not a Tri-Five
Chevy or ’55–57 T-bird.
#1133-1963 ford gAlAXIe 500 2-dr
hard top. VIN: 3U66R145641. Corinthian
White/black vinyl/black vinyl. Odo: 21,360 miles.
427-ci V8, 2x4-bbl, 4-sp. A family man’s hot rod
R-code Galaxie ’63½ fastback. A frame-off restoration
shows well with excellent paint, good
chrome bumpers. Correct Kelsey-Hayes wheels
with dog-dish hubcaps and Firestone bias-ply
tires are a nice touch. Stainless trim and grille
have correct factory, i.e. not too bright, shine.
New vinyl top. Interior looks unused and features
a very nice dash complete with radio and clock,
meaning this wasn’t born to be a racer.
Underhood is clean, with chrome accents and
modern battery. Cond: 2.
#1399-1969 FORD MUSTANG Boss 429
fastback. VIN: 9F02Z195401. Red/ black vinyl.
Odo: 4,558 miles. 429-ci V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Driven
seven miles since a rotisserie restoration in 2000.
Excellent paint, detailed chassis and like-new
interior have led it to receiving a host of Mustang
Club and AACA awards. One slight dent in console
armrest. Engine bay is detailed as you’d
expect, with factory tags and marks; trunk has
correct space-saver spare with the original Autolite
charge canister. My biggest complaint is that
it’s too nice, and likely too expensive, to drive to
the Dairy Queen. Cond: 2+.
Michelins with correct-size whitewalls. Cond: 2.
SOLD AT $286,000. There were four Boss 429s
within a few yards of each other—not a bad
congregation for a total production run of 857.
For you Mustang historians, it is #605, KK1807.
This appears in the ACC database as having sold
for $265,000 at Mecum Indy in 2012 (ACC#
6750342), so not much of a return. The seller
told me he was hoping for $300,000, and he
came pretty close.
#5-1974 ford PInto hatchback. VIN:
4X11Y145029. Blue/white vinyl/blue vinyl &
cloth. Odo: 24,394 miles. 2.3-L I4, 2-bbl, auto.
Newer, thick paint has a couple of small runs
and areas of orange peel. Vinyl top is in excellent
condition and with correct grain—no signs of
wear or rust bumps underneath. Bumpers shine
more than what you saw on new cars back in the
day. Window stainless excellent. Severe wear to
wheelwell trim. Excellent factory hubcaps, new
SOLD AT $44,000. Last seen in April 2018 at
Silver AZ’s spring sale, where it sold for $63,720
(ACC# 6865851). Detroit’s performance wars of
the early ‘60s found increasingly powerful V8s
being stuffed under the hoods of innocuouslooking
family cars. Like his GM and Mopar
brethren, a Ford fan could have room for the
82 AmericanCarCollector.com
“
My mom bought my sisters an optionsloaded,
new ‘73 Pinto as a college commuter
car. I used it in high school and
it was a fun-to-drive, well-built car that
gave many years of trouble-free service.
1974 Ford Pinto hatchback
SOLD AT $18,150. At a sale like this, it’s comforting
to see a car you have direct experience
with. My mom bought my sisters an optionsloaded,
new ’73 Pinto as a college commuter
car. I used it in high school and it was a fun-todrive,
well-built car that gave many years of
trouble-free service. This example has the Luxury
Décor Group, which features an upgraded interior
and extra stainless trim around the back
panel. This car was the object of conversation
before the sale; most figured it would sell at
$10k, but being Barrett-Jackson, I figured $12k.
So much for conventional wisdom. The few price
guides that list these top out at about half the
final sales figure, but these are rarely seen in
this good/correct condition, so what we have is a
buyer taking the opportunity of buying a rarecondition
car when available.
#1561-1974 FORD BRONCO utility. VIN:
U15GLU30180. Red & white/Parchment vinyl.
Odo: 68,711 miles. 302-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. Recent
paint, thick with some orange peel, in upscale
Explorer trim. Top looks very thick; in fact, rain
gutters are nearly filled with filler and/or paint.
Carpet-less floor shows factory welds as well as
45 years of use. New seat covers with excellent
”
BEST
BUY
Page 82
BARRETT-JACKSON • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
reproduction door and rear-quarter panels. Unusual
for this model: no back seat. Modern radio
fitted. Underhood is functional rather than detailed.
Clean 302 with usual aftermarket air
cleaner. Cond: 3. SOLD AT $40,700. Most of
the Broncos here were high-dollar—VERY high
dollar—resto-mods. There was even a vendor
selling brand-new first-gens for prices up to
$300k, so I thought it would be fun to seek out a
stock one. Finally, in the back of a tent and
scheduled to be sold on bargain Sunday, I found
this. That this truck sold as well as it did tells you
everything you need to know about the Bronco
market. Well sold.
#851-1993 FORD MUSTANG SVT Cobra R
hatchback. VIN: 1FACP42D1PF169179. Red/
gray cloth. Odo: 551 miles. 5.0-L fuel-injected
V8, 5-sp. A new car that’s never been dealerprepped.
Plastic still on steering wheel and seats.
Paint has minor dusting swirls. Engine bay has
all factory marks. The Cobra R was aimed at
racers and not equipped with a back seat, a/c,
radio or warranty. Cond: 1-.
no GPS...no foolin’), with the exception of the
seat being re-covered in nice leather. New rubber
mats. Engine bay stock and very clean but
show signs of slight seepage from water pump
and carb. Fitted with quality winch and new tires.
Cond: 2+.
example of Exner’s Forward Look designs. The
price here blew away the most generous of
price-guide numbers by a factor of two. Incredibly
well done and rare, it was also fairly bought.
SOLD AT $63,800. A well-finished truck. These
enjoyed their moment in the sun a few years
back when Tom Selleck’s old rig sold for $121k
at the 2016 Barrett-Jackson Northeast sale. The
next year I saw one as nice as this no-sale at
$57,750 at Russo and Steele Scottsdale (ACC#
6816958). This result is in line with recent sales;
in fact, a few lots later a similar truck sold for
$52,800. Given the quality of the work, I’ve got
to say it was well bought (if you can afford $60k
for a truck that is too nice to use). It’s the perfect
truck for Cars & Coffee in Sun Valley or Jackson
Hole.
SOLD AT $132,000. This is number 11 of the
107 produced, most of which were used for their
intended purpose, so it’s safe to assume this is
one of the lowest-mileage cars, possibly the best
in existence. Kept by its original Ford dealer
until 2016, when it was sold for $66,000 to the
consignor at Mecum Kissimmee (ACC#
6798358). At that time our correspondent noted
it sold well below the auction estimate and said,
“There is room for appreciation.” Publisher Martin,
give that man a raise. Exceptionally well
sold, but it’s likely the best one out there and
obviously worth it to a pair of Mustang devotees.
MOPAR
#823.1-1948 DODGE POWER WAGON
pickup. VIN: 83908159. Red & black/black
leather. Odo: 15,951 miles. 230-ci I6, 1-bbl,
4-sp. Beautiful body paint over very straight
metal. Black fenders have some orange peel.
Chrome limited to the huge POWER WAGON
badge, which is new or at least appears so. New
window and door rubber. Long bed is undented,
with new wood and stainless rub strips. Interior
is completely stock (no a/c, no radio, no cruise,
84 AmericanCarCollector.com
#1296-1958 DODGE CUSTOM ROYAL Super
D-500 Spring Special convertible. VIN: LD325851.
Poppy Red & beige/black vinyl/red vinyl,
black cloth. Odo: 52,970 miles. 360-ci V8, 2x4bbl,
auto. Very straight body accented by very
good paint. Excellent panel gaps. Only paint
issue I spot is a chip at base of each rear quarterwindow
track. Excellent chrome and stainless.
Some minor scratches at top of windshield where
top attaches. Excellent top with small wrinkles at
base of B-pillar. Interior very good, with correct
cloth inserts and the metal weave that was popular
at the time. Dash is unbelievably shiny and
must have cast quite a glare with the top down.
Cond: 2+.
#1429-1969 DODGE DAYTONA
2-dr hard top. VIN: XX29L9B355142.
Bright red/black vinyl. Odo: 18,761 miles. 440-ci
V8, 4-bbl, auto. A decade-old restoration has
excellent paint over a very straight body. Minor
crack at corner of nose section. Unlike its Superbird
cousin, the Daytona features a large rubber
gasket between the nose and body; this one
looked a bit pinched in some places, bulging in
others, but they all could be like that given the
hand-built nature of the car. Slight polishing
marks on stainless A-pillar. Interior is well
equipped with buckets and console, but there are
minor pits on console trim. Minor wrinkling to
headliner along B-pillar. Engine bay spotless
and detailed with factory-correct marking and
period battery. Cond: 2+.
8
SOLD AT $330,000. One of 433 Daytonas powered
by the 440. Not quite a perfect car, but nice
enough for anyone other than a Mopar concours
judge. Deservedly sold at top of the market, and
about $100k more than a similar-condition 440
Superbird. Comes with Dave Wise inspection
report.
#1370-1970 PlyMouth SuPerbIrd 2-dr
hard top. VIN: RM23V0A166250. Blue/black
vinyl/black vinyl. Odo: 54,768 miles. 440-ci V8,
3x2-bbl, 4-sp. Better-than-factory paint over a
straight body. I did notice two spot welds on the
panel between roof and trunk, but since both
sides had them, they were likely left there on
purpose to show how the factory built them. Correct
vinyl top with a dime-sized bump forming.
Excellent window trim and whiskers. Two-tone
interior fitted well with minor wear to trim, but
SOLD AT $159,500. The top-of-the-line Dodge
of its era. This car always drew a crowd, a prime
TOP 10
Page 84
BARRETT-JACKSON • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
MARKET MOMENT
1958 Edsel Villager Wagon
less than I usually see. Fitted with Rallye dash.
Cond: 2+. SOLD AT $231,000. Mopar expert
Dave Wise walked me through this car and gave
it his blessing in terms of correctness and condition.
Priced about $50k above the ACC median,
this result seems fair both ways.
Courtesy of Barrett-Jackson
SOLD at $33,000
Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale, AZ, January 12–20, 2019, Lot 669
VIN: W8UT702216
S
ome cars explode onto the market and live forever, while others have a quick flash of
success and fade into the rear-view mirror.
For FoMoCo’s Edsel line, the spark was never there to begin with.
The public release of the much-ballyhooed Edsel lineup finally took place on
September 4, 1957. Ford had hoped to win back customers with a new mid-range op-
tion. It wasn’t meant to be.
Edsel production was distributed to Ford plants already busy with building established
models. Workers were not enthusiastic about building the new Edsels, as they required unique
touches, and plant managers thought the cars wrecked productivity rates.
So, many Edsels were slapped together — and consumers noticed.
Ford immediately began improving build quality, but the Edsel name was already tar-
nished. Barely two years after the Edsel was launched, Ford killed the line on November 19,
1959.
Even today, these cars are viewed as Ford’s weird little stepbrother. They pop up at the
local car show occasionally. You might find a fan with a couple of projects parked in their
yard, but that’s about it.
The fact that the Edsel is so seldom seen and so looked down upon is baffling to me — es-
pecially when I slap eyes on a Villager wagon like this one.
These are damn cool cars.
The iconic long vertical grille and the 1950s rocket flair is so incredibly unique to Edsel.
Just look at the push-button transmission controls in the center of the steering wheel, the
speedometer that looks like an alien spaceship hovering in the dash — and the big, arrowshaped
taillights! You won’t find these special touches on a ’60s Belvedere wagon.
The best part about this Edsel Villager is the price. While $33k is not cheap, it is a bargain
compared to what many other 1950s wagons sell for.
A search of the ACC Premium Auction Database shows 115 1955 to 1960 wagons offered at
auction last year. Most of them are Nomad examples — both custom and stock. Many brought
huge money.
In fact, out of the 79 sold wagons in 2018, only 25 were cheaper than this Edsel. That
includes the sale of this very same car at Barrett-Jackson’s Northeast Auction in June 2018 for
an even-cheaper $26,400.
Both buyer and seller won in this transaction. The seller made some fast cash with a quick
flip, and the buyer got one heck of a cool wagon at less than half of what the cheaper Nomads
are bringing.
Take notice, wagon lovers. If you want to jump on board this hot — and fun — trend without
completely breaking the bank, then follow in the steps of this buyer and consider an Edsel.
86 AmericanCarCollector.com
AmericanCarCollector.com
SOLD AT $34,100. A banker’s hot rod. One of a
series of Hurst-branded luxury cruisers. This one,
ironically, had a column shift, not a Hurst unit.
This sold last year at this auction sale for a
healthy $50,600 (ACC# 6862484), so the seller
took a hefty loss. Well bought today based on
condition and miles.
AMerIcAnA
The spark may not have been there in 1957, but it’s not too late to light it off now. A
— Chad Taylor
#454-1955 WIllyS 6-226 pickup. VIN:
5516810001. Beige & white/gray vinyl. Odo:
2,120 miles. 226-ci I6, 1-bbl, 3-sp. Older paint
has the usual issues, with left front fender having
numerous scratches down to bare metal. Limited
trim is nice, side trim is very good; door handles
not pitted, likewise on license-plate housing. Bed
has scratches. Wood cappings atop bed sides
need re-varnishing. Interior basically stock with
tach strapped to steering column. Newer 1970s
radio fitted. Rubber floor mats worn, door cards
look stout enough to survive an atomic blast.
Hood not open for inspection. Cond: 3. SOLD AT
$20,900. Its VIN says it’s the first 1955 pickup,
but since it’s not a Shelby or Corvette, I’m not
sure if anyone (other than die-hard Willys fans)
#1557-1970 CHRYSLER 300H Hurst edition
2-dr hard top. VIN: CM23U0C219243. White &
gold/black vinyl/tan leather. Odo: 17,663 miles.
440-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. The huge, curved “fuselage”
body isn’t laser-straight, but given its size,
age and rarity, I’ll forgive it. Well-applied recent
paint and well-applied tape pinstripes. Excellent
bumper and window trim. The highlight of this
model is the hood with large scoop and the rear
deck with a channel under a flush-fitting rear
spoiler, rather like a fourth-generation Camaro.
Interior looks unused, but the leather seats are
getting a bit stiff. Good padded vinyl roof is
likely original, but there are no signs of rust
bubbles underneath. Underhood is exceptionally
clean. Cond: 2.
Page 85
cares. Sold at B-J’s 2017 Las Vegas sale for $33k
(ACC #6852996). If the seller was 2017’s buyer,
they took quite a loss—likely due to condition
issues rather than a cooling of the truck market.
With a new Wrangler-based Gladiator on the
horizon, this might be well bought, with any
money spent on refurbishment a good investment.
#3005-1981 JEEP CJ-7 custom SUV.
VIN: 1JCCM87E6BTO40245. White, blue
& red/black vinyl. 258-ci I6, 2-bbl, 3-sp. Beautiful
white paint with brilliant blue metalflake
center panel and red side stripes. Gary Sinise
Foundation logo in vinyl on quarter panel and
foundation challenge coins added to front fender.
Oddly, two small screw holes were left in one of
the grille slats. Tasteful, gimmick-free interior
with neat, stock-looking—but digital—gauges
also feature foundation logo. Super-clean engine
bay features original I6 engine. A first-rate build.
Cond: 2+.
1
SOLD AT $1,310,000. A charity sale to benefit
the Gary Sinise Foundation, which assists defenders,
veterans, first responders and their families.
Built by Gas Monkey Garage and featured
on their “Fast N’ Loud” TV series. As a longtime
owner of a similar-era Jeep, I was pleased they
left the dash stock rather than messing it up with
aftermarket catalog stuff. I was also surprised
that they left the straight 6 in it. Sold once for
$200k, a million was then donated to the foundation,
then the Jeep was resold for an additional
$100k. Big money going for a worthwhile
cause. Don’t expect the same for yours. A
March–April 2019 87
TOP 10
Page 86
MECUM AUCTIONS • KISSIMMEE, FL
Kissimmee 2019
Believed to be the only high-compression 1964 Max Wedge Sport Fury
known to exist, it sold for $90,750
Mecum Auctions
Kissimmee, FL
January 3–13, 2019
Auctioneers: Jimmy
Landis, Mark Delzell,
Matt Moravec
Automotive lots sold/
offered: 2,173/3,363
Sales rate: 65%
Sales total: $93,741,010
High sale: 1967 Shelby
GT500 Super Snake fastback,
sold at $2,200,000
Buyer’s premium:
10%, included in sold
prices
1964 Plymouth Sport Fury 2-door hard top, sold at $90,750
Report and photos by John Hoshstrasser
Market opinions in italics
Condition Ratings
ACC’s 1–6 scale for describing
vehicles in Market Reports
1
2
3
4
5
6
Perfect: National
show standard
Excellent: Club
show-worthy, some
small flaws
Average: Daily driver
in decent condition
Meh: Still a driver,
with some visible flaws
Questionable:
A problem-plagued
beast that somehow
manages to run
Lost cause:
Salvageable for parts
88 AmericanCarCollector.com
D
ubbed “The World’s Largest Collector Car
Auction,” Mecum’s annual Kissimmee event
certainly lived up to its billing. For 2019,
more than 3,300 collector cars and 3,000
items of road art were auctioned off over 10
days. Held once again at the massive Osceola Heritage
Park, the auction site covered more than 60 acres, with
food, drinks, exhibitors and live entertainment. Dodge
brought some Hellcats, both Challenger and Charger
types, for some tire-smoking ride-alongs in their
Dodge Thrill Ride. All told, 2,173 cars sold for a combined
$93,741,010, with a 65% sell-through rate. This
is a 4.7% increase over last year with a near-identical
sell-through rate. The difference can be attributed to
the 411 more cars offered this year.
With so many collector cars being auctioned,
bidders could be choosy. If you were looking for a
Chevrolet Corvette, there were more than 300 of all
years available. If, for instance, you were looking
for a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette with the L71 427/435
motor, there was a row of them of various colors and
options to choose from. For the most part, the best cars
brought good money, even sometimes surpassing the
high estimates and market values. Many lesser cars
went unsold, or the consignors cut them loose below
the low estimates.
The top-selling American car was Lot F124, a
1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake that blew past its
$1,200,000 high estimate and sold for $2,200,000.
Shelby built this Super Snake in collaboration with
Goodyear to help them test their new tires. To do the
high-speed testing, Shelby installed a 427-ci motor
that was basically the same powerplant used in the
GT40 Mk II, which had won at Le Mans the previous
year. It’s hard to value such a rare car, but someone
had to have it on this day.
Another significant sale, Lot F100, was a 1964
Plymouth Sport Fury believed to be the only highcompression
1964 Max Wedge Sport Fury known
to exist. As presented in #2 condition, it sold for
$90,750, making it well bought for a rare piece of dragracing
history. For Yenko fans, there were five 1969
Chevrolet Camaro Yenkos available. Although most
went unsold, the one that did sell brought a healthy
$220,000. I still maintain that the Yenko market is
undervalued.
As I live in Central Florida, I’ve attended and en-
joyied the Mecum Kissimmee auction for many years,
and this year’s offerings were among the best. With
an auction so large, you really had to have your walking
shoes on to even see a fraction of what Mecum
Kissimmee has to offer. In addition to this being the
World’s Largest Collector Car Auction, I’ve always
thought of it as the World’s Greatest Car Show. Even if
you do not intend to bid, there’s plenty of opportunity
to educate yourself first-hand on some of the rarest
collector cars built. A
Page 88
MECUM AUCTIONS • KISSIMMEE, FL
GM
#S90.1-1950 CHEVROLET 3100 custom
pickup. VIN: 8HPF8222. Black Cherry/black
leather. 6.0-L fuel-injected V8, auto. No-reserve
charity car to benefit NHRA legend Darrell
Gwynn’s The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis.
Shaved door handles and side trim, frenched
headlights. Excellent paint over straight body
panels. No windshield wipers. Electric doors.
Steel running boards and wood bed show no
wear. Bumpers painted body color, as are custom
grille and 20-inch SSR wheels. Full custom interior
that was lifted from a late-model SSR with
Pioneer entertainment installed. Built on an SSR
chassis, with SSR drivetrain and SSR engine.
Engine bay is clean and detailed. Struts won’t
keep hood up. Air Ride suspension. Digital dash,
so could not record mileage. Cond: 2+.
dows, power brakes, Wonder Bar AM radio, day/
night mirror, fender skirts, Continental kit and
tissue dispenser. Cond: 2-.
SOLD AT $83,600. Equipped with the hydraulic-cam,
250-hp version of Chevy’s Ram Jet fuelinjection
motor. Less power than the 283-hp
version, but I guess the original owner didn’t
want to have to adjust valves. This example was
optioned well for comfort, performance and
style. Previously sold at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale
2015 for $139,700 (ACC# 6779977). TriFive
values have softened as of late, but as a
red, fuel-injected convertible with good options,
this example was well bought.
SOLD AT $110,000. There wasn’t a lot of this
truck that wasn’t modified, and everything was
done right. A bit of a head-scratcher regarding
the weak engine-lid struts, though. The interior
had a kind of vintage Art Deco airplane vibe to it
and was beautifully executed. This lot spent a
while on the block as the auctioneer wrung every
last dollar out of it. High price, but this was a
great custom and the proceeds are going to a
good cause. Sometimes with charity cars the
price guides go out the window. Everybody won
with this sale.
#S25.1-1957 cheVrolet bel AIr convertible.
VIN: VC57T267763. Red/white vinyl/red &
silver vinyl. Odo: 94,289 miles. 283-ci fuel-injected
V8, auto. Older restoration holding up
well. Claimed AACA National First Prize in 1985.
Good red paint over straight body panels. Some
touch-ups to corner of driver’s door. Chrome
bumpers and exterior bright trim a little hazy.
Pitting to door handles and outside mirrors. Continental
kit looks good. Wide whitewall tires are
bright. Convertible top was down, so could not
inspect. Seat vinyl dirty. Interior chrome shows
light pitting. Clock inoperative. Engine bay clean
overall, exhaust manifolds rusty, some radiator
fins bent. Modern green-top Interstate battery
detracts. Optioned with power top, power win-
90 AmericanCarCollector.com
#F100.1-1959 CHEVROLET NOMAD custom
wagon. VIN: F59L183114. Red/red vinyl &
cloth. Odo: 4,201 miles. 5.7-L fuel-injected V8,
auto. Good paint applied over body panels with
slight waviness. Front bumper chrome starting to
get hazy, rest of exterior trim good. Interior restored
very well, with factory-appearing finishes.
Air added with period-looking control panel.
Modern, hidden sound system. Cavernous engine
bay holds LS1 engine. Fitted with Baer fourwheel
disc brakes and modern power steering.
Slight suspension drop and 20-inch Foose wheels
are only external giveaway of its resto-mod status.
Cond: 2.
vinyl/blue vinyl. Odo: 58,055 miles. 396-ci V8,
4-bbl, auto. Could be original paint that is wearing
through in a couple spots. Paint chipped
around door, hood and trunk edges. Pinstripes
and Pace Car decals buffed through in places.
Bumper chrome good, stainless trim shows
scratches and is starting to pit. Driver’s side outside
mirror pitting. Stainless windshield surround
coming apart from windshield with heavy goop
(caulk?) applied to keep water out of interior.
Original interior with baggy driver’s seat. Heavy
wear to driver’s armrest. All interior trim shows
at least some pitting. Doors need a good slam to
correctly latch. Engine bay stock, dirty. Chrome
valve covers pitting, master cylinder rusty. Aircleaner
assembly missing. AM radio is the only
option on this car. No documentation to back up
SS or Pace Car option claims. Offered at no reserve.
Cond: 4+.
SOLD AT $34,100. This Camaro was a little
rough, with no obvious attempts to spruce it up
for the auction. However, the rough original
condition might actually add credence to its SS
and Pace Car claims. If this car was freshly restored
with no documentation, I’d be skeptical. If
it was the real deal, it sold well enough for condition.
SOLD AT $79,750. An attractive build on a
massive 4-door wagon. Stated that the build was
completed in 2003, and it appears to be holding
up well. Resto-mods tend to be built to the particular
taste of the owner, but this example has
many features that should appeal to a goodsized
audience—if they’re into 4-door wagons.
Fell short of the optimistic $90,000 low estimate,
but, due to its four doors, I’m calling it well sold.
#U82-1967 CHEVROLET CAMARO SS convertible.
VIN: 124677N147548. White/black
#S146-1969 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28
coupe. VIN: 124379N613061. Green/black vinyl.
Odo: 59,360 miles. 302-ci V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp.
Claimed unrestored original. Paint starting to get
hazy, but still has some shine. Orange peel consistent
throughout shows how these were originally
delivered. Some touch-ups around nose
area. Front bumper shows light scratches, rear
bumper looks new. Slight scratches and cloudiness
to exterior trim. Rally wheels look good.
Trunk clean, with factory rubber mat. Small tear
to corner of rear seat bottom. Carpet shows wear.
Paint on top of dash cracking. Weatherstripping
new. Matching-numbers engine appears to have
been the recipient of an engine-out repaint. Engine
bay clean, with new power brake booster,
alternator and headers. Valve covers also look
new. Period-looking reproduction hoses throughout
engine bay. Modern, green-topped battery
disconnected. Power steering and brakes.
Cond: 3.
Page 89
MECUM AUCTIONS • KISSIMMEE, FL
SOLD AT $66,000. Sold back in 2012 at Barrett-Jackson’s
Scottsdale sale for $41,800 (ACC#
4775705). Claimed to be all original, but it
clearly wasn’t. The engine had been out for
some unreported reason, and the engine and
engine bay were repainted. The description
didn’t specifically say that the paint was original,
and could have been an old respray. Slightly
well sold due to condition.
#S240-1970 oldSMobIle 442 W-30 replica
convertible. VIN: 344670M237035. Red/
black vinyl/white vinyl. Odo: 4 miles. 455-ci V8,
4-bbl, 4-sp. A real 4-speed convertible 442, with
W-30 badging. Odometer shows four miles, but
catalog says 1,000 miles since restoration. Shiny
red paint shows slight scratches and small bubbles
throughout. Bumpers show surface scratches.
Seat vinyl plush and blemish-free. Dash good.
Plaque on dash reads “Restored by Mike Winters.”
AM radio with factory 8-track. Engine bay
clean, with W-30 intake manifold and red inner
fender liners. The frame-off restoration is holding
up well. Cond: 2.
matching-numbers 455 engine and M-22
4-speed transmission, with miles actual since
new. Recent restoration. Paint is excellent with
good gaps. Chrome bumpers and exterior trim
unmarked. Factory honeycomb wheels blemishfree.
Interior shows no discernible wear. Immaculate
engine bay with factory heat shields
around exhaust manifolds. Additional options
include power steering and brakes, tilt steering,
and AM/FM stereo. Documented by original owner’s
manual, warranty book that shows VIN, and
PHS documentation. Cond: 2+.
SOLD AT $96,250. The longest worker walkout
in GM’s history occurred from April 7 through
September 27, 1972. The impact on Trans Am
production was significant. Only 1,286 Trans Ams
were produced in 1972, the lowest total for any
year of the Trans Am after the first, thus making
them among the rarest today. Of those, only 458
T/As were built with the 4-speed transmission—
making this a rare bird indeed. With the excellent
restoration, relatively low mileage and good
color combination, it’s no surprise that this car
rang the bell, selling far beyond current market
value, and even beyond Mecum’s optimistic
$90,000 high estimate. Very well sold, but it
appears that the buyer had to have it.
SOLD AT $99,000. Said frame-off restoration
was completed in 2010, and this car took a thirdplace
finish at the Olds Nationals that same year.
A binder was displayed full of restoration photos
and some photos from the original owner showing
the car back in the day. One photo even
showed this car towing a trailer(!). Thankfully,
the trailer hitch is long gone. The consignor was
onsite and cheerfully answered all my questions.
A 442 convertible with a 4-speed in good colors
needs no apologies, so I don’t know why the
W-30 bits were added. Any casual 442 fan would
see right through it. Although this car fell short
of the $115,000 low estimate, it was well sold.
#S249-1972 PontIAc trAnS AM coupe.
VIN: 2V87X2N515007. White/white vinyl. Odo:
36,395 miles. 455-ci V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Stated
March–April 2019 91
#S151-1975 cheVrolet cAPrIce classic
convertible. VIN: 1N67U5S163480. Blue/white
vinyl/white vinyl. Odo: 3,103 miles. 400-ci V8,
4-bbl, auto. Stated unrestored with 3,103 actual
miles. Claimed original paint outstanding, with
only slight orange peel to side panels. Chrome
bumpers show surface scratches. Rubber trim on
bumpers excellent. White vinyl interior is bright
and appears unworn. Engine bay clean but not
detailed. Some staining on hoses and intake
around carburetor. Loaded with power steering,
brakes, windows, top and door locks. Also optioned
with a/c, tilt steering, AM/FM radio,
Page 90
MECUM AUCTIONS • KISSIMMEE, FL
8-track, cruise control and fender skirts.
Cond: 2+. SOLD AT $40,700. It looks like
someone’s grandpa loaded up a Caprice convertible
and squirreled it away. When I was a young
kid, my parents had a 1976 Caprice Classic sedan,
and for sentimental reasons, I still admire
them. Well sold, but if you’re a fan of these big
boats like me, go find another convertible
loaded with 3k miles. Likely an unrepeatable
sale until this one comes up again.
#T192-1976 PontIAc trAnS AM Se coupe.
VIN: 2W87W6N601918. Black/black vinyl. Odo:
29,653 miles. 455-ci V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Good paint
with some slight waviness to panels. Trans Am
decals expertly applied. Small spot on chromeplated
nose trim flaked off. Two chips to nose.
Honeycomb wheels blemish-free. Interior all
good, with slight wear to steering wheel and
Hurst shifter. 50th Anniversary emblem on fenders
applied upside down per factory. Louvers on
rear window good. Engine bay stock and clean
but not detailed. Loaded with power brakes,
steering, windows and locks, factory a/c, and
8-track tape player. Non T-top car. Documented
with PHS window sticker, original invoice and
financial paperwork. Cond: 2.
SOLD AT $38,500. GMC’s hot-rod pickup. Period
tests showed 0–60 mph times of 4.6 seconds.
Only offered in 1991, with 2,998 produced.
If this is your thing, then this example was the
one to add to your collection. Excellent condition
with low miles. Sold at a slight premium for its
condition, but we’ll have to keep an eye on
these. Well sold for now.
CORVETTE
SOLD AT $110,000. Claimed one-family owned
until 2014. Loaded with these options, this is a
rare bird. A lot of claims of originality but no
claims regarding original miles. This car is a real
auction frequent flier, as it has been offered at
nine different Mecum auctions in the past three
years, selling at three of those auctions (including
this one). The last time it sold was here at
Mecum Kissimmee in 2018 for $64,900 all in
(ACC# 6858080). It’s been driven 18 miles since
then. If the consignor here was the buyer at its
last sale, they made an outstanding profit. Wildly
well sold, but I guess the buyer had to have it.
#S45.1-1991 GMC SYCLONE pickup. VIN:
1GDCT14Z6M8801781. Black/black cloth. Odo:
11,826 miles. 4.3-L turbocharged V6, auto. Miles
claimed actual. Factory paint holding up well,
with slight polishing swirls. No curb rash to
wheels. Newer vinyl bed cover. Moderate tint to
windows. Interior clean and still has new-car
smell. Slight wear to Syclone floor mats. Unmodified
engine bay clean, but not detailed.
Cond: 2+.
92 AmericanCarCollector.com
#S203-1957 CHEVROLET CORVETTE convertible.
VIN: E57S105384CA. Onyx Black/black
vinyl, black hard top/red vinyl. Odo: 25,288
miles. 283-ci 283-hp fuel-injected V8, 4-sp. Older
repaint shows swirls and scratches throughout.
Some chemical staining around hood. Paint covered
in fingerprints. Side coves painted body
color. Chrome and exterior stainless cloudy.
Windshield surround pitting. Plastic hard-top
rear window hazy. Hard top installed, could not
inspect soft top. Driver’s seat bottom a little
baggy, armrests worn and dirty. Rest of interior
good. Wonder Bar AM radio. Engine bay clean
but not detailed. Exhaust manifolds rusty. All
ignition shields present. Wide whitewall tires
yellowing. Cond: 3+.
SOLD AT $38,500. I’m usually not a fan of
green cars, but this shade with the green vinyl
interior shows well. Not much to fault with this
example, especially with the very desirable solidlifter
LT-1 motor. The reduction in the compression
ratio to 9.0 for 1971 resulted in power going
down to 330 hp. But no matter, these are highly
enjoyable cars to drive. Market-correct price
realized here. Well bought and sold.
FOMOCO
#G170-1936 FORD DELUXE 2-dr sedan.
VIN: 182718745. Black/tan cloth. Odo: 30,967
miles. Great paint over straight body. Gas-cap
gasket cracking, all other weatherstripping good.
Chrome bumpers show surface rust on back sides,
all other chrome good. New running-board rubber.
Wide whitewall tires yellowing. New cloth
interior still smells new. New gauges and new
rubber floor mat in front. Rest of interior is excellent.
Modern temperature gauge mounted
under dash. Flathead motor clean, with modern
radiator hoses. Offered at no reserve. Cond: 2.
NOT SOLD AT $85,000. Late-production car
with 283-hp fuel injection and factory 4-speed.
This example had the desirable drivetrain but
had too many needs to bring top money. It
would make a good driver, however. The final
bid was reasonable for the condition, but the
consignor disagreed.
#S35-1971 CHEVROLET CORVETTE coupe.
VIN: 194371S104547. Brandshatch Green/green
vinyl. Odo: 31,480 miles. 350-ci 330-hp V8,
4-bbl, 4-sp. Frame-off restoration with binder
SOLD AT $20,350. This car was last seen at
Barrett-Jackson’s West Palm Beach sale in 2008,
full of photos. Shiny paint a little thick over
straight body. Chrome bumpers and exterior trim
all excellent. Factory Rally wheels blemish-free.
Radio antenna base is present, but antenna mast
is missing. Green interior appears excellent and
fault-free. Door handles work as designed.
Matching-numbers engine bay with good detail.
Smog pump installed. Optioned with power
steering, brakes, and AM/FM radio. Documented
with original bill of sale, Protect-O-Plate and
tank sticker. Cond: 2+.
Page 92
MECUM AUCTIONS • KISSIMMEE, FL
GLOVEBOX NOTES
by B. Mitchell Carlson
where it sold for $36,300 (ACC# 1640051). I
know that interest in pre-war cars is waning a
bit, but this car lost almost half its value since its
last auction 10 years ago. The condition described
at the Barrett-Jackson auction looks to
be the same today, so at least the consignor here
didn’t lose any restoration money. Interestingly,
the odometer read 30,967 at the previous auction,
so I’m assuming the odometer is broken.
This was a handsome coupe, and, if these are
your thing, then it was well bought.
2019 Ford Mustang GT
Coupe
Price as tested: $43,640 (MSRP)
Equipment: 460 hp 5.0-L “Coyote” VVT Flex
Fuel V8; 6-speed MT-82 manual transmission with
rev-matching and hill holder. LED headlights and
fog lamps, Pony side-mirror projection lamps, hood
vents, quad-tip exhaust outlets. Ambient interior
lighting, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, dual-zone
electronic climate control, two smart charging USB
ports, SYNC 3, SiriusXM satellite radio, TrackApps,
universal garage door opener.
EPA mileage: 15/24, 18 combined; 20 to 28 mpg
observed in the real world.
Likes: Gen-3 5.0-L Coyote V8 loves to rev, with a
7,400-rpm redline. Light throttle and quiet-exhaust
mode results in reasonable gas mileage. Styling
is blue-collar Aston Martin Vantage and retro
Mustang. Great driving position. Active Valve
Performance Exhaust is more practical than it
initially seems.
Dislikes: Oil changes are not a cheap date, thanks
to a 10-quart system. GT grille is downright fugly
— yet can be cured, for a price (see Verdict). Fit
and finish is generally good, but back of the hood
is poorly finished and the hood-to-fender gaps are
off. Staring at it for several hours across boring
countryside gets annoying.
Verdict: First and foremost, I own this Special
Order GT. This is the car that I primarily use to go
to auctions (I already put 9,200 miles on it since I
bought it in early August) so I spec’ed it out with
that primarily in mind — and a few of my whims.
It’s easy to see why the Mustang continues to be
a best seller in the American performance-coupe
market segment. While the price has moved up
over the years, I’ve found that you’re getting more
for that money in refinement that was vastly better
even than the 2006 Mustang that I used to own —
let alone my first, a 1979 Turbo Cobra.
If you do like me and order à la carte, you can
Fun to drive:
Eye appeal:
is best)
½
Overall experience:
(
Special thanks to all the folks at John Wiese Ford of
Sauk Centre, MN (www.johnwieseford.com)
94 AmericanCarCollector.com
94 AmericanCarCollector.com
pick and choose to your whims quite well to get what
you really want without breaking the bank.
SOLD AT $80,300. History known from new.
Formerly owned and documented by past Mustang
Club of America president. Apparently, the
car was ordered with the A-code 289 engine, but
was delivered with the K-code. Since a/c was not
available with the K-code engine, the a/c system
was delivered in the trunk for the dealer to install.
Used as a daily driver until around 53,000
miles. Then it was restored and hit the show
circuit in the mid-’80s, where it won many
awards. If that’s the case, then the restoration is
holding up very well for 30-odd years. Sold short
of the ambitious $90,000 low estimate. It appears
that the buyer added value to this car’s
interesting story, as the sold price is far beyond
current market value. Well sold.
#S157-1966 FORD BRONCO utility. VIN:
U13FL760993. Red/silver vinyl. Odo: 35,997
miles. 170-ci I6, 1-bbl, 3-sp. Claimed body-off
restoration done very well. Excellent paint inside
and out. Some surface scratches to painted wood
floor in cargo area. Good rubber mat in front
#S148-1966 FORD MUSTANG GT convertible.
VIN: 6F08K336203. Red/white vinyl/red
vinyl. Odo: 54,995 miles. 289-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto.
Mileage stated actual. Red paint shiny, with some
polishing swirls and touch-ups here and there.
Front bumper shows slight signs of oncoming
pitting. Rear bumper looks good. Slight surface
scratches to windshield surround and added rear
luggage rack. Gaps wide at front of doors. Driver’s
seat shiny from wear, other seating matte.
Stated that factory a/c was installed by the dealer
upon delivery. AM/8-track radio. Equipped with
K-code 289. Engine bay clean, with factory-style
decals and markings. Copy of original window
sticker confirms options. Cond: 2-.
compartment. Vinyl seats show now wear. Allencompassing
single gauge appears new. Transmission
is column-shifted, with 4-wheel drive
shifted on the floor. Engine bay stock and detailed
nicely. Underside frame shiny. Bumpers
appear new. Equipped with factory AM radio and
rear bench seat. Cond: 2+.
SOLD AT $77,000. First-year Bronco; this is the
rare U13 roadster with no top or doors. Utilitarianism
personified. The price paid might be a
little aggressive, but this rare roadster was expertly
restored. The new owner won’t have to do
anything to it but enjoy. Slightly well sold, but I
don’t think the buyer feels bad for paying up for
such a great example. It likely won’t seem that
way at all in a year.
#U85-1969 ford torIno cobra 2-dr hard
top. VIN: 9K46R129441. Maroon/black vinyl.
Odo: 53,999 miles. 428-ci V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Excellent
paint but a little thick. Good gaps. Bumper
chrome and exterior trim good. Date-coded glass
clear all around. Trim rings on factory steel
wheels have some curb rash. Seat vinyl in good
shape, but armrests are wavy and coming loose
from door panel. Original seat belts worn and
faded. Headliner shows some repair work to
keep it attached to roof. Dash top wavy, but no
cracks. Engine bay clean and freshly painted.
Offered at no reserve. Cond: 3+.
SOLD AT $31,350. 1969 was the first year for
the Torino Cobra, and this example showed well
with good paint and interior, SportsRoof styling,
4-speed manual, and 3.50 rear end. The sold
price was in the middle of the estimates and a
little below the current value range. Well bought,
but the seller should still be pleased.
Page 94
MECUM AUCTIONS • KISSIMMEE, FL
#S214-1969 SHELBY GT500 fastback. VIN:
9F02R480217. Acapulco Blue/white vinyl. Odo:
74,039 miles. 428-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. Claimed
rotisserie restoration of a matching-numbers car
and that miles are actual. Expertly applied paint,
with only some slight surface polishing scratches
on left front fender. Rear bumper shows sanding
scratches under replating. White vinyl seats starting
to yellow. Visible wear to console around
ashtray. Requisite Carroll Shelby signature on
glovebox door (did he sign every Shelby?). Engine
bay highly detailed. Power steering and
front disc brakes. Tilt-away steering wheel, deluxe
interior package, fold-down rear seat, and
factory AM radio. Documented with Deluxe Marti
Report. Cond: 2.
charged V8, 6-sp. Factory paint shows a few polishing
swirls. Wheels blemish-free. Front air dam
unmarked. Interior like new. Engine bay spotless.
Yawn.... Cond: 1-.
worn, surface rust on exhaust manifolds. The rest
of engine bay concours detailed. Cond: 2.
SOLD AT $115,500. I spoke with the consignor
of this car, who was also consigning several
other high-end muscle cars. I asked him why he
was selling and he told me that it’s because his
grandkids hate these old, smoky, loud, uncomfortable
muscle cars. So while consigning his old
muscle cars at this auction, he planned on buying
modern sports/muscle cars like a Viper, a
late-model Shelby GT500, and maybe a Challenger
Hellcat. Interesting story. All of his cars
ended up selling, although I don’t know what he
ended up buying. Anyway, this Shelby sold over
current market value. Well sold.
#S224-2005 FORD GT coupe. VIN:
1FAFP90S25Y401835. Midnight Blue/
black leather. Odo: 1,499 miles. 5.4-L super-
7
SOLD AT $352,000. It seems every collector-car
auction offers a virtually unused Ford GT, although
1,499 miles can be considered medium
mileage for these models. This example was
offered by the original owner and had all four
options. The model name GT40 is now owned by
Safir, which makes GT40 replicas. Ford tried to
buy the GT40 name back, but negotiations
failed, so Ford named these GTs. The modern GT
is 43 inches tall, unlike the 40 inches of the original
GT40, so maybe Ford could have called it a
GT43? Regardless, desirability for Ford GTs has
not waned. This example blew past the $275,000
high estimate. Well sold.
MOPAR
#F100-1964 PLYMOUTH SPORT FURY 2-dr
hard top. VIN: 3441181935. White/blue vinyl.
Odo: 50,639 miles. 426-ci V8, 2x4-bbl, 4-sp.
Claimed ground-up restoration at unspecified
time. Paint holding up well, with slight runs on
cowl under hood. Driver’s door a little out at
rear. All chrome and exterior trim good. Slight
surface scratches to rear-quarter windows and
rear window. Slight wrinkling to front seat bottoms,
dirt in seat seams. Factory clock works.
Hurst shifter in factory console. Stock-looking
426 Max Wedge fills engine bay. Paint on coil
SOLD AT $90,750. Stated that this particular
car is the only high-compression 1964 Max
Wedge Sport Fury known to exist. With 12.5:1
compression and 4.56 rear gears, the only real
purpose would be at the local quarter-mile track.
It would be a beast on the street. Kinda funny
that it has an AM radio, as you probably couldn’t
hear it when driving this car. Maybe it provided
entertainment while waiting for the next quarter-mile
run? Regardless, this is a rare piece of
drag-racing history in excellent condition.
#T193-1965 PlyMouth SAtellIte 2-dr
hard top. VIN: R451278771. Black/black vinyl.
Odo: 43 miles. 440-ci V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Good shiny
paint with polishing swirls. Chrome bumpers and
exterior trim all good. Variable gaps with driver’s
door out at rear. Fresh interior with some wear
to driver’s side armrest. Factory console with
tach. Factory radio. Stated that this car came
from the factory with 426-ci Wedge engine; now
has 440 dressed up as a 426-ci Commando. Extremely
clean engine bay. Documented with factory
broadcast sheet. Cond: 2.
NOT SOLD AT $40,000. A big brute with a 440
and 4-speed. This car checks a lot of boxes for
Mopar fans. Sinister colors with polished American
Racing wheels have a great day-two look.
It’s a shame this car lost its original 426-ci engine,
but that was typical back in the day before
rev limiters. Final bid was in the ballpark for
current market value, but the consignor decided
to take it back home.
#S150.1-1970 PLYMOUTH ’CUDA convertible.
VIN: BS27U0B266648. B5 blue/black
96 AmericanCarCollector.com
TOP 10
Page 95
MECUM AUCTIONS • KISSIMMEE, FL
vinyl/black vinyl. Odo: 45,200 miles. 440-ci V8,
4-bbl, auto. Claimed one of 13 440 convertibles
with factory a/c. Excellent repaint with good
gaps. Bumpers shiny front and rear, with some
slight surface scratches to windshield surround.
Vinyl soft top a little wavy above clear plastic
rear window. Replacement windshield. Claimedoriginal
interior very good. Very clean underneath.
Engine bay sanitary, with correct hoses,
decals and markings. Modern yellow-topped
battery detracts. Equipped with power steering,
package. Matching-numbers engine and transmission.
Documented with the broadcast sheet
and Chrysler Registry Report. Includes binder
documenting restoration. Cond: 2+. SOLD AT
$165,000. With the options and condition, this
car checked a lot of E-body boxes. The only thing
I can think of that held this example back was
the auto transmission and the single carb. Despite
that, this lot sold at a price beyond the current
market value, even if well below the auction
estimate. Well sold.
AMerIcAnA
brakes, top, factory a/c, AM/8-track and light
#T156-1969 AMC SC/RAMBLER 2-dr hard
top. VIN: A9M097X278996. White, red & blue/
black leather. Odo: 62,375 miles. 390-ci V8,
4-bbl, 4-sp. Good A-code paint scheme. Bumpers
straight and shiny. Galloway Motors dealer emblem
on back of trunk. Stainless trim shiny and
blemish-free. Dual sport mirrors good. Factory
steel wheels and trim rings without fault. Restored
interior fresh, with Sun tach and oil-pressure
gauges clamped to steering column. Various
dragstrip decals on right rear quarter window.
Engine bay stock and nicely detailed. Cond: 2.
NOT SOLD AT $41,000. I love these little SC/
Ramblers with their fun colors. These definitely
weren’t your grandma’s Rambler. The SC/Rambler
added a slew of performance and heavyduty
components. Retailing at just under $3k
when new, these cars were the bargain of the
muscle-car era. This particular car was an excellent
example of the model. Previously sold at
Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale in 2013 for $48,400
(ACC# 6778479). There was no love here in
Kissimmee, as the final bid was light. The consignor
was right to take it back home. A
March–April 2019 97
Page 96
RUSSO AND STEELE • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
Scottsdale 2019
A 31k-original-mile, one-of-five 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/435
convertible sold for a bargain-basement $145,750
Russo and Steele
Scottsdale, AZ
January 16–20, 2019
Auctioneers: Rob Row,
Mike Shackleton, Dan
Shorno Mitch Jordan
Automotive lots sold/
offered: 304/557
Sales rate: 55%
Sales total: $11,694,100
High American sale:
2006 Ford GT coupe, sold
at $286,000
Buyer’s premium:
10%, included in sold
prices
1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/435 convertible, sold at $145,750
Condition Ratings
ACC’s 1–6 scale for describing
vehicles in Market Reports
1
2
3
4
5
6
Perfect: National
show standard
Excellent: Club
show-worthy, some
small flaws
Average: Daily driver
in decent condition
Meh: Still a driver,
with some visible flaws
Questionable:
A problem-plagued
beast that somehow
manages to run
Lost cause:
Salvageable for parts
98 AmericanCarCollector.com
Report and photos by Brett Hatfield
Market opinions in italics
sample their classic, collectible, muscle-car, exotic and
even bizarre wares, Scottsdale becomes car mecca for
the automotive religion.
Russo and Steele’s unique format stands out among
A
the Arizona auctions. It is akin to a boxing match, as
the cars drive through a floor-level center stage, and all
of the bidders and participants sit in well-appointed,
elevated platforms. In accordance with its reputation,
Russo’s sale offers the finest European luxury and
performance alongside an impressive selection of
American collector, classic and muscle cars. Throw in
a generous helping of wild, wonderful and sometimes
weird offerings, and it is a show well worth the price of
admission. It is impossible to appreciate it all in a single
day, or even a couple of days. Buyers are able to see a
multitude of lots up close and personal, as sellers have a
chance to present their cars in a magnificent forum.
uction Week in Arizona seethes with hardcore
car mavens, dealers, collectors, fans, press
and those who just come to see the show. With
more than a half-dozen auction companies
rolling out the red carpet for all to come and
Sales were down from last year, with 557 lots
available, and 304 of those found new homes, for a
55% sell-through rate totaling $11.7 million. The top
sale was a 2012 Lexus LFA coupe sold for charity,
which crossed the block at $375,000. A glorious
1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 coupe, resplendent in Nero
with black leather, went for $330,000. A stunning,
31k-original-mile 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/435
convertible, believed to be one of five in Rally Red
over red leather, sold for a bargain-basement $145,750.
Another bargain included a 1963 Chevrolet Bel Air
409/425, a 4-speed car in excellent nick that found new
ownership far below median value at $29,700. There
were also Corvettes aplenty with 41 present, including
a Triple-Crown-winning 1965 Nassau Blue coupe
wearing stunning original paint.
Russo and Steele’s real appeal lies in their stellar
customer service, attention to detail and many offerings
unique to Auction Week. With the recent addition
of a 2019 Amelia Island event, Russo promises to keep
bringing us the automotive excitement that keeps our
dreams alive.A
Page 98
RUSSO AND STEELE • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
GM
#6325-1956 cheVrolet bel AIr convertible.
VIN: VC56J145175. Harbor Blue & Nassau
Blue/light blue vinyl/blue vinyl & cloth. Odo: 45
miles. 265-ci V8, 2x4-bbl, 3-sp. Resplendent in
blue—the paint is exceptional. Chrome and
stainless sparkle. Glass is perfectly clear. Light
blue vinyl top is correct, free from wrinkles. Engine
bay just gleams. Mirrors reveal a similarly
finished undercarriage. Interior looks factoryfresh,
with no signs of use. Cond: 1-.
median condition here, the seller was wise to
hold out for more.
#6201-1970 CHEVROLET CHEVELLE SS LS6
2-dr hard top. VIN: 136370R243588. Shadow
Gray/Ivory vinyl. Odo: 21,573 miles. 454-ci V8,
4-bbl, 4-sp. Loaded with documentation and
original parts; the restoration on this monstermotor
LS6 Chevelle appears to have been
thoughtfully done. Shiny metallic paint has had
considerate prep and application, with a small
feather at the base of passenger’s side A-pillar
the only visible flaw. Chrome bumpers have been
replated. Rare model LS6 without stripes or Cowl
Induction (one of 186). Stainless could be polished
a bit more but is better than average.
Glass and weatherstrip present well. Ivory vinyl
interior could stand to be wiped down. Hurst
chrome shifter topped by white shift knob.
Cond: 2.
NOT SOLD AT $96,250. This was a most attractive
offering. Heavy documentation, a stunning
restoration, and an owner present who was
more than willing to discuss the car at length
should all have helped drive the price far higher.
The quality of the work done could not be overstated,
as it is doubtful the car looked as clean or
shiny when delivered new.
#6136-1957 CHEVROLET NOMAD wagon.
VIN: VC57L192709. Harbor Blue Metallic/blue &
black vinyl. Odo: 62 miles. 283-ci fuel-injected
V8, auto. Gorgeous paint shows beautifully. Ultra-rare
fuel-injected 283 V8. Power steering,
brakes, seats and windows. Single-piece bumper
from the Los Angeles Assembly Plant. All chrome
has been replated. Stainless is well polished,
glass crystal clear. Door panels, seat covers, and
carpet all appear new. Engine bay is sparkling
clean. Cond: 2+.
production 396/350 automatic car. This example
was the only known surviving 1970 Chevelle pilot
(number 42 of 50 pre-production test mules) car.
All of the body panels, windshield and trim were
hand made and would be incompatible with any
production Chevelle. The seller, who was the
founder of the Pilot Car Registry, said he was
hoping for a sale in the $500k–$600k range. A
piece of history that could not be replicated
should have commanded more.
SOLD AT $75,900. The winning bid was below
median book value of $86,500, possibly due to
the lack of bold SS stripes or Cowl Induction.
Perhaps it was ordered that way to give it a bit
of a sleeper appearance, a move that would
have been negated by the SS appearance package’s
blacked-out grille, black brake-light filler
panel or front fender emblems. The car also
looked like it was awaiting a final wipe-down. As
it was locked during the days leading up to its
sale, closer inspection was not possible. All of
these factors could have affected the sale. Whatever
the reason, the winning bidder left with a
bit of a steal.
NOT SOLD AT $65,000. Last seen at the Barrett-Jackson
Scottsdale sale in 2004, where it
sold for $64,800 (ACC# 1558630). One of 23
fuel-injected ’57 Nomads produced—exclusivity
with this one was assured. Nomad values have
remained steadfast in the face of other Tri-Five
prices softening. Median value was a fair bit
above the top offer, and given the far-above-
100 AmericanCarCollector.com
#6060-1970 CHEVROLET CHEVELLE SS 396
Pilot Car 2-dr hard top. VIN: 136370F100042.
Cranberry Red/black vinyl. Odo: 88,139 miles.
396-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. SS 396 pre-production
pilot car. Paint and prep are very good, with
minimal orange peel only visible in the right
light. There is a gap at the top of the windshield
where the windshield trim sits beneath the lip
that would be covered in a production car. Black
vinyl, bench-seat interior presents as-new. Engine
bay is spotless. A keen eye will keep finding
small variations from production units, but the
fit, finish and restoration on this test mule
smacks of quality. Cond: 2+. NOT SOLD AT
$132,000. The high bid would have been all
the money in the world for a standard
#6423-1971 PontIAc trAnS AM h.o.
coupe. VIN: 228871N114774. Cameo White/
blue vinyl. Odo: 1,662 miles. 455-ci V8, 4-bbl,
4-sp. One of 885 built. Cameo White paint is
shiny but has noticeable orange peel. Panel gaps
are off slightly at the trunk lid/spoiler. Weatherstrip
is flaking at door tops. Chrome bumpers
show well, and stainless trim has good polish.
Door sills could stand to be better polished. Glass
clear, free from road rash. Interior shows very
little use. Engine is well detailed, with correct
components in place. Cond: 2-.
SOLD AT $48,400. Sold far below median
value of $105,750. Even without the 50% add
for the 455 H.O. option, the ACC Pocket Price
Guide median value is just over $70k. The car
did have some small cosmetic issues, but nothing
that should have kept bidding so low. A lack of
significant restoration documentation may have
hurt the sale, but it looked like this went way too
cheaply.
#6212-1973 CHEVROLET C10 pickup. VIN:
CCY143A146433. Crimson Red/gray vinyl. Odo:
5,340 miles. 350-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. Original
Crimson Red paint has been very well preserved,
with great shine to the factory finish. Bed rails
have a few light scuffs, and the driver’s side Bpillar
has a small dimple on the back of the cab.
Bed appears as-new. Engine bay is clean, with
Page 100
RUSSO AND STEELE • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
factory finishes. Glass and weatherstrip appear
fresh. Interior is a spotless gray vinyl bench and
black rubber floors. Every inch of the truck is
consistent with the scant miles on the odometer.
Cond: 2+.
Recipient of the Corvette Triple Crown: an NCRS
Top Flight, National Corvette Certification Board
Bloomington Gold Certificate, and a Chevy/
’Vettefest Nationals Gold Spinner Award, as well
as an NCRS Duntov Mark of Excellence Award.
Extensive documentation and ownership history
from new. Original Nassau Blue paint has been
lovingly maintained from new. Blue vinyl interior
shows almost no sign of use. Very rare radio
delete/air-conditioning car. Engine bay is as it
was when new. An exceptional example with all
original finishes and materials. Cond: 1-.
SOLD AT $22,000. Pickup trucks in the 1970s
were not the super-luxury transports we know
now, but were utility vehicles for work. With that
thought in mind, it was quite unusual to see this
one in this original condition, with so few miles.
This Chevy was a time capsule, the best way to
see a like-new, 46-year-old truck. Given the
recent rise in prices of square-body Chevy trucks,
the winning bid was a true bargain. Quite well
bought.
CORVETTE
#6394-1963 CHEVROLET CORVETTE coupe.
VIN: 30837S115481. Riverside Red/red vinyl.
Odo: 34,163 miles. 327-ci 250-hp V8, 4-bbl,
4-sp. Two-stage Riverside Red paint has been
done to a high standard, far better than new.
Chrome bumpers have been replated. Stainless is
well polished. Engine compartment is quite
clean. Cast-aluminum knockoff wheels are in
good nick, free from any damage. Red interior
shows only minor wrinkles on the driver’s side
seat bottom. Cond: 2+.
was wearing cast-aluminum wheels with Redline
tires. Claimed to be one of only five red-over-red
427/435 1967 Corvettes, this low-mile convertible
was striking indeed. One can only speculate
why an owner would take such a hit, particularly
in such a short time. Well bought.
NOT SOLD AT $82,500. Last seen at BarrettJackson
Scottsdale in January 2014, where it
found a new home for $94,600 (ACC#
6725105). This was a piece of unrestored Corvette
history in all of its original finishes, likely
something it would have been difficult to reproduce
at any price.
#6270-1967 CHEVROLET CORVETTE convertible.
VIN: 19477S117828. Rally Red/black
vinyl/red leather. Odo: 31,588 miles. 427-ci 435hp
V8, 3x2-bbl, 4-sp. The option sheet on this
one is deep indeed, with Tri-Power 427/435 big
block, M21 4-speed, 3.70 Posi, transistorized
ignition, off-road exhaust, F41 suspension, J50
power brakes, power steering and Rally wheels.
Fantastic restoration by the renowned Nabers
Brothers shows gleaming Rally Red paint with
contrasting black stinger. There is a small flaw in
the paint at the base of the A-pillar on driver’s
side. Balance of the trim, chrome, stainless, engine
compartment and interior are all as-new, as
the numerous awards, NCRS Regional Top Flight
and Bloomington certificates attest. All numbers
and date codes match, with low documented
miles showing on the clock. Cond: 2+.
SOLD AT $121,000. The winning bid on this
low-mile Split-Window was well above book
value, but the condition was exceptional. Add in
the highly attractive red-over-red color scheme
and thorough documentation, and it was little
wonder why this sold so well. The only downside
was the car was so nice, you probably wouldn’t
have wanted to drive it.
#6066-1965 CHEVROLET CORVETTE coupe.
VIN: 194375S113272. Nassau Blue/blue vinyl.
Odo: 9,411 miles. 327-ci 300-hp V8, 4-bbl, auto.
102 AmericanCarCollector.com
#6250-1991 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Callaway
Aero convertible. VIN: 1G1YY338XM5110568.
Dark red metallic/black cloth, dark red
metallic hard top/black leather. Odo: 9,743
miles. 5.7-L 375-hp turbocharged V8, 6-sp. Exceedingly
rare Corvette Callaway Aero. The optional
hard top would be a necessity on this
convertible, as the internal roll bar adds muchneeded
stability. Paint is as one would expect for
a car with fewer than 10k miles on the clock,
showing light peppering and minor bug marks
on nose. Aftermarket fifth-generation Corvette
Z06 chrome wheels shod in newish rubber. Glass
and weatherstrip are in good nick. Driver’s side
seat bolster shows the requisite creasing, as ingress/egress
on these was akin to getting in and
out of a canoe. Cond: 2-.
NOT SOLD AT $17,600. The final year for the
B2K Callaway Twin Turbo option, this Aero convertible
was number five of the 10 500-series
Callaway Corvettes. The B2K option added
$33,000 to the $38,770 Corvette convertible base
price. What you got for nearly doubling the price
of your Corvette was a bump in power from 245
hp to 403 hp, and a staggering 575 ft-lb of
torque. This example appeared on Bring a
Trailer in September 2018, where it bid to
$26,500 but failed to make reserve. The high bid
here would have been appropriate for a stock
1991 Corvette with optional hard top showing
under 10k miles. To score a Callaway Aero version
will take considerably more.
FOMOCO
SOLD AT $145,750. This one had been through
a number of Russo auctions, last having been
sold in January 2018 in Scottsdale for $308,000
(ACC# 6858088). The last time I saw this car, it
#6467-1966 ford fAIrlAne 500 Xl convertible.
VIN: 6H46C148053. Tahoe Turquoise/
white vinyl/two-tone turquoise vinyl. Odo:
20,642 miles. 289-ci V8, 2-bbl, auto. Attractive
Tahoe Turquoise paint shows good prep, but a
bit of orange peel is present throughout. Chrome
bumpers have been refinished. Other chrome bits
show pitting and patina. Stainless trim around
Page 102
RUSSO AND STEELE • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
the headlights shows light scratches. Interior
shows well, aside from a hole worn through on
the outside of the driver’s seat bottom. Convertible-top
tonneau has shrunk, preventing some of
the snaps from attaching. Engine compartment is
clean and correct. Cond: 3+.
tosh stereo, painted stripes and painted brake
calipers. The rare Speed Yellow Clearcoat paint is
factory flawless, with a clear bra protecting the
nose. Black leather seats show minimal creasing
on the seat bottoms. Glass is crystal clear, weatherstrip
is as-new. Engine bay is similarly spotless.
Cond: 2+.
wear. Windshield is in good shape, but there is
some delamination noted at the edges of the
side glass. Engine bay is quite clean, with build
tags clearly visible on the firewall. Cond: 3+.
SOLD AT $12,650. An older restoration on a
post-war Plymouth; this was a tidy little coupe.
The clean but basic design means that this one
will likely never be overly collectible, but it is a
decent cruise-night car for very little outlay. Well
bought.
SOLD AT $22,000. Last seen at the McCormick’s
Palm Springs sale November 2018, where
it sold for $24,938 (ACC# 6889851). This was a
better-than-average cruiser. The resto was 97%
complete, with just a few niggling items left to
address. Even with these minor shortcomings,
this somewhat-rare ragtop sold for a bit better
than median value.
#6376-1969 SHELBY GT500 convertible.
VIN: 9F03R480653. Candy Apple Red/white vinyl/
white vinyl. Odo: 1,324 miles. 428-ci V8,
4-bbl, auto. Claimed to be one of 17. Originally
Acapulco Blue, now Candy Apple Red done to a
decent standard. Chrome bumpers have been
replated. White vinyl interior shows well, with
factory AM radio, tilt-away wheel and factory a/c.
Engine bay is clean, with correct components.
Cond: 2+.
SOLD AT $286,000. Sale price here was well
below median value of $304k, with a top bid,
less bidder’s premium, of $260k. The car’s condition
was nearly new, and with only 75 Speed
Yellow copies produced in 2006, rarity was assured.
What kept the bids low can only be speculated—possibly
venue, possibly softening in the
$250k–$1m price range. The winning bid here
was a score for the buyer. Well bought.
MOPAR
#6428-1948 PlyMouth SPecIAl deluXe
2-dr sedan. VIN: 11887405. Marine Blue/gray
cloth. Odo: 14,158 miles. 217-ci I6, 1-bbl, 3-sp.
Shiny blue paint has orange peel that is heavier
along the C-pillars. Chrome is in decent condition,
having been restored with the rest of the
car in the late 1980s. Stainless is presentable but
could be better with a bit of buffing. Gray cloth
interior shows well, with little indication of
SOLD AT $231,000. Deep documentation, history
and certification from world-renowned
Mopar expert Galen Govier bolstered what was
already a stunning car. Even with these considerations,
the price paid was well shy for a top-ofthe-market
Hemi ‘Cuda. This was a bargain for
the flagship Plymouth muscle car. Well bought,
indeed.
AMerIcAnA
SOLD AT $118,800. An auction veteran with
appearances at Russo Scottsdale 2012, Russo
Monterey 2012, and most recently Russo Scottsdale
2014, where it failed to change hands at
$110k (ACC# 6661893). The winning bid here
was well below the price-guide median value of
$140k, and even more so given the far-abovemedian
condition.
#6284-2006 FORD GT coupe. VIN: 1FAFP90S86Y400805.
Speed Yellow Clearcoat/black
leather. Odo: 4,600 miles. 5.4-L supercharged
V8, 6-sp. With just slightly higher miles than
most of the garage-queen Ford GTs I run across,
this 4,600-mile example presents well. Has all
four of the available options: BBS wheels, McIn-
104 AmericanCarCollector.com
#6247-1953 PAckArd cArIbbeAn convertible.
VIN: 26792395. Carolina Cream/tan cloth/
red leather. Odo: 79,262 miles. 327-ci I8, 4-bbl,
auto. Paint shows good prep and application.
Chrome is slightly burnished over the center portion
of the grille. Stainless presents well. Deep
red leather interior appears to have had something
fall between the bench seat and the driv-
“
Deep documentation, history and
certification from world-renowned Mopar
expert Galen Govier bolstered what was
already a stunning car.
1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda 2-dr hard top
#6101-1970 PlyMouth heMI ’cudA 2-dr
hard top. VIN: BS23R0B191042. Citron Mist/
white vinyl/white vinyl. Odo: 43,020 miles. 426ci
V8, 2x4-bbl, 4-sp. Rotisserie restoration, and it
shows. Citron Mist paint was likely not this good
from the factory. 426 cube Hemi, 4-speed, and
Shaker hood check all the Mopar muscle-car
boxes. White vinyl top is done to a high standard,
as is the white vinyl interior. Engine bay is asnew.
Cond: 1-.
”
Page 104
RUSSO AND STEELE • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
ONE TO WATCH
Cars With Values on the Move
$30,000
$25,000
$22,000
$20,000
$15,000
$14,170
$10,000
$5,000
$0
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
I
1971–76 Cadillac Eldorado
Convertible
don’t like some of the cars I write about in ACC. The staff knows I have strong opinions
about cars, and my fussy nature seems to delight many of them. Recently, however, I have
decided to be more of an optimist when viewing vehicles I don’t find appealing. My first
shot at this glass-half-full approach is a behemoth in the form of the 1971 to 1976 Cadillac
Eldorado convertible.
These big “beauties” were the second generation of Eldorado featuring front-wheel drive.
They are also the largest iteration of the Eldorado, with a wheelbase of 126.3 inches and an overall
length of 224 inches — over 18 feet — for post-1973 versions with 5-mph bumpers. Those
bumpers also added considerable weight, sending the Eldorado over 5,000 pounds. The massive
heft combined with the mushy suspension, common with cars of this era, gave the Caddy a
barge-like ride and handling to match. Somebody sound the foghorn — coming through!
Despite their massive length and tonnage, consumers ate these up like denim bell-bottoms.
Between ’71 and ’76, Cadillac sold over 54,000 Eldorado convertibles alone. I’m sure it also
helped that Cadillac advertised these open-top boats as “the last American convertible.” That
was true for a while, anyway.
So what’s the bright side? Nice examples have been popping up at auction the past few years
and they’ve been bringing big money. In 2016 and 2017, 11 examples
sold for over $25,000. Last year we had 17 that sold for more
than $25k. The most expensive was an end-of-the-line Eldorado
Bicentennial convertible that sold at Mecum Kissimmee in 2018 for
$69,300. Barrett-Jackson and Bonhams each sold one in Scottsdale
2019 for more than $50k — $55,000 and $58,240 respectively.
Although some are bringing in big sums of money, there are still
Detailing
Years built: 1971–76
Number produced: 54,640
Number sold at auction in
the past 12 months: 45
Average price of those
cars: $21,205
Number listed in the
ACC Premium Auction
Database: 600
Current ACC Median
Valuation: $22,000
106 AmericanCarCollector.com
a ton of examples going for under $15k. If you are patient and search
out the nicest one you can (and I do mean the NICEST), there might
be some money to be made. Yes, you purchased a sad, malaise-era
convertible, but additional money in the bank can heal any bruised
ego. Who knows, you might even fall in love with it. Wait… that
might be an overstatement. Sorry, I got carried away. I’m still working
my way to fully enlightened optimist.A
$19,800
$18,020
$15,950
NOT SOLD AT $27,500. Last seen at BarrettJackson
Las Vegas in October 2017, where it
traded hands for $55,000 (ACC# 6853096). Top
money offered here was well below book value,
even considering the flaws that were present.
The buyer couldn’t let it go for so little.
#6189-1964 bIll thoMAS cheetAh racer.
VIN: 16464003. Yellow/black vinyl. 327-ci V8,
2x4-bbl, 4-sp. An excellent restoration of a very
rare car. Paint is glossy, with slight orange peel
on the tissue-thin fiberglass. Unpainted screw
heads penetrate the roof at the gullwing door
hinges. Plexiglass windshield is without flaw,
possibly new. Interior shows no signs of wear,
with black vinyl covering the seats, and raw
metal floor pans. Silver-painted roll cage looks
to be freshly refinished. Engine bay is clean and
tidy, with a beastly 520-hp 327 topped by twin
Weber carbs. Cond: 2+.
MedIAn Sold PrIce by yeAr
er’s side door, leaving several gouge marks in
each. Trunk and engine bay are both nicely
squared away. Cond: 3+.
— Chad Taylor
NOT SOLD AT $730,000. The first of three Bill
Thomas Cheetahs ordered by Alan Green Chevrolet,
this example was a pure racer. Whereas
some of the 14 or so (there are even fewer remaining)
Cheetahs built were street cars, with
carpet and mufflers, this one lacked any sound
deadening or creature comforts (such as side
windows)—not even an odometer. The owner,
who has restored several of the remaining originals,
was present. He took time to discuss the car
and the restoration, and even started it up. The
cacophonous thunder could be felt in your chest,
and would have likely gotten you thrown out of
your Home Owners Association. The high bid was
well north of the sale price of the 1964 Bill
Thomas Cheetah sold here last year, but it wasn’t
enough to capture this exceedingly rare cat. A
Page 106
WORLDWIDE AUCTIONEERS • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
The Scottsdale Auction
If “own a Duesenberg” was on your bucket list, this Judkins Berline
is as cheap as you can get to living the dream
Worldwide
Auctioneers
Scottsdale, AZ
January 16, 2019
Auctioneer: Rod Egan
Automotive lots sold/
offered: 54/72
Sales rate: 75%
Sales total: $9,216,075
High American sale:
1935 Auburn 851 SC
Boattail Speedster, sold
at $687,500
Buyer’s premium:
10%, included in sold
prices
1931 Duesenberg Model J Custom Berline, sold at $506,000
Report and photos by B. Mitchell Carlson
Market opinions in italics
Condition Ratings
ACC’s 1–6 scale for describing
vehicles in Market Reports
1
2
3
4
5
6
Perfect: National
show standard
Excellent: Club
show-worthy, some
small flaws
Average: Daily driver
in decent condition
Meh: Still a driver,
with some visible flaws
Questionable:
A problem-plagued
beast that somehow
manages to run
Lost cause:
Salvageable for parts
108 AmericanCarCollector.com
I
n their third year as part of the January Phoenix
area auction scene, Worldwide Auctioneers is
now anchored as one of the pillars of the week’s
events. Settled in at a good, centralized location
at a defunct Chrysler dealership on McDowell
Road near old-town Scottsdale, they also seem to
have found a comfortable groove in the scheme of the
week’s events. While their first year did exceptionally
well at 78% sell-through, last year was softer at 64%.
Third time was a charm, with a centrist 53 of the 72
consignments hammering sold on the block (plus
two confirmed post-block sales by the end of auction
week). This was up by nearly three million bucks,
putting them within $2.8m of Russo and Steele’s take,
with several hundred fewer cars.
The top-selling domestic car was also the second-
highest sale, a 1935 Auburn 851 SC Speedster at
$687,500. I actually have to call this “the tan car,” as
this was one of those rare instances where you could
actually shop for 1935 Auburn 851 SC Speedsters by
color — “the red car” was the third-highest sale of the
evening at $632,500.
This was also the only venue in the Phoenix area
where you had a choice of Duesenbergs to bid on —
both being good deals, if for no other reason than
they were decent cars that brought less than either of
the 851 SC Speedsters (when’s the last time THAT
happened — if ever?). First to change hands was J757,
reportedly the last Duesenberg JN to sell to a retail
customer. Rebodied into a Derham Tourister-style
phaeton, it brought $605k. The next, in my opinion,
was the buy of the night — the sale of J348 (a Judkins
Berline sedan) for $506k. If “own a Duesenberg” was
on your bucket list, this is as cheap as you can get.
A 1969 L88-powered Corvette convertible separated
them in the selling-price ranking — now there’s really
a “when’s the last time THAT ever happened?” moment.
This disparity between the Auburns and
Duesenbergs wasn’t isolated, as some Full Classics
here did well while others were soft. I’ll chalk it up to
individual cars versus their individual histories versus
pleasing color and equipment combinations calling
the shots, more than Brand A or Brand B being hot or
cold.
Now anchored as the Wednesday night catalog-
auction-house fixture, Worldwide should continue to
make their presence notable next year. A
Page 108
WORLDWIDE AUCTIONEERS • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
clASSIcS
#5-1930 STUTZ BLACK HAWK roadster.
VIN: 17400. Black/tan cloth/brown leather. Odo:
57,979 miles. Mostly original paint, but has light
fading and moderate surface rust. Has also been
mostly buffed and faded through on top of body
between top and rumble seat. Original plating—especially
the radiator shell and bumpers—quite
distressed from corrosion. “Ra”
hood ornament looks to be an older reproduction,
as the chrome is quite good. Wire wheels
were most certainly repainted, as they have minimal
chips and far less rust than the body. Tire
lettering outlined in white paint, but only on left
side. Heavily fogged cowl lamps, yet good original
glass on headlights. Engine rather greasy,
yet still looks like it’s been tended to occasionally.
Twin-ignition six wiring looms neat and
orderly. Engine runs out decent, yet is a moderate
smoker. Bare wood floorboards, with some
newer mounting hardware. Cond: 4-.
duties circa 2002. Older repaint presents well.
Roof covering looks a bit too shiny. Doors have a
good, solid fit, respectable shut lines. Dull
chrome on added door-frame peep mirrors, yet
remainder of plating is quite good. Interior upholstery
is in excellent shape, with supple
leather. Toe-board carpeting bunched up ahead
of accelerator pedal. Clean yet not really detailed
underhood. Missing grease boots on the springs,
so they have some rust seeping out from between
bands. Undercarriage could stand a good washing.
Cond: 2-.
SOLD AT $68,200. Ra was the Egyptian sun
god and the mascot of choice for Stutz cars.
There was a renewed interest in mythology during
the Roaring ’20s—due in no small part to
the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in
1923—as artists such as Maxfield Parrish were
very popular for their renderings of mythology,
neo-classical figures and fantasy. In short order,
the harsh realities of the Great Depression soon
displaced fantasy. It also displaced Stutz to history,
with the lower-priced Black Hawk (always
two words in official Stutz publications and on
the cars) introduced with high hopes in 1929,
and ceasing in the year this example was built.
Stutz as a company only fared slightly better,
closing for good in 1932. The example hasn’t
fared too well, and unless you really want to
keep milking that “barn-find look,” at the very
least some mechanical restoration work would
be in order. Sold well enough, just shy of the
auction-house guesstimate.
2371. Eng. # J348. Maroon/black leatherette/
maroon leather. Odo: 81,559 miles. AuburnCord-Duesenberg
Club Category I certified.
Known history from new, from when it was sold
new to GM founder William C. Durant’s daughter
through to the consignor, who last had it sent to
a marque specialist for sorting out for touring
6
110 AmericanCarCollector.com
#31-1931 DUESENBERG
MODEL J Custom Berline. VIN:
SOLD AT $506,000. After the Gary Cooper SSJ
sold in Monterey a few months back for $22m,
there was a bit of a market upward ripple. That’s
now given way to a sucking sound. Granted, this
example is a 4-door sedan—the bottom of the
desirability pecking order—but still, this is a far
better car than what was paid. While I call it well
bought, that’s for someone who always wanted
to own a Duesenberg, for the sake of having
one—any one—they can drive. Sure, it’s got
“two doors too many” for a lot of folks and the
roof doesn’t come off, but the real-deal original
bodywork looks handsome on SWB chassis. As
such, this was a deal—yet it isn’t a money-lefton-the-table
deal (with a $550k–$650k pre-sale
estimate proving that), as the seven-digit money
is only on open cars or very well-known closed
cars (such as the Twenty Grand or the Ethel Mars
town car).
#34-1931 CORD L-29 convertible. VIN:
2928916. Maroon/black cloth/black leather. Odo:
49,649 miles. Professional frame-off restoration
completed circa 2014 in Germany. Expert barebody
repaint, in modern base/clear finish. All
chrome replated. Replacement rubber edging on
running boards. Excellent panel gaps. Well-fitted
top. Interior seat redone in leather, with the
rumble seat matching along with door and kick
panels. The latter has some high spots from
hardware underneath. No discernible wear front
or rear, just some wrinkling from occasional use
and from when rumble seat was folded in. Clean
and well-detailed engine compartment. Runs out
very well and quietly. Light road spray on
painted undercarriage, with new brake lines.
Authentic reproduction bias-ply tires on painted
spoke wheels that have chrome locking rings.
Cond: 2+. SOLD AT $242,000. This has to be
the most period authentic-looking L-29 that I’ve
encountered on the auction circuit. These tended
to be over-restored and painted garish color
combinations, but this one is appropriately lowkey
looking for when it was new during the
Great Depression. Helping that look was avoiding
what seems to be the prerequisite use of
wide whitewall tires on any CCCA Full Classic.
While it was dark, and thusly difficult to photograph,
it really looked the part from 1931. Last
seen at RM’s Spring Auburn auction in May of
last year, then selling for a reported $210,000
(ACC# 6879130). Here the reserve was met at
$220k, shortly thereafter selling for a marketcorrect
price.
#60-1932 AUBURN 12-160A Modified
Boattail Speedster. VIN: BB1079.
Pearl white & blue/blue leather. Odo: 111
miles. Equipped with factory-optional Free
Wheeling and dual-ratio 2-speed rear axle. Dual
sidemount spares, with rear-view mirrors
strapped to them. Accessory driving lights, aimed
very close to the road ahead. This V12 chassis
now wears a speedster body from an 8-cylinder
Auburn of same era, restored and converted
before consignor acquired it in 2011. Repainted
in a not-at-all-from-the-era pearlescent paint,
with solid blue accents. Chrome replated to better-than-OEM
stock, but not show quality. Reproduction
Auburn hood ornament. Good interior
upholstery work showing minimal wear. Tachometer
clamped to steering column. Clean, tidy engine
bay. Clean chassis and suspension
components, with new fuel and brakes lines, yet
brush-painted over rusty chassis. Replated or
reproduction chrome wire wheels with newer
period replica bias-ply tires. Cond: 2-.
10
SOLD AT $291,500. While a handful of realdeal
Auburn Twelve Boattail Speeders were
built, this isn’t one of them. While it may be
made with real Auburn components, it’s still a
put-together car, no matter how well it’s sugar-
TOP 10
BEST
BUY
TOP 10
Page 110
WORLDWIDE AUCTIONEERS • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
coated (especially with pearlescent frosting). As
such, it was bid strong enough to open at $150k.
They all but had it sold at $250k when a phone
bidder came in just as it was starting to get hammered,
which generated one more bid onsite to
get it bought. Even if it was in the lower tangent
of the estimate, this was still well sold for a bitsta.
#52-1935 AUBURN 851 SC Boattail
Speedster. VIN: 32369E. Light
beige/tan cloth/red leather. Odo: 40,680 miles.
Optional dual-ratio rear axle, dealer-accessory
clock and AM radio. Restored in the late 1980s,
wearing an AACA Senior National First Place
badge on the grille dated 1989. Three-decadeold
repaint still appears good, with only some
light edge chipping on a couple of panels and
the SUPER-CHARGED painted badges on hood.
All chrome presents well. Panel gaps quite good,
including butterfly hood. Top not raised for inspection
during the event. Front suspension sits
slightly lower than rear for a very subtle forward
rake. Well-fitted interior upholstery, with expertly
tooled leather on door panels. Generally
tidy and cared-for engine bay. Light fuel staining
on supercharger housing, directly below carburetor.
Undercarriage getting a bit dusty. Inboard
sidewalls of rear tires show a little lubricant or
brake fluid has been dripping on them. Cond: 2-.
4
covers and mirrors, along with tin lift-off trunk
painted to match the fenders. Period-accessory
Pilot Ray driving lights, which seem to be not
really aimed and point haphazardly. Restored in
the early 1990s. Wears CCCA National First Prize
badge number 3009 on right side of cowl. Paint
and chrome still present very well. Small rooster
hand-painted on doors in same paint and above
pinstriping. Acceptable, not exceptional, door
shut lines. Excellent reupholstered interior, in
correct materials and patterns, showing no appreciable
wear. Brass shift knob almost looks like
it was a door knob. Well-refinished interior
woodwork. Near-concours-quality engine bay
detailing. Mostly semi-gloss black-painted chassis
and suspension, which is rather clean. Cond: 2-.
SOLD AT $687,500. This was the second of two
851 Supercharged Speedsters at the sale. While
it was in several well-known collections since it
was restored, it will need a little tending to before
new owner tries the show or concours circuit,
let alone touring. With no-excuses, on-the-button
Speedsters now members of the Million Dollar
Club, the period, authentic color combo won out
over the Resale Red twin, yet not by much, to
become the second-highest sale and top dog of
all American-made cars here. While there may
have been a little of a price bump on this one
due to it selling after the red car, with a bit of
“we missed the first one, so we’ll try harder to
get this one” in the bidding, the no-reserve selling
price is still in line with today’s market.
GM
#12-1933 cAdIllAc 370A coupe. VIN:
T300347. Beige/brown broadcloth. Odo: 54,378
miles. Equipped with dual sidemounts with tin
112 AmericanCarCollector.com
SOLD AT $145,200. In the ACC seminar at Barrett-Jackson
on the morning before this crossed
the block, our Carl Bomstead called this specific
car out as a car to buy, referring to Full Classic
V12 coupes. I do concur that these cars should go
up in the future, as they’ve been under-valued
for nearly two decades (as the pool of their original
enthusiasts has pretty much passed on). Last
seen selling for $110k at RM’s Phoenix auction
in 2012 (ACC# 6759359), and originally was a
no-sale across the block at $120k. However,
post-event data released from the auction house
shows that a deal was put together for markedly
more. As the auction-house guesstimate was
$140k to $160k, it could well have been a case
of a buyer meeting the reserve. Maybe they were
paying attention to Carl, and these are starting
to catch on again?
#61-1948 oldSMobIle 68 convertible.
VIN: 927384H. Maroon/tan cloth/red leather.
Odo: 83,767 miles. 257-ci I8, 2-bbl, 3-sp. Older
repaint presentable, as the finish is transitioning
from being gloss to more of a glossy matte
sheen. If anything, accessory fender skirts have
heavier chipping that has been touched up with
paint that’s a shade dark. Retains original selling
dealer’s tag from Murphy Oldsmobile of Los
Angeles. Good front bumper and grille chrome,
muted-to-dull rear bumper chrome. Very light
pitting on hubcaps. Heavier crazing on rearemblem
plastic insert. Decent fit to non-stock,
replacement cloth top. Vent-window glass starting
to bubble slightly along edges. Good
reupholstered seats, with generic pleats. Steering
wheel shows some crazing and discoloration after
71 years. Replacement carpeting. Newer layer of
matte black undercoating. Cond: 3+. SOLD AT
$27,500. This was the final year for a straight-8
Olds, as 1949 saw the all-new (and soon to be
famous) Rocket 8 overhead-valve V8. It was also
the last year of the series 68 moniker; 6 for the
GM A-body, 8 for an 8-cylinder engine (and yes,
they did make a series 66 with the flathead
6-cylinder that lasted two model years into the
Rocket 8 era). Last seen at the last Fall Branson
auction, then turning down the $33,000 offer
(ACC# 6886250). At this point, the consignor
may be kicking himself. Sure, it may be a bit out
of character with a 3-on-the-tree instead of a
Hydra-Matic, but this was worth closer to what it
should’ve sold for in Branson. Well bought, provided
that you don’t have a thing against your
grandfather’s Oldsmobile.
#46-1956 cAdIllAc eldorAdo biarritz
convertible. VIN: 5662038844. Emerald Green
Metallic/white vinyl/green & white leather. Odo:
65,347 miles. 365-ci V6, 2x4-bbl, auto. Fitted
with parade boot and chrome Sabre wheels shod
with modern, wide whitewall radials. Restored
five years ago with a replacement white vinyl
top, in lieu of originally fitted light-green vinyl
per re-riveted body tag. Superb bare-body base/
clear repaint in original hue. Splendidly replated
chrome, reconditioned stainless trim. Generally
good panel fit. While bottom of the body was
cleanly painted while off chassis, suspension
components and fuel tank side have become
rather dirty. Speaking of suspension, the whole
car rides rather low to the waterline. Well-detailed
engine bay, as it’s authentic rather than
over-the-top. Expertly reupholstered seats, door
panels and dashboard top. Reproduction carpeting.
Cond: 2-.
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WORLDWIDE AUCTIONEERS • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
NOT SOLD AT $104,500. Nice to see a ’50s
Eldo properly restored in something other than
Resale Red or Mary Kay Pink. This shows that all
colors were rather dramatic on these top-shelf
Cadillacs. Can’t really blame them for doing the
top in white, since once you get past white or
black in a vinyl top, you essentially have to have
someone make the vinyl specifically for the car
(let alone making the top once you get the vinyl).
My ’62 Corvair Monza convertible originally
had a top with an aqua headliner—to get it
made, it would’ve cost more than the restored
car was worth in the mid-1990s. And that’s just a
Corvair. Doing an Eldo to the nines could bankrupt
a Third World country. As such, I can’t
blame the consignor for holding on to this one
longer.
#54-1957 cheVrolet bel AIr 2-dr hard
top. VIN: VB57J208899. Tuxedo Black/red vinyl
& gray nylon. Odo: 62,543 miles. 283-ci fuelinjected
V8, 3-sp. Originally built with a Turboglide
automatic transmission—substituted for a
3-speed manual with overdrive currently installed
in the car. Original tranny stated to be
included with car. Completely stock underhood,
but also rather scruffy looking in there. Very little
paint remains on engine, radiator or air-cleaner
assembly. Very dull alloy castings. Most—not
all—exterior paint is original, but shows light
scuffing, nicks and chips, in addition to light
cracking on upper surfaces. Reconditioned
chrome and stainless trim. Dual rear antennas.
Sun fade on upper door panels and seat backs.
Seat piping yellowed. Hole worn into carpet right
of the gas pedal. Reproduction floor mats and
bias-ply tires. Cond: 3.
here, as this was originally cataloged as Lot 72.
Regardless, this not-really original but not-really
well-preserved Fuelie proved to be a good flip to
make it fully sold here.
#69-1966 PontIAc gto 2-dr hard top.
VIN: 242176P132960. Red/black vinyl. Odo:
99,108 miles. 389-ci V8, 3x2-bbl, auto. Fitted
with aftermarket a/c. Otherwise restored to
match original build, to include Tri-Power induction.
Rally II wheels shod with repro Polyglas
tires. Generally good repaint, with some light
polishing scratches. Light-to-moderate sanding
scratches on windshield trim and drip moldings.
More light scratches on original side and rear
glass. Grille-to-body fit is a bit off. All-new interior
soft trim, as part of circa-2011 overall restoration
work. Generally clean underhood.
Deviations from stock are an aftermarket water
pump, alternator and radiator with electric
fan—in addition to the modern a/c compressor.
Light road spray on undercarriage, yet bare
metal and fasteners have, at most, light flash
rust. Cond: 2-.
work and paint better than original manufacturing
processes, with no sign of inner fabric weave
broadcasting to exterior. Door alignment slightly
off, being a touch low and with usual C1 issue of
doors protruding slightly from body envelope.
Authentic workmanship on replated exterior
chrome, with minimal waviness. Very clean engine
bay, with like-new gaskets peeking out.
Clean, authentic undercarriage, with only flash
rust on threads of some exposed bolts. New rearaxle
rebound strap. Authentically reupholstered
interior, with only some light seam wrinkling on
passenger’s seat bottom. Muted original instrumentation
bezel chrome, light yellowing of knobs
on dashboard and doors. Cond: 2+.
SOLD AT $60,500. The Turboglide, introduced
for 1957, was Chevy’s attempt to have a more
highly developed automatic than the Powerglide,
although both transmissions were available concurrently.
Something of a Buick Dynaflow with
three speeds, it was GM’s first all-aluminum-case
automatic. While I know one guy who bought a
new ’58 equipped with it and liked it, most everyone
else had issues with them—they were
nowhere near as robust as a Powerslide—so
they were discontinued in 1961. Last seen at Dan
Kruse Classics auction in Houston two months
previous, there selling for a reported $48,400
(ACC# 6890754). The deck got shuffled a bit
114 AmericanCarCollector.com
SOLD AT $36,300. 1966 was the first year the
GTO became a stand-alone model, so we tend to
see a few more of them with minimal comfort
and convenience options compared to the earlier
years. Previously, you had to walk up the option
sheet to get to a GTO, so it was something of a
case of “since we’ve added the GTO package, we
might as well add….” As a stand-alone model,
which had become one of the hottest cars on the
market, it then became easier to get one as
cheap as possible, or “just get me a red one with
three deuces.” Just like this car. This one opened
at $20k and initially worked its way up to almost
hammering at $28k, with a bid getting in just as
Rod Egan was ready to hammer it. That was a
good catch, as it kept the bidding going for another
$5k—going from a potential well bought
to market correct.
CORVETTE
#68-1953 CHEVROLET CORVETTE roadster.
VIN: E53F001209. Polo White/black cloth/red
vinyl. Odo: 20,000 miles. 235-ci 150-hp I6, 3x1bbl,
auto. Recent restoration by an NCRS Master
Judge on a late-1953 production example. Body-
NOT SOLD AT $220,000. Has been shopped at
least twice within the last year and didn’t sell.
We first saw it at Worldwide’s Arlington, TX, sale
April 2018, where it fared best at $230k (ACC#
6867631), then at RM’s Fall Auburn auction,
where it was run up to $210k (ACC# 6881611).
Buying a ’53 in recent years that’s ready to roll
out of a trailer onto an NCRS judging field
should be about a quarter-million-dollar affair,
although coming short of that by $30k (and
$20k short of the pre-sale low estimate here)
might mean that maybe it’s time for an adjustment
downward.
#38-1963 CHEVROLET CORVETTE coupe.
VIN: 30837S120799. Sebring Silver/black vinyl.
Odo: 40,768 miles. 327-ci 360-hp fuel-injected
V8, 4-sp. Modern, black-anodized pop-rivets on
the Body by Fisher tag. Factory optional ps and
Wonder Bar AM radio. Modern repop 1964–65
knockoff alloy wheels shod with radial tires.
Good older repaint presents well on exterior, but
has some cracking and rust seepage (from drain
gutters) in door jambs. Good door fit. Moderate
paint chipping on rocker panels and rear quarter
panels just behind wheelwells. Light waviness of
bumpers. Engine bay generally still clean from
an older detailing job. Two different vintages of
heater hoses (one has yellowed printing versus
the other with new white printing). Original interior,
with seam splits on driver’s seat bottom and
moderate fading on rear compartment carpet.
Bottoms of mufflers have several dents and
dings. Several newer chassis components, but
generally original and dusty. Cond: 3+.
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WORLDWIDE AUCTIONEERS • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
SOLD AT $148,500. If the consignor of the
all-but-identical Split-Window Fuelie that was
the top sale at the SG Auction in Winona, MN
(ACC# 6882260), hears about this car, he’ll
likely smack his head against the wall. This
wasn’t all that much better than his (darn near
equal, actually—better in some ways, worse in
others), yet sold for significantly more. Yet as
they say in real estate: location, location, location.
Granted, land tends to be worth more in
old-town Scottsdale—especially in January—
but not that much more. Well sold.
#64-1969 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
convertible. VIN: 194679S736083.
Monza Red/white vinyl, red hard top/black vinyl.
Odo: 51,243 miles. 427-ci 450-hp V8, 4-bbl,
4-sp. Stated to be the final L88-powered Corvette
convertible built. Original miles with original
major components and finishes. Half-century-old
GM-applied paint not aging particularly well,
with crazing, lifting and seam broadcasting
throughout the car in varying degrees. Door,
panel gaps better than usually encountered. Radio
antenna plug broadcasting markedly though
paint on top of right rear quarter panel. Interior
options include Speed Minder, tilt/tele steering
column. Seats look exceptionally good for half a
century and 51k miles of use—showing only
some looseness in inserts. Bone-stock underhood,
to include smog pump. Older light cosmetic detailing
in there, too. A bit dingy, dirty on bottom
of car. Cond: 3.
5
then, it was owned by a series of folks who realized
and appreciated its originality and kept it
that way—likely ignoring decades of “when are
you gonna paint that thing?” comments. Now
with a string of NCRS Top Flights, Bloomington
Gold Survivor accreditation, and even the only
L88 that was invited to be part of GM’s centennial
celebration, look who’s laughing now. Just
when I thought that it was going to take over
$500k on the hammer to sell, the reserve was cut
loose at $475k, hammering sold shortly thereafter.
FOMOCO
#36-1951 FORD F-1 custom pickup. VIN:
F1R1SP10231. Distressed red/brown leather.
Odo: 17,597 miles. 235-ci V8, 3x2-bbl, 5-sp.
Paint and bodywork in as-dragged-out-of-thefield
condition. Rust is more superficial than
structural, but there’s some perforations at common
blow-out spots like the front fender brackets,
tail gate and running boards. Texas A&M
Mechanical Engineers decal on a vent window. If
that isn’t enough proof that it’s from Texas, then
the “Happiness is a belt-fed weapon” decal in
the back window is. Original stainless trim isn’t
too bad. Cargo bed wood heavily weathered but
structurally sound. Wood dynamite crate
mounted in bed for relocated battery. Battery
relocated due to late-generation flathead Ford
V8 engine now wearing a set of Ardun cylinder
heads with triple Stromberg 97s between them.
As such, it runs out quite well. Repainted chassis
with all-new suspension. New steel rims with
baby moons and radials. New cowhide on seats
and rug on floor, period Sun tachometer; rest of
the cab is original and weathered. Cond: 4.
MOPAR
#41-1959 CHRYSLER 300E 2-dr hard top.
VIN: M591100657. White/light blue leather.
Odo: 9,763 miles. 413-ci V8, 2x4-bbl, auto. Factory-optional
a/c, Auto-Pilot cruise control, and
rear-window defogger. Has a set of repop Imperial/Chrysler-style
wire wheels and radials, with
stock wheel covers in trunk. Very old repaint, but
presents quite well on outside. In door jambs,
there’s sloppy masking around original seals and
light overspray on door panels and window trim.
Doors don’t latch the best and rattle when shut.
Hood sits high at cowl. More reproduction than
original trim. Mostly original interior, with some
re-dyeing done over the years. Replacement
carpet. Aftermarket speakers cut into rear parcel
shelf. Recent fluff-and-buff underhood, with new
a/c lines and connectors. Overspray on horns, yet
has an original inspection stamp on driver’s
fender apron. Modern, chambered mufflers on a
bland undercarriage. Cond: 3+.
SOLD AT $49,500. Last seen almost a year ago
at Leake Auctions’ Oklahoma City February 2018
event, selling for $64,900 (ACC# 6863706). In
another example of no good deed going unpunished,
a number of (but not all) small and major
issues were fixed since OKC, but here it sold at
no reserve for $15k less.
AMerIcAnA
SOLD AT $522,500. Unlike the typical L88
experience, the original owner of this one
bought it as a street-driven car. Granted, this
was in San Diego, so the lack of a radio was a
bigger deal to him and his wife than not having
a heater. Still, they kept it eight years. Since
116 AmericanCarCollector.com
SOLD AT $55,000. This is one of those vehicles
that make you wonder why they consigned a rat
rod—until you look under the hood. Sold for
the sum of the parts if you factor this as a $5k
old farm truck, or a good deal on a set of Ardun
heads that can deliver themselves to your doorstep—if
ratty-looking farm trucks aren’t your
thing.
#15-1931 PAckArd deluXe eIght Series
840 roadster. VIN: 47249. Burgundy/black
cloth/red leather. Odo: 2,726 miles. Equipped
with rumble seat, “sliding boy” hood ornament,
and a factory-provided dealer update kit, to emulate
the look of the 1932 900 series cars with its
radiator shell, grille, horns and bumpers. Part of
the reason why is on the original cowl tag, indicating
that it was sold new by Packard Motor Car
Co. New York on April 16, 1932. Older restoration
that still presents quite well. CCCA National
First Prize badge 2704 attached to the driver’s
side wind-wing glass, which is starting to delaminate.
All chrome wears an older replate and still
shows well. Dull step plates for rumble seat.
Dated engine cosmetics, which are in need of
TOP 10
Page 115
WORLDWIDE AUCTIONEERS • SCOTTSDALE, AZ
updating if any type of show duty is being considered
for the car. Light fading at top of seat
back, especially noticeable on side bolsters. Clean
undercarriage. Stated that the auction house has
a financial interest in the car. Cond: 2-.
SOLD AT $242,000. With a delivery date in
1932, no wonder it was fitted with a 1932 update
kit. Being a Packard dealer during the Depression
was no easy way of making a living, even in
the Big Apple. When you did get a sale, it was
usually pretty good, but those sales were few and
far between. While this car originally listed at
$3,490, even with the update kit, it was likely
sold for less just to move it out. But 87 years
later, there’s no need to fire-sale a quality restoration
like this, even if it did sell at no-reserve
under the $300k lower estimate.
#8-1936 PACKARD TWELVE Series
1407 coupe. VIN: 937209. Black/blue
cloth. Odo: 87,766 miles. Body tag states that the
car was sold new by Packard Evanston on November
30, 1935. Fully known history, to include
ownership by past CCCA president Richard Gold
and Packard book author Robert J. Neal. Original
restoration work was done by the Joy Bros.
Packard dealership in St. Paul, MN, in 1954.
Most recent work is a mid-1970s era repaint, the
addition of a trunk in 1986, and the wire wheels
chrome plated in the 1987. Rechrome and repaint
look good, even with some chipping on
panel edges and around cowl from hood. Single
driving light mounted on front bumper has dull
plating and best benefits the car by being removed.
Recent touch-up underhood. Excellent
interior—doubtful that it’s original, but done in
stock pattern and materials, with only light wear
on piping. Toggle switch added for a supplemental
electric fuel pump. Cond: 3+.
with hydraulics. While the Twelves had a robust
mechanical system, most folks today prefer the
juice brakes used on the 1937-and-later Senior
cars. One of 10 built, and reportedly one of four
that are accounted for, chances are good you’ll
have the only one at an event, save a Packard
national meet. The reserve was met at $100k,
with one more bid to get it sold (unfortunately,
not to me). Being a rare coupe that’s presentable
with no need to be paranoid, combined with
past owners whom I actually knew, this was easily
my favorite car on the docket here. In my
biased opinion, well bought.
#63-1954 PAckArd cuStoM eIght Series
5413 flower car. VIN: 54132153. Cotillion
White & black/maroon & gray velour. Odo:
73,542 miles. 359-ci I8, 4-bbl, 3-sp. Factoryoptional
overdrive unit. Cosmetic restoration
done in 2014, as original powertrain is stated to
still run quite well. Nice trim-off repaint, with
most chrome replated and stainless trim polished
off car. Light surface rust on some portions of
door-glass framing. Gaps and shut lines befit a
Senior Packard. Interior cargo compartment
retains mounting brackets and shows occasional
light dings and scuffing on stainless-steel paneling.
Seat likely original from Henney, as it has
the same cheesy synthetic velour that most of
their cars used. Heavily cleaned-up rubber floor-
ing. Blanking plate, no radio. Very lightly
washed off underhood. Unkempt undercarriage.
Reproduction bias-ply tires and stock hubcaps on
stock, blue-painted wheels. Cond: 3+.
SOLD AT $49,500. A funeral car with overdrive.
Seems like an odd combination, especially for
the time. Maybe the lads at the funeral parlor
wanted to blow off some steam once in a while
after all those somber interments. (“Now that the
crowd’s back at the church, let’s see if we can
blow off all the flowers by the time we get ’er
back to the garage.”) However, with 73k miles
showing, it was likely also used for cold calls or
transfers, where overdrive made a lot more
sense out on the pre-interstate blue highways. I
originally had this earmarked as one of the potential
low sales from here, as funeral cars have
a pretty shallow following. Yet the seller has no
reason to be somber, as this one really rang the
bell—coming just shy of cracking through the
high pre-sale guesstimate. A
SOLD AT $115,500. This was the final year that
the Senior cars had mechanical brakes—although
the Junior 120 was introduced in 1935
March–April 2019 117
BEST
BUY
Page 116
GLOBAL
ROUNDUP
American Highlights
at Three Auctions
SELECTED SALES COMBINED IN ONE COMPREHENSIVE REPORT
GM
#257-1930 cAdIllAc 452 Series
4260 sport phaeton. VIN: 702401.
Two-tone gray/ black fabric/gray leather. Odo:
3,098 miles. One of only 85 sport phaetons produced
with the elegant V16 motor. It’s thought
that 16 have survived. The engine, introduced in
1930, is a work of art. Restored in 1990, car has
won several AACA and CCCA awards. Equipped
with sidemounts, Pilot Ray driving lights and
correct “low-boy” trunk. Instruments in rear compartment.
Still very presentable and elegant.
Cond: 2+.
2
SOLD AT $940,000. Some say that the big,
elegant Full Classics have had their time in the
sun. I think this sale puts them in a different
light. They still have a following, and a number
of younger collectors are finding them very desirable.
Price paid here was well within reason—fair
transaction. RM Sotheby’s,
Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
1965 Shelby Cobra 289 roadster, sold for at $912,500 at Gooding & Company’s 2019
Scottsdale auction
Bonhams
Scottsdale, AZ — January 17, 2019
Auctioneer: Malcolm Barber
Automotive lots sold/offered: 108/120
Sales rate: 90%
Sales total: $16,099,560
High American sale: 1932 Packard Twin Six
convertible, sold at $212,800
Buyer’s premium: 12% on first $250,000;
10% thereafter, included in sold prices
Report and photos by Michael Leven
RM Sotheby’s
Phoenix, AZ — January 17–18, 2019
Auctioneer: Maarten ten Holder
Automotive lots sold/offered: 131/155
Sales rate: 85%
118 AmericanCarCollector.com
Sales total: $36,851,890
High American sale: 1948 Tucker 48 sedan,
sold at $1,600,000
Buyer’s premium: 12% on first $250,000;
10% thereafter, included in sold prices
Report and photos by Carl Bomstead
Gooding & Company
Scottsdale, AZ — January 18–19, 2019
Auctioneer: Charlie Ross
Automotive lots sold/offered: 106/124
Sales rate: 85%
Sales total: $48,238,880
High American sale: 1964 Shelby Cobra 289
roadster, sold at $1,050,000
Buyer’s premium: 12% on first $250,000;
10% thereafter, included in sold prices
Report and photos by Joseph T. Seminetta
SOLD AT $42,560. The Series 60 came in several
body styles and lasted only three model
years, but quickly became Cadillac’s best-selling
car, filling a lucrative niche between the more-
#110-1937 cAdIllAc SerIeS 60 convertible
sedan. VIN: 6B2337. Dark blue/dark blue
canvas/blue cloth. Odo: 271 miles. One owner for
past 30 years. Paint getting thin from buffing;
cracking in spots now and filler starting to show.
Passenger’s side rear door does not close well.
Cast trim pieces—hood vents, grille—with some
corrosion. Canvas top taut and in very very good
nick. Windlace worn, but window seals perished.
Gray leather seats sound and mostly nice, save
for some staining; carpets new. Art Deco gauges
look great but are yellowing slightly. Sold at no
reserve. Cond: 3.
TOP 10
Page 117
ROUNDUP
expensive Series 70 cars and the LaSalle brand.
Built when Cadillac brand was called “The Standard
of the World,” and recently gone through
mechanically, this big cruiser would be a nice
touring car provided you left lots of room for
stopping. A good buy on a big, pre-war open
classic and a lot of car for the money. Bonhams,
Scottsdale, AZ, 01/19.
#205-1938 buIck SPecIAl custom coupe.
VIN: 13282604. Silver/red leatherette. Odo:
46,668 miles. A mild custom with dual Strombergs
added along with slight overbore on motor.
Custom rear seat added and new leatherette
seating. Bumpers moved closer to body and new
running boards added. Upgraded to 12V, and
power steering from ’75 Buick fitted. Has upgraded
suspension. A the end of the day, however,
it is still a Buick Business coupe. Cond: 1-.
#218-1956 cAdIllAc eldorAdo biarritz
convertible. VIN: 5662087477. Bahama Blue/
white vinyl/blue & white vinyl. Odo: 12,498
miles. 365-ci V8, 2x4-bbl, auto. Cadillac’s personal
luxury car finished in beautiful Bahama
Blue. Has parade boot and gold Sabre wheels, as
well as dual 4-barrels with batwing air cleaner.
Has received recent engine rebuild. Very acceptable
older paint with minor wear to leather seating.
Body straight and solid, with no evidence of
prior body damage. One of only 2,150 produced.
Cond: 1-.
400-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. Solid-looking car with
comprehensive restoration done at unknown
time; not recently, however. Paint well applied
and unblemished over variable prep—gaps
uneven, body panels wavy. Chrome okay, but
trim with some scuffs, dents. Left rear quarter
glass noticeably scratched. Interior mostly good,
with seat covers broken in and a small tear on
driver’s seat. Engine room tidy, save for leaking
master cylinder and corrosion in the area. Originally
optioned with a/c, pb, ps. Base engine and
four drum brakes otherwise. Sold at no reserve.
Cond: 2-.
GLOBAL
SOLD AT $24,640. Someone spent a bunch of
money on this, and, even so, it was not appreciated
by the market. Sold for a song, but I can’t
see that it’s worth much more than was spent.
RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
#275-1941 cAdIllAc SerIeS 62 convertible.
VIN: 8353831. Beige/black can-
vas/ red leather. Odo: 78,482 miles. An attractive
Cadillac convertible that is a treat to drive at
highway speeds. Low mileage, which is stated to
be actual. Long-term ownership with limited use.
Lacking fog lights but equipped with radio and
heater. Decent older paint and black fabric top
fits properly. Recent mechanically recommissioning.
Cond: 2.
SOLD AT $92,400. This sold for well under
expectations, as the low estimate of $125,000
would still be considered a decent buy. As such,
new owner has a well-bought, fun Cadillac convertible.
Well bought indeed. RM Sotheby’s,
Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
#283-1961 oldSMobIle dynAMIc 88 2-dr
hard top. VIN: 612K12229. Azure Mist & Provincial
White/tri-colored blue vinyl. Odo: 34,802
miles. 394-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. A very desirable
bubble top that is loaded with accessories.
Equipped with power steering, brakes and Hydra-Matic
transmission. Recent quality respray in
factory colors. Fitted with skirts, factory radio and
trunk opener. Also has factory build sheet and
Protect-O-Plate warranty card. Low miles stated
to be actual. A true time capsule. Cond: 1-.
SOLD AT $42,560. Sharp looking from five feet
with good presence, at least looking the business
with Redline tires, Rally II wheels and chrome
rings. Driver-plus grade restoration no longer
fresh, making for a usable car with nothing so
nice you’d be afraid of some more wear and
tear. Of concern, however, is the leaking brake
fluid, which has appeared since the catalog photos
were taken—I hope the new owner is having
the car towed home.... Strong—but not crazy—
money for this low-spec Goat, which was slightly
well sold. Bonhams, Scottsdale, AZ, 01/19.
#97-1976 cAdIllAc eldorAdo convertible.
VIN: 6L67S6Q258404. Eng. # 402803.
Greenbrier Firemist/white vinyl/white leather.
Odo: 2,184 miles. 500-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. Ultralow-mile
car in striking colors. Two-thirds of indicated
2,184 miles traveled in past five years.
Paint impeccable; extremely long panels laserstraight
and well blocked. Uniform gaps. White
leather seats incredibly preserved. Carpets excellent.
Thermometer in driver’s side rear-view mirror.
Tinted glass clear and bright, chrome like
new. Tidy, detailed engine bay save slight
SOLD AT $58,800. At the price sold, this is a
screaming deal. A few years back these were in
the low six figures, and this one was not even
close. Seller is licking his wounds, but the buyer
is still grinning. Every sale makes someone
happy. RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
SOLD AT $58,800. Powered by the 394-ci motor
that was used in the 98 and with the original
date-coded glass, this very original Dynamic 88
sold for a solid premium. Price paid is well justified
as the original condition and low miles put it
in a class by itself. Driving it, however, will be
expensive, so likely destined to be garage art.
RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
#22-1967 PontIAc gto 2-dr hard top.
VIN: 242177G127765. Eng. # 723339YS. Burgundy
metallic/black vinyl. Odo: 60,001 miles.
exterior overspray in right rear section. Comes
with window sticker, owner’s manual and two
original keys. Sold without reserve. Cond: 2.
SOLD AT $58,240. Claimed completely original
March–April 2019 119
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inside and out. However, the fit and finish of this
example’s body is WAY too good to be original;
Cadillac (and all GM) quality in the ’70s was
hardly the “Standard of the World.” Just sayin’....
I often drove one of these barges in period and
can say that tooling along with the top down and
one arm on the door ledge just doesn’t get any
better. For their sheer ostentatiousness, these
will always be collectible, and as a real unicorn
this one was worth the price paid. Bonhams,
Scottsdale, AZ, 01/19.
CORVETTE
#93-1959 CHEVROLET CORVETTE convertible.
VIN: J59S100875. Roman Red & white/
white vinyl/black vinyl. Odo: 9,509 miles. 283-ci
230-hp V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Three-owner car in attractive
colors. Once-good paint now cracked,
badly scratched on trunk and chipped on nose.
Gaps way better than new. Chrome mostly good;
rear bumper, grille teeth starting to pit. Black
vinyl interior very good. Carpet appears newish.
Gauges clear and bright. Equipped with Wonder
Bar radio. Vinyl top taut but slightly discolored.
Low odometer reading hints at limited use. No
indication provided in catalog regarding matching
numbers. Sold without reserve. Cond: 2-.
original car including interior and paintwork
from cowl forward. Also has radio and woodrimmed
steering wheel. Only 10,594 Split-Windows
produced and one of only 728 equipped
with air. Needs some attention, but an honest
driver. Cond: 2-.
SOLD AT $67,200. Second year of the fourheadlight
Corvette, now cleaner looking without
the washboard hood and chrome trunk hinges/
trim. A lukewarm catalog entry did this handsome,
usable car no favors. But with the lowerspec
engine and no claim to matching
numbers—a must-have for top-dollar Corvettes—the
$110k–$130k estimate range was
quite optimistic; such a result was never in the
cards. With all that, provided it got enough exercise
and has no deferred issues, this Corvette
looked like a well-bought car. Bonhams, Scottsdale,
AZ, 01/19.
#158-1963 CHEVROLET CORVETTE SplitWindow
coupe. VIN: 30837S118801. Ermine
White/red vinyl. Odo: 62,719 miles. 327-ci 250hp
V8, 4-bbl, auto. A highly optioned Split-Window
fitted with a/c and power steering. A very
SOLD AT $89,600. These have been attracting
more interest of late even in a difficult Corvette
market. New owner has a decision: restore or
use as a respectable driver. I think I would use
and enjoy. At price paid, it’s a decent buy. RM
Sotheby’s, Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
#144-1966 CHEVROLET CORVETTE convertible.
VIN: 194676S102228V. Eng. # TO922IP6102228.
Milano Maroon/tan vinyl/Saddle
leather. Odo: 45,640 miles. Early-production L72
120 AmericanCarCollector.com
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with sidepipes and factory hard top. Positraction
and close-ratio M21 gearbox. Exceptional paint
quality throughout. Some minor interior wear.
Beautiful chrome. Cond: 1-.
in good order with no issues noted. Red leather
is excellent contrast. One of only 2,250 secondseries
Sportsman convertibles built in 1947. Powered
by Ford V8 with Columbia overdrive. A
strong offering. Cond: 2+.
#133-1965 SHELBY COBRA 289
roadster. VIN: CSX2448. Black/black
leather. Odo: 27,710 miles. 289-ci V8, 4x2-bbl,
4-sp. Forty years in single-family ownership.
SAAC-documented one-of-30 privateer competition
Cobras with period SCCA race history. Comprehensive
photo-documented restoration with
receipts approaching half a million dollars. Competition
289 fitted with Weber carburetors. Toploader
gearbox. Big brakes and aggressive
rubber. Owner claimed original chassis and most
of its original panels. Removable custom sidepipes.
Beautiful paint and interior. Cond: 2+.
3
SOLD AT $109,200. Corvette owners are überparticular
about authenticity and documentation.
This lot did not have an NCRS certification, a
claim of matching numbers or original colors,
any ownership history, or documentation. Sold at
a market correct level. Gooding & Co., Scottsdale,
AZ, 01/19.
#128-1967 CHEVROLET CORVETTE convertible.
VIN: 194677S114980. Rally Red/white
vinyl/red vinyl. Odo: 46,277 miles. 427-ci 435-hp
V8, 3x2-bbl, 4-sp. An older restoration of an L71
big-block with a factory tank sticker. Has optional
F41 suspension, side exhaust and power
windows. Won several NCRS awards in 1996–98,
but now showing a few signs of age. Restamped
block that produces 435 horsepower. Also M21
4-speed manual transmission. Cond: 2.
SOLD AT $190,400. These continue to hold
their value, and the price paid here was on the
money. Maintain in this condition and I doubt if
the new owner will lose a penny. Fair transaction.
RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
#6-1956 lIncoln contInentAl MArk II
2-dr hard top. VIN: C56S3913. Cobalt Blue
Metallic/blue & white leather. Odo: 32,633 miles.
368-ci V8, 4-bbl, auto. An extremely handsome
car in great colors let down by casual presentation.
Paint very well applied over mostly excellent
prep; odd, long cracks in random places:
base of C-pillars, hood, right-hand body line.
Opening panels (save trunk) poorly aligned or
blocked. Chrome good, but brightwork around
windows not so much. Massive expanse of blue
and white leather let down by scuffing on front
seats. Rears bearing a huge black smudge.
Switchgear on dash, associated trim and steering
column not detailed. Sold at no reserve.
Cond: 2-.
SOLD AT $912,500. Previously offered at
Gooding’s 2017 Pebble Beach sale, where it
went back home after a $1,050,000 high bid
(ACC# 6844601). An odd combination of
concours finishes with non-stock race parts. Auctions
are often not kind to combination cars, but
this one was well presented. Two bidders pushed
it to a level that has to be considered well sold.
Gooding & Co., Scottsdale, AZ, 01/19.
SOLD AT $151,200. Sold for less than expected,
but time is taking its toll on the older
restoration. The restamped block raised a few
additional questions, so price was in line with the
current market. Fair all around. RM Sotheby’s,
Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
FOMOCO
#253-1947 FORD SUPER DELUXE Sportsman
convertible. VIN: 799A1974216. Maize
Yellow/tan canvas/red leather. Odo: 384 miles.
239-ci V8, 2-bbl, 3-sp. An attractive 1947 Ford
Sportsman with the spring updates that include a
redesigned trunk lid. The Maize Yellow livery is
122 AmericanCarCollector.com
SOLD AT $58,240. Designed by Gordon Buehrig,
the same man who drew the Auburn 851
Speedster and the Cord 810/12, among other
iconic cars. This work is no less sublime, and it
has always been a wonder to me why these
beauties have struggled for so long to be valued
accordingly. The past few years have seen a
change and properly (and very expensively) restored
examples now command big money.
While outwardly very nice, attention to detail
was lacking here, and the price reflected this.
Fairly bought. Bonhams, Scottsdale, AZ,
01/19.
#55-1968 SHELBY GT350 fastback. VIN:
8T02J19245302157. Acapulco Blue/tan leather.
Odo: 1,081 miles. 302-ci V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Highly
optioned, genuine Shelby with numerous “upgrades,”
including incorrect 302 engine. Body
well aligned and blocked; paint nicely done.
Brightwork good, with some scratching. Virtually
stock exterior save for Greek flag and electrical
shut-off decals. Custom console with leather
Sparco racing seats matched to tan interior. Racing
harnesses and roll bar. Turned aluminum
dash with modern electrical switches. Fully
plumbed fire system. Comes with Deluxe Marti
Report. Sold at no-reserve. Cond: 1.
SOLD AT $72,800. On the surface this looks
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downright cheap for a very nice Shelby. Of
course, there are a number of liberties taken,
and therein probably lie the reasons for the low
sale price. However, a work list consisting of
installing stock seats with correct covers and seat
belts, replacing the dash facade/switchgear, removing
the race bits et al., provides easy and
quite inexpensive fixes. Sourcing a correct, datecoded
289 would be more challenging. And
while the numbers will never match, that can be
said for a lot of Shelbys. If taken back to original
spec, I reckon this will look like a pretty good
buy. Bonhams, Scottsdale, AZ, 01/19.
#28-1970 FORD MUSTANG Boss 302
fastback. VIN: 0T02G126865. Grabber
Orange/black vinyl. Odo: 95,228 miles. 302-ci
V8, 4-bbl, 4-sp. Born in Bright Gold Metallic over
Medium Ginger Rhino livery—now Grabber
Orange and black. Paint very good; only blemishes
on right sail panel and above left rear
wheel. Gaps variable, as is panel alignment.
Hood bowed and very high at one corner. Trim
flat, as-new. Dashboard lumpy, while seat covers
and carpet are new. Hurst shifter. Optioned with
wide-ratio trans, Traction-Lok diff, Philco radio,
Shaker hood. Rides on BFG Radial TAs and Magnum
wheels. Comes with Elite Marti Report and
sold at no-reserve. Cond: 2.
peel on nose. Surface rust forming where windshield
and cowl meet. Body panels quite wavy;
poor fit of air dam. Flip-up moon roof. Dingy
wheels from storage/museum display should
polish well. Carpets slightly frayed. Seats, door
panels excellent—save the arm rests. Sold without
reserve. Cond: 3+.
SOLD AT $50,400. Usually the market pays
more when cars are restored in their original
colors. I would submit that this might be an exception;
the color change to the Grabber Orange
of the Trans Am championship-winning Bud
Moore Boss 302s is an enormous upgrade. That
said, this car did not light the block on fire, a
Condition 2 car selling for a 3- price. Maybe it
would have done better if it were still gold and
ginger (yuk!). Anyway, someone got a very nice
car at a very good price. Very well bought. Bonhams,
Scottsdale, AZ, 01/19.
#83-1983 SHELBY CHARGER hatchback.
VIN: 1B3BZ6485DD170629. Santa Fe Blue &
silver/blue velour, silver vinyl. Odo: 3,007 miles.
2.2-L I4, 2-bbl, 5-sp. Super-low-mile example
consigned straight from Carroll Shelby’s personal
collection. Mostly original; three different hues of
blue paint indicate at least one partial respray.
Some staining of silver stripe; chipping, orange
SOLD AT $26,880. With a warmed-over engine,
decent torque, shorter gears and a lot of good
suspension bits, this is probably a fun car to
drive—if you’d want to devalue it by actually
using it.... While this will never be an iconic,
super-collectible vehicle like most of Ol’ Shel’s
other creations, I see value here as a low-mile
piece of history once owned by the man himself.
I doubt such provenance could otherwise be had
for many multiples of the price paid here. Well
bought. Bonhams, Scottsdale, AZ, 01/19.
#94-1999 Shelby SerIeS 1 convertible.
VIN: 5CXSA1819XL000043. Centennial Silver/
black leather. Odo: 14,403 miles. 4.0-L supercharged
V8, 6-sp. A one-owner car, gifted to the
consignor—a close Shelby associate—by Carroll
Shelby himself. One of fewer than 30 Series 1s
(of 249 built) equipped with the factory supercharger.
In generally tired condition given mileage.
Paint chipped on nose, with scuffs around
windshield. Headlight covers yellowed, as are
carbon-fiber dash and console. Black leather
seats dull but sound. Painted roll bar scratched
from buckles on (long expired) five-point racing
harnesses. Sold without reserve. Cond: 3+.
SOLD AT $112,000. Series 1 prices have been
very flat for more than a few years, with most
sales around $100k. However, two examples sold
last year for near $200k and $300k-plus, respectively.
The latter sale, for Mr. Shelby’s personal
car, is an aberration, and it now appears likely
the former sale may be as well. We can’t know
the consignor’s expectations here, but I’d guess
this result was a bit disappointing. However, it
124 AmericanCarCollector.com
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doesn’t look like the broader market has actually
changed much, and our subject car was fairly
bought. Bonhams, Scottsdale, AZ, 01/19.
#5-2005 FORD GT coupe. VIN: 1FAFP90S35Y400029.
CentennialCentennial White/black
leather. Odo: 2,080 miles. 5.4-L supercharged
V8, 6-sp. Early-serial-number Ford GT, purchased
under Ford’s “VIP” program. Two-owner
example with rather low miles. Well documented
with window sticker, build sheets and photos. The
car’s condition is in accordance with its mileage,
with the exception of some sloppy rubber on the
driver’s side door. Ford GTs are very liquid in
today’s market, as they offer modern performance
with classic styling. Cond: 1-.
B602102. Green/tan canvas/brown leather. Odo:
34,692 miles. Final production of the Senior Series
Packard Twelve. One of only four 1939 convertible
sedans known to still exist. NOM and
added overdrive transmission and electric fuel
pump. Worn, cracked paint throughout. Beautiful
convertible top. Unusual (non-stock) seat patterns
but with excellent patina. Beautiful whitewall
tires. Pitted, tarnished chrome. Recent
mechanical sorting by marque specialist.
Cond: 3.
#115-1954 kAISer-dArrIn 161 roadster.
VIN: 161001381. Pine Tint/Pine Tint vinyl/Pine
Tint vinyl. Odo: 197 miles. 161-ci I6, 1-bbl, 3-sp.
Powered by Willys flathead 6 with iconic design
by Dutch Darrin. Only 435 produced, with 100
left over at year end. Restored 1999–2000 and
still presents well. Fiberglass body with Darrin
dip on sliding door and “guppy” nose. Numerous
awards, but past its prime now and just a driver.
Cond: 1-.
SOLD AT $280,000. Opening bid of $100k,
quickly doubled. Sold exactly in line with the
current market and between the low and high
pre-sale estimates. Gooding & Co., Scottsdale,
AZ, 01/19.
#170-2006 FORD GT coupe. VIN:
1FAFP90S 16Y401908. Centennial
White/black leather. Odo: 786 miles. A Canadian-delivery
Ford GT, so McIntosh stereo was
not offered. All three of the other options were
ordered here. Only 222 were finished in Centennial
White in 2006. Has been driven only 786
miles since new. In as-delivered condition.
Cond: 1.
9
SOLD AT $106,400. Packard prices have been
soft for the past few years. This lot was slightly
underpriced and well below the optimistic presale
estimates. Gooding & Co., Scottsdale,
AZ, 01/19.
#110-1952 WIllyS M38 Jeep. VIN: 65476.
Olive drab/olive drab canvas. Odo: 85 miles.
134-ci I4, 1-bbl, 3-sp. A very authentic restoration
of a Korean War-era Willys M38 Jeep. Has a
M2 50-caliber machine gun that fires realistic
flame blasts with appropriate sounds. Has a
number of grenades and ammo boxes, as well as
bayonets and helmets. Korean flag was found
under the seat during restoration and an actual
bullet hole (one of three) was retained. Ready to
go play war or to be used as parade vehicle.
Cond: 1.
SOLD AT $112,000. Price paid was a bit under
the market, but these have fallen off a bit the
past few years. Underpowered, but fun to look at
as long as people don’t mess with the doors.
Always attract a few thumbs-up. RM Sotheby’s,
Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
#63-1959 deVIn SPecIAl racer. VIN: 22.
Red & silver/black vinyl. Odo: 19,430 miles. 389ci
V8, 3x1-bbl, 4-sp. Pontiac-powered and built
on Austin-Healey chassis, presumably in period.
Documented history on file but not offered in
catalog. Ten-foot paint; cracks and pockmarks
aplenty. Poor panel alignment—hood and trunk
both high, misaligned. Hand-formed aluminum
hood scoop to clearance carb stacks. Period fiberglass
bucket seats and wood steering wheel.
Square-weave carpet on floor. Monza fuel filler,
headers, sidepipes, Halibrand-style wheels, Wilwood
brakes. Sold without reserve. Cond: 3.
SOLD AT $318,500. These show up at most
every major auction and sell near $300k when
offered in this condition. Must have been a postblock
deal for a market-correct price. RM Sotheby’s,
Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
AMerIcAnA
#128-1939 PACKARD TWELVE Series 1708
convertible sedan. VIN: 12532015. Eng. #
126 AmericanCarCollector.com
SOLD AT $67,200. A well-done restoration of a
Jeep that was used by the 45 Infantry Thunderbird
Division. Price paid was a bit more than
expected, but restoration was spot-on. Slight
premium was well justified. RM Sotheby’s,
Phoenix, AZ, 01/19.
SOLD AT $40,320. Catalog entry bereft of any
information on car’s history makes it hard to
know if this brutish-looking thing was meant to
be fish or fowl. It neither looked like a remotely
comfortable street machine nor was it equipped
to be a proper race car—kind of a tweener. I
suppose it could be taken in either direction, but
it’s far closer to street than race spec, and with a
reasonable investment in some creature comforts
could be a real fun hellraiser around town. With
that in mind, well bought. Bonhams, Scottsdale,
AZ, 01/19.A
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THE PARTS HUNTER
Pat Smith
Steals, Deals and Go-Figures
It’s not always just OE parts that bring big money
#254058975010 1976–77 Ford F 150-250, Bronco Truck Speedo Dash Cluster.
8 photos. Item condition: Used. eBay Motors. El Paso TX, 1/8/2019.
“Listed is a nice used 1976–77 Ford F150, F250, F350 Bronco speedometer dash cluster.
100-mile speedometer and all gauges are in good working condition and have been tested.
Circuit number is D6TF-10C956-AA. Lens has no cracks and body has no rot.”
Sold at $139.50.
Ten years ago this price would have raised eyebrows. Since 1970s Ford pickups and
Broncos are on the rise, a piece like this is a good find. The layer of dust inside the cabin
gets heavy. If she doesn’t have a/c, chances are good it was driven everywhere with windows
down. This basic unit is what came on so many F series; it’d be a perfect replacement part if
yours is damaged or not working right. Price paid is fair for a working unit in good shape.
#372554342016 VTG Antique, Original “Little Tree”
Car Air Freshener Display.
4 photos: Item condition: New. eBay Motors. Independence,
MO, 1/1/2019.
“Here is a forest fresh air freshener you will probably never
see again. Made in the good ol’ USA. This will be for one
air freshener off the display card. Very collectible, not 100%
perfect but very close.”
Sold at $250.
Listings like these make me wonder about the people who
buy this stuff. $250 could have been reasonable for the display
card with air fresheners, but this auction appears to be for just
one air freshener, off the display card! Yep, that’s a $250 dollar piece of paper in a plastic bag. A “go
figure” moment if there ever was one!
#163373398864 1959 Chevy Passenger AM
Car Radio.
12 photos: Item condition: Used. eBay Motors.
Livingston, MO. 11/14/2018.
“Chrome bezel very nice and don’t see any pitting.
Black pushbuttons all look good and each moves
the dial needle when pressed. Right knob moves
dial needle. Numbers and dial hand look good.
Flat black paint above dial is worn away in places. Overall it
is a good-looking radio. Don’t know if it works and won’t try
it or guarantee it works before shipping as can’t trust the U.S.
Mail to get it to buyer in working condition. Sorry.”
Sold at $50.
Finding nice vintage car-radio cores is getting harder
all the time. Good ones are expensive even at swapmeets.
Special-face units like these are especially hard to get in good,
unpitted condition. While the push to sell modern radios with
vintage styling is strong, many brands aren’t as good as an original radio. The best of both worlds is an
original modified inside by a techie. You still need a core to do that and this one is perfect. The knobs
and face plate alone are worth selling price. Super deal.
128 AmericanCarCollector.com
#183626721626 1963 Corvette Original
Hood Grilles.
3 photos. Item condition: Used. eBay Motors.
Rutland, MA. 1/8/2019.
“Nice condition used parts.”
Sold at $120.
One-year-only high-visibility trim parts for
anything other than eye-gouging prices are getting
to be rarer than chicken lips. Reproduction
grilles for the ’63 ’Vette hood are available, of
course, at a wallet-melting $480 a pair, plus
shipping. This is a roaring steal. The shipping
will cost more than the parts. I’m calling this one
“swag,” as it was Stolen Without A Gun. A
Page 128
JUNKYARD TREASURES
Phil Skinner
Sporting its original chrome trim and solid sheet metal, this 1954 Dodge Meadowbrook-6 4-door sedan is just waiting for a new home
Running Strong
O
for Five Decades
Owens Salvage Co. offers a mother lode
of vintage tin off old Route 66
n a recent journey to the Lone Star State, I found myself in Wellington,
just south of Shamrock, a famous Route 66 city. That’s where Owens
Salvage Co. has been located for over five decades.
There are over 60 acres of land here, and at one time the yard boasted
up to 6,000 vehicles on hand.
Robert Owens Sr. started the yard back in 1964 as an outgrowth of his successful
Standard Oil and “Super Service” business. “Flat-top” Bob, who now runs the show,
grew up playing with cars.
Up to the late 1980s, Owens Salvage Co. dealt
Detailing
What: Owens Salvage Co.
Where: 3725 U.S. Hwy 83
Wellington, TX 76270
Hours: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Monday–Friday, Saturdays
by appointment
Phone: 800-798-2581, 806447-2581
Website: owenssalvage.com
130 AmericanCarCollector.com
mostly with late-model vehicles, but in 1990 they began
to focus more on vintage cars. Throughout the years,
both the senior Owens and “Flat-top” Bob acquired a
large collection of NOS parts for many domestic makes
which are in inventory today.
Owens Salvage Co. has a customer base from all
over the world, with visitors coming from Australia,
New Zealand and even Japan, as well as most all of
Europe and even some former Soviet-bloc countries.
If you are in the area and just want to come and
visit, plan on sitting a spell and talking hot rods, customs
and motoring stories with “Flat-top” Bob. A
With the current high interest in 1960s 4x4 utility
vehicles, it is a wonder this 1965 International
Scout is still available
Yes, they are still out there in the wild. A very desirable
1940 Ford Standard coupe, ready for rodding
or restoration
Page 130
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GM
1953 Chevrolet 3100 pickup
1961 Buick Electra 225 convertible
S/N 124378L326054. Fathom Blue Metallic/blue.
152,670 miles. V8, 4-spd manual. Original
Southern California owner, Los Angeles-built and
very desirable highly factory-optioned SS. Original
matching-numbers L34 396/350 hp 4-bbl V8 engine
matched to a Muncie 4-speed transmission and a
12-bolt 3.55:1 P-code axle ratio 3:70 Posi-Traction
differential rear end. In rare factory Fathom Blue
Metallic (Code E) paint with factory-delete vinyl
roof and deluxe blue bucket seats, factory SS option
package with original steering wheel and SS hood,
front console and power brakes. $59,500 OBO. West
Coast Classics. Contact Larry, Ph: 424.376.5151,
email: wcclassics@aol.com. Website: www.TheWestCoastClassics.com.
(CA)
1970 Oldsmobile 442 W-30 replica
2-dr hard top
S/N H5300144487. Blue/blue. Inline 6, 3-spd
manual. This is a beautiful original example of a
1953 3100 ½-ton truck. It is an older restoration
that has held up extremely well. The paint is a
beautiful blue that rates 9 out of 10. The truck’s
split windshield and other glass are clear and intact.
Its lights, gauges and turn signals all work as they
should, and the truck’s bodywork is straight and solid.
The bumpers are shiny and fit well to the body.
Under the hood is a 216-ci straight-6 engine mated
to a 4-speed manual transmission with synchromesh.
1953 was also the final year for the two-piece
windshield and rectangular taillights. The truck has
been inspected and is ready to go. It also has a new
carburetor, tires that are almost new, a modern
radio, and wood bed rails and wooden bed floor.
$26,000 OBO. Contact Craig, Ph: 214.232.2608,
email: craigbas77@gmail.com. (TX)
1956 Chevrolet 210 sedan
V8, automatic. All original, numbers match, runs
and drives good. Tear in driver’s seat, newer
paint. Nice car. $10,900 OBO. Contact Greg, Ph:
269.271.4724, email: affhalt@aol.com. (MI)
S/N 124378N431785. Red/black. 0 miles. V8, 4-spd
automatic. A beautiful example. Frame-off restored
with no expense spared. Factory Rally wheels
mounted on BF Goodrich Radial T/A P215/65R15
tires and power steering. Red with a black vinyl
roof, matched to its original black color standard
bucket seat interior with center console. Powerglide
automatic transmission with a 10-bolt rear end
with mono-leaf suspension.Recently finished at the
renowned Bel Air Ranch Restoration of Buellton,
CA. $42,500 OBO. West Coast Classics. Contact Larry,
Ph: 424.376.5151, email: wcclassics@aol.com.
Website: www.TheWestCoastClassics.com. (CA)
132 AmericanCarCollector.com
S/N J59S102592. Tuxedo Black & silver coves/black.
17,300 miles. V8, manual. Mostly all original and
completely rust-free Corvette with its believed-tobe-original
matching-numbers 283/245 hp,
2 x 4-bbl V8 engine with casting # 3756519 date
code K 21 8 and assembly stamp F1211CT. 4-speed
manual transmission with the correct dual-quad
air cleaner, upper and lower ignition shielding,
correct radiator, hoses and clamps, correct tach drive
generator and original washer bottle. The car will
be sold complete with original owner’s manual.
$79,900 OBO. West Coast Classics. Contact Larry,
Ph: 310.779.0526, email: wcclassics@aol.com.
Website: www.TheWestCoastClassics.com. (CA)
S/N 8H2009654. Artic White/blue. 77,100 miles.
V8, automatic. Extremely rare and desirable 1961
Electra. 401 ci/325 hp V8 with 4-bbl carb, with its
original 410/445 Wildcat engine with believed-tobe
77k original miles. In great daily-driving condition
and boasting all new paint in original Arctic
White (factory code C), a new blue power soft top,
new matching blue leather interior, all new suspension,
tires and brakes. Also included are the original
owner’s manuals from the selling dealer of Braley
& Graham Buick of Sacramento, CA, from where
it was originally sold. $44,500 OBO. West Coast
Classics. Contact Larry, Ph: 424.376.5151, email:
wcclassics@aol.com. Website: www.TheWestCoastClassics.com.
(CA)
1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS coupe
S/N W355104425. Green/green. 103,360 miles. V8,
automatic. An exceptionally straight, rust-free and
great daily-driving survivor of this very rare and
mostly-all-original and stock Mopar (apart from the
wheels and paint). Original and highly desirable
upgrade 383/330-hp, 4-bbl V8 engine, Torqueflite
727 automatic transmission and factory power
steering. $29,500 OBO. West Coast Classics. Contact
Larry, Ph: 424.376.5151, email: wcclassics@aol.
com. Website: www.TheWestCoastClassics.com. (CA)
AMerIcAnA
1963 Studebaker Avanti coupe
Restored to stock. Numbers matching, several
upgrades with receipts, much documentation, nearperfect
condition inside and out, engine rebuild
9,000 miles ago. Contact me for images and info.
$41,000 email: paintim613@aol.com. (AZ) A
S/N 344870E166189. Burnished Gold 58/black.
10,000 miles. V8, 4-spd manual. Engine and body
rebuilt and painted by local professional engine and
body shops. Power windows, locks and trunk, TicToc-Tach.
All Ram Air components on engine. Red
inner wheelwells, Rally 1 wheels. I have all documents
on all work done on car. Can give all vendors
who restored car. $70,000 OBO. Contact Jerry, Ph:
262.497.3747, email: mr1970olds@att.net. (WI)
CORVETTE
1959 Chevrolet Corvette convertible
86,000 miles. V8, automatic. Preservation car:
never restored, no rust ever. Arizona car since new.
Original paint. C6 transmission, with 9-inch limitedslip
and tilt-away column. Marti Report and build
sheet. Engine, transmission and differential rebuilt
by marque experts at 84,000 miles. Second place in
class at SAAC national Shelby event. $135,000. Contact
John, Ph: 928.468.9028, email: johnzilisch@
gmail.com. (AZ)
MOPAR
1965 Dodge Coronet 440 2-dr hard top
1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396 coupe
1979 Chevrolet Corvette coupe
S/N 1Z8789S451715. White/black leather. 20,000
miles. V8, 4-spd manual. A/C, power steering,
brakes, windows, 350/195, Gymkhana suspension,
sport mirrors and other options. A survivor in very
nice original condition, believe low mileage is
original. Lots of documentation from new; original
warranty paper, owner’s manual, selling dealer
intake report, dealer invoice, copy of original title
dated 12/10/79, previous registrations, etc. $15,649.
Contact Michael, email: mfulton1313@yahoo.
com. (PA)
FOMOCO
1968 Shelby GT500 convertible
Page 132
RESOURCE DIRECTORY
Auction Companies
Barrett-Jackson Auction. 480421-6694.
480-421-6697. For over
four decades, the Barrett-Jackson
Auction Company has been
recognized throughout the world
for offering only the finest selection
of quality collector vehicles, outstanding
professional service and
an unrivaled sales success. From
classic and one-of-a-kind cars to
exotics and muscle cars, BarrettJackson
attracts only the best. Our
auctions have captured the true
essence of a passionate obsession
with cars that extends to collectors
and enthusiasts throughout
the world. A television audience
of millions watches unique and
select vehicles while attendees
enjoy a lifestyle experience featuring
fine art, fashion and gourmet
cuisine. In every way, the legend
is unsurpassed. N. Scottsdale Rd,
Scottsdale, AZ 85251.
info@barrett-jackson.com.
www.barrett-jackson.com. (AZ)
Bonhams is the largest auction
house to hold scheduled sales
of classic and vintage motorcars,
motorcycles and car memorabilia,
with auctions held globally in
conjunction with internationally
renowned motoring events.
Bonhams holds the world-record
price for any motorcar sold at auction,
as well as for many premier
marques.
San Francisco: 415-391-4000
New York: 212-644-9001
Los Angeles: 323-850-7500
London: +44 20 7447-7447
Paris: +33 1 42 61 10 10
www.bonhams.com/motors
Put your company in the ACC Resource Directory. Call 877-219-2605 Ext. 218,
or email advert@americancarcollector.com
Scottsdale Auction in January and
a world-class auction at the Omni
Amelia Island Plantation in Florida
in March. www.goodingco.com.
(CA)
Leake Auctions. 800-722-9942.
Leake Auction Company was
established in 1972 as one of the
first car auctions in the country.
More than 40 years later, Leake
has sold over 34,000 cars and
currently operates auctions in
Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Dallas.
Recently they have been featured
on several episodes of three
different reality TV series — “Fast
N Loud” on Discovery, “Dallas Car
Sharks” on Velocity and “The Car
Chasers” on CNBC Prime.
www.leakecar.com. (OK)
Palm Springs Auctions Inc.
Keith McCormick. 760-320-3290.
Family owned and operated for
28 years. Producing two large
classic car auctions per year in
Palm Springs, CA. Each auction
features over 500 cars. Held in
November and February every
year. www.classic-carauction.com
global collector car market.
www.RMSothebys.com. (CAN)
Lucky Collector Car Auctions.
888-672-0020. Lucky Collector
Car Auctions is aptly named after
Harold “Lucky” Lemay. Based in
the majestic, pastoral ground of
Marymount, home to the Lemay
Family Collection Foundation
near Tacoma, WA, the collection,
formerly the biggest in the world
according to Guinness, now hosts
an unrivaled event center, art collection
and charitable foundation,
which features two exceptional
collector car auctions a year.
www.luckyoldcar.com (WA)
Petersen Auction Group of
Oregon. 541-689-6824. Hosting
car auctions in Oregon since 1962.
We have three annual Auctions:
February—Oregon State
Fairgrounds, Salem, OR; July—
Douglas County Fairgrounds,
Roseburg, OR; September—
Oregon State Fairgrounds, Salem,
OR. On the I-5 corridor. We offer
knowledgeable, fast, friendly “hassle-free”
transactions. Oregon’s #1
Collector Car Auction. www.petersencollectorcars.com
(OR)
New England Auto Auction.
Gooding & Company.
310.899.1960. 310.899.0930.
Gooding & Company offers its
international clientele the rarest,
award-winning examples of collector
vehicles at the most prestigious
auction venues. Our team of wellqualified
experts will advise you
on current market values. Gooding
& Company presents the official
auction of the famed Pebble
Beach Concours d’Elegance
in August, the record-setting
134 AmericanCarCollector.com
Premier Auction Group.
844-5WE-SELL. The auction professionals
that have been taking
care of you for the last two decades
have partnered together to
create a team that is dedicated to
providing the utmost customer
service and auction experience.
We applied our 83 years of auction
experience to build a platform
ensuring that every aspect of our
company exceeds your expectations.
Join us for the Gulf Coast
Classic March 17 & 18, in Punta
Gorda, FL.
844-5WE-SELL / 844-593-7355
www.premierauctiongroup.com
info@premierauctiongroup.com
207.594.4418. Presented by
the Owls Head Transportation
Museum, the New England Auto
Auction™ is the nation’s largest
and longest-running event in
its class that operates solely to
preserve the legacy of transportation’s
earliest pioneers. Over more
than four decades, NEAA™ has
continuously raised the bar by
connecting discerning enthusiasts
and collectors with rare and
sought-after automobiles.
Web: www.owlshead.org
Email: auction@ohtm.org
RM Sotheby’s, Inc. 800-2114371.
RM Sotheby’s is the world’s
largest collector car auction house
for investment-quality automobiles.
With 35 years’ experience, RM
Sotheby’s vertically integrated
range of services, from restoration
to private-treaty sales and
auctions, coupled with an expert
team of car specialists and an
international footprint, provide an
unsurpassed level of service to the
Russo and Steele Collector
Automobiles. 602-252-2697.
Specializing in the finest American
muscle, hot rods and custom
automobiles and European sports;
Russo and Steele hosts three
record-breaking auctions per year;
Newport Beach in June; Monterey,
CA, every August; and Scottsdale,
AZ, every January. As one of
the premier auction events in the
United States, Russo and Steele
has developed a reputation for its
superior customer service and for
having the most experienced and
informed experts in the industry.
Fax: 602.252.6260. 5230 South
39th St., Phoenix, AZ 85040.
info@russoandsteele.com,
www.russoandsteele.com. (AZ)
W. Yoder Auction. 920.787.5549.
W. Yoder Auction holds the only
semi-annual collector car auction
in the state of Wisconsin open
to the public where anyone can
buy and anyone can sell! But we
don’t stop there. We specialize in
collections and sell it all! Contact
us today. info@wyoderauction.
com. Learn more about us at
wyoderauction.com and like us on
Facebook.
Worldwide Auctioneers. 866273-6394.
Established by John
Kruse and Rod C. Egan, The
Worldwide Group—Auctioneers,
Appraisers and Brokers—is one
of the world’s premier auction
houses, specializing in the
procurement and sale of the
world’s finest automobiles
and vintage watercraft. www.
worldwide-auctioneers.com. (IN)
Page 133
Buy/Sell/General
and sell all types of vehicles. We
also have an in-house service center
and high-end Auto Salon.
www.ParkPlaceLtd.com (WA)
California Car Cover Company.
800-423-5525. More than just
custom-fit car covers, California
Car Cover is the home of complete
car care and automotive lifestyle
products. Offering the best in car
accessories, garage items, detailing
products, nostalgic collectibles,
apparel and more! Call 1-800-4235525
or visit Calcarcover.com for a
free catalog.
Copley Motorcars. 781.444.4646.
Specializing in unique and
hard-to-find classics and sports
cars. We only sell cars we love
ourselves, and deal in a limited
number of models. Before delivery
to you, all of our classics, including
Defenders, are fully inspected
and serviced by one of two
expert shops. We are located in
Needham, MA.
copleycars@gmail.com,
www.copleymotorcars.com (MA)
Mustang America. 844-249-5135.
Mustang America is a new company
initially specializing in first
generation (1965–1973) Mustang
parts, interiors and accessories.
Launched by Corvette America,
Mustang America provides the
same level of world-class customer
service, product quality and
fast delivery. We look forward to
serving the vintage Mustang enthusiast.
www.MustangAmerica.com (PA)
Park Place LTD. 425-562-1000.
Founded in 1987 in Bellevue, WA,
our dealership is locally owned and
independently operated. The fouracre
Park Place Center features
an Aston Martin sales and service
center, a Lotus dealership, and we
have one of the largest selections
of collector & exotic cars available
in the Northwest. We consign, buy
Intercity Lines Inc. 800-221-3936.
Gripping the wheel of your dream
car and starting the engine for the
first time is a high point for any
enthusiast. We are the premier
enclosed auto transport company
that will ensure your car arrives
safely for that experience. For over
35 years our standards for excellence
have clients returning time
and time again. Trust the Best.
Trust Intercity Lines.
www.Intercitylines.com.
West Coast Classics.
310.399.3990. West Coast
Classics are internationally
renowned California Classic Car
Dealers who specialize in buying
and selling of rare and classic
European and American classic
cars. Two branch locations in
Southern California; 1205 Bow
Avenue in Torrance, and 1918
Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica. We
ship throughout the world and
will provide you with unparalleled
service of your rare, sports, exotic,
luxury, collector or classic car
needs. www.WestCoastClassics.
com info@WestCoastClassics.
com (CA)
Classic Car Transport
Passport Transport. 800-7360575.
Since our founding in 1970,
we have shipped thousands of
treasured vehicles door-to-door
with our fully enclosed auto transporters.
Whether your prized possession
is your daily driver, a
vintage race car, a classic, a ’60s
muscle car or a modern exotic,
you can depend on Passport
Transport to give you the premium
service it deserves. We share your
appreciation for fine automobiles,
and it shows.
www.PassportTransport.com.
Corvette Parts &
Restoration
Mid America Motorworks.
800-500-1500. America’s leader
in 1953–2016 Corvette parts
and accessories. Request a free
catalog at www.mamotorworks.
com. (IL)
Reliable Carriers Inc. 800-5216393.
As the country’s largest
enclosed-auto transport company,
Reliable Carriers faithfully serves
all 48 contiguous United States
and Canada. Whether you’ve entered
a concours event, need a
relocation, are attending a corporate
event or shipping the car of
your dreams from one location to
another, one American transportation
company does it all.
www.reliablecarriers.com
Collection Management
Paragon Corvette
Reproductions. 800-882-4688. At
Paragon, you’ll receive the finest
quality of 1953–96 Corvette parts
and experience in the industry.
Our catalogs and website are filled
with hundreds of helpful schematics,
photos and tech-tips. Our
Vintage Department has a treasure
chest of NOS and used parts.
Look up our Stick With Us
Discount Program and our firstonline-order
savings. Call us or
visit www.paragoncorvette.com
to order today. (MI)
McCollister’s Auto Transport.
800-748-3160.
We have transported thousands of
collector vehicles over the past 35
years all across the United States,
whether they are moving an
exotic, street rod, vintage racer or
muscle car. With our experienced
drivers trained to ensure the finest
protection and our customized,
lift-gated, air-ride trailers, we make
sure your vehicle safely arrives
on time. www.McCollisters.com/
AutoTransport
RideCache. 512-751-8450.
A professional, ad-free software
tool and service that helps you
manage your collection, digitally
preserve your valuable documentation
and securely share with
those that need access. Manage
your collection with our DIY tools
or use our RideCache Build service
and let our professional team
build your account. Learn more at
http://ridecache.com/ACC
RideCache – Organize, Manage,
Preserve your Collection.
Volunteer Vette Products. 865521-9100.
1963–2004 Corvette
Parts and Accessories. Supplying
Corvette restoration parts and
accessories for 30 years. Visit our
website at www.volvette.com
and take advantage of the Free
Shipping offer on orders over
$150. You can also speak with us
directly by calling 865-521-9100.
New parts are added daily, so if
you can’t find it, give us a call.
(TN)
Zip Products. 800-962-9632. Zip
customers know that the voice on
the other end of the phone is a
true enthusiast. Someone who, in
minutes, can hold in their hands
any item in stock. Further, someone
with knowledge of, experience
with, and genuine affection for, the
car we hold so dear: Corvette.
www.zip-corvette.com (VA)
March–April 2019 135
Page 134
RESOURCE DIRECTORY
Corvettes for Sale
The Chevy Store. At The Chevy
Store, you will find only the
highest-grade, investment-quality
Corvette and specialty Chevrolet
automobiles. We take pride in
providing our clients with the finest
selection anywhere. Offering
investment-quality Corvettes and
Chevrolets for over 30 years! 503256-5384
(p), 503-256-4767 (f)
www.thechevystore.com (OR)
Events—Concours,
Car Shows
Insurance
Put your company in the ACC Resource Directory. Call 877-219-2605 Ext. 218,
or email advert@americancarcollector.com
your collector vehicle for over 50
years. Agreed Value Coverage in
the continental U.S., and Alaska.
Drive Through Time With Peace of
Mind with J.C. Taylor Insurance.
Get a FREE instant quote online at
www.JCTaylor.com. (PA)
American Collectors Insurance.
1-866-887-8354. The nation’s
leading provider of specialty insurance
for collectors. We offer affordable,
agreed-value coverage
for all years, makes, and models
of collector vehicles. Since 1976,
we have provided superior service
and broad, flexible coverage.
Experience our quick quoting and
application process, as well as our
“Real Person” Guarantee every
time you call. Email: Info@
AmericanCollectors.com
www.AmericanCollectors.com (NJ)
Lajollaconcours.com. Earning
the reputation as one of the
finest internationally renowned
classic automobile showcases
in the United States, the La Jolla
Concours d’Elegance continues to
attract discerning car enthusiasts
from around the globe. Experience
World Class Cars and World Class
Experience on April 12–14, 2019.
Register and purchase tickets
at lajollaconcours.com, or call
619.233.5008, for more information.
(CA)
Leasing-Finance
J.J. BEST BANC & CO. provides
financing on classic cars ranging
from 1900 to today. Visit our website
at www.jjbest.com or call
1-800-USA-1965 and get a loan
approval in as little as five minutes!
Grundy Insurance. 888-6478639.
James A. Grundy invented
Agreed Value Insurance in 1947;
no one knows more about insuring
collector cars than Grundy! With
no mileage limitations, zero deductible*,
low rates, and high liability
limits, our coverages are
specifically designed for collector
car owners. Grundy can also insure
your daily drivers, pickup
trucks, trailers, motorhomes and
more — all on one policy and all at
their Agreed Value.
www.grundy.com (PA)
The Quail, A Motorsports
Gathering. 831-620-8879.
A prominent component of
Monterey Car Week, The Quail
is a world-renowned motorsports
event featuring one of the world’s
finest and rarest collections of
vintage automobiles and motorcycles.
The Quail maintains its
intimacy and exclusivity by limiting
admission through lottery ticket
allocations. Admission is inclusive
of six gourmet culinary pavilions,
caviar, oysters, fine wines,
specialty cocktails, champagne,
and more. Web: signatureevents.
peninsula.com. (CA)
Hagerty Collector Car
Insurance. 800-922-4050.
Collector cars aren’t like their latemodel
counterparts. These classics
actually appreciate in value,
so standard market policies that
cost significantly more won’t do
the job. We’ll agree on a fair value
and cover you for the full amount.
No prorated claims, no hassles, no
games. www.hagerty.com (MI)
Premier Financial Services. 877973-7700.
Since 1997, renowned
customer service and honest leasing
practices have made Premier
the nation’s leading lessor of luxury
and performance motorcars.
We are small enough to ensure
your business gets the attention it
deserves, and large enough to
finance any new, used, or vintage
car over $50,000. Contact Premier
at 877-973-7700 or info@pfsllc.
com. www.premierfinancialservices.com
(CT)
LeMay Family Collection
Foundation. LeMay Family
Collection Foundation at
Marymount Events Center near
Tacoma, WA, hosts an epic backdrop
for your next event. Home to
500 fabulous collector cars, worldclass
art exhibits, and assorted
ephemera, consider your next
event here. Weddings, swapmeets,
conventions, auctions. The
facility can likely exceed your expectations.
Visit during the 37th
annual open house along with
13,000 other enthusiasts. 253272-2336
www.lemaymarymount.org. (WA)
National Corvette Museum. 80053-VETTE.
The National Corvette
Museum in Bowling Green, KY,
was established as a 501(c)3 notfor-profit
foundation with a mission
of celebrating the invention of the
Corvette and preserving its past,
present and future. www.corvettemuseum.com.
(KY)
Parts—General
Museums
Putnam Leasing. 866-90-LEASE.
For over 25 years, Putnam
Leasing has been the leader in
exotic, luxury, and collector car
leasing. This honor comes from
Putnam’s unique ability to match
the car of your dreams with a
lease designed just for you. Every
Putnam Lease is written to provide
maximum flexibility while conserving
capital, lowering monthly
payments, and maximizing tax
advantages. It’s Putnam’s way of
letting you drive more car for less
money. For leases ranging from
$50,000 to more than $1 million,
with terms extending up to 84
months, visit www.putnamleasing.
com or call 1-866-90-LEASE. (CT)
J.C. Taylor Insurance. 800-3458290.
Antique, classic, muscle or
modified — J.C. Taylor Insurance
has provided dependable, dynamic,
affordable protection for
136 AmericanCarCollector.com
Custom Autosound
Manufacturing. 800-888-8637.
Since 1977 providing audio solutions
for classic cars, trucks and
street rods. Covering over 400
applications, our radios and
speakers fit the original locations
without modifications. Keep the
classic look of your vehicle while
enjoying state-of-the-art audio.
Check out all of our products at
www.customautosound.com. (CA)
Evans Waterless Coolant is the
solution to running too hot. With a
boiling point of 375°F, our revolutionary
liquid formulation is a superior
alternative to water-based
coolants. Evans eliminates water
vapor, hotspots and boil-over,
resulting in a less pressurized,
more efficient cooling system and
preventing corrosion, electrolysis
and pump cavitation. Evans also
Page 135
protects down to -40°F and lasts
the lifetime of the engine.
See how it works at
www.evanscoolant.com (CT)
Evapo-Rust® 888-329-9877.
Evapo-Rust® rust remover is safe
on skin and all materials except
rust! It’s also biodegradable and
earth-friendly. Water soluble and
pH-neutral, Evapo-Rust® is nontoxic,
non-corrosive, non-flammable,
and contains no acids, bases
or solvents. Evapo-Rust® is simply
the safest rust remover.
www.evapo-rust.com
info@evapo-rust.com (AR)
Store Hours:
Tuesday–Friday 9:00 am–5:00 pm,
Saturday 10:00 am–3:00 pm.
Closed Sunday and Monday. 8705
SE Stark St, Portland OR 97216.
sales@superchev.com
www.superchev.com (OR)
Restoration—General
National Parts Depot. 800-8747595.
We stock huge inventories
of concours-correct restoration
parts for:
Classic Garage Automobile
Restoration. 208.755.3334.
Classic Garage is a full service,
classic car shop offering full-restoration
and partial-restoration work,
including custom builds. Our specialty
is high-end, show-quality
body and paint work. We work with
many reputable shops around the
country that send us their projects
for bodywork and paint. We also
offer classic car collection management,
storage, consulting and
classic car valuations.
www.classicgaragellc.com (ID)
1965–73 and 1979–93 Mustang
1967–81 Camaro & Firebird
1964–72 GTO, Tempest & LeMans
1964–87 Chevelle, Malibu &
El Camino
1948–96 F-Series Ford Truck
1947–98 C/K 1/2-ton Chevy Truck
1966–96 Bronco
1955–57 Thunderbird
www.nationalpartsdepot.com
Hahn Auto Restoration.
724.452.4329. We take pride in
offering concours-level collector
car restoration, recommissioning,
custom builds and repair services.
With our experienced staff and
cutting-edge technology, we can
restore your car back to its original
beauty and help it perform better
than when it was first driven off the
lot! We understand how much your
classic car means to you and we
will treat your restoration or repair
with the quality care and respect it
deserves, getting the job done
right the first time. We believe that
a restoration should last a lifetime
and beyond, so we strive to provide
our clients with quality restoration
services that will last for
generations.
www.hahnautorestoration.com
Mercedes-Benz Classic Center.
1-866-MB-CLASSIC. (1-866-6225277).
The trusted center of competence
for all classic
Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts.
Located in Irvine, CA, the Classic
Center is the only sales and restoration
facility in the U.S. exclusively
operated by Mercedes-Benz. Over
50,000 Genuine Mercedes-Benz
Classic Parts in its assortment.
From small services to full groundup
restorations, work is always true
to original. Ever-changing showcase
of for-sale vehicles. We are
your trusted source. www.mbclassiccenter.com.
(CA)
Original Parts Group Inc. 800243-8355.
At Original Parts Group,
we are proud to be the largest USA
supplier of in-stock restoration parts
for your classic GM A, B, C, E and
G-body vehicle, including newly
released Cadillac CTS, ATS, STS,
Escalade, EXT and XLR. 100%
privately owned to serve you better,
since 1982. We are devoted to quality
parts and customer service. Visit
OPGI.com today or call today to
order your free parts catalog. (CA)
Super Chevrolet Parts Co.
503-256-0098. Restoring Classic
Chevrolets Since 1980. Serving
the Chevrolet enthusiast for over 25
years. Since 1980, we have provided
the highest quality restoration
parts and accessories for:
1967–1981 Camaro
1964–1972 Chevelle & El Camino
1962–1972 Nova
Corvette America. 800-458-3475.
The No. 1 manufacturer and supplier
of interiors, parts and wheels
for all generations of Corvettes.
Our Pennsylvania manufacturing
facility produces the finest quality
Corvette interiors and our distribution
center is stocked with thousands
of additional Corvetterelated
products. Corvette America
is a member of the RPUI family of
companies. Visit
www.CorvetteAmerica.com (PA)
Cosmopolitan Motors LLC. 206467-6531.
Experts in worldwide
acquisition, collection management,
disposition and appraisal.
For more than a quarter century,
Cosmopolitan Motors has lived by
its motto, “We covet the rare and
unusual, whether pedigreed or
proletarian.” Absurdly eclectic and
proud of it. Find your treasure
here, or pass it along to the next
generation. www.cosmopolitanmotors.com
(WA)
AdVertISerS IndeX
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ACC
Allard Motor Works LLC ....................................109
American Collectors Insurance ..............................2
Barrett-Jackson...................................................31
Blue Bars ..........................................................120
Branson Collector Car Auction ............................53
Camaro Central ................................................121
Car Girl Art .........................................................97
CarCapsule USA ..................................................81
CarTech, Inc ......................................................131
Charlotte AutoFair ............................................107
Chevs of the 40’s .................................................77
Corvette America .............................................. 4-5
Custom Autosound Mfg., Inc ...............................87
EG Auctions .......................................................101
Evans Cooling Systems Inc. .................................15
Evapo-Rust..........................................................37
Factory Five Racing.............................................29
Greensboro Auto Auction..................................111
Grundy Insurance ...............................................19
Hot August Nights...............................................32
JC Taylor ...........................................................103
Jim Meyer Racing Products Inc. ..........................96
JJ Best Banc & Co .............................................133
JJ Rods ................................................................85
Larry’s Thunderbird and Mustang Parts ............39
Leake Auction Company .......................................3
Lucas Oil Products, Inc. .....................................115
Lucky Collector Car Auctions ...............................79
Lutty’s Chevy Warehouse ..................................127
McCollister’s Auto Transport .............................140
Michael Irvine Studios ......................................105
Mid America Motorworks ....................................21
Park Place LTD. 425-562-1000.
Founded in 1987 in Bellevue, WA,
our dealership is locally owned and
independently operated. Our restoration
department works full time to
restore vehicles of every year,
make and model to provide an
award-winning finish. We consign,
buy and sell all types of vehicles.
We also have an in-house service
center and high-end Auto Salon.
www.ParkPlaceLtd.com A
Millers Oils ..........................................................91
National Corvette Museum ...............................124
National Corvette Restorers Society ..................125
National Parts Depot ..........................................83
New England Auto Auction ...............................123
Obsolete & Classic Auto Parts, Inc. ...................129
Original Parts Group ..........................................41
P.J.’s Auto World ................................................75
Park Place LTD ...................................................95
Passport Transport .............................................89
Petersen Collector Car Auction .........................117
POR-15 ...............................................................23
Restoration Supply Company ...........................120
RK Motors of Charlotte .......................................25
RM Auctions ..................................................11, 13
Russo and Steele LLC .........................................17
Shelby American Collection ................................33
Speed Digital ......................................................93
Spring Grove Auction Company..........................71
St Bernard Church ..............................................87
Steve’s Auto Restorations Inc..............................43
Streetside Classics .................................................9
Summit Racing Equipment ...............................113
Superformance ...................................................99
The Chevy Store Inc ..........................................129
TYCTA ...............................................................125
Volunteer Vette Products ....................................73
Weezy .................................................................52
West Coast Classics, LLC ....................................127
Wheeler Auctions ..............................................139
Zip Products, Inc. ................................................47
zMAX ...................................................................49
March–April 2019 137
Page 136
SURFING AROUND
Carl Bomstead
Automobilia on eBay and Beyond
CARL’S THOUGHT: The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious award in college football, if not all of
amateur athletics. In 1987, Tim Brown from Notre Dame won the award and was the first wide receiver to
do so. He went on to a prominent career in professional football and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in
2015. In December of last year, Goldin Auctions sold his trophy for a record price of $435,763.
In 1998, the Downtown Athletic Club of New York required recipients of the Heisman Trophy to sign
an agreement that the trophy would not be sold, so sales like this will be few and far between in the future.
Here are a few more goodies that are also rare but not as expensive as a Heisman.
BARRETT-JACKSON LOT 8255—1920s
delIon tIreS double-SIded tIn
flAnge SIgn. Sold At: $11,500. Date
sold: 1/15/2019. This dramatic sign featured
the lion inside a Delion tire and guaranteed
6,000 miles of wear. The sign had a few issues
but was still very presentable. Rare as heck,
so that overshadowed the wear concerns. A
desirable sign.
EBAY #292813418929—1930s
IndIAn Motorcycle one-gAllon
oIl cAn. Number of bids: 25.
SOLD AT: $5,322.22. Date sold:
11/18/2018. This is far and away one
of the most desirable oil cans, even
if you are not into motorcycles. The
graphics are bold and the colors crisp
and vibrant. The condition is there,
so the strong price is well justified.
Pricey, but well worth the money.
BARRETT-JACKSON LOT
8231—1958 ford edSel lIghtuP
deAlerShIP clock. Sold
AT: $2,530. Date sold: 1/15/2019.
This is a rare glass-faced clock with
both the Edsel and Ford logos. It was
manufactured by Telechron and was
in very acceptable condition, with a
few minor scratches on the glass. It
was in good working order. Price was
up there, but it is seldom seen, so it was worth the money.
MecuM roAd Art AuctIon lot
P115—“YATES FORD USED CARS”
SIngle-SIded PorcelAIn neon
SIgn. Sold At: $42,480. This large
and imposing — 9.6-foot by 8.9foot
— neon “Yates Ford Used Cars”
porcelain sign was hung at the Yates car
lot at 8007 S Chicago Avenue in Chicago
for decades. It was part of the Colin
138 AmericanCarCollector.com
Comer Collection for years — he recently decided to part with some of his
stuff. A no-questions sign that was fairly bought and sold.
EBAY #123556288409—1965
ed “bIg dAddy” roth SurfIte
reVell PlAStIc Model. Number
of bids: 17. SOLD AT: $202.50. Date
sold: 12/27/2018. Ed “Big Daddy”
Roth made 14 of his wild custom
creations during a 10-year period.
“Surfite” was a true surfer’s car that
was built to carry surfboards to the
beach. It made a brief appearance in
“Beach Blanket Bingo” and recently
appeared at the Amelia Island
Concours d’Elegance. While we can’t
have the actual car, this NOS Revell
plastic model with the cool box will have to do.
MecuM roAd Art AuctIon
LOT B79—CHEVROLET GENUIne
PArtS double-SIded tIn
FLANGE. SOLD AT: $10,030. Date
sold: 1/9/2019. An amazing NOS
Chevrolet Genuine Parts tin flange
but at an equally amazing price.
Another, in similar condition, sold
for $8,555 earlier in the week, so it looks like the Bowtie crowd was out in
force. Condition is king, but this is pushing silly money for a rather common
Chevrolet tin flange.
MECUM ROAD ART AUCtIon
lot A50—cuStoM
yenko cheVrolet tIn
neon SIgn. Sold At:
$25,960. This is a custommade
fantasy piece that was
six feet long and a touch over
two feet tall. Made of tin with
the painted Yenko logo and neon added. Having made a number of similar
signs many years ago, I would estimate the cost to build this at $4,000
or so. As such, a remarkable profit margin, but it will look cool in a garage
full of Chevy go-fast cars. A