Save your nickles!! The Ralph Whitworth Collection heads to auction!

With the prices we saw Ralph pay for a lot of these cars at auction in the past few years, I'd say he's gonna take a huge hit on alot of them. Especially since he's not gonna be in on the bidding. I was lucky enough to witness some of it in person, very exciting. Alot of buyers at this auction are gonna be left feeling like they got a real good deal. Even a wealthy business man like this can get in over his head I guess. Passion or compulsion?

 

I think both passion and compulsion & and the money to feed both. But he is a investment fund manager, so big $$$ lossses aren't a strange concept to those guys of late

 

Damn! I want the La Jolla too! Interesting none the less, to see the outcome of this. Such a spectrum of cars.

Ken

 

La Jolla and 22 Jr. would look spiffy in my garage. La Jolla and the Polynesian are two of the all time best customs.

 

I heard that he paid $385,000 for the Deora....I wonder if he'll manage to recoup even half of that?
No matter to me.
I've got my Deora.

 

Has he sold off some of the other cars he had?I know he owned more then whats listed.

 

Were do I go to see the list of all the cars in this auction? Cars have been mentioned that are not on the anouncement page.

 

The damn catalog for the auction is 80 bucks...guess I'm out.

 

Yeah, I got that after I used his first name... I was searching for his collection info aside from what's for sale. I was kind-of hoping there'd be a link somewhere... since I like cars too!

 

The La Jolla is not a re-creation. It was purchased from Harry Bradley and restored by Jack Walker. He changed the color with Harry's consent.

 

I'd take the Mazmanian Vette and the Watson Bird myself.

 

That's an amazing collection for sale. I have a feeling a lot of well healed individuals will be making a lot of great deals...possibly 50% of what they'll be worth in just a couple years when the economy is back in full swing.

 

I think this auction will show what these cars will bring closer to the true collector value. This guy was a train wreck bidding, showing us all how to bid and eat at the same time. I heard the rumor of this sale at the Detroit Autorama in march.

 

Maybe this will start the trend of bringing the historical cars out of the Millionaires hands and back to the hands of the guy's with a "only" a 6 figure a year income instead!

 

Look in past BJ threads. He made a big splash a few years back and we talked about it a lot on here. Also search Flying A garage, several HAMBers have posted pics from his workshop.

 

I had the pleasure of stopping in at the Flying A Garage (where most of these cars have been kept) last month and got a first class personal tour of three different buildings. The guys that have cared for and worked on these cars are really bummed about the failure to complete the museum and the sale of the collection. It sounds like Ralph has like many others, lost a lot in the market. If you saw the renderings of the Museum building, you would understand why he is unable to complete it, it was going to be huge! And first class I would assume after seeing the Flying A Garage facility.
Some pics you may not have seen;

 

If I remember correctly Ralph's son is a memeber here on the HAMB.
I'm real close to purchasing a plane ticket to view the auction. Will be the last time all these cars will be in the same location at the same time.

 

Good point Denise! RW did an amazing job gathering all these great cars. Like I said, it is a shame they will not be in the museum in Winnemucca.

 

I admit to being a computer dummie, and the R&M site only shows about 6 cars that are in the auction, were do I go online to see all the cars in the collection?

 

I for one was really looking forward to the museum being built and established. A total destination for hot rodders all over the world, as it really was going to have something to offer for all. As said, there will be a fair amount of happy people who win some of these car for themselves. But, on the other side of the coin, I'm sure quite a few original owners, or recent owners of these outstanding cars are feeling a bit like they may have been slighted as well ? To be assured, or at least to be knowing that a passionate collector who just acquired your prized ride will be putting it out on display for all to see would be a great feeling, and then, for this unfortunate turn of events to happen, and have it sent back into private hands to forever squirreled away......

My understanding is Don Prudhomme was able to purchase back all of his stuff, and I did not see Al Teagues streamliner in the listing. Maybe opportunities were given to original owners to get these cars back before it all went to auction.

What about all the other memorabilia?? Will it most likely go in a seperate auction?

 

Oh shit! If only I had some money....

 

I want the valley 40 ford and the westergard custom.

 

has anyone actually looked at the catalog?
is it even printed yet?

I regret not buying the Von Dutch catalog when RM auctions had that a couple of years ago

 

http://www.rmauctions.com/search-up...e=RW09&yearFrom=&yearTo=&LotNum2=&Make=&Model=


not sure that link works.....
but go to the site

http://www.rmauctions.com/

click on CAR SEARCH
then
UPCOMING AUCTIONS

in the Auction Criteria Box change all to Icons of Speed & Style then click SEARCH and the 3 pages of cars will come up

 

Will Evel cover this for Mad Fab the way he did for the Von Dutch auction?

I hope so!

 

I'm so bummed the museum is a no go. This was one of the places I wanted to visit next year

ps I want Art Gerrick's Modified too!

 

WOW! That link works just fine, really impressive to see all the cars that will get new caretakers.

 

Looks like it will cost you $150.00 just to preview the cars?

 

Amazing stuff ....