Event Coverage Some Mecum auction prices with pics

I kinda like the crushed velour interior on that '57. I wonder what the rest of it really looked like.

There was a 2 door '57 that sold on BaT not too long ago for like 8K that looked really good in the thumbnail pic but once you saw underneath, you knew right away why it was so cheap. This one might have needed more than meets the eye, never know.

 

Couple comments as I went on Monday Jan 12th for the day. Not many older cars pre-50s. Even 50s cars were not as common as 60's. Lots of 60s cars, especially muscle cars. 70s getting a lot more common with trucks or SUV like Blazers or Broncos. Wow speaking of Broncos the square body 66-77 are way high pricing. Anything limited production or special dealer/modifier was hoping for a big sale. There were a lot of people with detailing business keeping busy getting cars all shined up and making as good impression as possible - as the old saying goes shiny sells. You can generally open doors or hoods to look inside vehicles, only the real high dollar stuff is roped off.

There were a lot of Ferraris, and also several collections being sold. Of course many exotics and luxury cars, want a Bentley? I don't know a total of cars entered, but it had to be at least 6000. Walked all over many miles during the day.

So onto the auction process. I talked to a seller and he said it was $500 to enter your car into the auction. Then if your car sells, it's 10% buyer and 10% seller fees. When the pictures above show "bid goes on" that means it didn't hit reserve and they go into a field where you can make an offer off the auction floor. I don't know if Me*** will negotiate on fees from this type of sale.

Door entry fee was $30 to spectate 1 day, $75 for 3 days. I forget exact amount but I think was $200 for bidder which incl 2 p***es. $15 for parking. Typical overpriced food and drink for an event at a fairgrounds type facility.

 

Yeah I'm gonna call you out on that. If it still happens (it used to) I'd say maybe 1 or 2 in 1000 cars gets bought back. What really happens is bidder flake off. Joey Megasak whips out his 11" junk and swings it around in the open. "LOOK AT ME, I GOT A BIG ****! I'M BIDDING ON A [that I have no intent to actually buy ]" because the ****in jadrool never had any business bidding. Seller stuck, bidder outed as the ******* he is, start over, car screwed because "Uh oh, didn't sell, car is junk." Who am I to say all this? I go to a minimum of 3 significant sales every year, and I'm more involved than sitting in a chair taking notes like an official JAFO. I don't care if I change yours, nor anyone else's mind.

"All 010 SBC BLOCKS ARE HIGH NICKEL!"

"Auctions are all fake!"

"Henry Ford said '...as long as it's black.'"

and many more car life wivestales. Whatever, just sayin...

 

I looked at the online listings for the 28 and 36. It makes sense to me now why they both had more reasonable auction prices. Good bones but missed on a few areas is what I see. I personally think that 36 with a few cosmetic improvements would be really cool.

 

Seems to have what P J O'Rourke called the "Full Rolling Brothel" interior option.

 

Any info on that Merc? The one pict looked pretty good.

 

@theHIGHLANDER since you outed yourself as 'in the game', care to comment on what your opinion is on the market? As a jabroni who doesn't even watch, the stuff posted here seems to indicate a drop from the crazy prices of even a few years ago. One would hope this also translates to more affordable back lot local deals, since it's a known meme that the guy with a rusty backyard **X says"I saw one go for **** on TV".

 

In the 1980's to early 2000's I was a used car dealer. I would sit at used car auctions 2 or 3 days a week during the busy season. The auctions were trendy even then.
Me*** has an auction in Harrisburg PA. I have sat at those auctions, Wednesday to Saturday a couple of times. You really need to look at every in detail you want to buy. Not just the pictures. There are nice cars and not so nice cars sold every day. Timing of the sale means a lot. TV cars are given more time on the block, it is only another 45 seconds but it adds up.
I think if you were a sharp guy that takes a risk you could buy a Wednesday car and resell it at prime time on Saturday and make money. Even over the fees.
Most cars are bought by resellers. They are very good at what they do. They follow market trends closely. If nobody buys the hot rods in their shop quickly the don't buy them no matter how cheap they are. They have to beat the 90 day floor plan.
Todays buyers are buying the modified muscle cars. Cars on aftermarket frame ect.
While the cars we like here seem to be not bringing the money 70's and 80's trucks are expensive
I have never bought a car at those Me*** auction. But I should have.

 

Yeah, it's always been "you make your money buying, not selling". If it's 10% in and 10% out, you better be darn sure you can still squeeze out a profit playing that game. Huge risk, but no transport, storage, flooring and all the other stuff.

 

well good luck with that... I was a player for years, bought for four cl***ic car lots... new all the players and their shills... watched shill bidders bidding against shills trying to get real money on a car... seen auctions buy the car and take it to the next auction...

 

Seems like reasonable prices for reasonable drivers to me?

 

Well, in off topic venues the economy has a great chance at big things. In times like this when money is moving toward non-auto opportunities and startups the cars seem to have tendency to "suffer" in some ways. Hypothetical here; you've held that 70 LS6 Chevelle in hopes it tops out enough to get that 6 figure 36 Ford 3W. 2 years ago you shoulda sold it. Now I'm talking top tier examples here, but it had a mean overall value of $125K net. That 36 is gonna cost you $95k. It's awesome, worth it. Today that 70 is languishing at $90-100 and 100 only if it's the right color and a 4spd. Sadly the 36 hasn't moved a fraction. Let's go real big. 300SL Gullwing. ALWAYS worth $1.6-2M, again color and potential features that ring the bell. 2 or 3 years ago there might be 6 or 8 guys that fight to the last 2 who check n raise til the hammer drops. Today there might be 3 and one of em is an opportunist hoping to play the long game. He gets off at 1.5 and the last 2 just might shove it to 1.7. Not really devalued much but less interested parties. Mid-level regular stuff, some are dumping to buy stocks or invest in their businesses because a loss of $10k on a car vs a loss of potential high 5 to 6 figure returns with that capital. "Screw it, I'll get one later..." and so it goes. There's times you can't pay enough for a car, and like everything times when ownership was more costly. I've said this all before, good times, cars slack, level or bad times, interest picks up and prices rise from good ol supply n demand. Collector cars are a finite resource that can't be manipulated by some pimple faced Wall St paper money shuffler. Own it long enough it beats inflation. Right now cars are getting flushed down the ****ter in hopes of greener pastures, car volume is high, bid paddle volume is not. Big time never suffers. It waits, so don't waste time shopping for a Model J Murphy roadster that's affordable. She'll wait...

 

Sunday 18th View attachment 6622678

 

A buddy sent me a live shot of the bidding on a 69 COPO Camaro, hammered at 1.6 million. There was some real players in the crowd for the right cars. I attend once in a while, buying your own car back is a desperate move when they charge 10% to sell, 10% to buy (BJ). We have used shills to get the bidding going or to pump some adrenaline into the crowd when the action lulls. Never bought one back. Me*** is fun. Barrett Jackson will drive you to drink if you are taking high end cars.

 

I've seen some pretty serious cars bring really serious money this weekend. Most notable and absolutely ON TOPIC, the Ferrari 250 GTO and the GT40 lightweight. GTO went $35M hammer, the GT40 like $12.8M all in. Some serious do-ray-me on some OT cars, really serious. As I said above, big time never suffers. You'd have to kick your entire car habits cold turkey not to notice that the surf's up on high end muscle. Some of those older siblings are ours but mostly the usual suspects in the most popular veins. 50s has to be the always in demand varieties like 59 Impala and rare big time Mopar drop tops. Some 50s Cadillacs are still premium but not like 7-8 years ago. None in the spotlight to drive interest. My raw thoughts, FWIW.