Did anyone attend Steve Pickens estate auction today in Shelby Township? I stopped by for a few minutes to see what was there and to poke around. There seemed to be a lot of people there and enough stuff to keep the auctioneer busy for the day. I saw a few Ford Sedan bodies and a few "hump" bodies as well. There were lots of old rims and tires/slicks as well as about a dozen flatheads there. I was just curious if anyone came away with anything and if the stuff was going cheap or for a fair price. I was very tempted to stay and see what the one bare Tudor body went for. It would have been a perfect start. Thanks.
...ummm, yeah, I was there most all day....left about 4:00. They still had proably 2-2 1/2 hours to go. Some good deals, most of the speed equipment was going for BIG BUCKS tho! A bare Thickson intake brought $650, a pair of well-used Hutton-Sullivan heads brought nearly $700! A lot of 20 97's sold for $110 ea., apparently Jay Leno bought ALL of those...several flathead 2x2 intakes, Offy's, block-letter Edelbrocks, common stuff, went for $125-$135 ea.... Pair of N.O.S. 16 x 13 Halibrands, that were never drilled with a bolt pattern...$550, (not bad)... The nasty, crusty, 1929 Henderson Inline 4 went for $29,000! Leno was a bidder on that one also. They removed the S.Co.T. blower and magneto from the flathead dragster, and sold those seperate...never thought I'd ever see an $18,000 S.Co.T. blower in my life!!! Yeah, that ain't no mis-type!...$18,000!! Well, he did get the V-belt drive and 2 carbs also! Phone bidder from Maryland got it. The mag brought $1,200, and the rest of the dragster with the motor and trailer brought $7,500! The patina-covered, no rust, complete '28 Model A Tudor, with title, went for $3,500,...the black '28-'29 next to it with the rust, went for $1,700,...and the bare Tudor body with doors,(body and doors both decent but still needed patch panels), brought $1,800!!! Go figure?! '26-'27 T coupe/A truck doors, nice, no rust, 6 of them, brought $350 ea., and one fellow bought them all...a 7th one, no rust, but a 3" split on the bottom, (which a couple of mig-weld tacks will take care of), I bought for $30!!...later, after I left, my buddy found the match to it for me for $10!!! So, typical auction,...mostly overpriced, but a few good deals in there.
Yea I figured a lot of that stuff would go for big money. Jay Leno was bidding ehh? Over the phone, or how did that work? I wonder how people around the nation heard about this. Thats cool on your scores. It was tempting to just stay and see what stuff would go for and dream of having the money to get it! There was a lot of stuf there, I couldnt believe it. Do you know how much all of thos magazines went for? There were thoudsands! Did evrything pretty much sell? Was it packed throughout the day? Thanks for the info.
my understanding is that jay leno does all his own buying , he doesn't use any agents ...he says if you didn't see him buy it , he didn't buy it
Thanks for the report, always nice to get a first hand account of what goes on at an auction. Great score on those doors!
Well, according to one of the auction clerks, and a couple family members, Leno had several absentee bids submitted already,...one was the opening bid of $25,000 for the Henderson,...hard to believe that since he's such a busy guy, that he wouldn't take advantage of an agent, or at least someone who works for him... I got there a half hour after it started, and was number #386 already. It was PACKED all day. I left at 4, after it started raining,...my brother stayed until the end, around 6:30, and the crowd had thinned out to about 20 people...they were blowing thru stuff just to get it sold. My brother got a lot of 20 94's for $10 ea., a pair of N.O.S. 8.50 x 15 M&H Racemaster piecrust sidewall slicks for $90, and 2 Fordson gas tanks for $30... ...'28-'29 A closed cab truck, original, unrestored, barn condition with rust and missing rear fenders, went for $7,500... ...'34 Ford dually stake bed truck, complete with nice cab, doors, grille, and hood, brought $6,700...
btt The KJ Henderson went for $29000, a young guy reading a book the whole day bid on it. He was a rep for Leno. He bid paid and left. Was there anything left after 6:30 when your brother left?
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