Event Coverage Did anyone go to Gene Winfields auction?

Had to put some miles on a customer car. So I jumped in the Riviera and went and hit the fosters freeze and got a chocolate malt and then cruised out to Winfields to see what was there. Not much left. There is a cool 70 ish Chevy ramp truck with Winfield 's name on it that would be cool to have. Looks like all the stuff in the back is pretty thin and getting scraped out. There was a flat bit back there doing work. Heres some crappy pics.

 

Looking at the results, I found out old Volkswagen floor pans are worth more than old Jaguars. Who would have known?

 

All of those late model clunkers with no titles makes me wonder if most of them were just abandoned in his back lot after they broke down and got drug in there. I don't know what California has as far as title or proof of ownership on crushers but I'd have worked something with the guy with the portable crusher who crushed on the half on the majority of that stuff.
https://www.proxibid.com/Grahams-I-...n/event-catalog/250905?srch=&srchloc=true#Top

I'm thinking that if the auction would have been held when it was originally planned most of the parts and tools would have gone for a lot more.

 

looks like a few deal there depending what you want but then when you add doc fees and some of those dmv back fees to the purchase price and now some of them got a little pricey for their condition.

 

In the real world a number of those rigs weren't worth the cost of the Cali dmv back fees if they had a title. If a guy living in Nevada or Arizona bought one it might not be a bad deal but 1500 fees on a car that has a 1000 retail and needs maybe 1500 spent to drive it isn't a wise financial decision.

 

Are people into old cars known for their financial decisions?

 

If you notice a majority of the stuff is honestly junk and most of it if not all of it did not have titles.
I think seriously we were looking at the cars in his private "pick a part". I got to say I would like to know the story behind the junk...
I was there a total of 3 days first day for the auction in my gas mileage car the second day to pick up a car the third day to pick up a car I never once saw Gene but I did meet a few very interesting desert people that claim they had been friends with him for decades.

 

Back fees are just a technicality I've learned how to get out of them in 99% of all classic car transactions I just don't like giving out the information everybody because if I do then people will know and I can't use it as a haggling tactic when buying my old junk.

 

Supposably those cars that you see in the front were not for sale he was taking them with him which made me question the whole idea of him having dementia because usually somebody would dementia is just kind of lost.
Most of everything in the back sold there was some stuff left that I would have liked to have picked through that was not in the auctions for example car wheels, some piles of stuff that you could call scrap piles if you didn't know what you were looking at you know just small items but yeah for the most part all the big stuff sold.

 

The reason why the auction got postponed until the later date is because they were having paperwork issues with a lot of the vehicles and most of them had to clear lien sales.
On the three cars I bought and the one my buddy bought we basically got some legal DMV paperwork that supposedly should not be an issue if we decide to register our cars.

 

The green Merc "sign" would be a wicked cool piece of memorabilia.

 

Yep, there was a few cool signs there. And that merc sign would be awesome to have at your house. But I'm sure he's taking it with them somewhere. Or maybe he'll donate it to a museum.

 

Sorry

Vehicle code section 4604 (d) (3) exempts vehicles described in VC 5004 from the Planned Non-operation program. VC 5004 describes vehicles of historic value ("at least 25 years old and of historic interest"). It does not say that the car has to be registered under 5004, just has to meet the description.

 

Be kinda cool to get a couple of his homemade tools with an autograph

 

I don't know how I missed your comment, I apologize.

I am going to take a picture of the statement of facts you will use on California's DMV (unfortunately you have to go to a DMV office AAA will not do it or at least not from my experience). If you write it out exactly the way it is wrote on the statement you see in the picture it should get you out of back fees, it has worked every single time I have used it and it is probably been done 20 or 25 times in the last 20 years between my buddy and me. Now that being said if the car has gotten a ticket (even a parking ticket) since falling out of registration this will not work to get you out of the fees.
I hope this helps you peops on the HAMB and doesn't get out to everyone because it is a useful negotiating tactic when a vehicle has years of back fees.

Also it should be mentioned supposedly as of January 1st cars are falling out of the computer again... In my opinion this is a big plus but there are some headaches that go with it too but no longer am I going to hear about classic cars getting scrapped because of $xxxxxx- in back fees. Here is the DMV link
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehic...cumstances/vehicles-no-longer-in-dmv-records/

 

Just set the record straight, that property was an active wrecking yard BEFORE Gene bought it. A friend of mine's son worked there for a time. When Gene bought it, he got everything on the property, then added whatever else he wanted. I moved up to Lancaster in 1985 and it was an active yard then. Some good stuff and some not so good stuff.

 

Understood as well....Gene is selling stuff to sell that place and move....