Mecum Auctions hits Monterey
A new kid shows up and plays strong
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM DONNELLY AND DAVID LaCHANCE
Monterey in August is always a whirl. This year, particularly downtown, the established
players in this high-roller sellfest
had the combined presence of the
Oscars. People were actually paying
several sawbucks to get in and ogle
the cars, not bid on them, rubbing
elbows with the real shoppers and
imbibing the same overpriced booze.
Amid this frenzy, Mecum Auctions
joined in with its own premium sale.
The kid had some game. It had the
right panache, setting up next to the Del
Monte Golf Course, and a good selection of strong vehicles from which to
pick. Mecum found buyers for 105 of the
224 cars it offered for sale, which, while
below the Monterey-wide advertised
average of a 67 percent sell-through,
was plenty stout for a rookie outing in
a crowded sales market. The register
rang at Mecum to the tune of more than
$14.2 million, which beat a couple
of the established players’ paydays,
although more than half the total
($7.25 million) was paid for a completely authentic, ex-Bob Bondurant
Shelby Cobra Daytona.
There were several other marquee
cars that made immediate post-sale
news by clearing the six-figure hedge
in this steeplechase, among them a
Packard Darrin and a Ferrari that
both made it to $300,000, and a brace of
highly desirable Corvettes —no surprise,
this being Mecum—led by a 1967 coupe
that was ordered by Ed Cole himself. Others, as we’ll see, ranged down the dollar
chain from there.
LEGEND
Condition: #1–Excellent; #2–Very Good #3–Average; #4–Poor; #5–Major Project
Reserve: Minimum price owner will accept
Top price bid: The highest offer made
Selling price: What the vehicle sold for
Average selling price: Average market value of vehicles in similar condition
Year: 1963
Model: E-Type Competition
Condition: Modified/#2-
Reserve: Undisclosed
JAGUAR
Top price bid:
$55,000/not sold
Average selling
price: N/A
Year: 1953
Model: 98 Fiesta
Condition: Restored/#1-
Reserve: Undisclosed
Selling price:
$150,000
Average selling
price: $185,000
OLDSMOBILE
Year: 1957
Model: Caballero
Condition: Restored/#3+
Reserve: Undisclosed
BUICK
Selling price:
$23,000
Average selling
price: $18,000
Year: 1932
Model: Sport Phaeton
Condition: Restored/#3+
Reserve: Undisclosed
BUICK
Top price bid:
$77,000/not sold
Average selling
price: $110,000
Vintage race cars are terrific in gen-
eral, and even more desirable when
they have traceable racing histories,
which was a little difficult to discern
with this E-Type. It was described as
having come ashore with racing kit
circa 1984, some of which involved
the installation of heavier XJ6 front
uprights and Girling front discs lifted
from a Series III. Its early racing history—any specific track lineage, for
that matter— wasn’t discussed. The
organizers predicted a minimum
six-figure bid on this Jag, thanks
presumably to its Nicolas Cage owner
history. Few bit.
Was this the Bargain of the Month
at Monterey? Probably not, but it
was in the running. It’s possible that
the shoppers who closely looked
at it noticed the visible chipping
of its steering wheel—in a car this
significant, why?—and moved on. A
below-market sale on a rarity like this
in the midst of Monterey madness
is Ripley’s-weird. Oldsmobile only
produced 458 of these convertibles
in 1953, cars that had almost literally
escaped the Motorama. If the colors
were accurate—the description of its
orange-and-white theme was ambiguous—it was spectacular.
When was the last time you attended
an auction that had not just one, but
two mammoth General Motors sta-
tion wagons from the 1950s looking
for buyers? This one was an older
restoration with a visibly undulating
dashboard top, a condition accentuated by its fern-and-carnation colors,
both inside and out. A plus here was
factory air conditioning, apparently
functional. The matrix of sweeps
and fins—oh, those C-pillars—is
definitely an acquired taste, but we
would have guessed that the oddness
factor alone would have hit a dinger
here. Nice car, just not universally
appealing.
Buick boffins, fill in the blanks here:
This was a less-than-typical car. It
was sold new in Quebec, at the time
that General Motors was experiment-
ing with a number of body makers,
especially in the McLaughlin Buick
years, although this wasn’t one of
them. It was still billed as one of
34 such Sport Phaetons built with
Holden bodywork, although it was not
an Australia-market car, even though
it was considered an export model,
its LHD setup affirming as much. A
straight-eight Buick phaeton of this
era is lovely even without the lineage
curiosities seen here. We figured the
bidding would land in the upper five
figures, and expected it to sell, too.
