Pictures From Mecum Glendale 2023

I did not take anywhere near as many photographs from the recently concluded Mecum auction in Arizona as I usually do or as many as I thought I did or would. (Hey, a 31-word, run-on sentence. I can hear Mel Allen now, “How a-bout that!”)

For the nth time, these events have been taken over by pickup trucks and SUVs. I am not a fan of either type of vehicle and strongly suspect I never will be. Almost all of them just look like boxes on wheels to me, a far cry from rolling sculpture.

I know this will never happen, but sometimes I wish an auction company would sell only cars at an event. I guess the luxury auction companies do, but their events are usually stodgy and dull. I remarked to someone during the Mecum auction that people attend other auctions, like Barrett-Jackson, to be seen, but attend Mecum to have fun.

Anyway, without further ado and in no particular order:

 

 

This 1991 Cadillac Allante was marked lot G36 meaning it was an early lot on the first day of the auction, Tuesday. It didn’t actually cross the block until long after it was scheduled as the ignition switch and steering wheel seemed to be engaged in a death dance.

Anyone want to guess what the hammer price was? Would you believe $3,000? (How a-bout that!) After the car sold I remarked to my wonderful wife that I should have bid $4,000 and bought the car. Of course, then I wouldn’t have purchased the car below:

 

 

I took this photo on the first day of the auction, four days before I bought the car. I really had no idea I would end up with it.

 

 

Can you call someone a friend if you’ve never seen them anywhere except at one specific venue? Anyway…this is my friend Bruce’s 1986 Camaro IROC-Z that sold early on Thursday. He and I have neither seen nor spoken to each other anywhere except at a Mecum auction.

He had two other very nice cars consigned to the auction, a pair of 2022 Shelby GT-500 Heritage Edition models. I don’t seem to have taken a photo of either car. Here is a reasonable facsimile:

 

 

The one offered on Friday did not meet its reserve, but Bruce worked out a deal with an interested buyer on Saturday morning. The one offered on Saturday sold after Bruce lifted the reserve–at less than its original value, I suspect–and probably with some incentive by Frank Mecum in terms of a smaller commission than standard.

 

 

As regular readers know, I am a big fan of the 1956-57 Continental (don’t call it a Lincoln) Mark II. I guess this one must have had some warts as it sold on Wednesday for $25,300 all in, the same price as the 2008 Saturn Sky Red Line that intrigued me. Still, given the rarity of these cars (only 3,000 were built) and what I think are their stunning looks, these cars are really not expensive almost always selling well below $100,000.

 

 

If 56packardman were still reading my blog (it has now been almost three years since he stopped writing his blog), he would no doubt be aghast at what has been done to this car. This 1937 Packard Twelve Model 1507, of which only 42 were made, can only be described as a resto-mod. It has a Chevrolet/GM drivetrain, a 454 cubic-inch V8 and 700R4 automatic transmission, modern air conditioning, AM/FM/Satellite Radio, etc. It did not sell at a high bid of $70,000.

If this car’s original equipment were missing or damaged beyond repair, I would have had no problem resto-modding it. I have neither the time nor the resources to locate and resto-mod such a car.

Do six auction photos seem like too few? OK, maybe a couple more:

 

 

This 1990 Ferrari F40, one of only 213 produced for the US market, did not sell at a high bid of $2.6 million. My wonderful wife and I both thought that many of the higher dollar cars did not sell on the block, but the data could show we were wrong.

I guess I’ll close with another all-time classic, high dollar car, even if it is German:

 

 

Initially, this 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing left the block unsold, but a few minutes later Frank Mecum announced it had been sold. A check of Mecum’s website this morning indicated the car “hammered” at $1.65 million, a little below the pre-auction estimate range of $1.85-$2 million. Of course, with the buyer’s premium he paid $1.815 million.

 

If anyone wants me to publish more photos from Mecum Glendale 2023, I will, but I don’t really have many more interesting pics.

 

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