If you live anywhere near Tacoma, Washington then you probably already know that there’s a big auction happening this weekend. We already featured the Cadillac with a possible Presley past, but I wanted to mention a few other cars that will going up for auction. This first one is a 1960 Facel Vega HK500. It may look European (it is), but it’s powered by a big Mopar 383! Apparently, it came from Germany when the first owner moved to Canada. They used the car for a while, but it eventually got parked in a back alley and forgotten. The next owner picked up the car with the ambitious goal of vintage racing it. I would have liked to see that! It might still happen though because the car will be offered with no reserve.
Next, we have this 1972 Citroen DS. I like these for their unique styling, hydraulic suspension, and all around quirkiness. Add the Estate body into the mix and you have the ultimate combination of style, utility, and weird. The hydraulics have already been rebuilt and it sounds like it’s ready to go. It would be fun to use it for daily transportation while enjoying the looks on people’s confused faces.
Talking about utility, this Buick Roadmaster represents the last of the traditional American station wagon. It has some not so subtle tributes to the past such as wood grain panels and vista cruiser style glass panels on the roof. Cushy benches provide enough room for large groups of people while the V8 out front provides enough power to pull them all around. These can make great daily drivers too, but the trick is finding one still in decent condition. This one looks like a keeper!
And now something a bit more sporty. The MKI MG Midget was the same car as the MKII Austin Healey Sprite, but offered a few upgrades such as leather seats and extra chrome. It was still a barebones sports car which offered a lot of fun for little money. This particular Midget appears to be in great driver condition and is claimed to be priced to sell. Sounds good to me!
Finally, we have this 1971 Mach 1 Mustang. There are lots of Mach 1s on the market, but this one stands out because it’s fitted with the 351-4V. That means that it came from the factory with the higher performance version of the 351 and a four-barrel carb sitting on top. This one is also claimed to have only covered 45k miles since new! It was purchased form the original owner’s family and all the work has been done to make it drivable again. As you can see, there’s going to be quite a mix of cars on offer at the auction this weekend. Are any of you planning on attending? We would love to get a post-auction update if you are.
That poor FV looks like it has been beaten to death. Painted bumpers, what appears to be major rot in the rockers, plenty of missing pieces, not a single straight panel in sight, and lots of missing trim. At auction, it will probably go for more than it’s worth, which isn’t much.
The Midget and the Mach 1 look nice….
Hopefully the trim for the FV is in the car.
A friend had a mustang like this in high school, with the rear jacked up for big tires the rear viability was gone.
“Sorry officer I didn’t see you”, oops.
Pretty sure the Lucky auction is near Tacoma, Washington (not sure where “Tahoma” Washington is and I’ve lived in Washington for more than 50 years)
You’re right Rick, it was just a typo. Thanks for catching that!
This is a case where a restomod Facel-Vega may not make me cringe. Shave any trim left, replace rotten metal, lower it a bit, add moon discs and a loud exhaust…
The Facel Vega might bring a few hundred bucks over here, but with all the parts sourcing / fabrication and work that’s needed it might work out better to ship it to France and flog it to a resto shop or dealer, or put it in the big Artcurial or Retromobile auction if they will take it. It would have more value over there than it ever would here.
As luck should have it I’ll be in Tacoma this Sat, but not Sun. I had planned to go to tbe LeMay family collection, and that’s where the auction is. I’m not prepared to bid on anything, but look forward to taking in at least some of the auction. There is an Isuzu Vehicross being auctioned that I could see owning. The FV looks pretty rough but I hope someone saves it.
I used to own a Facel Vega Excellence, a very limited production 4-door hardtop variant of the coupes. Facel produced cars have always commanded a high price, even very rough examples like this one. When new, the Excellence cost about 20% more than a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud with the standard steel body saloon.
FV cars used a tube chassis, with large side tubes under the doors. As badly rotted as this coupe is, anyone considering it’s purchase better get it up on a lift first! There are NO repair panels, it’s all hand fabrication at this point.
Don’t know the thinking behind the painted bumpers, all* exterior bright work for these cars was stamped or cast stainless steel, polished to a mirror shine. If the bumpers looked a bit dull, all it would take is a buffing, less work than what is needed to rough the surface for painting!
*The only exterior “plated chromium” parts on a FV car are the enameled FV emblems.