You never know where there might be a large collection of classics hiding, there might be a barn full of cars just down the street. You really never what might be hiding just around the block. While Boise has an unusual number of large classic car collections, it never ceases to amaze us when another one surfaces so close to home. Just recently, we caught wind of two barns packed with interesting classics not too far from us, but we didn’t know anything more than that. Well, it seems the rumor was true and now the collection is set to be auctioned off down the road in Nampa, Idaho. There are 69 antique and classic automobiles set to be auctioned off by Dealers Auto Auction on August 26th, including some beautiful muscle cars!
Unlike many of the large collections we’ve come across over the years, the cars in this one weren’t simply parked and forgotten about. The owner, Callan Phillips, was actively working on and restoring the cars in his collection. When he retired in 1994, he kicked things into high gear and managed to restore/preserve 70 cars. His tastes seem to have been quite diverse, owning everything from a 1928 Rolls Royce to a 1950 Bentley all the way to several Mustangs. Sadly, he passed away back in 2013 and that’s when his barns were closed up. His wife recently passed away as well and now their children have decided to liquidate the collection.
The Phillips actually lived in Paul, Idaho, which is about 180 miles from Nampa. It seems like an odd and expensive decision to transport 69 cars that far, but the auction house is based out of Nampa and was charged with cleaning up each car. They’ve also been busy getting some of the cars running again, but there’s no word at this point as to which ones are running and if any are seized up.
Callen’s family is proud of all of his classics, but are especially fond of his 1950 Bentley Mk VI 4 door sedan. They hope to see it reach $85,000, but that seems a bit hopeful to me. It looks to be a beautiful car though and there are plenty of collectors out there that would love to have it, so perhaps we will see it break $80k. Personally, I’m more interested in the 1928 Rolls Royce and the American Muscle, but that’s just me. If you’d like to read more about Callan’s collection, you can read more about it here at the Idaho Statesman.
We are going to do our best to make it over to Nampa to preview the collection prior to the auction, so if there is something your interested in bidding on and would like more details on, please let us know in the comments! And with any luck, we can add one of the cars to our collection on August 26th. You can preview and bid on each car online here. Special thanks to Marcus S, as well as a number of other readers, for the tip!
Photos Courtesy of Katherine Jones
The fact the have Bentley and Porsche spelled wrong in the catalog is not a great sign. And they detail the tread depth on the tires. Good info if buying minivans for resale.
And nobody bod on the Jeepster. My wife wants that one!!
And it is Rolls-Royce and not Rolls Royce… Yes, that hyphen is important.
The yellow Jeepster is a ’50 or ’51 (not ’49) and now has a bid, but only one photo.
’62 Starfire looks like a nice unrestored original.
Totally agree. This car is the true star of the auction. Guy must have gotten a deal on puke green metallic paint. So glad he didn’t inflict it on the Olds.
looks like a respray to me. look at the pics closely
I see what you mean. The color combination is the same as on my first car, a 1962 Cutlass convertible and the red shade seems pretty close to the factory color. Hard to tell for sure 50 years later and staring at laptop screen.
At least he didn’t paint it green.
I’d like to have any one of these cars.
Nobody who knows Bentleys would even predict a price to one third of their hoped for windfall!! I have owned, bought snd sold over 230 Bentleys over the pasr 30+ years.
Some interesting pieces we will be watching for certain. Though I don’t believe I’ve seen a Porcsh, a Bently and a Mercury Commit all at the same sale. ;-)
what would it have taken to actually go out to the car, and copy what it is off the car? .. not just this guy, I have seen some horrible misspellings !
The ’65 Riv, although repainted a garish green, does have dual quads mounted.
(In John Belushi’s best voice) how much for the woman?
A few of these cars have had what appears to be an amateurish restoration and maybe color change…The Ford Ranchero in purple, the 67 Camaro with the gold interior……a few interiors have been redone in unoriginal materiels.The auctioneer seems to have not turned the auction loose for most cars…weird.
Only one ever produced with auto trans!
I skimmed a few of the listings, and the problem I see is that all the cars seem to have been personalized to the old guy’s individual taste, and only to nice-driver level, not really restored. That’s going to limit prices.
The Bentley interior looks like vinyl to me. The car looks nice enough, but I think it will struggle to bring $20K.
I’m afraid the heirs are in for a letdown. But there could be some deals to be had if one doesn’t mind the lack of originality.
that blue Camaro convertible with gold interior ??? I have seen them with white or black, but gold?
While I love hearing everyones viewpoint
Yous guys// gals have to be a little bit more RESPECTFUL towards the families and people. OK we are not in a perfect world and the cars are what they are..and you dont always get what you want BUT These Collections are a MANS
LIFE WORK. Appreciate iT, enjoy it , share it and add your comments in a more pleasant way. Because very soon we wont have ANYMORE Life collections.
It will be Done.
Please excuse any spelling errors because thise site is a little slow for the keyboard.
Thanks!!!!
I think I know why the family has this terribly mis-informed hope of an $80,000 sale on the $15,000 – $25,000 Bentley. Whenever you drive one and stop for gas or at the store, whatever, some well meaning but ignorant person will walk up and say ‘Golly, that’s gotta be worth a hundred thousand dollars” and refuse to listen to you when you explain it’s really only a fraction of the number they just threw out. Unfortunately, those people don’t buy cars so these just simply don’t sell for that number even though the vast majority of the public will believe that “They just gotta be worth that much, maybe more!!!” I believe the world record price for one of these standard bodied early post-war Bentleys is $80,000 and that was a car in fabulous condition with a verified and almost incredible history. I sold that car about six or seven years ago, the price has never been repeated or approached by any similar car since.
When someone says “Golly, that’s gotta be worth a hundred thousand dollars”. Simply reply “You’re right, will that be cash or certified check?”
I have. I’ve also said “Well today’s your lucky day. Only $50,000 for you only!” But of course, people who have fifty grand ready to spend on a whim didn’t get it by being stupid!!
Hello everyone, Britney from the auction here! Thank you for pointing out some embarrassing misspellings on our part, we certainly want to be as accurate as possible and that should start with spelling things right. We are working with the family to get high quality photos so it is taking longer than we had hoped to get them cleaned up for pictures. We decided to post the event before all the pictures were ready because we had so many people asking questions about the cars we wanted to get something online for all to see. I have to agree with an above poster that this is a wonderful family who loves and respects these cars and it is very hard to part with them, but it was Callan’s desire to have them auctioned off so they could find owners who would take care of them, instead of letting them rust out. We hope you will bear with us while we work out the kinks and hope to see you at the auction!
PS- not to contradict the author of this article, because we so appreciate the time they took to write it, but the family is hoping the Rolls-Royce will bring $80,000. Not sure if that is better or not, but it was a family favorite.
PPS- Our systems don’t allow for a hyphen so while I will work to fix our other embarrassing mistakes, that unfortunately is not one I can fix 😊 Also, I’m typing this on my phone so please excuse any further grammatical errors. Thank you all!!
I merely replied to what I thought was the hope that the 1950 Bentley would bring $80,000 – it won’t, at least not until they legalize pot in Idaho too! I didn’t see any photos of the Rolls, know nothing about it, but unless it’s a really nice convertible I’d wager a guess that 80 grand is not in the realm of reality either. But good luck – sometimes people pay more than anyone would expect – look at the old Lambrecht auction or even the $125,000 that someone once paid for an Amphicar – lightning does strike twice (although it never happened again for any other Amphicar seller . . . )
Brakeservo, I think it is wishful thinking as well, but you’re right people do crazy things at auctions 😜. I attached a picture of the Rolls-Royce.
Hi Britney – Thanks for the Rolls photo, but oh boy – it’s only a 20, the “baby” of the family with the least desirable body style and the paint looks deplorable – I think $8,000 is all they should expect – IF it runs and drives well. Whoever painted those wheels, brake drums, springs and axles . . . gotta wonder what he was smokin’!!
But people doing crazy things at auctions – the first to pay a record high price is always considered “nuts” and usually the second to pay such a price is too. But the third sale constitutes a trend and the fourth makes a strong argument that the price of (whatever it is) has just verifiably gone up! We must never forget, value is just a psychological perception, and the purchase of a collector car isn’t so much logical as it is about 110% emotional! Good luck with the auction
Oh boy, I hope it’s worth more than $8,000 😊 It would be disappointing if it brought so little. But thank you for your input! I know their Dad put his own touch on each of these cars and did things how he liked. It brought him many years of happiness working and restoring these vehicles. Thanks again for chatting!
I tip my hat to Brakeservo. Enjoyed your perspective on the Idaho auction, and interaction with Britney, the auction rep. Especially enjoyed your line; “value is just a psychological perception”. I’ll chew on that for awhile. Good food for thought. Best.
my brother lives in Boise. I wish I had time to fly out their rent a car and check out those cars.
I am interested in the 3 VW. If your offer is to go and look them over then I would appreciate hearing what you think of them.
Britany ;
What they may be worth now has nothing to do with the enjoyment they gave your Grand Father .
I can’t seem to find a full listing of lots with photos and descriptions, what am I doing wrong here ? .
TIA,
-Nate
Nate-
I just work at the Auction, so I’m not related to the family, but I couldn’t agree more with your comment :) he definitely loved these cars, and his family does as well!
Here is a link to the sale, I just uploaded a ton more pictures, we have 94 cars total so far, please email support@daaofidaho.com if you have any questions!
http://daaid.autoremarketers.com/web/commerce/catalog.aspx?CatalogType=0&EventId=166929#
Thanx Britney ! .
That’s what I was looking for .
-Nate
Some fine cars and trucks. My favorites in no particular order:
1. 1947 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe
2. 1951 Ford Custom 4 door
3. 1971 VW Karmann Ghia Convertible
4. 1979 VW Type II Camper
5. 1947 International KB1 truck
So I like the simple stuff. :-)
Chuck in Kansas