A little over a week ago, we featured a massive auction in Quincy, Michigan, which you can find here. The owner had accumulated nearly 120 cars, and unfortunately, most were left outside. It looked like quite the find, though, so when Reader OldModelTGuy, aka Jeff V, let us know he would be attending the event, we asked him to send us a short review. It sounds like there were some great deals and, at the very least, a unique experience. A huge thanks to OldModelTGuy for sending us photos and sharing his experience, which you can read below!
From OldModelTGuy – At around 120 cars, this auction represented a massive personal collection. So massive that the satellite image suggests the collection had gotten a bit out of hand.
While many of the cars offered were beyond any reasonable restoration efforts, there were certainly highlights and a few bargains. I’ll start with a car that drew definite pre-auction interest. The 1971 Shala ‘Vette’ kit car. Custom car designer Dick Dean built this in a limited run of perhaps a dozen examples: a Corvette-inspired fiberglass body on shortened VW running gear. Dick worked with George Barris and ran Barris Custom City. This particular car appears to have been featured a few years ago on Barn Finds, looking very presentable with a $5,800 price tag in 2015. Unfortunately, it has been left unattended outside since then and is looking rough.
Incredibly, that last photo is purported to be the original body mold! The car with the mold changed hands for $500. I spoke with the purchaser, who is a friend of Dick Dean’s son. He said only two Shala ‘Vettes’ were made in this hardtop configuration, and he owns the other one. Needless to say, he came specifically to buy this car.
Another car that drew a specific buyer was the 1933 Rolls-Royce. It featured Ford running gear with a 351 Windsor and a 4” chop. Front seats and dash had also seen ‘upgrades’. If any car is an example of the difference between ‘can’ and ‘should’, this is it. Paperwork shows the car changed hands in 2003 for $10,000 and was shipped from Hawaii. The car sold for $1,000. The buyer was quite happy as he owned another ‘33 Rolls that needed the radiator. He shared that the part alone was worth $10,000! He also pointed out that the headlight was worth about $2,300 and the original steering column in the back seat was worth about $2,000.
A few other notable car sales include this 1969 E-Type with an original 4.2L engine for $2,000
The Cobra kit car with a Corvette engine sold for $11,0000
1941 Lincoln Continental with correct V12 changed hands for $2,400
1954 MG TF was surprisingly presentable and sold for $2,750
This 1967 Porsche was sold ‘some assembly required’ for $8,500
I could go on all day with interesting buys at this auction. If something on the auction list piqued your curiosity, let me know in the comments. I have most of the sale prices and can tell you what they sold for.
Thanks for the followup, OldModelTGuy. As car people I’ll bet more than a few of us often wonder about the final landing place and position of interesting cars, bikes and the like-more so it seems of huge conglomerations like this “collection”. That the Rolls for instance was bought for less than a 10th of its value in parts, the kit car by the son of its designer and the original mold therein plus a recount of all the rest of the machinery is pretty cool.
Would’ve been a good time to check out and if it’d been out this way a little more that would’ve been a given but traveling now is a big hit in the wallet.
Again, thank you sir.
Thanks for the update on that auction!!
Thanks for the report.. A few good buys there. With auctions like these it’s impossible to tell beforehand which way the prices will go.
That’s a very cheap TF.
I thought the same.
A TF for $2,750? I’m sick.
Well, what’s old “wet blanket” have to say? I think we’re seeing a distinct turn around in classic car prices. I’m assuming the comma in the wrong place on the Cobra, ($110,000?) or too many zeros( (11,000?), clearly the latter, and the Lincoln, $2400? A Jag for what now, $2 grand, COMPLETE? Not to gloat, but I told you this was going to happen. I do think certain cars, drivable, turn-key ones, will continue to garner top prices, but these “projects” get less and less attractive. A clearer message than this, you won’t find.
Now,,,all may be lost for me, but IF,,,you have the resources and a workplace, some great deals around the corner. Unfortunately, not for the sellers though. It’s pretty obvious that this person was one of “us”, collected some great stuff, falling on deaf ears today. It’s okay, the fun was had with this collection, and can’t be replaced at any price.
Missed this one? Tip of the iceberg, folks, you’ll see, plenty more where this came from.
These cars were junk, they sold at prices commensurate with their condition. The prices above don’t represent a trend or foretell a crash.
The “Cobra” was a kit car, it wouldn’t have seen $110,000 on its best day.
Steve R
I would tend to disagree, Steve, these cars were not junk by any means. Heck, a Jag 4.2 in any condition is worth $2grand, custom bondo not withstanding. Even with the Cobra being a replica, sounds cheap to me. Perhaps it’s your location that would deem these as junk, but for the upper Midwest, this was a heck of a collection, never to be duplicated again. I’m sure many here suffered from being outdoors, and aside from a few examples sold, most will be crushed. That, my friend, is an acute lack of interest. On FB, there’s a video of the sale, and maybe 2 dozen attendees. The person filming said it was the fastest auction they ever attended.
Delusional doomer probably has been calling for a crash since 2014.
It should read $11,000
What did the McCormick -Deering Farmall F-12 sell for?
were into a generation that needs aaa to change a tire,rest of us that know how restrore a car without taking everything to a shop are to old to take on projects.last one i did was a e type,did drivetrain ,paint ,body,only thing i sent out was interior
Ron… owners manuals used to advise on how to adjust valves. Now they warn ⚠️ not to drink the coolant. 💁♂️
A Cobra kit car with a Chevy eng is worth abouth $11.00
The Rolls guy probably pulled the radiator, headlight and steering column, tossed them in his truck and left the rest behind.
Maybe the low selling prices has more to do with the condition of the cars.
Prowling the junk yards for parts for my car projects has always been fun. My ’32 Ford taillights, an engine for my ’54 Chevy, the body for my ’53 Studebaker coupe, a couple of Porsche 356s, and on and on. This collection sure brings back fun memories.
Yes, I have usually been very lucky at wrecking yards also. Complete suspension (including Bilsteins) from an Alpina for my 320i BMW, A complete leather interior from a Merkur that fit perfectly in my Daughter’s Grey market Audi 80/Fox, complete like new cloth interior for our beater Pathfinder, etc.
Were any of these vehicles running?
The Cobra ran. I can’t guarantee that it also ‘drove’ and ‘stopped’, but it did run
You need a lot of room to keep junk in. I bet there were no women wanting to buy…………..Junk also. So much junk so little time……………….
What a disaster 😞
Wow
There was a Lotus, I seem to recall. What did it go for?
There was a 2005 Lotus that sold for $7,000
On the positive, if you did find a project car worth buying it sounds like the prices were in the believable realm. Searching through vehicles and or parts to find what you were looking for only to be outbid by double what you had to spend is very disheartening. This did not sound like this auction was like that. Just to see the vehicles and watch the bidding must have been very entertaining. It was too far to drag a trailer to on the “hopes” that you might score. And I’m full up on projects right now. But I still would have liked to be there. (And hopefully temptation would have been kept at a distance. )
I have been to a few auctions, very few to be truthful where things were going very cheap. Most of the time its nuts what things are bringing, I probably would have had to buy something if I was at this one