Mecum Kissimmee Auction

[z28z11]

I'm surprised I haven't seen any comments on this past weekend's auction, Anyone catch it ? 53 first gen Camaros, including Cliff Ernst's ZL-1 (at $825K with premium), many Z;s and BB cars. Lot of high dollar cars other than Camaros, too (including the slickest '64 Chevy pickup I've ever seen, and $80+K). I have to say I enjoyed this more than the B-J's in past Januarys -

Regards,
Steve

[JoeC]

I was watching some of the live stream. You can also see some of it posted on youtube

[Kelley W King]

I saw pieces of it and what surprised me were the prices of some of the resto mods. Some prices appeared to be a lot more that what it would cost to have one built. A friend who has completed several lately and I ran some numbers and think that some could be built with mostly new drive trains and labor for a fair amount less than selling prices. Kind of makes me think there were shell buyers trying to run up prices.

[bcmiller]

Prices seemed too high to me.

[Z282NV]

Auctions, the 2nd worst place to buy a classic car right after dealers. I sure would like to know what percentage of these vehicles are actually purchased by dealers versus enthusiasts or car collectors? 

[firstgenaddict]

I thought some prices paid recently were ALL the money then have seen the cars trade higher.
One customer recently sold a LT1 roadster and LT1 coupe priced at 70k each inside of 2 weeks - spent nearly all of it on a 55 Nomad restomod - because he has two younger children and he can use it much more.

[camaroboy68ss]

Yeah I have seen restomods are now in the same range, or higher, than restored cars. Seems the easiest place to spot this is in Corvettes. Doesn't seem to long ago the though was if you modified a Vette you were ruining any value it had, but now LS swapped C1-C3's can bring just as much as a restored car. A couple years ago Mecum had a bunch of vette's in a row. Had a 67 427/435 roadster sell for like $125k-ish range, which is where they usually seem to sell, then behind it was a 67 roadster with a built LS3, aftermarket chassis, modern interior etc and it sold at $140k. I think its pointing to where the current market is heading as newer//younger buyers dont want original cars to deal with, but want modern stuff in a old shape.

[crossboss]

Boys,
This was posted on my other car site concerning a recent MECUM sale. IF the claims are true, it sounds like fraud. Your thoughts...

     "A customer of ours purchased a '73 "Q"-code Mustang convertible at the MECUM auction, brought it in to us for repairs and a once over inspection; well it had two different V.I.N.s depending on where one looked, both the "Q" and an "F" code!  Guess which V.I.N. actually belonged to the uni-body!     

     He went back to MECUM, this maybe four days after his purchase, they said: so-sad-to-bad!  This, even though they were, as a used car dealer, processing the title work, now being aware that they would be filling such fraudulently!     "

[MO]

That's why you have to do your due diligence. And if you are not savvy enough, hire a professional to verify what you're interested in. The auction houses do their best to isolate themselves from seller claims. There is no buyers remorse clause. 

I thought the prices were very strong.

[crossboss]

That's why you have to do your due diligence. And if you are not savvy enough, hire a professional to verify what you're interested in. The auction houses do their best to isolate themselves from seller claims. There is no buyers remorse clause. 

I thought the prices were very strong.

Agreed. However, here is another example of a VIN issue from another site:

"  Yes, but obviously not being enforced!  "

They will be and have been enforced depending on the circumstances. There was a BOSS 429 that went through a couple of owners. The man that did the rebody sold it for $15,000 way back when that was the going rate. A couple buyers later it was sent to be restored better. That's when the rebody became a known issue. This man had paid a lot more $150,000+ for the car. He traced it back to the man that had done the rebody, filed suit for fraud. The court awarded 300% of the fraud.....not the $15,000 fraud, the $150,000 fraud.....that's $450,000.

I don't think that is a good dice roll.

[firstgenaddict]

Rebodies are entirely different animals, if you are removing vins and welding in removed vin stamped panels at some point in time you are going to screw the wrong person.

Yeah I have seen restomods are now in the same range, or higher, than restored cars. Seems the easiest place to spot this is in Corvettes. Doesn't seem to long ago the though was if you modified a Vette you were ruining any value it had, but now LS swapped C1-C3's can bring just as much as a restored car. A couple years ago Mecum had a bunch of vette's in a row. Had a 67 427/435 roadster sell for like $125k-ish range, which is where they usually seem to sell, then behind it was a 67 roadster with a built LS3, aftermarket chassis, modern interior etc and it sold at $140k. I think its pointing to where the current market is heading as newer//younger buyers dont want original cars to deal with, but want modern stuff in a old shape.

yea resto mods are hot...
What I was stating is that he sold 2 70 LT1's at 67-70k each inside of 2 weeks. That is strong money for no paper - green tan coupe and laguna grey blk standard roadster - both are high second flight restored cars.

[camaronut]

Not sure what Mecum does, but I know Barrett Jackson hires known experts in the hobby to go over cars that are considered numbers matching / big dollar cars, before they go on the block.
If I were a buyer, I'd feel a little better about that, however it doesn't mean that a few cars can't slip though....
Clones / rebody's will always be an issue.  Shame.

As far as the auction itself....interesting to say the least.  Over 5 mil (actually close to 6 mil if you count the buyers / sellers premium) for Carroll Shelby's cobra?  That's just nuts.

[crossboss]

Not sure what Mecum does, but I know Barrett Jackson hires known experts in the hobby to go over cars that are considered numbers matching / big dollar cars, before they go on the block.
If I were a buyer, I'd feel a little better about that, however it doesn't mean that a few cars can't slip though....
Clones / rebody's will always be an issue.  Shame.

As far as the auction itself....interesting to say the least.  Over 5 mil (actually close to 6 mil if you count the buyers / sellers premium) for Carroll Shelby's cobra?  That's just nuts.

Cars with racing history, rare production models aka ZL-1s, L-88s, and Cobras, and high end correct cars will always bring big money. That said, didn't the 'Bullitt' car bring some hefty money, like 3-4 million? That is nuts for a 390 Mustang in my opinion. Im sure the 'value' of that one was because of Steve McQueens celeb status.

[uscrichter]

Price is simply relative to how much money you have and how bad you want something, my Wife thinks I'm nuts for spending $8,500.00 on a restoration project Camaro that looks like it belongs at the re-cycler! and 30years ago I would have agreed with her!

[crossboss]

Price is simply relative to how much money you have and how bad you want something, my Wife thinks I'm nuts for spending $8,500.00 on a restoration project Camaro that looks like it belongs at the re-cycler! and 30years ago I would have agreed with her!

+2 on that one! Eleven years ago, I bought a 'project' car and some friends said "You paid THAT for IT?". Well, eleven years later I have made big advancements, and now the same people are saying "WOW, you were so lucky!". Yep, its all relevant.