Dana Mecum’s spectacular annual Spring Indy Auction is now history and though the auction set pricing records with two Mustangs that sold for over a million dollars each, it was more of a “mixed bag” when it came to Corvettes.
It was really no surprise to see the 200 quality Corvettes Mecum uncovered and offered for sale just prior to his Bloomington Gold Events which is totally Corvette focused. And it was the quality level of Corvettes which accounted for the good and bad news.
When the final car crossed the block in Kissimmee, Florida at Mecum’s 2013 event and the totals were in, the stage was set to determine the winner of the “Superbowl” of auctions. Over the last several weeks it was hard to avoid all of the auction coverage that took place in Scottsdale, Arizona, headlined with the extravaganza staged by Barrett-Jackson, and the east coast contender, Mecum. To many readers it may have seemed a bit confusing as to just what was the “premier” auction event in January, Barrett-Jackson or Mecum. I’m not sure that we can designate which auction was “best” since that is a subjective evaluation and dependent on individual tastes. But for those of you who have a penchant for numbers, we can provide you with a numbers comparison to help you decide the destination of your 2014 plane ticket.
As the holidays draw to a cold and snowy close, being an avid Corvette lover, your thoughts wander to the Daytona Sunset Orange Metallic coupe safely tucked away under the custom car cover in your garage and wander briefly what color the new C7 will be when it is unveiled on January 13th in Detroit. Like many Corvette “car guys” you’ve thought about several details of what the new generation of cars would look like and how they would perform compared to your C6. More than once you cursed yourself for being too late to purchase one of the hundred and fifty $995 tickets the National Corvette Museum sold to be one of the privileged few at the formal introduction of Chevrolet’s halo car to the media.
All eyes of the collector car world are focused on California this week as Monterey Week 2012 gets underway. Each year thousands of collector car enthusiast head west to participate in the weeks’ activities which culminate at the esteemed Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Included in the car shows, race car reunions, and road rallies are 5 high-end collector car auctions. Mecum, RM, Russo and Steele, Gooding and Company, and Bonhams all are holding events this week. Our handy guide to those Monterey auctions awaits you after the jump.
Paul Newman’s last competitive car – a 2002 Corvette racer adorned with patriotic red, white and blue paint – made it past the low end of the pre-auction estimates at a Florida sale over the weekend – but not by much.
The famous actor’s car brought $275,000 at RM Auctions’ sale in Amelia Island on Saturday, March 10, just above the bottom of the range of $250,000 to $350,000 that had been estimated by experts in the weeks before the sale.
Our final preview at the January collector car auctions will focus on the activities at Gooding and Company’s and RM Auctions’ camps. You already know about 1953 VIN #5 crossing the block at RM, but they’ve also got an early Pilot 1954 in addition to an original Monaco Orange 1969 L88 Coupe up for grabs at Gooding and Company.
RM and Gooding only have a total of 9 Corvettes combined on their dockets, but what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality.
One of the earliest known examples of the 1953 Corvette will be featured at the RM Auction in Phoenix, Arizona next month. Chassis #005 was the fifth Corvette ever built and one of the first three Corvettes to be sold to the public. RM is expecting the Corvette to fetch between $450,000 and $600,000 at the Arizona sale on Friday, January 20th.
Article and photos contributed by Steve Burns
The atmosphere at this year’s Bloomington auction was interesting. The tent was generally full of bidders and spectators all weekend. Surprisingly, though, bids were hard to come by at times. This can be seen in the numerous cars that sold for less than $10,000. On the flip side of this were the high-end cars. The 1971 ZR2 opened and bidding promptly stalled at $400k. A few moments later the bid was raised to $410k, the reserve was lifted, and the ZR2 was off to its new home.
Article Contributed by Steve Burns
A couple weeks back we previewed the Corvettes being offered at RM’s Arizona sale later this month: Part 1 and Part 2. We thought we’d build on that preview and include all of the Corvettes crossing the auction block this month. RM’s event is just one of 8 significant collector car auctions taking place in the annual January sales frenzy. Over 300 Corvettes will cross the block in search of new homes.
Article Contributed by Steve Burns
Today we continue our preview of the Bob McDorman Collection Auction with 4 very unique 1963 Corvettes.
Ask anyone what cars they would have in their fantasy garage and you’re sure to hear “1963 Corvette” somewhere in their response. The 1963 model year saw GM unleash the all new 2nd generation Corvette. The C2 went on to become one the most recognizable and desirable body styles in automotive history.
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