Amazing Chevy auction

[Pilgrim]

Let's face it, the market in collector and restored autos is purely emotional.  There is no rational reason to pay a buttload of money for a car that doesn't drive as well, handle as well or have the safety equipment of today's cars, and that cost perhaps $2000-$3000 brand new.

It's another manifestation of boomers with lots of money spending it on toys form their choldhood.  The same was true of "brass era" cars (cars of the 20's and 30's) until recently, but most of them are losing value as the people of that era age and pass on.

In such a market, having an original ONE MILE car might be worth another $10,000 or more, just by itself.

[Dave W]

The auction is today and Sunday. Not a lot of info yet on what sold for how much, but Autoweek's Facebook page has some. They had a live stream which I missed. The '58 Chevy Cameo pickup with 1.3 miles sold for $140K!    The '59 Chevy Viking pickup with 7 miles was bid up to $29.5K but didn't sell.

[Barklessdog]

A car can only be original once. That drives collector value these days. The pick up truck market has really been booming, at least in Meachum Auctions.

Personally I love resto mods which are bringing big bucks at auctions, usually around $100,000 depending on the car built.

Of coarse a lot of money went into these cars. I was surprised to see hoe much early Porsche 911s are going for these days.

[Pilgrim]

I follow a number of auto enthusiast magazines and I am confident that a '64 with original paint, drivetrain and refurb'd interior and soft parts would easily bring $30K, more likely over $40K.  These cars are valuable partly because of how they came on the market.  The provenance is part of the value, and so is the incredibly low mileage.  Any vehicle that has been in any service at all is worth much less.

I'm going to check the auction results and see whether I was optimistic or woefully pessimistic.  With that Cameo pickup selling for $140K I'm thinking that I may have grossly underestimated the resale of a '64.

[Dave W]

Scroll about halfway down this page for the live stream now going on http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130929/CARNEWS01/130929807

[Pilgrim]

OK, now I get to crow.

The '64 Chevy I argued about earlier sold for $75,000.

And I got flack for saying it could bring more than $30,000.  Harrummph.

And a red '63 Impala that sold after it hit $97,000.

That's two points for me!

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130929/CARNEWS01/130929806

Why? Because there ARE NOT any 1963 or 64 Chevy two-doors with 11 miles on them.  These cars should not exist...and when they are found, people with lots of money spend it.

[Hörnisse]

I would have bought a new Corvette instead for that kind of $$.  I see that 1 bidder has purchased the majority of the cars so far. (70% or so)  I guess they will all be going overseas.

[Highlander]

Why over the water (and to where?) when there must be some serious collectors in the "home" country...?

[Pilgrim]

Why over the water (and to where?) when there must be some serious collectors in the "home" country...?

Yes, why overseas?

That does seem odd.  You'd think that the collectors would be primarily in the US.

...OTOH, I know there are nouveau rich people in China that have a thing for US cars.  But I've never heard that they are interested in restoring them.

[Dave W]

The '64 Chevy I argued about earlier sold for $75,000.

And I got flack for saying it could bring more than $30,000.  Harrummph.

[Denis]

The 1.3 mile Cameo pickup went for $140,000.

Personally, being involved in antique motorcycles, I wasn't surprised by any of these prices. As said earlier, you only get original once and no matter how well you restore a car, it will never have 1.3 miles on it from the day it was new.

[gearHed289]

Seems Barrett-Jackson is mostly rich guys with big collections trading cars and driving prices up. "Sure, I'll buy that HEMI Cuda convertible for $XXX,XXX. I'll just sell the '63 Vette for $XXX,XXX."  I need to find the right barn!

[Dave W]

Final tally = $2.8 million. The second day sales were more modest.

[lowend1]

Did you guys see the interview with the old gent who bought back the '57 Chevy he traded in eons ago?

[Pilgrim]

Did you guys see the interview with the old gent who bought back the '57 Chevy he traded in eons ago?

I gotta look that up!

Been traveling this weekend, currently in ski town Breckenridge, CO where they've had 4" of snow.  I'll share some fall color shots later...but bandwidth is a bit limited.