Tag Archives: chevrolet

Mecum St. Paul Highlights

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We recap a lot of auctions where the top selling car is well into the millions of dollars and the least-expensive car sold is just barely less than $100,000. Well, there are auctions out there where affordable cars cross the block. Mecum’s 2012 auction held in St. Paul, Minnesota, had many such cars. There was even fun to be had for less than $10,000 – such as this 1947 Chevrolet Stylemaster that sold for $8,000.

Another well-bought car was this restored 1958 Buick Riviera that sold for only $11,000. At that price, you’re pretty much just paying for the chrome.

Or what about this 1955 Ford Victoria? It had a frame-off restoration in 2007 and was bought by its lucky new owner for $12,750.

The top sale was slightly more, at $85,000. It was a 1941 Willys Coupe – slightly modified to more of a Pro Street car than a hot rod. Either way, it looks pretty fierce. For complete results, check out Mecum’s wesbite.

Salmon Brothers Collection Highlights

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Mecum Auctions recently sold off the Salmon Brothers Collection in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The top sale was the second of three 1934 Cadillac Fleetwood V12 All-Weather Phaetons built. A big, stately, American convertible, it sold for an even $200,000.

Interesting sales included this rare (less than 1,500 built) 1954 Willys Aero Deluxe Coupe for $11,500.

Our feature cars, the 1951 Henry J and the 1993 Ford SVT Lightning, came in at the lower-end of things, selling for $16,000 and $8,500 respectively. This 1956 Chevrolet Del Ray Sedan was the only Del Ray in a sale that included many Bel Airs. The Del Ray was an upscale trim line on the 210. It sold for $36,500.

And finally, this rare 1948 International KB Woody Wagon is an interesting alternative to the plethora of Ford & Chrysler woodies that you see so often. It could’ve been yours for $57,500.

For complete results, click here.

1995 Indy Pace Car

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1995 Chevrolet Corvette Indy Pace Car

Offered by Mecum | St. Charles, Illinois | June 22-23, 2012

The Chevrolet Corvette has (of this writing, including the 2012 race) paced the Indianapolis 500 ten times, the first being in 1978. It was there for a second time in 1986 and 1995 marked the third time. This is one of 527 (actually it’s #46) of the special “Indy 500 Pace Car” optioned replicas sold for street use.

It was based on the C4, the fourth-generation Corvette, which was introduced for the 1984 model year, so it was 11 years old by this point – more than a little long in the tooth. The paint scheme is actually quite nice with Dark Purple Metallic over White. 1995 was in the midst of ZR-1 production but this car is not a ZR-1 – even though it sports ZR-1 wheels and brakes.

It has the LT1 under the hood, the 350 cubic inch (or 5.7-liter) V8 makes 300 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque. 1996 would be the final year for the C4, so this is one of the final special edition C4 Corvettes – and it’s a rare one. Get it, it won’t be too terribly expensive. For more information click here and to see the rest of Mecum’s Bloomington Gold Corvette Auction, click here.

Update: Sold $18,500.

Mecum Spring Classic 2012 Highlights

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Dana Mecum’s 25th Original Spring Classic Auction held May 15-20, 2012, sold a ton of cars. I mean, it has seriously taken me two days to go through the results and my mind has melted from staring at the computer screen. The top sale was this gorgeous 1968 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Convertible, one of 18, that sold for $600,000.

Muscle cars were the stars of the show. Numerous Hemi Mopars and big-block Chevys went across the block and brought big numbers. One of my favorite Hemi cars to sell was a 1966 Dodge Charger – my favorite Charger bodystyle. It sold for $190,000 – and it’s all original and unrestored.

Another wonderfully rare muscle car brought the second-highest price paid for a car at this sale. It’s a 1969 Yenko Nova and it’s one awesome looking car. It sold for an eye-popping $475,000.

Our featured car, the Baldwin Motion Manta Ray GT failed to sell. Interesting sales of note included this 1978 Jeep J10 Honcho 4×4 that looks great and would’ve only cost you $7,000.

Carroll Shelby’s recent passing put a spotlight on all Shelby-badged vehicles. One of the more obscure models with the Shelby name on it is this 1989 Dodge Shelby Dakota. It’s one of 1,500 built and sold for $9,500.

And finally, there was the 1964 Voisin Biscuter microcar – and it’s about as cheap as you can go on the Voisin scale. It sold for $13,000 – less than half of what it was priced at a month ago at Hyman Ltd.

There are countless – literally – other cars that sold at this sale. Check out the complete results at Mecum’s website.

Avelate Corvette

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2002 Chevrolet Corvette Avelate

Offered by Auctions America | Auburn, Indiana | June 1-3, 2012

I guess it’s been more than a month, but a while ago we featured an aftermarket Corvette re-body from AAT. Well, this is another aftermarket re-body, but this time it’s from a company called Avelate Automotive.

The styling is tasteful, I think, and not school-boy garish – as the words “aftermarket re-body” generally lead me to think. Some people might ask “why? What’s the purpose of modifying the styling?” That’s a fair question – especially if it’s done by some random individual. The Avelate was penned by two men: one an automotive designer and the other a customiser.

There are Corvette touches on the redesign – among them a split rear window, reminiscent of the 1963 Coupe. This is one of 11 with the split window. A convertible and speedster were also offered. Only 27 were built in total at a cost of about $100,000 each. It has an 5.7-liter V8 (LS1) under the hood and, mechanically, it’s identical to a 2002 Corvette.

Estimated to sell for between $60,000-$75,000, this shows that there is a market for these late model “coachbuilt Corvettes.” With time, I dare to predict, these will become more and more collectible. Think of the limited edition aftermarket muscle cars of the 1960s. They’re now worth a pretty penny. You might think that, because it’s a 10-year-old Corvette, it will never be worth anything. But back in the late 60s a Yenko was just another car you could abuse at the drag strip. You never know what the future holds.

For the complete catalog description, click here. And for more from Auctions America on their home turf in Auburn, Indiana, click here.

Update: Not sold.

Update II: Not sold at Auctions America’s 2012 Auburn Fall Sale.

Auctions America Spring Carlisle Highlights

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Auctions America’s Spring Carlisle auction featured quite a number of cars. Some of them sold. The International Travelall we featured here, did not. Here are some of the highlights of those that did sell.

Top sale was the 1957 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster pictured above. It brought $99,000 and is one of only 10 built in 1957 with this color combination. The next largest sale was a 1969 Buick GS 400 Convertible, bringing $78,650.

Other interesting sales included this 1968 AMC AMX which brought $18,590.

And finally, this special edition 2004 Chevrolet Corvette Le Mans Commemorative Edition built to, well, commemorate Corvette’s back-to-back class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It sold for $28,600.

For complete results, check out Auctions America’s website.

Mecum Kansas City Highlights

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Mecum Auctions’ Kansas City Auction (which ended on March 31) did not have any huge sales that broke any records. In fact, there were numerous sub-$10,000 cars that would have been a lot of fun to buy. As far as highlights go, we’ll start with the Divco Milk Truck we featured, which sold for almost exactly what I predicted at $52,000.

The top sale was a brand new 2012 Mercedes-Benz S600 sedan which sold for $133,000. Not exactly super-exciting.

The next three top-sellers were 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Convertibles. One sold for $77,500 (a 427/300). One sold for $120,000 (a 427/435). Our favorite, the 427/435 pictured below, brought an even $100,000.

Other highlights include a 1969 Plymouth GTX with the 375 horsepower 440 engine that sold for $52,000.


.As far as cheapies go, this 1955 Chevrolet Ambulance that included period medical response equipment from the 1970s sold for only $3,100.

And finally, two rare Mustangs: a 1984 SVO (top) and and 1978 King Cobra (bottom):

The SVO was from the first year of production and only about 4,508 were made between 1984 and 1986. It sold for $3,800. The King Cobra was one of only 4,313 built and has some very Trans Am-like hood decals. It sold for $7,100.

For complete results, check out Mecum’s website.

Baldwin Motion Manta Ray

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1973 Chevrolet Baldwin Motion Corvette Manta Ray GT

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 19, 2012

The Baldwin-Motion Performance Group came together in 1967 and was active in its original form until 1974. It was a partnership between Baldwin Chevrolet and Motion Performance – both located in Baldwin, Long Island in New York. They took standard Chevrolets of the day and turned them into monsters – drag strip terrors that would eat up competitors.

Well, the muscle car era began to fade rather abruptly in the early-70s and the partnership tried something different: this 1973 Manta Ray GT Corvette. It was one of three built and the only one known to exist. It has the 350 small block V8 putting out 425 horsepower. It was also given a makeover – the attractiveness of which depends on your taste. But it is certainly distinctive.

Baldwin-Motion cars are very desirable today. The name carries similar gravitas as “Yenko” or “Nickey.” And this one is far rarer than a Baldwin-Motion Camaro from the late 60s. Better buy it now.

There is no pre-sale estimate available for this car. For the complete catalog description, click here and for more on Mecum’s Spring Classic in Indianapolis, click here.

Update: not sold.

Auctions America Ft. Lauderdale Highlights

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Auctions America recently offered a boatload of cars at their Ft. Lauderdale, Florida auction (seriously, it felt like it took forever to sift through the results). The top sale was $341,000 for this 1933 Chrysler CL Phaeton. It is one of only 36 built.

The second biggest sale went to a muscle car: a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS LS6 Convertible. It’s one of the best looking muscle cars of the era and it’s equipped with the monster 454cid V8 underrated at 450 horsepower. It sold for $198,000.

And the third biggest sale was a more-or-less brand new (391 miles) 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Off the lot examples are supposed to cost about $190,000. This one sold for $178,200. Basically, they just bought a new car.

We featured a few really interesting cars from this sale including the 1959 Berkeley SE492 Twosome that ended up selling for $16,500. Another featured microcar was the 1957 David Convertible built in Spain. It sold for $25,300. And the final featured microcar was the  tongue-twisting 1952 Kleinschnittger F125 Convertible that brought $44,000. There were two other very rare microcars at this sale that I was supposed to feature on the site but for whatever reason didn’t. First was this 1959 PTV 250 Convertible that brought $20,900.

The other was this street-legal but spartan 1955 Kapi JIP Convertible for $8,500.

Other interesting lots included a 1952 Chevrolet Styleline done up in period-correct taxicab livery. It’s really sharp and sold for $36,300.

There were also some coachbuilt American cars from the 1970s and 1980s that included this 1979 Cadillac Le Cabriolet. It was 1 of 200 built by Hess & Eisenhardt for GM, as GM was still in their “no convertible” days. It looks good and could’ve been yours for $15,400.

The other was a 1985 Oldsmobile Toronado Caliente Convertible converted by the American Sunroof Corporation (ASC), who appear to have built more aftermarket convertibles than most automotive companies did in the 1980s. It sold for $10,175.

While we’re on the subject of Oldsmobiles, allow me to point out this 1984 Hurst/Olds. It isn’t exactly exotic, but I really like it and for $7,040, it’s quite affordable – which is the big draw to auctions like these where you can find yourself a real steal.

The other apparent steal that I would’ve liked to have snatched up was this 2000 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. They were only made from 1998 until 2002 and they cost over $220,000 when new. And now you could’ve bought one for $35,200! That’s 3-Series money! Maintenance nightmare waiting around the corner? Maybe. But it’s a small price to pay for rolling around town feeling like Jay-Z.

The 1999 Shelby Durango we featured sold for $13,750 – which is about as cheap as you’re going to find something with Carroll Shelby’s name on it. The 1912 Clement-Bayard Torpedo we featured was apparently withdrawn from the sale, as it is not listed as either sold or unsold in the auction results. For complete results, check out Auctions America’s website.

Commemorative Edition Corvette by AAT

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2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition by AAT

Offered by Barrett-Jackson | Palm Beach, Florida | April 7, 2012

Advanced Automotive Technologies (AAT) designed this aftermarket Corvette and have built 178 of them (thus far) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Corvette. They’ve incorporated styling from the 1953 car as well as the C5. It really isn’t a bad looking car, I don’t think, and they’ve been popping up at auctions more and more.

The AAT Commemorative Edition could be applied to any C5 Corvette convertible or even a hardtop (but not the hatchback). The car here started life as a 2003 Z06 Corvette, which is a pretty stout car to hack up. However, by doing so, two owners (only two Z06s were converted by AAT) have a Corvette with original looks and serious performance. Plus, GM never built a Z06 convertible, so they’ve got that going for them.

This car has less than 4,000 miles. In an auction recap a few months back, I mentioned how this model is becoming more and more collectible. And they kind of are, bringing more than twice what you would get for a standard Corvette of similar vintage. At least five of these AAT Commemorative Editions have sold at auction in recent years. The average price is $65,670, with the high end of that being $88,000. We’ll see what this one brings, but time will really be the judge as to whether these cars can maintain their value. It will be something to watch as coachbuilt cars are not all that common nowadays.

To read the complete catalog description, click here. For the rest of Barrett-Jackson in Palm Beach, click here.

Update: Sold, $90,200.