Re: Mecum car prices
I thought Dana did a great job with the spring auction. The new facility is much nicer than the old swamp in Belvidere, Illinois. There were many nice cars for sale.
Once again this auction dictated just how important a solid history with paperwork has become for these cars now. It has greatly effected the Olds and Chevy cars without bulletproof histories and no documentation to prove authenticity. This was strongly demonstrated with the black Christenholz collection LS-6 ragtop with a truly solid past and known history selling for 500K… while a comparable blue LS-6 ragtop with no docs or reputation went for around 80K. If you can prove the legitimacy of an LS-6 ragtop or W-30 ragtop … the sky is the limit but if you cannot the cars will just SING clone to most savvy buyers today. Most of the finest Olds and Buick’s have always sold privately for the huge money anyway and not through the auction houses and that will probably continue in the future.
I have seen a recent increase for the 1969 Hurst Oldsmobile cars probably due to the fact that many of the VIN’s are known.
Overall though, I believe the market has remained strong on high quality cars but slipped on the fringe cars with no histories. I like the new location and thought it was a good time especially with the Indy time trials right next door. RM
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