A friend of mine from Sweden recently decided to take off and go to the recent auctions in Scottsdale. She had an absolutely fantastic time, and took many photos. You see, these days, to get the full effect, you actually need to attend these soirees, because on TV, all you see are 1969 Camaros, 1969 Camaros, Mustangs, hot rods, 1969 Camaros, Corvettes, 1969 Camaros and more hot rods. And 1969 Camaros. In between ten minute commercial breaks, that is.
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
If one only watched the increasingly deteriorating coverage of Barrett-Jackson and their brethren auctions, one could conclude that 98% of the content are resto-modded, Resale Red claptrap.
1959 Thunderbird
But thanks to Kim, I can confirm that is not the case. She was kind enough to give me permission to use some of her pictures, and I thought it would make for a nice little virtual tour, for those who don’t have the time to go themselves, or who, like me, hate flying.
1984 Ferrari 512BBI
So, this will be short on words and long on pictures. In fact, enough pictures that there will likely be a Part II in the next few weeks. One final note. Since auction results rarely if ever have any basis in reality (uber-wealthy attendees and free booze contribute mightily), I haven’t bothered looking up what these classic machines went for. Just enjoy them as they are. And don’t forget to tip your bartender!
1939 Cadillac convertible
1934 Auburn
1962 Ferrari 250 GTE
1956 Continental Mark II
1987 Porsche 930
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham
Ford Model AA
1964-65 Porsche 356C
’50s Porsche 356A Speedster
1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K. Apparently this car had been sitting in a garage for forty years.
1935 Cadillac V16 Imperial convertible sedan
1935 Cadillac V12
1933 Cadillac V16
1925 Hispano-Suiza H6B
1935 Packard Twelve
1939 Cadillac V16
Great pictures Tom, but I was disappointed that there were no 69 Camaros or 67 Mustangs.
The 930, I think it was officially the 911 Turbo by then really showed the future with those tacky fender flares to encase the oversized tires. The base 911 of the day looked much better. The “turbo look” also attracted the wrong crowd, much like the bird sticker on the hood of Trans Ams. Oversized wheels require so much accommodating today at the expense of style. One of the many areas of modern car design where we would benefit from going back to the old way. The past can keep their bird stickers
Agree on the Big Bird (my white ‘70 Trans Am had a discrete, foot-wide rendition on the bumper, fronting the longitudinal blue stripe) but the 930 / 911 Turbo needed the fat fenders and whale tail for reasons of mayhem avoidance. The look did, however, attract the Miami Vice crowd and spawned legions of non-turbo clones.
I think the 911 turbo still had its fair share of mayhem with a 40 percent power bump on an already fast car that hadn’t cured its oversteer. The turbo look culminated remember with the combination with the factory slant nose conversion. Not sure if that offered any aero improvement but it sure made the front look like a first gen RX7. At least when they were doing that desperation stuff with the old car the 964 was in the works. Imagine the last 911s being those clown cars.
I looked in my refence book, it said the hood decal was an option beginning in 73 for $53 which is both far too much and not nearly enough. If your going to sell out…
when the wonderful John weitz addressed the auto week group at one of the first tours organized for the Detroit car show he said he quit designing cars after he saw the people who drove firebirds. full disclosure: I had a ’74 455 h.o. with no decal, no console, and an automatic on the tree
The coverage was hard to watch, perhaps Steve Magnanate needs to take a break from doing this, it seems he has run out of things to say, I almost wanted to turn it into a drinking game, anytime Steve Magnante brings up anything Mopar related even if the car on the block is not a Mopar, take a drink, the problem is you would be blind drunk 30 minutes into the show.
I found myself yelling “Just shut the fuck up already Steve” at the TV during the few times I watched coverage over the week…….
Ha!
Also, Toly’s reference to a column automatic Trans Am had me scurrying to the Google machine. Sure, my brand-new ’69 Dodge Dart GTS 340 had a floor-shifted TorqueFlite while my later ’69 Swinger 340 had a column shifter, but a Trans Am? Well I’ll be doggone, they DID made some that way!
Sensory overload .
? Were there any normal oldies from the 1930’s & 1940’s ? .
There’s a reason Camaros are called “belly buttons” in the Auto Trade .
-Nate
Model A’s for a long time were sort of like the 57 Chevies of the collector car era from the 50’s and 60’s.
Great piece – and yes, the pictures speak for themselves.
As far as Barret Jackson – I completely agree. I used to find it fascinating, but I stopped watching years ago, when the bulk of the coverage moved to resto-modded boomer dream cars.