Mecum auction

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barbee6043

barbee6043

barbee 6043
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I was reading where Tim Welborn, high end collector sold a bunch of his rare cars at a Mecum auction. Just wondering what might be up with the upper crust Mopar world? Tim is relatively young guy, not an old buzzard like me. I would think his cars sold well. Seems like Mecum is the place to sell the really good Mopars, not BJ.
I have no rare stuff, but IF the high end stuff falls, that makes my low end stuff I play with cost less.
I know we have some members here that pay a lot of attention to the auctions,
 
He did sell off a few at Kissimmee IIRC, mostly to make room for some fresh blood I believe. Don't recall the cars or the hammer prices, but I expect they were top notch cars bringing strong $$$.
 
Tim is no young chicken. He had or has some health issues, maybe he took stock of where he is in life and made the decision to let some go before the prices start dropping. He ran his # 71 KK Daytona at Bonneville a while back, so maybe he is checking off some bucket list items.
BTY, he is a great guy, my wife and I stopped at the museum on a week day, they were closed, but they opened the doors and treated us like family!
Issac Bonneville.JPG
 
barbee6043 said:
I was reading where Tim Welborn, high end collector sold a bunch of his rare cars at a Mecum auction. Just wondering what might be up with the upper crust Mopar world? Tim is relatively young guy, not an old buzzard like me. I would think his cars sold well. Seems like Mecum is the place to sell the really good Mopars, not BJ.
I have no rare stuff, but IF the high end stuff falls, that makes my low end stuff I play with cost less.
I know we have some members here that pay a lot of attention to the auctions,
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Tim Welborn has been restructuring his collection for the last few years and getting some other brands of muscle cars to keep his Museum fresh and to bring in more visitors. He rotates cars in and out on almost a monthly basis so visitors don't see the same thing all the time.
And yes Mecum is the place to sell a high dollar Mopar. All of his cars sold at Mecum brought good money, I don't think there is a fall in value of the good and rare cars. Ofcourse there will be a decrease in value as all of us old farts that love these cars pass on. Most of the Classic Mopars I see at shows are owned by people 50 plus. We need to get the young folks involved to keep prices up. My 2 cents.
 
Unfortunately, it's all too true that the majority of the younger generation are not interested in the old tin that we covet. How many don't even have a driver's license before age 20?
I do think that values will see a "market adjustment" at some point, whether I will be around to see it or not, probably won't matter since I still won't be able to afford most of the classic muscle cars I would most like to own.

:mad:
 
I hope all is well with Mr. Welborn, and glad to hear he is just rotating some cars. It is good for others to have a chance to be the care giver of some of the high end cars. Me I just care for my "low end" cars and appreciate what I have.
I won't get into what was what back in '91-2 when the Mopar market hit bust.
I admit I have not made the trip back home to Ga. for what now, 16-17 years! Wow time flies!! I have never seen Tim's museum but sounds like a treat!
 
The hobby cycles with time. If you look at Model T's and A's, and most real old cars, they can be bought for a song. Why, because the people who grew up with those cars are gone. In 20-40 years, if the government allows us cars, you will be able to buy "our" generation of cars for cheap also, with a few exceptions of course. So there is the answer, wait 40 years and then buy a Hemi Cuda!
 
Hyper_pak said:
The hobby cycles with time. If you look at Model T's and A's, and most real old cars, they can be bought for a song. Why, because the people who grew up with those cars are gone. In 20-40 years, if the government allows us cars, you will be able to buy "our" generation of cars for cheap also, with a few exceptions of course. So there is the answer, wait 40 years and then buy a Hemi Cuda!
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Wait 40 years, damn I will turn 72 on Saturday!!!!!!! In 40 years I will be 112, Will I still have my license!!??? lol

Go figure!! Wait again!!! I had a '70 hemi Cuda roller I bought in '89 for $1500 and sold it in '91 to guy in Ca. for $10,500., still the same roller. Then in '92 I turned down a 71 hemi Cuda roller for asking price of $10,000 in La. one day. Go figure. ha
 
Mecum is about the cheapest entertainment you can get. $20 for a whole day of being around some of the coolest cars ever made.

I have never had a bidder pass, maybe someday when prices drop & my wife becomes senile enough.....
 
Mike69cuda said:
Mecum is about the cheapest entertainment you can get. $20 for a whole day of being around some of the coolest cars ever made.

I have never had a bidder pass, maybe someday when prices drop & my wife becomes senile enough.....
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The auctions at deals like the Nat. Cutting Horse Assn, futurity, and other big ones, will sell many hundreds of quarter horses over many days. Prices go from say $4000 to $300,000, but costs nothing to be there, NO one paying for a buyers number, NO premium charged to the seller or buyer!
 
i watch mecum and barrett-jackson on a regular basis. bj is "generally" getting more money for their cars but their prices have fallen substantially just like the results at the mecum auctions. the collector car/muscle car business has been an odd universe for the last 20 years. there were "quick flippers" who bought various cars, did a little "putty and paint" and then ran them through the auction making a quick $5-10k for their trouble. there were "serious car guys" who spent a lot of time working on their cars and then for whatever reason, took them to the auctions. these cars were usually very nice and brought good money. then there were the "financial investments" guys who were buying high quality muscle cars to just sit on expecting substantial appreciation, and then when the market was right, they would sell the cars. as i've been watching the auctions, it looks like all three of these groups are either leaving the hobby all together or being thinned out. you can't make "quick money" on flipping muscle cars now because the restoration costs are now above the market values. the guys who spent a lot of time and money on their cars are still selling but at significant losses of money. and the "art collector" types of car guys? these guys are SELLING now because the market is dropping and will continue to drop. you can count on your hands and toes the cars and models that are still bringing "big money". the other thing that is happening is that "resto-mod" classic muscle cars are the ones bringing big money. it seems more buyers now want a 69 Camaro with a new computer controlled LS GM crate motor rather than a solid lifter OEM 302. at both mecum and bj, the resto-mod old muscle cars are selling on average $20k higher than the same model with original equipment and drive line. the "true fans" of old Detroit muscle cars are now in their late 60's early 70's. health and family issues are now overcoming many of these folks' love for their old cars. VERY FEW males in their 40's or 50's know or care about muscle cars from 1964-1971. and of course, males under 30 don't care about ANY cars. finally, over the last 20 years, the "muscle car boom" did result in one very positive thing: a LOT of old cars were saved from the crusher and restored. a gear head now can pretty much find any old car they ever drooled over years ago when they were in high school and could never afford to buy it "back then." as the market continues to drop, there is going to be a large supply of very nice "restored" or "driver level" muscle cars being sold for under $30k. with a little saving, a decent credit score and a good job, anyone who wants an "old muscle car" is going to be able to buy one.
 
^^^ I know Jim is a very "in touch" guy and I agree, he is totally correct. Thanks for your insight.

I bet there will always be a few guys with a collection of the rare great cars, because they want to and can afford it. I bet these guys will continue to dwindle/die off or their stuff goes into a private museum. That's the circle of life. I figured 15 years ago or so, our 60'70's cars many would go the route of the GoodGuys type street rod bunch. So now they are called resto rods. This will grow due to the general age of those in this market. Guys that want FI, don't understand a carb, etc.
Personally I hope the price of driver type cars keeps getting more affordable, for that is the heart of our hobby. The heart and soul.
 
LOL! thank you barbee6043 for that vote of confidence... years ago (late 1980's) when i began practicing law, i toyed with the idea of buying various old "muscle cars" that i grew up with from 1965-1975. i knew the 1973 gas crisis had forever changed the American car industry and that the "muscle car era" would never be repeated. at that time, almost EVERYTHING was just "an old car" - even Shelby Mustangs and Cobra's and LS-6 Chevelle's. Hemi Cuda's could be found in "auto trader" magazines for $2-$3k dollars and pretty much any other model or drive train combination were lying around used car lots. every "old guy" has a story about buying a driveable split-window 63 corvette for $2500. those stories are true, i know, i bought three split window's in the mid-1970's each around that price. i couldn't buy a used Hundai today for what i sold all three split-window's for. but life has a way of taking people in all sorts of directions they never imagine and i never pursued my "old muscle car storage garage." some of the most hated and "worthless" cars in the mid-70's are "gold-plated" today. for ten years after the Plymouth Superbird's were introduced (1970-1980), dealers and owners couldn't GIVE those cars away! and the "Boss 429 Mustang?" THAT car was a complete flop and sales disaster when it was introduced. the motor was so complicated and difficult to keep running you couldn't drive the car at all on the street like a "regular" car. and it wasn't even a great street racer. any well-tuned mopar 440 6 pack or hemi or even a 375 hp 396 Camaro would blow "the Boss" into the weeds on any given Friday night. the only place that car shinned was on the drag strip, but us kids needed to drive our "race cars" to high school every day so if the Boss 429 was a real "bad ***" on the strip, that didn't mean much to us. there were all kinds of things in the late 50's, 60's and 70's that a person could have gotten rich with. a little hamburger joint called McDonald's or a bunch of gas-guzzling old Detroit muscle cars. as they say, "who knew?"
 
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