Mecum Auctions’ 2018 Los Angeles Collector Car Sale Totals $9 Million

The Mecum Auction house took its tent from Florida to California in February, conducting a second annual sale at the historic Fairplex in Pomona. With 600 cars on offer, this event was on a much smaller scale than the Kissimmee auction in January. While the Florida auction spanned 10 days and brought in some $96.6 million, the two-day Southern California event totaled $9 million in sales.

Mecum has built an unrivaled reputation for being the go-to house for American classics, especially classic American muscle. Yet looking at the California event’s Top 10 sales results, one couldn’t help but notice that classic American muscle was conspicuous by its almost complete absence. The top seller overall was a 2006 Ford GT that went to a new owner for $327,250, but the remainder of the list was dominated by European exotics—Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and so on.

In spite of several noteworthy offerings, the only classic American muscle car that cracked Mecum’s Top 10 was a Paxton-supercharged 1968 Shelby G.T. 350 that tied for ninth spot with a 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo at $99,000. Both the Shelby and Lamborghini were overshadowed by a 1959 Volkswagen 23-window Samba bus—a 36hp Volkswagen! VW buses are hot, we understand, but $137,500 for a van that probably can’t keep up with traffic on California’s nearby freeways?

It turns out the Shelby didn’t make its pre-auction reserve while crossing the block. The deal was closed late Saturday afternoon as the auction was coming to its conclusion, with Mecum’s “The Bid Goes On…” team working with the seller and buyer to get the deal done. No seller wants to return home with his or her car, so everyone leaves happy.

I covered the auction with my Hurst Equipped coauthor Mark Fletcher. One no-sale that caught our eye was the Demented Dart, one of the 80 LO23 Hemi Darts built by Hurst in 1968. The car, which was sold new in Canada, was presented with an extensively documented Canadian and U.S. competition history. Dale Reed freshened the engine, a 426 Hemi with a cross-ram intake and two Holley four-barrels, in 2011.

Bidding on the Dart stalled at $110,000. Fletcher, who has years of appraisal experience and expertise and follows these cars on an ongoing basis, said that he expected the Demented Dart to go for at least $150,000, if not more. And, in fact, this car was bid to $190,000 at the Mecum L.A. sale last year but was a no-sale then, too. Was this a case of there just not being enough interested buyers in the bidding section, on the phone, or Internet? Or with the stock market still at near record levels after the recent corrections, is it that money is flowing elsewhere, and this is a result of the overall collector car market pulling back after years of growth unmatched since the 1980s?

Mecum auctions always seem to attract a high percentage of GM cars, and Pomona was no exception, especially in the muscle car category. But two no-sales also drew our attention. The first was an extremely rare 1970 Pontiac GTO Ram Air IV car with a non-numbers-matching engine. We ran into GM muscle car collector Dave Lindsley, whose 1968 Chevelle 300 post car was featured in the Apr. 2015 issue MUSCLE CAR REVIEW (“Post Modern”). At Pomona the GTO was on his list. Lindsley commented that the GTO should be a nearly $100,000 car in today’s market—with its original engine. With the replacement engine, he took a pass when the bidding went over $50,000, ultimately stalling at $60,000.

Another significant GM no-sale was a 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30 post car (the green Olds in our story’s lead photo). Fletcher said it was exceptionally well-optioned and looked very correct. It stalled at $50,000 and still remains available. Another 1970 4-4-2, a high-option W-30 originally exported to Canada, did find a new owner at $64,900.

There were some bargains to be found, and in other cases, cars sold for more than their punching weight. One of the cars that we thought looked sharp was a 1971 Plymouth GTX 440 that sold for $22,000. Fletcher checked the VIN, and it was a factory-built 440 car. We both felt that this car, which sold early on Saturday, was an excellent driver-quality car that is sure to bring its new owner much enjoyment.

Both Fletcher and I are AMC enthusiasts (he owns a B-Scheme 1969 Hurst SC/Rambler), so we paid attention to several American Motors’ cars. One was a 1969 AMX that was restored in Playmate Pink, similar to the Playmate AMX (“Pretty in Pink”) we featured in Jan. 2016. This car generated some comments in online forums and on Facebook, with some thinking that Mark Melvin was selling the actual 1968 Playmate AMX. The lookalike sold for what Fletcher felt was a market-correct $28,600. Another 1969 AMX sold for $25,300, while a first-year 1968 AMX went unsold at $30,000. We both thought that a 1966 Rambler Classic V-8 convertible was well sold at $7,700, one of several cars that sold for under $10,000.

Speaking of Facebook, when I posted a photo on my Facebook timeline of what I thought was an interesting-looking 1964 Oldsmobile convertible with 4-4-2 badges, it generated comments from Oldsmobile experts over on columnist Diego Rosenberg’s Facebook timeline who said the car was not correctly presented by the seller. It was equipped with the Code B09 Police Apprehender-Pursuit Package, but the 4-4-2 badging would not appear to be correct. The car did hammer for $23,600, which made it well bought given you couldn’t build one for that price.

Besides the previously mentioned Shelby G.T. 350, Fords in Pomona were thin on the ground. What Fords there were, as you’d expect, were mostly Mustangs. One that moved on to a new owner was a 1970 Mach 1 that sold for $41,800. A notable no-sale among the Mustangs was a 1984 Ford Mustang SVO with a high bid of $4,000. None of the several 1980s-era Mustangs offered found new buyers.

While not traditional Ford muscle cars, we did take note of two Thunderbird “Squarebirds” that were offered. A 1962 Thunderbird Sports Roadster sold for $55,000, while a rare M-Code 390 Tri-Power hardtop failed to find a new home, stalling at $38,000. With three two-barrel Holly carbs combined with factory air conditioning, this was early 1960s American grand touring at its finest. Surprising that the seller couldn’t find a buyer.

One car that either of us would have been happy to drive home was a beautiful 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396 that sold for $63,250. The price was about market-correct for a very well-presented car. Had it been an SS454 it would have likely sold for more based on recent, 2017 sales, but its final selling price made it a good deal for both seller and buyer.

Mecum has built up its automobilia department under its Road Art division. Two notables were a Bob’s Big Boy reproduction statue that sold for $2,596, and a Pep Boys Manny, Moe, and Jack reproduction statue that sold for $1,298. Both would be welcome additions to any man cave. One of the top sales among the Road Art offerings was the actual neon sign that once hung over the Harley-Davidson visitor/employee entrance at the Milwaukee factory. Strong bidding resulted in a healthy $88,500 sale, almost as much as the Shelby brought.

Our overall takeaway was that we were really impressed by how well the auction was run. We couldn’t ignore that several top-end cars went wanting for buyers, indicating a market that is catching its breath. Having covered both Scottsdale and Pebble Beach, we can say that the Los Angeles auction was very user-friendly for spectators, an enjoyable way for car enthusiasts to spend two winter days in Southern California.

The next Mecum auction is in Kansas City on March 16-17, 2018, with 700 vehicles available. Mecum is currently running a contest with a first prize of $20,000 to buy a car, plus trip and accommodations. Details can be found at the Mecum website mecum.com, where you will also find updated results for all recent Mecum auctions.