Just weeks after locally grown muscle cars demonstrated their resurgence, representatives of another genre have taken their shot at ringing some bells at local automotive auctions.
Call them street rods, restomods, or simply show-stoppers, these radical, expensively-altered cars and commercial vehicles have been finding their way towards the top spots on auction sites’ Sold listings for some time and have become hard to ignore.
Back in August, during a sale conducted in Queensland by Seven82Motors, more than $500,000 was paid for a heavily-modified Chevy pick-up. Closing out the September selling programme, we again saw the Nerang-based outfit in the spotlight with three less radical but still outstanding renditions of the modified pickup.
Each one was the work of a different restoration shop, with the top price of $260,000 realised by a 1966 Ford F100. It was closely followed at $230,000 by a Chevrolet Cameo (you read that right non-pickup aficionados; not to be confused with the Chevy Camaro, the Cameo was an upscale, special-edition pickup truck produced by Chevrolet in the mid-1950s) while the late-1940s Chev 3100 pickup made $175,000.
Another unusual design that scored minimal pre-sale promotion but was a big winner with bidders was Seven82Motors’ tastefully modified 1973 Ford Bronco, which drew on the interest generated by similar vehicles in the US market to reach $161,000.
Other more recent load-carriers that have generated strong money include a 2017 HSV GTS-R Maloo which Lloyds Auctions in Queensland sold for $161,200, and a low-kilometre GTS-R Maloo sold by Burns & Co at $150,000.
In the wake of the altered pickups came modified Monaros. Seven82Motors’ sale included several eye-catching Holden two-doors, ranging from a $180,000 HQ coupe and a $175,000 HT coupe, to a milder but bargain-priced HQ LS V8 that was the first car sold on the day at $97,500.
A week later, Burns & Co countered with a supercharged HG Monaro that was referred at $215,000 and later sold.
No such problems for the star of Burns’ October event where a very popular lot was a documented 15,000-mile HQ Monaro GTS 308 V8 manual, which had travelled on average 450 miles (725km) annually since new. It had bidders appearing from all over the country before eventually selling to one who had been there all the way at $211,500.
Having stoked demand for VL ‘Walkinshaw’ Group A muscle cars a few weeks earlier with its $345,000 record-setter, Burns & Co would have been hoping for good things from the 91,000km example included in their sale. However, the best bid of $180,000 wasn’t nearly enough to buy it, with the same amount also declined by Seven82Motors on a similar VL in their sale.
Ford products were thin on the ground, but one did manage to easily top the Sold listings with a successful bid of $395,000. That price went to a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500, perfect in every respect and looking like it had just been driven out of the Winners Circle at a Shelby American show. After frantic bidding, the GT500 almost doubled the $201,000 paid in September for a KR500 and eclipsed even the $252,000 achieved at Seven82Motors’ September sale for an exceptional ‘Eleanor’ tribute Mustang GT390.
Lloyds offering of Fords included a well-presented GT-HO Phase II that reached $287,500 and very likely sold. Burns & Co fielded an excellent XY GT replica that just topped $100,000 plus an unremarkable XA GT that made $102,500.
Among the other brands, there was little to generate much excitement amongst bidders or generate or interest for observers. However, Lloyds managed $157,000 for a Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R, but that was well down on the money these cars were bringing a year ago, while Burns & Co topped $30,000 for one of the mere 20 examples of the Mitsubishi 380 TMR (‘Team Mitsubishi Ralliart’), complete with its Sprintex S3/335 supercharger and 6.5psi of boost.
Pickings over at the online platforms – Collecting Cars and Trading Garage – have also been lean, with the highest recent sale prices including $144,000 paid for another Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R, and $140,000 at Trading Garage for a Walkinshaw-fettled final series HSV GTS-R 557.
Collecting Cars did raise $59,000 for a very neat 1981 Series 1 Range Rover and $86,000 which was bargain buying for an Audi R8 V10.
In this somewhat subdued market, it seems that not even collector plates could save the day, with just one in Donington’s early October sale reaching its reserve price and the evocative Victorian historic plate ‘48-215’ failing to even get a start at $50,000.
Perhaps Donington’s Timed Sale of collector and vintage racing cars which runs from October 10-19 will spark interest in lots that don’t have Holden or Ford stamped on their build plates.
The Donington sale does include a VL HDT Commodore, but also lists several of Australia’s best known historic racing cars including an Elfin Streamliner, Ausca MG, and Buchanan-Holden. Also included is the famous 1908 M.A.B Aero Engine Special – a unique Edwardian racing car, powered by a Liberty V12 aero engine – at a guiding range of $320-360,000.
Please note: All figures quoted are Hammer Prices in Australian Dollars (unless otherwise noted) and do not include any applicable Buyer Premium.
