Kissimmee is a hard name to spell but it will be seen in plenty of places this week as news spreads of a massive collector vehicle sale just concluded in the tranquil Florida town.
US-based Mecum Auctions was responsible for staging the event, at which it aimed to sell 4500 collectible vehicles via a series of televised auctions running over nine days in mid-January.
Headlining the event was an incredibly rare Ferrari 250 GTO with competition history and predictions that it might make US$50 million. In addition, there were dozens of other lots with the potential to reach seven figure prices and a few that the organisers predicted would generate multiple millions.
By the time Mecum’s gavel had fallen for the final time on Monday January 19 (Australian time), a new record for collector vehicle sales had been set, the total standing at US$441 million.
In addition to this milestone, Saturday January 17 delivered the biggest one-day total ever achieved at a US vehicle auction, with US$259 million worth of vehicles sold.
Mecum said their event also set a record for public attendance as more than 140,000 people turned up to inspect cars or watch sales in progress.
Possibly for the first time ever at a US auction, nine of the Top 10 cars sold were Ferraris, with the Italian brand’s chance at a clean sweep stifled by a one-of-three Ford GT40 MkII factory lightweight.
While the Ford did come in third with a winning bid of US$12,375,000 it was utterly overshadowed by the only white Ferrari 250 GTO in existence with its US$38.5 million hammer price. The GT40 was also swamped by one of two Ferrari Enzos included in the sale; a car showing 649 miles (1045km) that sold for US$17,875,000.
Multi-million-dollar Fords and Ferraris weren’t the only enticing cars available at Kissimmee, with the listings also including plenty of low-build US models.
Fighting for the title of Most Expensive American were two ultra-rare open-top cars; a narrow-bodied version of the Carroll Shelby Cobra 427 and a Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda convertible; one of only five with automatic transmission built in 1971. The contest ended in a draw with both cars knocked down at the same US$3.3 million.
Lovers of mid-1960s Corvettes would have been out in force to see several scarce examples from the C2 series find new owners and set some records of their own.
Best of the ‘Vettes was one of only 20 of the rare L88s built in 1967. These street-legal race cars packed a 427-cubic inch (7.0-litre) V8 that pumped out a monster 410kW, its rarity tempting bidders to $2.7 million which wasn’t enough to get it sold. Less common as one of only 16 but also less expensive was an L89 coupe that did sell at US$1.15 million.
Scroll further into Kissimmee’s ‘Sold’ lists and models familiar to Australians begin appearing; many at prices that aren’t too daunting at all.
US$73,000 (A$108,000) seemed a popular price point at the Mecum sale and would have bought a variety of interesting cars. On the Ford side they included a Torino 429 Cobra and a 1971 Mustang Mach 1 also with the big-block 429 engine.
Fans of General Motors products who had $73K to outlay could have driven away from the sale in a one of two 1967 Corvettes, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible or a 1968 Pontiac GTO Judge.
Mopars sold at similar money included two 440-engined Dodge Chargers, one of them an R/T, and a Plymouth Super Bee that was also powered by a 7.2-litre motor.
For those keen to head home from Kissimmee without messing too badly with the bank balance, listings from several days included literally hundreds of decent looking cars being sold at less than US$10,000.
They included various Jeep CJs, Pontiac Trans Ams from the 1980s and a pair of rare Chevrolet Corvairs – a Monza coupe from 1963 and 1965 Corsa convertible.
Back home and with our market barely out of holiday mode, exciting cars were scare and sales slow to materialise, with top prices scarcely exceeding A$200,000.
A couple did leap the barrier, including a VL HDT Group A Commodore showing fewer than 6000 kilometres from new. It had previously been sold in 2018 at a major sale of Holdens where it made A$155,000, so the A$221,000 realised just recently was a good result for the car’s owner.
On the same night, another HDT VL with the rare Brock Plus Pack and Polariser was sold as well, but having travelled 60,000km it barely scraped past A$205,000.
Please note: All figures quoted are Hammer Prices, noted here in either US or Australian dollars, and do not include any applicable Buyer Premium.
