By Jeff Glucker
The Annual Mecum Spring Classic vehicle auction recently wrapped up and total gross sales exceeded 41 million dollars. The auction lasted 5 days and the Mecum team is reporting a final sell-through rate of 66%.
The Corvette pictured above was owned by Harley J. Earl and crossed the block after someone decided $925,000 was the right price for them. It is definitely a piece of American automotive history, but that is a lot of coin for one car.
Hop the jump for two more vehicle photos and a full list of the top 10 sales.
Mecum’s Original Spring Classic Top 10 Sales (all sales reflect hammer prices) were:
1. 1963 Harley J. Earl Corvette (Lot S116) at $925,000
2. 1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger Convertible 426/425 HP (Lot F225) at $750,000
3. 1966 Shelby Cobra Roadster 427 CI, 4-Speed (Lot F220) at $625,000
4. 1963 Pontiac Tempest Coupe 421 Super Duty (Lot S114.1) at $455,000
5. 1963 Pontiac Tempest Station Wagon 421 Super Duty (Lot S114) at $450,000
6. 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 CSX2291 (Lot S161) at $360,000
7. 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe Bergen & Johnson (Lot S140) at $305,000
8. 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible (Lot S247) at $280,000
9. 1964 Ford Thunderbolt (Lot S137) at $260,000
10. 1965 Pontiac GTO GeeTO Tiger (Lot S115) at $250,000
Over the course of the five day event, over 30,000 folks got to eyeball some excellent iron. Head over to the Mecum site for more information on this auction, as well as the upcoming lots scheduled to cross the block soon.
My head is still swimming at the thought of a $450,000 station wagon… E63 wagon owners eat your heart out.
Oh dear God, that is a badass Tempest wagon! And a T-BOLT?!? Damnit, I just pissed myself.
The only Corvette worth nearly a million would be a pristine 1973 four-rotor (or maybe the Aerovette based on it).
I live in Indianapolis, where the auction was held, so I bebopped on over there Saturday. I took a ton of pics of cars that interested me, and I'm slowly uploading them to my Flickr space. This (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/4634198650/in/set-72157618592359056/) is the first photo; the set has photos from the 2009 auction before that.
Your link didn't like the parentheses. Here it is without them:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/4634198650/…
Oh, and let me say, the event is absolutely overwhelming. It's held at the state fairgrounds, and they fill like five buildings with cars. You stop seeing the Camaros and Mustangs after a short time because there are just so many of them. I got through four of the buildings, plus an overflow lot outside, and was spent, utterly fried.
That wasn't just any run-of-the-mill Corvette, that one was built for Harley. There are pictures of it in Karl Ludvigsen's book from the '70s on the Corvette (which I have).
Who would have ever thought that a '64 Tempest wagon would be worth nearly a half million dollars? My brain hurts.
The original gran sports have got to be well up there as well I would think.
No, there's more! You see? When the left tire mark goes up on the curb and the right tire mark stays flat and even? Well, the '64 Skylark had a solid rear axle, so when the left tire would go up on the curb, the right tire would tilt out and ride along its edge. But that didn't happen here. The tire mark stayed flat and even. This car had an independent rear suspension. Now, in the '60's, there were only two other cars made in America that had positraction, and independent rear suspension, and enough power to make these marks. One was the Corvette, which could never be confused with the Buick Skylark. The other had the same body length, height, width, weight, wheel base, and wheel track as the '64 Skylark, and that was the 1963 Pontiac Tempest.
Wow, a My Cousin Vinnie reference! Nicely played. Now, about those yoots.
What can I say? Watching Marissa Tomei drawl through "Noin-teen Sixty Tree Pawneeak Tempist" made an indelible impression on my then-12-year-old cerebellum: She was hot, and knew about cars! Whenever I see/hear/read/think about Tempests, I go right to that monologue.
Da two youts…
What is a yout?
Are you suuuuuuurrrre?
Recession=Over
On a side note, my dad set his Corvette on fire the other day. The new carburetor is not working out so well.
I was watching this auction on cable over the weekend and saw that Vette get auctioned.
My favorite vehicle was a 56? White brand Semi with trailer fully restored. It went for over $100k.
Steal of the weekend was a Mustang GT500KR that went for $66k. An hour later a 65 GT350 went for over $100k.
I must say after reading this site since it's inception, I was pretty bored with most of the vehicles crossing the lot. Muscle cars are great but I am now enjoying the unique/quirky vehicles much more. Thank you Hooniverse for broadening my horizons!
Ha… When I attended the auction in Florida, I was SHOCKED that a super-low mileage SVT Focus went for about $7,000…
Everyone in attendance pretty much ignored it. If I had any money I would have scooped it up.
This is truly so cool 😀 Thanks for putting this out there 😀