SAAC Forum

As somebody who was also at the sale to inspect the cars in detail I will second Pete's statement that "all is not as it appears on the TV."

QSS I think that price for the silver jade 69 was about right for what the car is. Automatic, older "restoration" on a Canadian car, and looked like the engine (and a lot of what is bolted to it!) was rattle-can painted in early Pontiac blue engine paint. Pretty, yes, but far from a six-figure car.

It's a shame the Timken KR has been "field dressed" down to being just another restored car. When I bought the car from Mark Timken it was phenomenal. Restored by Tiemann with Mark calling the shots. Not only all NOS or original parts but Mark also had a box of all of the boxes, labels, etc from the NOS parts! When I owned it the car remained a "pusher" as I didn't have the heart to put fluids in it or blow smoke through that NOS exhaust. The NOS tires and hubcaps were particularly awesome. I saw the car at an MCA show when Les had it and it had been turned into a runner. The trunk mat and a few things "fell off" in the transition to Les from the dealer I sold it to as I recall. Sad to see it as it was just sold at B-J with basically all of the cool stuff gone. And what's with the front ride height? The quality of the body and paint etc I'm sure is still top notch but now it's just an automatic KR with a bunch of repro parts it seems. I sold it because as much as I respected Mark's masterpiece my back didn't enjoy pushing it around my building so much lol.

Oh man. Even Stevie Wonder wouldn't know where to start. But hey, at least they got them there LeMans stripes and tires spot on, huh? Not many people get them right on a concous(e) KR like this fella did.

Apparently there has been some bad information circulated re. Steven Juliano's Cobra CSX2416. It DID sell at the auction, on the block, and there have been no changes to that since. This isn't secondhand info, I was there for the last six days assisting Steven's family with the sale of his collection. Hope this helps clear things up.

Sincerely,
Colin

5S010 in back I'd guess Pete?

Hi, All,

Man some anti-Mecum stuff on this thread! I don't have a dog in the hunt but I have consigned and bought a lot of cars with Mecum and they have been great to work with. Never "goaded" into no-reserve by any stretch. Yeah, on the block they will try to get you to DROP your reserve but that's their job- to get cars sold. From what I've seen most consignors are unrealistic and Mecum plays the role of saying "hey, your car isn't worth $100k but we have a bid of $60k so if you want to take the money now is the time." Tough job I assume. FWIW they are also the only auction company that I've dealt with that will negotiate big time on their fees to get a deal done. I've had them sell cars for me and NET me more than the hammer price to get deals done meaning not only did they not take a selling commission but they've also dipped into the buyer's commission. Even when they don't do that you see it on the TV broadcast all the time where they'll work a deal to death cutting their take to make it happen. It's entertaining and also shows they know the basic business 101 principle that making something is better than nothing.

Now, auctions like Barrett-Jackson simply don't allow reserves unless you have a special car that exceeds a certain value that they determine. Same with RM, Gooding, Bonhams- the general rule is under $250k you are no reserve or you're not selling a car there. Plus you'll be paying full commission too even if you get your a$$ handed to you! Stand around those sales enough and you'll hear some real horror stories.

As for GT109 I saw this car being restored for Dana Mecum at Harley Cluxton's shop in Scottsdale. I was impressed that Mecum told them he wanted it as accurate as possible- and the number of NOS/ original hen's teeth parts they hunted down to do that. Like original plug wires, tires, etc. I think it's unfair to say somebody "never keeps anything" when they rescued a decades-stalled project, paid what it took to buy it and restored it right, had it on the podium at Pebble Beach and other concours events (it was best in show at the Milwaukee Concours for one) and then sells it after 5 years. It isn't like one of these 2 week flippers we see all over today that call themselves "collectors." I can't speak for Mecum but I know for me the thrill is the hunt then getting a car and making it what I think it should be. Once you win the shows, or the races, or have your fun with it then what? Let's face facts Mecum won't be driving this car on the road, nor will it be raced, and it has won at Pebble, etc so now it is a static piece. A pricey one at that. I can't fault him for changing things up, and not that I'll ever know but seems like a guy can only have so many $11M+ cars laying around?

Just my opinions of course. Seems like a lot of these "up for auction" threads get negative really quickly. I think it's cool that Mecum restored GT109 and is offering it at public sale so we can all live vicariously so I don't really understand the negativity. Compare that to a lot of the stuff I see being sold that is clearly misrepresented or being flipped and I'll take seeing a GT40 being sold any day! I'll be in Florida when it crosses the block, as well as the Super Snake. Should be interesting to say the least, not many sales have the level of killer Ford and Shelby stuff that they'll be selling in Kissimmee.

Happy New Year to you all!

Colin

As somebody who visited there as a young man even before I knew that kind of "creativity" was wrong I was certain it was wrong!

Well years ago the majority of it was buried on the Northwest side of Milwaukee behind Mark's Mustangs shop/house. Maybe we should go buy metal detectors and go searching? Oh, wait, we'll need bulletproof vests too. Neighborhood hasn't gotten better 

Pete I think it might be harder to find the real 3900 than the cars on this list!