By now, most of you should have seen complete coverage from all five Scottsdale auctions within three of our titles that devote pages to such. However, after looking back through my notes before filing them away for posterity, I ran across two cars that I never had the pleasure of presenting to you, the faithful readership. So without further delay, I kick this off with the 1941 Packard 110 wagon pictured above, which was listed as Lot #151 at Gooding’s event.
Its original owner was apparently a doctor who kept the car for 50 years; he also owned homes in Wisconsin, Florida and Rhode Island. At the time of the auction, it was believed the 50,000 miles showing was original; along with a gas ration decal, a hint of a recent Rhode Island inspection sticker was present. Details presented at the auction stated that the car was “recommissioned as necessary” after prolonged storage – to our eyes, it looked as if it had been subjected to a restoration, but not without a few demerits. Among them were a delaminating side window, scratched and dinged hood trim, minor orange peel on the left fender (a little out of place considering the rest of the paint, mind), and some pitting on the flanking front grilles. Rated at condition #3, it sold (with fees) for $145,750; right at the top end of Gooding’s $125,000-$145,000 estimate. Average value at the time was $110,000.
Over at Silver, I ran across this 1964 Chevy Corvette that contained a 327 engine backed by a four-speed transmission. The image above does it more justice than the naked eye: in my notes, I simply scribed “Where to start?” Everything about it exhibited some level of abuse or any lack of upkeep. As an example, the paint, if not loaded with scratches and countless touch-ups, was so thin that you could see the strands of fiberglass below. New chrome was applied directly to the old trim without proper prep work (or so it seemed) and the interior – well, words fail me other than barely passable. Even with a condition #4 rating, average value at the time was $30,000; as a bonus, Corvette parts (generally speaking) are not impossible to find. And although this was a complete car, the bidding (Lot # 521) reached $27,000…it didn’t sell. Maybe its preview location was a contributing factor?