I think Vic might have rolled his eyes…

I meant to post about this one over this Summer, but it somehow got filed away. Back in August, I headed down for the big Pebble Beach Monterey car week to enjoy a few days of seeing old friends, checking out rare antique & classic cars, and trying to pick my jaw up off the ground as I watched endless mega-buck sales crossing the block night after night (Recession? What recession?!). One of the few cars that I really wanted to see that weekend was the fabled black “1932 Ford Edelbrock Special Highboy Roadster ” listed at RM Auctions during prime time that Friday. Could it be the actual Vic Edelbrock #3 Deuce Roadster was going to be sold? Talk about an icon- No wonder the pre-sale estimate was between $350,000 and $450,000, right? Well, not exactly. This wasn’t actually Vic’s race car at all…

It was Bill Likes’ car, although it was part of the Edelbrock team. I think the biggest stretch for me was the auction calling it a “32” roadster over and over. The auction house was really very cunning by omitting the words “Model A” or “1929” in this vehicle’s title, leaving it to be penned in the lengthy description by respected hot rod historian Ken Gross. In reality, the car did run a ’32 body in 1949 and 1950, setting a few records along the way, but from 1951 onwards this car was a scrappy A on Deuce rails that was run hard in double duty on the lake beds and streets of LA. Likes did build soild, fast cars, and this one was restored to an absolutely stunning period-correct perfection, including another class flathead motor, the original tonneau cover, tow bar, trophies, timing sheets, etc.

A really nice (but non-1932) Roadster, capitalizing on Edelbrock’s milestone racing history, yes… Just not a half a million dollars worth of it, like the current owner had hoped. It was a ‘No Sale’ at the high bid of $210,000, and I’d like to think Vic was somewhere up there chuckling a bit about the whole thing.

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