Features The Hirohata Mercury price: Take a guess and win a prize!

Man, was I out of touch. So happy these old iconic cars are still very valuable.

 

All of us that have ever lusted over a custom car has to be happy that one of them finally brought serious money.
Not sure we will ever know who bought it unless they are going to go out and promote the car.
All has yet to be revealed.
Torchie

 

I was impressed Dragula brought what it did. $430,000.

 

Congrats @Stogy !

 

I was alive when Howard Hughes was the richest dude in America with about 5 billion. I think he was the only billionaire. Now there are over 600 in the U.S. A million is really not much of a big deal these days. A guy can become a multi millionaire over night just by spilling coffee in his lap at McDonalds.

 

This thread is essentially about who was the closest to sell price and won a T-shirt.

But I loved to see the owner's T-shirt. Not a picture of the Merc, but a photo of his mom and dad, Jim and Sue McNiel. That's a tribute!! It was too kooool to see the excitement of the family as it blew past their reserve.

I got to see the car in '99 at the Cow Palace 50'th GNRS and at the 2010 Customs Then and Now in Pamona GNRS. Wish I could have met the McNiels.

 

I'm happy for the McNiel family, do we know who the new caretaker is? Glad I got to see it in the Petersen.

Bob

 

You really should research that case.

 

Here's a story from Autoweek that explains how Wayne Carini got involved, Jim McNiel asked him to help sell the car after he passed.
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It’s at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours that Chasing Classic Cars host and F40 Motorsports owner Wayne Carini enters the Hirohata Mercury’s history. While shooting his TV show at Pebble Beach, the Hirohata Mercury’s painter Herschel “Junior” Conway connected McNiel and Carini. Carini recalls, “We talk for a little while and he (McNiel) said, ‘Would you sit in the car with me?’ So, I said sure I’m thrilled to sit in it. He said, ‘I just want to tell you something. I’ve appointed you to help my family sell the car. I’d like to get your permission to tell my family that you will help them sell this car on my passing.’” Carini fired back to McNiel, “Jim, you look pretty damn healthy to me.”

Three years later McNiel’s passing started the ball rolling towards the auction block. Carini didn’t take the responsibility of helping rehome a legendary car lightly. He said, “I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me. It’s an icon in the car world and now it’s been given to me as being the person that’s in charge of helping his (McNiel’s) family sell the car. And a lot of weight is put on my shoulders to do the best job I possibly can for the family.”

About the plan to sell this Mercury, Carini said, “We made a decision as to where to sell it. Now, we had a few offers right up front, and the family decided that the best way to make it fair, and for them to possibly get as much money as they could for the car, was to go to auction and give everybody a fair chance at buying it.”

“There is the Hirohata Mercury, and then there are all the others. This is the definitive custom car.”

Wisely, Carini didn’t take the task of helping the Hirohata Mercury trade hands alone. Carini flagged his friend Ken Gross for help. Gross, for the unfamiliar, is not only a renowned journalist and walking history book of car culture; he’s also one of the people responsible for helping cars like the Hirohata Mercury see the green at Pebble Beach.

“I’ve often said, there is the Hirohata Mercury, and then there are all the other customs. To me, this is the definitive custom car,” said Gross. “I say that partly because of its notoriety, fame, movies, Barris, and the rest of it, but it’s just better looking than the others. The combination of this two-tone paint, the Buick side sweep and the way the car was hard-topped… It pioneered a number of features that people copied, but no one copied them quite as well as this car.”

Carini and Gross both had a chance to drive the Hirohata Mercury in the same way that you likely take your weekend car out for a spin. According to Gross, who is also a North American Car of the Yearjudge, he noticed that he didn’t have any problems seeing out of the car, despite its aggressive chop. “I found it delightful to drive,” he said. “One of the things I enjoyed the most was watching peoples’ reactions to the car. You could not drive by people without them turning around or pulling out a phone for a picture.”

With a pedigree a mile long and a cemented place in history, the question will always turn to price and buyer. Mecum estimates that the Hirohata Mercury will command seven figures, ranging from a cool $1 million to $1.25 million. Obviously, that’s a lot of money. As for the buyer, Gross and Carini agree that it could be almost anyone. While this car obviously pulls on the heartstrings of people who experienced it in real-time, or vicariously through old magazines and films, this Mercury has removed itself from the constraints of being just a car. From sitting on a used car lot and being sold for less than $1000 to its time at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the Hirohata Merc has officially become part of American history. It’s a reflection of its time, of car culture as a whole, and is as important to some as a piece of art.

 

On one hand it makes me happy that this iconic car was recognized and properly valued.

On the other hand, I expect to see the asking prices for everything rise in the coming years. This seems to happen every time that there is a big hit at an auction.

Everyone will think that their more-filler-than-metal ride is worth at least 6-figures.

It already happened with everything '32. I routinely see 1932 Fords for sale, missing the bottom 18-inches of the body, and with no title, for sale for $15,000.00, or more.

 

When they interviewed Wayne on TV yesterday, he said that the owner had talked to him a few years ago saying that he wanted him to handle the sale of the car for the family after he passed away. He said that they were sitting in the car at an event when the man asked him. Wayne's shop prepped the car for the sale, and he did a lot of promoting over the time it was at his shop. No doubt he gets a percentage of the sale price and so be it. It was the family who actually sold the car though.

 

X2. Snowman ⛄️

 

I predicted just over 2 mil, I am happy to see such a iconic custom car get the recognition it deserves. HRP

 

1.6 million...Mark is taking inventory as we speak.

 

so....the winning number was the year of the car, times a thousand.

Interesting.

 

I like math ... 1951 X 1000 = 1,951,000 .

Actual winning bid was 1,950.000 .

 

Crap, I guess my $3,500.00 Mecum Registered phone-in bid didn't make much of a difference

 

I woulda bid more, but the wife wanted to go to the Olive Garden, and my HAMB Alliance is due this month

 

!! STOGY !!

 

With fees, 2.145. That's impressive.

 

Back to the top. This is too impressive .

 

I've been watching since it started on???.. Thursday I think.. Damn, wish I was rich.....

 

How did he ask Wayne to help sell the car if he was dead ?

 

He asked Wayne to help three years before he passed away.

 

Just got home from work and saw the results - Good on ya, Stogy! (Or should I say that shirt will look good on you!)
A bit sobering to think it's still less than half what the Batmobile sold for. Again, has anyone interviewed Bob Hirohata's family about the car?

 

Do we know who the new caretaker is?

 

Wow......I'm truly honored...

Thanks everyone for the kind words...It is a big day for Vintage Car Culture...and me eh...Yippee!!

@Jive-Bomber thanks for a most entertaining Thread on such an Iconic Merc...