Yep, I watched the Runyon collection sell for just over 9 million combined. That was the group I wanted to see. I did see that '36 tour bus sell too but turned the tv off shortly after that one, .
a bunch of us Hooligans, played hooky from work and went, last Friday. None of really care what these cars are worth, but just wanted to see them up close and personal. Best $25 a car guy could spend. Nads noticed steel castors underneath back bumper, to keep ass from scraping the ground. Only problem was 6 gearheads walking around talking about so many cool cars, it took forever, and we finally had to split up.
Sunday morning dreamin'. I'd love to see a picture of Grandpa Munster's Dragula being towed to the drags with the Hirohata Merc as the tow car.
Sunday morning dreaming... I wanna see Grandpa Munster pounding on the Dragula at Wildwood, doing rooster tails through the Sand and Salt Brine.... that's true hARdcOrE Hot rodding!!!!!!!! (Sarcasm here boys)
I get it, I understand why it went for so much (I don't really get the bus going for what it did though) but I would rather had the Ivo and McEwen dragsters, money to build a great garage to put them in and 30 other really, really nice cars. Then in 20 years I could go to sell the wvenfield collection.
Iconic. Okay to customizers. Setting the bar-okay, will never be driven, so no longer a car. Just a piece of art,likely stuck away in someone's personal garage and now they can't even afford to resell it.
As the car is as famous as it is, I'm surprised that there are not lots of cloned ones out there. There are scads of Milner cars in comparison.
I know of at least 10 clones. One that as close as you can get. Then the others with the same paint and Buick side trim. There`s a chopped convertible. The one in maine that was done very nicely using a 50 as a platform. Then there our own @dr dave who is trying to build a version if built about 5 years later.
But we also tend to forget how low wages were in comparison. Roughly speaking, things today cost about ten times what they were in my youth. Likewise, my starting salary was also about ten times as less as my salary at retirement.
The Merc is iconic and will entertain people in some museum or collection for as long as there are people willing to pay to see it. I'm more curious what the stainless roofed black deuce roadster brought, always a favorite.
2 vehicles that will make the Merc look like chump change in the future are Chili Catallo’s Silver Saphire and Spencer Murray’ Dream Truck.
Funny that you mention La Jolla. As I was watching the bids skyrocket yesterday I was thinking about when La Jolla sold for just under $25k at the Icons of Speed auction just a little over a decade ago (2009). Not that that car came anywhere close to the iconic status the Hirohata has ascended to, but it was still a beautifully designed custom by one of the most respected designers of our time, and it sold for about the cost of a used F-150.
Let me help out a couple misconceptions on that red and black bus, its not a Glacier bus, it is a Yellowstone park bus that was painted Glacier colors, there are no White model 706 buses from Glacier in private hands, Glacier kept them, 32 of them I believe, one in a museum, one wrecked and the rest were put on Ford frames and still running in the park. This one is not Cokers, he still has his, and Kindigit did not work on this one, the one he did was a KenWorth from Mt Raineer Park in Washington.
Funny that the owner or person directing the restoration did the bus in Glacier motif an not Yellowstone. In my opinion it’s now a “fake” or “replica” since no Glaciers are in private hands. The info listed in the Mecum catalog and on the website listing did say it was not a Glacier bus but what was not said was what you are telling us. A million dollars “not well spent”.
75% of the people here are into hot rods, not customs. So, I'll bite-who designed la Jolla and what is it?
Those auctions, especially when the big ticket cars roll up, are just "Look at me, I've got more money than you and care less about it" contests, and they don't do our hobby any good. Often it seems like they do the same thing as the Storage Space bidders do, screw each other just to screw with each other, just at a higher dollar amount. It's all a shame because they have driven the price of some unremarkable, fun cars into the stratosphere.
Soo, every time I go to an auction and get to be the highest bidder, I`m the fool for paying too much. I don`t think so. Plus, the winner was a phone bidder.
Even if prices climb, those that want a junk to build will scratch and claw that much more to acquire it. When I was 16,and only reason I had a afterschool job was to get that 1936 ford that I knew about..I hustled and did it. I have confidence that young people will figure it out,learn how to repair rust ,etc..and somehow make their dreams come true.
Soo, 75% wasn`t too far off for the La Jolla. You need to see it in person to understand how cool it is. Jack Walker owned it for a while. Now, who is gonna ask - who is Jack Walker.
I don’t think the sale of this car is going to increase asking prices of 1950 Mercury’s, but the run of mill ‘50 Mercs that might go for dumb money in a auction will. That’s what’s happened the last 20 years or so. Someone heard/saw a ‘46–whatever go for 40k at auction. So and so pulls his 46-whatever out of the field and want 10 K for it because “fixed up it’s worth 40k”. The car in the topic is like buying a painting, etc. from someone like VanGogh<sp> , not from the average street painter.