City of Detroit To Sell It's Classic Car Collection?

Maybe......

http://news.yahoo.com/detroit-official-denies-report-city-may-sell-classic-155239162.html

I didn't even know this collection even existed.....and I'm assuming the Detroit taxpayers didn't either.

Can you imagine what it costs a month just to STORE and MAINTAIN a collection of that caliber?

 

gasp!

 

The Detroit "officials" have to figure an angle to get themselves the money first.

 

I know that the article said that Detroit's officials were trying to not let this situation end up coming down to this. But if this proposed sale idea does get placed on the table, I hope they can figure out a way around it so it doesnt happen. Adam.

 

That would truly be a shame to lose that collection. I have lived within an hour of Detroit my entire life and had never heard of the collection. As bad as that would be it would be nothing compared to gutting the DIA. the DIA houses one of the best art collections in the world and was mentioned as a possible asset to be sold. Shame on the last several Detroit administrations for letting the city sink to where it is now.

 

If someone, or some entity, owed you a lot of money and the choice was they sell assets to pay you ,or take bankruptcy, and absolve the debt to you....which would you choose.

Is not as though this collection will be scrapped and crushed......they will go to well funded buyer.

In my opinion, the collection should be sold so long as the money goes to legitimate creditors.

The City has been mismanaged for decades. I really, really dislike deadbeats, individuals or corp/govt, makes no difference

Ray

 

Where the hell do they have this collection? I live minutes from Detroit and never heard of it either. Well, I read where they're stored, of course but it doesn't make sense that they're packed away in a plastic bubble somewhere where no-one can appreciate them.

 

Better to sell them and get them out of there before the city finally implodes entirely.

 

That's what I'm sayin, I'm downtown, at the DIA, all over the city and I e never seen these cars.

 

Most of these cars have never been seen by the public. The Wayne County historical Museum down by the DIA used to have some cars on exhibit but they aren't owned by the city that I know of.
There have been and will continue to be lots of story's in regards to Detroit selling off it's assets. Including Belle Isle, The Dia art collection,ect. What will truly happen awaits to be seen.

 

this story reminds me of a person that never had the skills to survive financially and is always selling off what he owns....but is still broke a week later.


If the public can't ever see the cars, they should be sold off...or donated...as they are not doing anything positive right now, except for whomever is getting paid to store them.

 

maybe cars taken in during drug busts, etc or fancy ones bought for the politicians to use. no matter where they came from, they should be sold.

 

I lived near Detroit for many years and also never heard of or saw this collection. There was an internet story several weeks ago - most of the cars were donated by the big three and include one-off prototypes that are priceless. The big three or someone with deep pockets or big time lawyers needs to get these cars out of Detroit's in-ept hands - one can only imagine that they may have been damaged over the years. There was something mentioned how they stored them in plastic bags somewhere. Cities shouldn't be in the museum business, particularly Detroit - I wouldn't trust any of these officials with a bowling ball in a sand pit.

 

I would LOVE some rich guy, like maybe Ralph Lauren, to buy them ALL.

In fact, I think Detroit should try to do that first: being, sell them ALL as a PACKAGE and see who steps up.

 

Just to step in for a minute...I'm the automotive consultant to collections for the Detroit Historical Society..Those of you that have been to autorama have seen a car from our collections in the basement for the last few years..The Cougar II,The Mustang II,and this year the Harley Duo-glide.Of 60+ cars in our collection,many are on loan,we have a few on display in our main building,and the rest live in our collections building.Please bear in mind these cars are not in the hands of "inept city officials" but a full museum staff. I'm happy to talk cars,as those of you that have met me at cobo will attest to,but I can't talk city government.... Dave

 

Cougar II, Mustange II, Harley Duo....? Never mind I dont care anymore...

 

Cougar II..built on a shelby cobra chassie,composite body,voted show car of the year in 1964...Mustang II,The final concept car before production.Chopped roof extended nose,289 dual quad,built by shelby...Not the awful 70's cars your thinking of...

 

Save the cars, SELL THEM! Oh, can we see a list of what they are, maybe they aren't worth worrying about. Bob

 

www.detroithistorical.org Click on collections..search automobile..Hope the link works,I'm the car guy,not the I.T. guy...

 

I have two problems with HAMB posters: 1) the twenty somethings that read some used "little books" and think they know how it was back in the day, and: 2) the trad nazis that can't accept the fact that car enthusiasts can appreciate all kinds of cars.

A recent WSJ story talked about the fact that the DIA collection could be worth $2 BILLION and they could be forced to sell the collection to meet the $17 billion obligation run up by the city of Detroit.

The bulk of the art collection was funded by people with last names like Ford and Chrysler!

 

Hmmmm...

Sounds like one heck of an asset.

 

It only lists maybe 7 or 8 cars.

What's the deal with that?

If the CITY owns them, that means the PEOPLE own them....so why don't the PEOPLE get to KNOW about them and SEE them whenever they damn well please?

 

A city that is mismanaged with an automobile collection NOBODY has seen needs to be sold. Seeing some recent photos of them would be interesting, and educational. Bob

 

The article states there's 62 cars in the collection, stored in a warehouse along the Detriot river. The collection is valued at over $12 million. Knowing how bad that area is, I'd bet that if the location was public, the collection would quickly end up "on blocks"...

I'm originally from Detroit and never knew about the auto collection. I'll have to share this with my parents to see if they recall the collection.
Given the corruption in the city, I'm sure there's more city owned buried treasure that the public hasn't seen.

 

You guys need to get out more often and visit the lower level of the Detroit Historical Museum. It's been awhile since I've been there but there were cars on display and I'm going to assume these cars were part of the collection AND have been rotated in and out with the other cars thru the years. 12 million in cars will not make a dent in the billions that are owned. There needs to be another solution.

 

If I remember correctly, they are stored at Fort Wayne in southwest Detroit.

 

This ^^^

And this v v v

"There are many, many, many other collections that are more valuable," he said. "But there are probably not many collections that have the value in terms of its storytelling about the city of Detroit."

 

Nice^^
But hell, what difference does it make? Give Detroit more money to waste by selling off public property that the public doesn't even know about apparently.
Business as usual....

 

It's not just the value of the cars themselves that is in question here. These cars have been owned by the city for decades. The cost to store and maintain them over those years is also a huge factor. If any of us was flat broke and in debt to our eyeballs we would not be permitted to keep our car collections, so why is the city any different? Sell the cars, then the buildings they are housed in and fire the employees that get paid for sitting around refilling the air in the car's bubbles and THAT is a substantial savings along with the twelve million in positive cash flow, PLUS the cars return to circulation and are enjoyed again.

Keeping them for Detroit's heritage? PULLEEEZE. I lived in Detroit for years and that hell hole can't even GET anyone to go downtown to look at these cars much less give a dam about back when the city was something to be proud of. But take that 1904 Cadillac and put it on a set of 26 inch spinners with a loud thumping sound system and MAYBE some of the Detroit residents might come and look at it.

 

The more I read this thread the more pissed I'm getting.