Buddy and I drove down to Kissimmee to the Mecum January Auction, it's a great place to spend a day burn off calories walking around and seeing more exotic, muscle, micro, custom, one off, one of one cars, over 4000 of them...

If you love cars, any kind, then their event in Kissimmee is not to be missed. Send the wife and kids to SeaWorld, Disney, the beach and hit the Auction.

If you have Motortrend TV be sure to tune in to todays replay of the auction, Wayne Carini of Chasing Classic Cars,
Chris Jacobs of Overhaulin' with Chip Foose, and the Kindig crew from Bitch'n Rides were there.

Have about a bazillion pictures and will pick through some tonight, it's so much it's pure sensory overload.

Next year, getting a bidders pass so I can go multiple days, take my time, sit inside the big boy auction room. Will have to zip tie my hands down though...

Peeking into the Main Room from the door the cars come in... You need a bidders pass to get in.




Next the big money room, the glass palace, it's unbelievable the work they do to just get the venue up much less the multi million dollar cars that are in there. 56 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, a one of one yellow convertible hemi cuda, two L88 Corvettes, a C2 and C3, the C2 is projected at $3.5 million

That Blue car, a real deal bonafide 65 Shelby 427 Cobra, not a repo, and behind it, a Tucker



This is the room with more top notch vehicles, typically collections being sold. In this one are not one but TWO collections loaded with Wing Cars and two Corvette collections, one all 63 Split windows, 7 cars, all different
colors, amazing stuff.



Little video of the Dodge thrill Ride, you can sign up to ride in a Challenger or Charger Hellcat with a pro driver. If you like V8's crank up the sound.

I spy what looks like an XJ220 in the center of the photo, above the Shelby

You are correct, and they just sold a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder for $17,875 Meeeeelion Dollars.

Link

Been watching some cool rides on TV today from there.

I watched for a while today as well. Especially impressive were the 1960's Ferrari's, including my favorite 275GTB's. One was called a 275GTS/4 NART Spyder, but I thought that entire short run was called 275GTB, not GTS. Didn't see them sold as I had to turn off the show after just a short time.

The NART bid to $23 million and fell short of reserve, guess is $25 was the number, same for the other, $23 million wasn't enough only the 250 GT sold of those 3.

Kindigs CF-1 #5 sold for $700K, it's the custom full Carbon Fiber build 53 Corvette replica they make that is Bitchin

https://www.mecum.com/lots/110...ster/?aa_id=513989-0

Half the wing cars in one collection, couldn't get them in one picture along with the Hemi Cuda's Chargers, GTX, Roadrunners, etc in that collection.

I watched most of it for 3 days via Motor Trend TV. Some absolutely awesome pieces going through the auction. There were folks there that had a bank account I could only dream of.

One collection sold a 1966 Ford of England real GT40 coupe built for the street!! They built 30 of them. It had been in the collection for over 30 years. It only brought $6,300,000!! Some guy wrote a check for it. WOW....just WOW!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GT-40DOC,

quote:

Originally posted by GT-40DOC:

...One collection sold a 1965 Ford of England real GT40 coupe built for the street!! They built 20 of them...

Was it silver? I remember one being written up and road-tested in Road & Track back then, and wishing at 17 years old that I could drive one myself some day. It never happened, of course. I vaguely remember the magazine saying the car could do 140mph, a lot back then, not so much today.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:

quote:

Originally posted by GT-40DOC:

...One collection sold a 1965 Ford of England real GT40 coupe built for the street!! They built 20 of them...

Was it silver? I remember one being written up and road-tested in Road & Track back then, and wishing at 17 years old that I could drive one myself some day. It never happened, of course. I vaguely remember the magazine saying the car could do 140mph, a lot back then, not so much today.

Blue, very cool, and very low those old GT40's are a lot smaller than the new GT counterparts

https://www.mecum.com/lots/110...-car/?aa_id=525113-0

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
You are correct, and they just sold a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder for $17,875 Meeeeelion Dollars.

Link

Oh yeah.

"It is his fault he didn’t lock the garage” Ferris Bueller

I would love to go to the auction but I would end up buying a bottomless money pit old car or truck. So I just watch it on TV. But I’ll bet it’s a lot of fun to be there.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

...those old GT40's are a lot smaller than the new GT counterparts

I seem to remember that the later GT-40's (Mark...whatevers) were all bigger than the originals. I think the first enlargements were attempts to improve the aerodynamics since the first racing GT-40's had a tendency to lift on the Mulsanne Straight, tough to get through the Kink if you can't steer. After that, they used the 427 SOHC motors which required widening the car as well.

If GT40DOC happens to see this, I'm sure he could give much more info than I can pull from the dusty cobwebs of 60 years' passing.

By the way, you probably know that the -40 designation was because of the cars' height, 40" from the ground to the top. It's amazing how low they are when you stand next to one.

The GT40 Mark 1, 2, and 3(road car) were all pretty much the same size.....give or take. The Mark 4 was an altogether different car, and looked it. It was longer and wider with a Ford 427 side oiler engine. It also won LeMans, then they outlawed the big engines. The Gulf "Mirage" was a reworked Mark 1 with a small block Ford engine. It won LeMans the next TWO(2) years in a row, and then they outlawed it!!

A guy in my community had a green with stripes street GT40. He sold Panteras and Mangustas for a while, and he said it was ridiculous what buyers would trade in. I don't know if that was how he got the GT40. I was walking through the parking lot of a battle of the bands at a shopping center and gasped when I saw the GT40 in the parking lot. It was shockingly low. He was promoting the battle of bands.

He, his brother and his dad all road raced, and I went to Daytona as pit crew in 1972. They had an orange L88 C3 Corvette. Before we left I was doing some prep work on the race car in their shop that housed the family's cars. There was about 10 cars in there, a road race Boss Mustang with a Holman Moody engine, Maserati Ghibli, I think a Boss 302 Mustang, a road race C2 under construction. Dad had a 1966 Chrysler wagon he swapped the engine with a 1966 Hemi Belvedere. The Belvedere was used as a parts getter with the wagon engine. Both cars were eventually sold to the same guy who remated the Hemi to the Belvedere factory drag racer.

In the garage when I was doing prep on the Corvette was the GT40 that had been wrecked on the street just a couple of miles from where I live. Apparently endoed. Looked pretty sad sitting there but the view of the Webers on the engine looked good through the glass. Story was he sold it for $20K wrecked probably in the mid to late 1970s.

I was working on the crew of an A Sedan Mustang(Shelby built) racing in the 12 hours of Sebring. Ford transporters pulled in to unload and I walked over to see what the factory brought to race. They unloaded two Mark 1 GT40s before my very eyes!! I had never seen one before, and fell instantly IN LOVE!!!! That love affair has never lessened, and to me, the Mark 1 GT40 Ford is the most beautiful car ever built. Others will disagree, but that is how I still feel to the day.

quote:

They had an orange L88 C3 Corvette.

There were 4 L88 corvettes at Mecum, two 69s, 67 and a cool pair that had the first and last L88's ever built by Chevy.

Two the 69's brought $275 and $495 respectively, the bigger number was a convertable, the 67 price isn't listed for some reason

The Pair brought $2,585,000

https://www.mecum.com/lots/111...ring/?aa_id=537876-0

Plenty of mustangs from that era, from Fastback customs to full on Big Boy Boss 9's (429 engine)

https://www.mecum.com/lots/110...back/?aa_id=522056-0

Panteras, Maseratis, Ferrari, Porsche, Shelby, it's frigging gear head nirvana...

The guy I bought my Midget from had a 1st generation Bronco in his garage with a Mecum plate on the front.
I'll make it to one someday, even if just to spectate.

quote:

Originally posted by GT-40DOC:
...to me, the Mark 1 GT40 Ford is the most beautiful car ever built. Others will disagree, but that is how I still feel to the day.

1. Ferrari 275GTB-4/NART Spyder

2. Ferrari 250LM

3. Early Fiat 124 Spyder

4. Mk 1 GT40

5. Nothing else even comes close to these! Not even the original Jaguar XK-E, and I don't care how much Enzo admired it. The nose was too long.

By the way, I think all the Top 3 are Pinin Farina designs (by the Master himself, before the company became Pininfarina). The GT40 was designed by John Wyer, through Eric Broadley's Lola GT.

Che Bella Machini!

The 300SL Gullwing & 300SLR racecar take the top spots for me, but I'm a bit Mercedes fanboy.