Like many of you, as much as I enjoy curbside car spotting it’s always fun to go to an actual car show and see a bunch of cool cars in one place. I had the opportunity to be in Arizona during the annual Scottsdale classic car auction week last week and spend three fantastic days looking at cars. Some of you no doubt have been to these before, but if you haven’t and you enjoy old cars, you should put it on your short list of lifetime goals. Watching it on TV is a poor substitute! It’s so great, it can be overwhelming. I used to live in Phoenix and would go to at least one auction annually, but I never did three in one year. Based on the number of cars registered to each event, I estimate I saw about 2700 cars. Many I passed over, but I probably actually looked at half of them and photographed about 300.
I attended Russo and Steele, Barrett-Jackson and Silver. There were still four auctions I didn’t attend. Russo and Steele bills itself as the auction for Muscle Cars, Sports Cars and Hot Rods, though they had many vehicles that didn’t fit into those categories, including a surprising number of full classics. Barrett-Jackson is the original and by far the biggest, at about 1,700 vehicles, with the most variety. It’s insane. They have 7 huge open-sided tents, each one as good or better than the best local car show you’ve ever been to. Then you go to the indoor tent where they keep the premium cars.
After you’ve taken in all the #1 condition cars you can handle, you proceed to the Marquee Tent where they have at least 50 of the headline cars, museum pieces, million buck cars, etc. By that time, I had been on my feet for 7 hours, my camera batteries were dead, my phone was dead, I had a date to meet a friend for dinner and my head was about to explode from awesomeness overdose and their none-too-well-ventilated tent. So, I didn’t photograph much indoors.
That’s OK for us here, though, because those cars are trailer queens, the polar opposite of Curbside Classics. Silver Auction could be considered the Curbside Classic auction. They specifically say that they are the affordable auction, with 300+ cars that may be in less than perfect condition, less desirable models or lacking provenance (clones, non-numbers matching, etc). That is true, but they still had a number of very high quality cars that would fit in fine over at B-J and were nicer even than many of the cars at the big event.
My interest runs most deeply with postwar American cars, so they are what I spent most of my time looking at and photographing. Some of the auctions I didn’t attend focus more on special-interest imports and full classics. Here, I’m going to show a sampling of cars I liked best in one of my favorite categories: unrestored vehicles in all original condition. Though most of these cars wouldn’t be seen parked on the street, they are cars that have beaten huge odds to exist today in beautiful condition with no restoration. Key for me is having original paint, which is rare even among Scottsdale auction cars. Many cars have mostly original interiors or mechanical parts, but for paint laid down in the 50s, 60s or even 80s to survive intact to today, let alone be immaculate, takes a charmed life indeed.
The links on the car names will take you to the auction house web page for that car.
This is a 1952 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe de Ville. This was one of the higher quality cars at Silver and is every bit Barrett-Jackson worthy. While it has original paint and interior, the owner states he did clear coat the paint and put clear covers on the seats to preserve the car. I saw no reason to doubt the originality of the paint, though it is immaculate. This is a seriously beautiful car, if you’re into this sort of thing. It’s amazing how low riding these 50’s Caddys were made to look as they slink along in classy stylishness. The body came out in 1948, with its pioneering vestigial tailfins.
The Coupe de Ville came out for 1949 as the first (along with Buick and Olds versions) production hardtop. The Coupe de Ville was always a hardtop through 1973, as was the Sedan De Ville from 1956 through ’76. The hood and decklid featured gold-plated ‘V’s commemorating Cadillac’s 50th anniversary. I think it has the wrong hubcaps. They look more like ’57 hubcaps to me, but I’ll bet somebody here knows for sure. Auction results aren’t available on the Silver website yet, so I don’t know if this car sold or for how much.
The underhood view lends credibility to the claims of originality, but things have been maintained for drivability with modern hoses, radiator cap, 12-volt conversion, etc. All ’52 Cadillacs had the 331 cid OHV V8 introduced for 1949, now with a four-barrel carburetor increasing the horsepower to 190, the most powerful in a U.S. car that year.
I appreciate the owner taking steps to preserve the upholstery, yet it somehow bothers me. What good is having original seats if you can’t touch them or feel them or smell them? It’s kind of like Grandma’s couch, just missing a bowl of hard candy on the dash. Hydraulic power seats were standard on the Coupe de Ville.
You know what this is! Of course it’s a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, the NASCAR homologation special that dealers struggled to sell at the time due to its being one of the most absurd production cars ever, but is therefore hugely collectible today. They made 505 of them, 5 more than NASCAR required to approve the bodywork. They are generally more valuable than the ’70 Plymouth Superbird since there were 1,920 of those made, plus it’s a freaking ’69 Charger, arguably the sexiest car to come out of the muscle car era. It has the standard 375 hp, 440 cid 4-barrel engine and the A727 Torqueflite automatic.
The seller says this has been in storage since 1977. He doesn’t specifically claim all originality other than having 58k miles, but it sure looks it to me. The paint is not perfect and shows no telltale signs of overspray. The tires may not be original, but they are definitely of the era. I didn’t look closely at the undercarriage. The body looked really good with no signs of rust on the lower portions at all. The interior looked like the rest of the car, dirty but no significant flaws. This one was at Russo and Steele and sold for $198,000. Obviously bidders believed it was a true “barn find” car.
The years have passed this bias-ply beauty by, as this looks like it has spent a lot of time sitting flat. Someone who knows more about vintage tires may know what year this tire could have been made in.
This 1960 Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan blew me away. It is in such perfect condition, it’s practically unbelievable. I would have thought it was fully restored, except the underhood area and undercarriage belie its true nature. The seller states it has 17k miles and makes very specific claims to its originality, especially the paint. I believe him. It sold at Russo and Steele for $26,400. Very reasonable, I think. I’d bet it would have been easily twice that if it were a coupe.
This is what originality looks like. The seller didn’t say if anything besides the battery had been replaced, but I’d bet the plugs, wires and hoses have been. The tailpipe definitely has an aftermarket extension, and it looks like it may be coming out at the wrong location, so it probably had some exhaust work (can you blame it?).
Anybody know what this is? I’ve seen these before on ’50s era cars, but never was sure what it’s for.
This is another amazing Chevy, a 1964 Impala SS with a 327 and 4-speed. The seller claims it is all original except for the battery, having traveled only 1,482 miles in the last 54 years. This one is even harder to believe, because underhood it’s almost perfect. It sold at Barrett-Jackson for $66k.
If you’re thinking I’ve got a thing for tires, you’d be right. This was worth a flash photo on my rapidly dying battery. It boggles my mind that a 54-year-old tire could look this good, but I believe the seller.
Sadly, I did not get any more photos of this car inside the tent at B-J, so here are a few more from the website.
How about a 1954 Corvette? Chevy sold 3,650 examples in the first full year for the Corvette after a short 315 unit run for 1953. They were all powered by a 150 hp 235 cid straight six backed up by a 2-speed Powerglide automatic. Lots of room for performance growth! This car is pretty far from being in perfect condition, but there just aren’t very many ’53-’55 Corvettes in decent, unrestored condition out there. Hopefully the new owner won’t ruin it by restoration. It sold at Barrett-Jackson for $71.5k. Again, I added photos here from the B-J website.
They had rather pretty engines, I think, at least for a Chevy prior to 1955. The triple one-barrel sidedraft carbs set the engine off from the standard Chevrolet stovebolt it was based on, and they massaged it quite a bit with hotter camshaft and higher compression to gain 35 hp over the standard engine. Doesn’t sound like much, but it was almost a 33% increase in a much lighter, fiberglass-bodied car. It is to GM’s eternal credit (with a little help from the T-bird) that they stuck with the Corvette through its early low volume days to let it gradually mature into a viable American sports car.
The wisdom of that decision was clearly paying dividends eight years later. Right next to the ‘54 was a 1962 Corvette. Unlike the ‘54, this is in really fine shape. It has the top engine, a fuel injected 360 hp 327, and has won numerous awards for its amazing unrestored condition. It sold at Barrett-Jackson for $132k. Ready to cruise across America on Route 66 (except it would be irresponsible to put the wear and tear on this specimen of perfect preservation or put it at risk of getting wrecked)!
Again, I apologize for the grainy photo; here are a few more from the B-J website.
Here is a fiberglass-bodied GM two seater of a completely different character. It was also at Barrett-Jackson, but located about as far from the indoor glamour tents as they could put it. It’s a final year 1988 Pontiac Fiero GT, which came with a 2.8L V6 and 5-speed manual. I’m sure many of you know this car’s story and how it’s the classic case of GM significantly improving a car right before killing it. 1988 models had an all new suspension, new shifter linkage and a cool new Formula coupe option package. This very clean example sold for $4,620.
Also doing the ’80s proud is this awesome 1985 Corvette with 987 miles. Low mileage C4s are a staple at these auctions, there were 9 at Barrett-Jackson. Even by those standards, though, this one is excellent. I mean, just look at it. Gazing at it is like standing in a Chevy showroom in 1985. It’s probably been at least 25 years since this car could be considered a chick magnet, but it sure attracts middle aged guys like flies. It was worth $16,500 to someone, who was probably sporting a mullet.
If you are like me, you’ll be fascinated to look at a perfect 33-year-old tire and wheel. Though only 12 when the ’84 Vettes came out, I still remember Chevy making a big deal about the tires. They were much wider and unidirectional. Goodyear Eagle VR50 “gatorbacks” were standard equipment.
Speaking of C4s, I snapped this picture because I kind of liked these 1988 35th Anniversary package Corvettes when new and a teacher at my high school drove one. I wouldn’t have included it here except that I noticed after the auction that it sold for $350,000. What!!?? It was a charity auction benefiting the American Heart Association. Hopefully that sale won’t affect the value guides.
I’ll finish up with a couple of trucks. This is a 1990 GMC Jimmy. No 1990 vintage tires on this one, but it has beautiful original paint and interior and the engine bay holding its 5.7-L V8 is immaculate. You’re not likely to ever see an unmodified second generation Jimmy/Blazer in nicer condition. It sold for $31,500.
Another vehicle seemingly time-transported from a GMC dealership in 1982 (or maybe the used lot in ‘83 or ’84) is this 1982 GMC C20 pickup. It has a 350 and 4-speed manual and even the bed looked unused. I don’t know who the people are who buy new vehicles and then hardly ever use them while parking them in perfectly preserving conditions, but God bless them. It sure makes for some extraordinary cars to behold now decades later.
I think it is a coincidence that all but one of the vehicles profiled here were made by GM. I am a GM lover, even though she can be a cruel mistress. Still, it just happened that many of the most compelling examples of originality in Scottsdale were made by the General. I doubt if it says anything about the relative durability of their products. Time permitting, I plan on writing up several more groups of cars over the next few months. As you can imagine, there was no shortage of interesting vehicles from all manufacturers.
The lead photo is a Barrett-Jackson publicity photo shot during the auction for the 2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt edition. B-J does a lot of these charity auctions. This one drew $300,000 and the winner gets the first production car when it’s made.
The other photo at the top is probably my favorite model of full classic. I hope to feature it in a future post!
Other articles in my Scottsdale 2018 series:
Cadillacs-part 1 restored cars
Cadillacs-part 2 unrestored cars
Nice job! Saturday, we saw 3 of GM’s specialties lined up nose to tail… Where but J-B would that occur these days?
Sweet! I’m planning on showing that Caddy in my next article. Were you there just on Saturday? How crowded was it?
What was the third car?
Olds Fiesta… It was somewhat crowded, chilly, and a little rainy (for Scottsdale)… scored free tickets to a Skybox. See some more pix on CC that I posted last week…
Nice! Yeah, I was glad weather-wise that I didn’t go on Saturday. I also shot that Olds Fiesta. It may show up if I make it to an Oldsmobile article. I didn’t get the Buick, unfortunately.
You asked if anyone knew what that thing was on the dash of the 60 Chevy. This is just a guess and it seems out of place on this car but I think that it is a prism. You mentioned seeing them on 50’s cars, and a lot of those 50’s cars had visors that made it impossible to see overhead traffic lights. The purpose of the prism was to pickup the color of the overhead traffic light so that the diver would know what color it was.
Interesting! You wouldn’t think visibility would be an issue in this car.
Here’s one for sale—says it was a Chevy accessory 1949-60: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1949-THRU-1960-CHEVROLET-ACCESSORY-TRAFFIC-LIGHT-VIEWER-NEW-/302589923491
Thankfully, there is now appreciation for original condition cars. It’s always a treat to see a survivor. That ’54 Corvette should just be carefully cleaned and preserved. There were a couple of local owners that would display their original mid Sixties Aston Martin and Ferrari at Friendship Day events. The owner of the Aston told me that if he restored his car, he could never afford to drive it again!
On the other hand the “Barn Find” trend has gotten to ridiculous extremes. The new owners (and usually resellers) don’t want to disturb the ‘patina” of original dust and pigeon crap! They display the cars as found which is just silly. Maybe a photo could be displayed with the cleaned off car.
Here’s one of the most famous.
That drives me nuts. If you don’t want the dust and crap disturbed then leave it in the damn barn.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one.
Me too!
The 1969 Charger Daytona sold out in relatively short order and was a major reason Chrysler went ahead with the 1970 Plymouth Superbird. Unfortunately, Chrysler quickly found out that the market was limited to the Daytona and no one was interested in the Superbird. In industry parlance, the Superbird ‘sold like it was nailed to the showroom floor’.
Two years later, there were still many Superbirds that Plymouth dealers were trying to get rid of (the NASCAR rule was two per dealer). A few (mainly in Maryland where they didn’t recognize the nose cone as a real bumper) even went to the extraordinary length of switching the front end to a standard Road Runner, which was not an easy feat since the entire doghouse (grille, bumper, fenders, and hood) all had to be changed over because, unlike the Daytona, the Superbird used a modified 1970 Coronet hood and front fenders.
Good point, I was probably thinking of stories I’ve read about the Superbird. Do you know why they didn’t just make the Daytona for a second year?
I think Dodge originally planned on making a ’70 Daytona (look at the front end of a ’70 Charger, the nose cone could easily be bolted on) but NASCAR was making comments about banning the aero cars which they did, effectively, by making them run small block engines starting with the 1971 season. I owned and daily drove a Superbird in the early seventies. It was a cool car, but it was not a very good car.
I have read that it was to lure Richard Petty back to Plymouth, he had switched to Ford in 1969, Chrysler took such things seriously back then.
When there was direct, factory sponsorship of the teams, Chrysler felt they had the upper hand and, therefore, simply told Petty he would drive nothing but Plymouths. Well, Petty knew that the Dodges (first the 500, then the Daytona) would be the hot ticket and simply switched to a relatively aerodynamic Ford Talladega for the ’69 season.
In hindsight, it would have been a whole lot simpler and cheaper to let Petty drive the Dodge wingcars but I guess it must have been a matter of pride to keep him in a Plymouth. In fact, ironically, when Chrysler quit direct factory sponsorship the very next year at the end of the 1971 season, Petty actually drove both a Plymouth Road Runner and a Dodge Charger for 1972 and he kept with Chargers (and a Magnum) until moving to a colonnade Cutlass, then finished his career with Pontiacs.
But it must have driven Chrysler management crazy to have gone to all the trouble of making a Plymouth wingcar just for Petty, then watch the damn things languish on dealer lots, sometimes for years.
The Petty connection is true, but that isn’t the whole story. 1969 NASCAR rules stipulated a production run of 500 minimum cars. As a result of the aero Daytona, they changed the minimum figure to 1 car for every 2 dealers in the US for 1970, as rudiger pointed out. So instead of the 502 Daytonas Dodge had to sell, Plymouth was stuck with 1,920 cars to unload. That is a big reason why so many languished on dealer lots.
Insurance companies probably refused to cover Superbirds for driver under 30? So, ended up “nailed to the showroom floor”.
They had teenage appeal, but grown-ups who could afford them weren’t interested.
A lot of car fans say “Gov’t killed 60’s muscle cars”, but market conditions may have been more likely.
I watched a lot of Barrett-Jackson online this month before going to work. There were good deals to be had but I also noticed less desirable muscle cars were selling at slightly higher prices. On the other side of the spectrum there were cars that clearly sold well under what it cost to restore them. So obviously there were people who made little or no profit on their vehicles.
Personally I think Barrett-Jackson is over-hyped particularly on Friday and Saturday with bidding at times becoming a pissing contest among rich old men.
I also recall the story I heard a couple of years ago of a guy who bought a “restored” Boss 302 at Barrett-Jackson. After it arrived at his residence , he had it inspected at a reputable repair shop only to find a long list of problems. Buyer beware indeed. It took a lot more dollars to make the Mustang run properly and safe to drive on the street.
Right, underneath all the glitz, they are still used cars. Buying at an auction is always risky.
It’s been years since I’ve watched Barrett-Jackson on TV (since I no longer have cable), but back when I did, I remember being surprised at how many cars driving off the auction block in that last departing shot appeared to have burnt-out or messed up taillights — Impalas that should have four brake light bulbs illuminated when the driver braked would only show two working, etc. That of course made me wonder how many other issues there might be lurking beneath the surface of these supposedly “perfectly restored” cars. Bidder/buyer beware, indeed!
Interesting, that’s not really my scene but would be good to go once for the experience.
The Fiero was my speed, especially at that price.
I was at B-J this year; rode my bike over and locked it up to the chain link fence at the entrance.
The original condition cars that impressed me the most were a group of “Fox body” Mustangs. They were all on display together in one of the premium tents – where they belonged. I liked the 1990 7UP best but all were very well preserved original cars in the thirty year old range.
Unfortunately there were many poor cars in the low class tents to the south. I thought B-J was somewhat discriminating but there were just too many non-special, non-nice cars. These showed bad paint; dented chrome trim and dirty interiors & engine bays. I was disappointed. Then $28 for two bad hamburgers and two fries for lunch reminded me that this is the heart and soul of American free market car capitalism gone gross and tacky. But I enjoyed myself at the event.
That Fox-body display was truly impressive, I say as a child of the 80’s and a lover of those cars. It was amazing. Unfortunately my camera battery was dead when I got to it.
I wear cargo shorts to the auctions and have a large bag of trail mix in my pocket, so I don’t waste time or money buying food there. I figure I paid enough for the ticket ($45).
It’s well worth the money, in my opinion. Roughly figuring, I’d say at least a third of their cars are #1 condition cars. At least another third are easily high #2. The rest are solid 2’s and maybe 10% or less of #3’s. With 1700 cars, that’s at least a thousand very high quality cars. True, many are not very rare or special among a gathering of special interest vehicles, depending on your tastes. But again, the numbers. If you only consider a couple hundred to be really special cars, that’s an awful lot of specialness to see in one place.
I saw an article where someone paid $770,000 for a ’68 or ’69 Camaro at one of these auctions.
Almost EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars for a 50-year-old car just because it had some rare engine or something.
$800,000 for a Camaro. Think about that.
I also read an article about these “older” gentlemen who worship these cars from the 50s and 60s. Basically wondering where the market for these things is going to be when these guys go to “the great beyond”.
Do people under 30 care about (or posses the re$ources to purchase) these cars?
After all that, I would kill for the first year 1976 Cadilac Seville. Especially one of the first ones made. A child of the 1970s here.
I’m with on the seville. i think it is one of the most beautifull cars ever made.i remember when they came out at $12,000 plus the most expensive caddy in 1976 except for the limos. make mine a 1979 elegante and i am happy!!!
I’d never believed the Dodge Charger Daytonas were a tough sell, but here we are in Nov. 1970—compare the price to some of the other cars:
They’re so long that they’re cumbersome on the street, the nose clip tended to make them overheat in traffic, the insurance was undoubtedly murderous, and driving one of those as a young person was tantamount to calling the cops to preemptively report yourself for reckless driving and display of speed even if your driving was always scrupulously legal.
“… driving one of those as a young person was tantamount to calling the cops …”
Another reason for decline in ‘muscle car era’.
I just today realized why I may have an affinity for the Russo and Steele Daytona.
I built this years ago. Apart from a slightly different hue of blue and a white interior, it’s pretty darn similar. Even has the base 440 Commando engine
That copper 60 Chevrolet had to have lived its entire life indoors. That copper paint would fade badly under even normal sun exposure.
The problem with watching BJ on TV is the sameness of what crosses the block. I imagine they schedule the sexy cars and TV time together. The good thing about big auctions is that the large numers work in our favor when it comes to finding the abnormally clean survivors that excite most of us here.
Love how oddly optioned the 60 Chevrolet is. Two-tone paint, 283/PG, dual mirrors, traffic light viewer and lap belts… but manual brakes and radio delete. What a time capsule!
Also, no power steering and the rare Turboglide.
They will show full coverage of C2 Vettes and 68-69 Camaros. Then go to a commercial block when a full size car is coming up.
Aiming for lowest common denominator. The average guy who wanted a ’69 Camaro in HS to “pick up girls”, but has no idea what a camshaft is.
I ran across a very low-mileage original 1960 Chevrolet that was almost a clone of the one here, except that it was a 4-door sedan rather than a hardtop.
You were right about the 1957 Cadillac wheel covers on the 2-door hardtop you photographed. I like those and might have done such a swap on an earlier Caddy if I owned one. The 1953 black 4-door sedan that I did own was with me for such a short time – just a couple of months – that I’m not sure I ever even washed it.