Mopars Steal The Show At Mecum’s Indy Auction! Huge Gallery!

With both record prices and bargains, Mopars were the highlight of the 30th Annual Spring Classic.

The challenge to making any event last is consistency. Weathering the storms of business cycles, giving people a positive experience, and generating the idea that this is the one will all play into its legacy. The Mecum auction company has proven they know their target audience and can meet those marks. For 30 years, Dana Mecum and his crew have hosted an event called the Spring Classic, the granddaddy of their yearly schedule. It now takes over a majority of the display buildings at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on the northeast side of the capitol city of Indianapolis, where for five straight days they work hard to make automotive dreams come true.

That is because there is so much variety here. Mecum does pride itself as being the leading purveyor of great for-sale muscle cars, and there was no lack of them here. The truth that Mopar examples in general are nowhere near as commonplace as the competing brands had made Mecum very adept at interspersing either single cars or groups throughout each day. Early in the week are the cars that would work for a lot of buyers, sometimes needing some TLC but never junk (unless there is a reason the car is offered unfinished). Thursday, Friday, and Saturday is the “show” part of the show, when thousands of onlookers watch the action as cars trade hands for hundreds of thousands of dollars. 2017 was no exception. Let’s take a look.

That Virginia Collection

One thing that Mecum often handles are both estate and collection selling, and the Indy event saw no less than 13 groupings of cars of this nature, a number of which were offered without reserves. Among these were several that featured quality Mopars, including the Clarence Arnoldussen collection from Canada, the Dallas and Aimee Hawkins collection, and the 2010 Spring Collection, but for the hitters in the Mopar world it was a number of unrestored, original-paint, low-mileage cars in the group called “From a Private Virginia Collection.” These included a ’70 Hemi ’Cuda, an AAR Challenger, an M-code 1969 Road Runner, a 340 Swinger, and an amazing 1970 Duster in FM3 Moulin Rouge (Panther Pink in Dodge nomenclature) among other brands. The Duster got a lot of attention, drawing a hammer price of $46,000, which may well have been a record for a stock A-body/LA-engine Mopar. The Hemi ’Cuda, had less than 7,000 miles and in Top Banana yellow, took a $295,000 bid to bring home. Perhaps a little less than expected, the owner accepted this but took home a few Yenko models that did not meet his expectations. The ’Cuda was followed by the Road Runner at $120,000 and the 4,800-mile AAR at $110,000. Again, for people who appreciate survivor cars, these were blessed by Frank Badelson and needed nothing at all.

Dallas and Ammie Hawkins were selling a selection of their vehicles at no reserve, and we feel there were some good deals on these. Their Gator-grain roof 1970 Charger R/T with a U-code 440 brought $42,500, which was a great bargain for somebody on this car (we featured it on the Mopar Muscle facebook page before the auction). From the 2010 Spring collection, which were a group of cars previously bought from Mecum events back at that time and being sold again, was a high-compression 426 Max Wedge 1963 Polara 500 convertible that was top dog, banging out the door at $110,000 before buyer’s premium. A ’66 Hemi Charger with the scarce four-speed got somebody a true 426H driver for $50,000 right behind that.

The Arnoldussen cars were also strong, with Clarence and his car curator Dallas Harty only taking home two of 18 cars they brought. Action was led by a 1969 Dodge Daytona. Built as a 440 and painted white from the factory, this car had turned up without a numbers-matching engine and now sported an OEM-appearing Hemi install and a red wing and accompanying red interior. For the buyer looking for a show car without the stress of having a half-million or more in a real Hemi Dodge wing, it was a stunning car in appearance and quality, and took home a solid $225,000 final price. Based on trends, this was possibly more than it might have brought as a 440ci restoration to perfect stock.

Market Correction Or Correct?

Clarence, who operates a Chrysler franchise in Canada, represents what could be considered the “practical seller.” Rather than take a bunch of cars back home, he had realistic expections, saw the money was there, and cashed out. For example, his 1970 Challenger convertible, a beautiful restoration on a vehicle that was presented to Bob Hope, whose 1970 TV show was sponsored by Chrysler. The R/T is red with matched red interior, great options including power windows, and a U-code 440 four-barrel that allowed Hope to get air-conditioning. This car was bought very nicely at $105,000, which included a pile of signed Hope memorabilia, and Arnoldussen was wise enough to take good money for it rather than wait for “that one guy” to pay more for a 440-4BBL model. Same with his M-code Super Bee ($72,500) and 1969 Hemi Road Runner ($80,000). Solid money in hand, Dallas told us they were very happy with how much the sale of the 16 vehicles that sold generated.

Are there changes in the market for Mopars? Truth be told, there is a lot of money flowing into the real economy right now, and some of the cash we were seeing in all forms of collectible items is being used that way. So as result, we did not see what could be called “breath-taking prices,” but we also did not see “giveaway losses.” My personal feeling is that there is a correctness to the present pricing, meaning that the real-world money being offered is the true market at this moment. The prices were not because the big spenders were not there or were not spending, but simply that these were practical values on these cars. Seller Joe Cheeks let his amazing one-of-one Mr. Norm’s-sold 1970 Six Pack Super Bee sell for $80,000 as the event wound down. He had hoped for more, but saw the money, and decided to sell it through the Bid Goes On.

The one exception to this rule, again in my opinion, was the survivor 1970 Hemi ’Cuda, which seemed a little soft at $295,000, but hey, $295,000 is not $195,000, so that doesn’t appear to a true “big correction,” just real money, and the Mecum crowd was buying. Sell-through percentages were probably in the 70 to 75 percent range, a great achievement considering that reserves are offered at the Mecum events. The patented cry of “the reserve if off!” resounded again and again each day.

That left us with that Hemi Superbird. A number of wing cars had been at Kissimmee and sold with varying degrees of success. This car, showing less than 10,000 miles and nicely documented, was expected to bring in excess of $300,000. As the price moved above $225,000 asking $250,000, the seller pulled the reserve and the hammer came down with a $230,000 final price. Since the car did not have any significant issues in equipment or provenance, this might have been a correction, but an accompanying issue may have. It frankly did not display any “patina” endemic to most unrestored vehicles. Couple that to the column-shift Torqueflite, and maybe $230,000 was not that far from real-world. Still, most people I talked with felt it was the deal of the weekend for someone with deeper pockets than us. Great car at a great price…

The Bid Goes On…

The top non-selling Mopar was the Lee Smith altered-wheelbase car, which was hoping for a little action close to Smith’s northern Illinois home. Alas, $400,000 was understandably not enough to generate sold!  Nevertheless, this one-of-two remaining Plymouth factory “funny cars” is such a unique car it just may not have had the right type of buyer yet. Behind this was a beautiful Hellcat-powered 1971 Challenger convertible that was kept with a top offer of $175,000. These two were followed by a number of cars that were perhaps bid lower than expected but not by huge margins. Still, many experienced owners recognized this was a great event to sell at. Indeed, the Bid Goes On list was short from Indy and contained only 15 Mopar vehicles in the higher $50,000-up range.

In terms of pricing trends, what is evident in some cases is that the story accompanying a car is a good part of its attraction. A case in point was a meticulously-finished 1970 Challenger R/T, blue with white longitudinal striping, white interior, power windows and four-barrel 440. Often looked down against the Six Pack version, this U-code car had been owned by a single family since day one and brought a solid hammer price of $110,000. It seems there is an upward trend on 440 four-barrel E-Body models right now, which for many years were hard to delineate from the 383 base models. There were no 340 four-barrel E-Body convertibles at this event, which is understandable as good 340 cars in general are not in big supply.

Originality remains an important part of today’s hobby. While the FM3 Duster was expected to do well, an incredible blue 1968 Belvedere with a 225 Six, one family, and 18,000 miles, hammered to $30,000, a very big price for a six-cylinder B-Body. Continuing along those lines, surprising was the number of second-generation Charger R/Ts, and where they fell pricewise. The only Daytona on hand was the aforementioned Hemi-transplant at $225K, followed by a pair of 1969 Hemi Charger 500s which did not meet reserve, but a number of both 383 and 440 models from the 1968-1970 era were purchased at nice prices. These remain cars with strong interest in the hobby, and there appears to be a little room right now if you are not trying to buy an original Hemi car and can spend between $35,000 and $50,000. That’s not chump change, but it’s not $100,000 either. The same is somewhat less true on Six Pack models in B-Body form, regardless of brand. Convertibles with multiple carburation will remain the trend setters, and the scarce Road Runner droptops regardless of engine are now steadily above $50,000.

And if your budget is under $20,000? There are still big-block C-Bodies, including convertibles, that can be found below that margin, as well as modified vehicles based on A- and B-Body platforms. As noted above, if you are serious about buying that sort of car at auction, the best time to come is during the earliest days of the event, when you can examine the cars personally and then give it your best shot. Mecum hosts events nationwide, but Indy and the January event in Kissimmee feature the largest variety. Go to mecum.com for both the schedule and lists for specific auctions.

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