Hi,
I've never bid at a car auction before but there are a couple of interesting cars coming up at the next Mecum auction in Houston. Sorry for what might be naive questions!

Will anyone be in Houston during this auction (Apr 4-6) who would be willing to check out a couple of cars ahead of time?

The info on the mecum web site is pretty limited. Is there additional info available? Or is it only come and find out for yourself? For example, some of the cars don't have any accompanying text at all, just pics.

Do the days/times the cars get presented have any correlation with the prices they are expected to bring? Someone told me the highest price expectations are for Sat afternoon, for example.

Any tips about auction buying appreciated,
Pat

 

Buying a car at an auction is like swimming with sharks , you better be one or you will get hurt. Unless you don't care about price or origonality .
JMO Bill

 

I am a experienced collector/restorer and I have bought at auctions. I bought my C2 at a Mecum auction. There is no question there are sharks and faked cars at auctions. Their are sharks and bad cars at classic car dealers and in the garages of private sellers too. It does not make sense to say that there are no honest sellers or good cars at the auctions because it isn't true.

What is universely and manifestly true is that one must inspect what he expects or cause someone qualified to do so. One ought NEVER buy an antique automobile without an inspection by a highly and indisputably qualified expert on the marque at hand. The one time I was dissapointed was the one time and last time I bought a car sight-unseen.

Though I fancy myself as quite the know-it-all with 7 antiques many of which I have restored, I knew that I had woefully insufficient knowledge to evaluate an expensive Corvette. So I had with me a well known restorer to make sure the car was as advertised. Even then, without a lift, I took some risk. And it turns out that while I bought an excellent fresh restoration, there were things that needed to be done I didn't expect. So no guarantees.

By all means go to an auction, where else can you see and have the opportunity to buy so many cars in one place? Just be sure you have in tow a guy like one of the typical guys here on this forum, and that he has looked it over for you. After that, it is just a matter of how much you are willing to pay.

Dan

 

I was at the Mecum auction in Kissimmee Florida this year, looking for a C2. It was my first auction, my observations is there are really good cars and not so good cars. You do not have the opportunity to have the car checked out, you can view the car ahead of time and might even be able to talk to the owner, but that is about it. As far as better cars on Saturday, I did not really se that. Owners pay a premium to have their cars go across the stage during prime time. The Kissimmee auction was 10 days and I think there were some very nice cars the first few days. I have a friend that will have a 1958 Corvette in the auction, it is a great car, he is selling it at the auction because there is a very focussed market. Bottom line if you see a car you like, try to look at it as closely as you can, start it ( the keys are in the cars), and if the price is right....buy it!

 

I will be at Mecum Houston. I have been to a number of auctions. I go bottom feeding for deals. keep an eye on the site, they continually update the data on the cars leading up to the auction.

I don't go looking to spend 50 or 100k, I want something I can drag home and resell or have fun with. I am in the 5 - 15 range. The good cars are generally pretty apparent. If you go earlier enough on the sale day you will often find the owner there.

When I have found a list of cars I want, I focus watching them bring them in from the yard. I don't watch the ones on the block, I watch the ones I am interested in start up and drive in. I am shocked at how few people do that.

I'll be at Houston first thing Thurs AM. PM me what you are interested in and I can send you some pics and give you my 25 cent opinion.