Mecum's Two Auctions, One Weekend
Mecum has two auctions coming up in October, both of which will share the same weekend in different cities. Between October 13 – 15 an expected 1,000 collector cars, trucks and more will cross the auction block at the Schaumburg Convention Center for Mecum’s 2022 Chicago sale.
Over the same weekend, October 14 – 15, Mecum’s second annual Chattanooga auction will take place as part of the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival. Last year more than 500 vehicles crossed the block and resulted in sales totaling $18.7 million. This year Mecum expects as many as 600 cars and trucks to hit the auction block over two days.
You’d be forgiven for thinking it sounds a bit like Fall Auburn sales of the past with dueling auctioneers, although in this case it’s dueling auctions in different cities rather than two auctioneers in one building. This is the first time we’ve ever seen one auction house hold sales in two cities at the same time so it should be interesting to see if there’s a noticeable effect on the sell-through rate or realized prices.
Chattanooga’s auction will feature a collection of 60 cars found in a firehouse in Georgia, all of which are being offered with no reserve. An eclectic grouping of cars, The Firehouse Find includes Corvettes and a 1957 Ford Thunderbird F-Code. The Firehouse Find is expected to sell on Friday October 14.
Saturday October 15 will see strong Mopar representation with an AACA Grand National Senior winning 1969 Plymouth GTX Convertible scheduled to hit the block, as well as a 1971 Plymouth Cuda with the 440 V8 and a manual transmission being offered the same day.
Mecum Chicago 2022 has an impressive pair of Chevelles available, both of which are from 1970. The first, a special-order example, is equipped with the LS6 454 V8 paired with an automatic transmission and finished in Tuxedo Black. That car includes original build sheets and was restored in 2013.
The other 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 is a matching-numbers example and has a Cranberry Red exterior with a black interior. It’s equipped with a four-speed manual transmission, an aluminum intake manifold, and Holley carburetor.
Chicago won’t be lacking Mopar either with a Plum Crazy 1970 Dodge Challenger Convertible on hand that was restored as a Hemi Challenger R/T replica complete with a 426 Hemi V8, four-speed manual transmission, and power steering and brakes.
Other attractive lots include a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible with an original L78 engine and four-speed manual transmission that is a multiple-time Top Flight winner. Enthusiasts in search of a different sort of car may be interested in the 1971 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible once owned by Helen Brach of the Brach’s candy company. That car shows only 16,000 miles, believed to be original, and sports a bold magenta exterior with an off-white convertible top and leather interior with magenta piping.
All in Mecum expects to see more than 1,500 cars, trucks, and other vehicles cross the block in two different states at the same time. Thinking out loud here, but we might just see more phone bidders than usual at one or both of these sales.