Mecum’s April auction at Kansas City provided some interesting fodder for commentary. I’ll concentrate on the 1980s cars and trucks that actually sold (remember that this is not a no reserve auction) and add some of my opinions.
Thursday:
- 1985 beige Cadillac Eldorado coupe—$6,000 hammer price.
- 1984 Silver Metallic Chevrolet Corvette coupe—$3,000
- 1985 Cream Beige Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe—$4,500. These cars sold in immense numbers (134,000 coupes in 1985 alone); does this mean there will be some collector interest?
- 1982 white Mercedes-Benz 240D sedan—$4,100
- 1981 orange Jeep CJ-7 SUV—$11,500
- 1982 Silver Beige Chevrolet Corvette Collector Edition coupe missing all of the exterior striping—$11,000
- 1983 red Phillips Berlina coupe. Yet another Corvette-based “neo-classic”—this C3-derived one sold for $14,500.
- 1985 black Chevrolet pickup truck—$11,500
- 1987 white Ford Mustang LX convertible – $4,000
- 1989 black Pontiac Firebird Formula coupe—$5,500
- 1985 black Chevrolet Cheyenne mild custom pickup truck—$4,250
Friday:
- 1986 gray Mercedes-Benz 560SL convertible—$8,000
- 1980 Dark Blue Chevrolet Camaro coupe—$7,500
- 1985 medium blue/light blue two-tone Chevrolet K5 Blazer SUV—$10,000
- 1988 Medium Blue Metallic Chevrolet Corvette convertible with 63,000 miles—a nice car for $9,750.
- 1985 Dark Red Metallic Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz coupe—$5,500. Why did this sell for less than the beige 1985 on Thursday?
- 1986 red Pontiac Firebird Trans Am coupe with 56,000 miles—$8,000
- 1981 black Chevrolet Corvette coupe with 68,000 miles—$12,500
Saturday:
- 1984 Red Chevrolet Corvette coupe with 12,000 miles—$12,000. According to Hagerty’s valuation tools, all the money for an 1984 Corvette in #1 condition is $15,300.
- 1980 white Chevrolet Corvette coupe—$11,250
- 1985 red Chevrolet C10 mild custom pickup—$18,000. It took until Saturday for the only vehicle in this auction that met my criteria for serious 1980s collectability of original cars or trucks: selling for equal to or above its original base list price.
- 1983 Ice Blue Lotus Esprit (non-turbo) coupe with 5,700 miles—$30,000. Probably the most interesting eighties car in this auction, though I don’t quite understand paying $49,809 (about $118,200 in today’s dollars) for this 140 bhp car in 1983.
- 1980 Russet Brown MGB convertible—$4,500. How much did the color drive the price down?
What do you think of this auction’s results?
Eighties Cars 