Ernie Clair, Sr. Auction is a Saco Success
The Keenan brothers hit the ball out of the park with the Ernie Clair auction in Saco, Maine on Sunday.
Clair, who owned 19 auto dealerships in the Boston area and in Maine at the time of his death at age 80 in 2004 and was reported at the time to be the largest private landowner in both Boston and Maine, accumulated cars like he accumulated property. He obviously wasn't big on doing anything with them, just acquiring them and keeping them.
The cars were a diverse mix. There were lots of Buicks -- I recall that a Buick store was the foundation of Clair Motors -- many of which may have been traded in. Many others were obviously found in fields that he bought. There were vehicles that were literally broken in half from rot and others that looked like they'd already started a sort of environmental crushing process.
Others had been good cars at one point but had been left unattended for way too long.
None of that seemed to deter the bidders, most of whom were local and many of whom seemed to have no concept of "the market", at least based upon the prices being paid.
The 1953 Buick Skylark is a good example. A largely complete and basically sound car, it had been left for decades and was in "needs everything" condition. An internet bidder on Proxibid paid $71,000 plus a 10% commission for it, $78,100, and then had to get it home. Figure it'll be $80,000 (if no sales tax was due) by the time it gets to a restorer. Done perfectly it's a $200,000 car, and the journey to get from here to "done perfectly" is going to cost more than $100,000.
Most of the first 90 or so cars crossed the block, a few of them under their own power but most being pushed (the pushers earned their money today). A few went right across the block and out the other side (no brakes.)
Optimism reigned supreme, which is telling at a time when real estate values are wobbly, gasoline is three bucks a gallon and the Detroit Big Three aren't "Big" any more.
The Keenan brothers hit the ball out of the park with the Ernie Clair auction in Saco, Maine on Sunday.
Clair, who owned 19 auto dealerships in the Boston area and in Maine at the time of his death at age 80 in 2004 and was reported at the time to be the largest private landowner in both Boston and Maine, accumulated cars like he accumulated property. He obviously wasn't big on doing anything with them, just acquiring them and keeping them.
The cars were a diverse mix. There were lots of Buicks -- I recall that a Buick store was the foundation of Clair Motors -- many of which may have been traded in. Many others were obviously found in fields that he bought. There were vehicles that were literally broken in half from rot and others that looked like they'd already started a sort of environmental crushing process.
Others had been good cars at one point but had been left unattended for way too long.
None of that seemed to deter the bidders, most of whom were local and many of whom seemed to have no concept of "the market", at least based upon the prices being paid.
The 1953 Buick Skylark is a good example. A largely complete and basically sound car, it had been left for decades and was in "needs everything" condition. An internet bidder on Proxibid paid $71,000 plus a 10% commission for it, $78,100, and then had to get it home. Figure it'll be $80,000 (if no sales tax was due) by the time it gets to a restorer. Done perfectly it's a $200,000 car, and the journey to get from here to "done perfectly" is going to cost more than $100,000.
Most of the first 90 or so cars crossed the block, a few of them under their own power but most being pushed (the pushers earned their money today). A few went right across the block and out the other side (no brakes.)
Optimism reigned supreme, which is telling at a time when real estate values are wobbly, gasoline is three bucks a gallon and the Detroit Big Three aren't "Big" any more.
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