Mecum Auctions, Monterey, August 15-17, 2019
Mecum’s “Daytime Auction” at Monterey was down 34.7% from last year, similar to the overall experience at Monterey this year. In Mecum’s case that was less unusual. As the table below shows, being up and down by a third has been a common experience at this venue and while this is the lowest total for […]
Mecum Auctions, Spring Classic State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis, May 15-19, 2019 Part II: Ford Thunderbird through Volkswagen
Let the introduction to Part I suffice, these are the rest of the cars, including the ’57 Ford F-birds. But a comment is in order. Mecum loaded the Spring Classic with ’57 T-birds, 24 of them in all, not to mention ’55 and ’56 T-birds. The sell-through was disappointing, just 14 of the 24 57’s, […]
Mecum Auctions, Spring Classic State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis, May 15-19, 2019 Part I: AM General through Ford Mustang
There were five of us on the ground at Mecum’s Spring Classic with the result that 238 of the 1,123 vehicles offered were described in detail. Put in literal terms, that’s about 37,571 words of content, about the same as a 150 page trade paperback novel. Now, a quarter to a third of it is […]
Mecum Auctions, Houston, April 4-6, 2019
Just over a thousand lots crossed the Mecum auction block at the NRG Center in Houston, Mecum’s eighth year at this venue. The car count was the Houston sale’s second highest. The sell-through rate also was second highest. The sale total, however, was the second lowest, a performance traced to a paucity of high priced […]
Mecum Auctions, Phoenix (Glendale), Arizona, March 14-17, 2019
A new venue for Mecum Auctions, this was a two-day – no, a three-day – no, a four-day sale at State Farm (formerly University of Phoenix) Stadium in the west Phoenix city of Glendale, Arizona. The expansion from two to four days was driven by the amount of consignor interest just two months after the […]
Mecum Kissimmee, January 3-13, 2019 Part 2
The summary and introductory material was supplied two days ago with Part 1 and we’ll just go right to the additional 130 transaction reports and descriptions from Fiat through Willys. Onsite observations are by Andrew Newton, Jossan Elias and Rick Carey but I edited the final copy and am responsible for it. The sort order […]
Mecum Auctions, Kissimmee, January -13, 2019 Part I: Acura-Ferrari
I have some help with auction reporting these days, which is a Good Thing. But sometimes a Good Thing becomes a challenge, and that was true at Kissimmee this year where Jossan Elias and Andrew Newton added 135 observations. Combined we took advantage of the opportunity Mecum presents to give an early year cross-section of […]
Mecum Auctions, Las Vegas, November 15-17, 2018
The numbers below describe a typical Mecum auction with a mid-$30’s average and mid-$20s median. Missing from that picture are the 39 cars from the Academy of Art University collection, a paltry 4 ½% of the lots offered that has an outsized position on Mecum Auction’s ambitions. 26 of the 39 offered from the collection […]
Mecum Auctions, Dallas, October 3-6, 2018
Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Since securing the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in 2012 to enter the Dallas-Ft. Worth market Mecum Auctions has built – as they seem consistently to be able to do – a steady four-day presence with 1,000+ lots on offer. Their calendar record hasn’t been as steady, with five of […]
Mecum Auctions, Monterey, August 23-25, 2018
Mecum Auctions has been in Monterey now for a decade, growing from a $14.2 million sale in 2009 to this year’s $45.7 million with a peak sale in 2016 of $50.9 million. They’re an important part of the Monterey car week scenery now, drawing a huge crowd of spectators to the Del Monte Golf Course […]