Auction Recap: Mecum Harrisburg 2016

Mecum finished their annual Harrisburg auction at the enormous Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex with $13.75 million in total sales. That’s well down from last year’s $19.7 million. The precipitous drop is largely due to a much smaller number of cars lining the cavernous complex in 2016. While almost 1,100 vehicles were offered in Harrisburg last year, just 634 were consigned this year. Barrett-Jackson’s inaugural Northeast sale in Connecticut, only a five hour drive from Harrisburg, likely poached some cars that otherwise would have gone to Mecum. On the plus side for Harrisburg, both the average sale price of $31,813 and the sell-through rate of 66 percent rose from last year’s $30,909 and 59 percent.

The sale’s top cars were all American muscle. Mecum consigned two Ford Mustang Boss 429s for Harrisburg, and a Grabber Blue example was the top lot at $242,000. The other car, which was finished in Calypso Coral and in slightly better condition, hammered not sold at a high bid of $225,000. A ’67 Chevrolet Corvette 427/400 Convertible was the second most expensive sale at $176,000. It’s an incredibly high result for the model, but the car deserved it featuring an exquisite, correct restoration finished last year. A pristinely kept, totally original triple black Chevy Chevelle LS6 also sold for $115,500.

Some of the biggest no-sales, meanwhile, included a matching numbers, fuel-injected ’63 Corvette Split Window Coupe at a high bid of $110,000, a ’67 Corvette 427/390 Coupe at a high bid of $180,000 and a 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster at a high bid of $160,000. Being a Mecum sale, Harrisburg was also not without the obligatory like-new Ford GT, but it didn’t sell at a high bid of $260,000. Of the available bargains, some of the most tempting were a lightly worn but well-kept and quite rare Jeep J20 pickup for $6,050, a 1993 Viper RT/10 with fewer than 30,000 miles for $24,200 and a 1985 Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate that was in great shape and finished in a handsome light metallic green for $9,350.

Overall top 10:

1. 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 sold for $242,000
2. 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/400hp Convertible sold for $176,000
3. 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/435hp Coupe sold for $137,500
4. 1963 Chevrolet Corvette 327/340hp Split Window Coupe sold for $132,000
5. 1968 Shelby GT350 Fastback sold for $121,000
6. 2015 Shelby GT350 sold for $121,000
7. 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 Convertible sold for $115,500
8. 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6 sold for $115,500
9. 1954 Chevrolet Corvette sold for $112,750
10. 1973 Chevrolet Corvette Motion Manta Ray GT sold for $110,000

Mecum’s next collector car auction will be the much-anticipated Monterey sale on August 18-20. Mecum’s featured consignments for Monterey are particularly impressive, especially their modern exotics. A Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari Enzo, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Hybrid and even a Ferrari LaFerrari, the first one ever offered at public auction, will cross the block.