Auction Recap: Mecum Dallas 2016

The middle of the classic car market appears to be chugging right along. While we know that the market as a whole has been slowing down, we’ve repeatedly mentioned that this is due to the pullback occurring in the market’s upper tiers, which skew results. Mecum’s Dallas auction results support these conclusions.

Over 1,000 cars crossed the block at this year’s four-day Mecum Dallas auction, a surprising number of which were rare and interesting vehicles. The sale raised a grand total of $24,171,840, with an average price of $33,340. Mecum achieved a 67 percent sell-through rate, selling 725 vehicles from the 1,080 offered. Despite having almost 80 fewer vehicles on offer this year compared to last, Dallas 2016 saw a healthy increase over the $23.5 million achieved in 2015.

The biggest sale of the auction was a well restored, early production 1965 Shelby GT350 fastback at $451,000, a very strong price for the model. Other exceptional cars included a rarely seen ’68 Yenko Camaro RS/SS for $368,500, an unrestored and fabulously preserved 1970 Hemi Cuda for $286,000, a ’57 F-Code Thunderbird for $203,500 and a 1984 Lamborghini Countach for a relatively cheap $231,000.

Unfortunately, many of the more unique cars were among the no-sales. Several of the big cars (the Ferraris in particular) had failed to sell at Mecum’s Monterey sale back in August, Houston in April or Kissimmee in January, but didn’t have any better luck the second time across the block. The ultra-rare 1996 Porsche 993 GT2 Evo that failed to sell in Monterey at a $1 million high bid wound up hammering not sold at $950,000 in Dallas. Other big misses included a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible Fuelie at $120,000, two Ferrari 246 Dinos at $300,000 each, a 1989 Porsche 930 Cabriolet at $130,000, a 1969 Maserati Ghibli SS 4.9 Spider at $860,000, a 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona at $700,000, a 1963 Corvette Z06 Tanker at $500,000, a 2012 Porsche GT3 Cup car at $450,000 and a 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC at $575,000.

Other downright unusual cars further down the price ladder included several delightfully tacky 1970s neoclassics, with a 1972 Stutz Blackhawk (no-sale at $47,000), a 1981 Phillips Berlina (sold for $35,200) and a 1976 Excalibur Series III (sold for $34,100). AMC fans also had a few treats, with a 1969 Hurst SC/Rambler that sold for $45,100 and a 1969 Javelin SST that sold for $62,920. Well restored and loaded with both Go Package and Mod Package, it has to be one of the nicest Javelins in the world.

As always, there were a few bargains to be had at this sale too. A 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SL sold for $6,600, a 2002 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Convertible sold for $35,200 and a very clean, low-mileage 1994 Porsche 968 Cabriolet sold for just $17,600. A 1998 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur III also sold for just $11,000, although it could easily rack up that much in cost again with just one trip to the shop.

Overall top 10:

1. 1965 Shelby GT350 Fastback sold for $451,000
2. 1968 Chevrolet Yenko Camaro RS/SS sold for $368,500
3. 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda sold for $286,000
4. 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona sold for $266,750
5. 1984 Lamborghini Countach sold for $231,000
6. 1957 Ford Thunderbird F-Code sold for $203,500
7. 2002 BMW Z8 Roadster sold for $198,000
8. 1969  Ford Mustang Boss 429 sold for $198,000
9. 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda sold for $123,750
10. 1967 Shelby GT350 Fastback sold for $117,700

Mecum’s next collector car auction will be in Anaheim on November 17-19.