MTFCA Forum

There is a couplet and a town car advertised in this auction. The couplet looks like it has a later engine. What are your opinions? https://www.goodingco.com/auction/estat ... th-auction Art

And a Model K, and a 1903 Model A!

I apparently have 3 weeks to sell everything I own to bid on that Harrah’s Mercury Speedster with the DO Fronty.


Andy

Andy, I bid on that mercury at Harrahs auction in 1984. I bought 1909 T #220 instead. The mercury went to Tom Powells of Southern California for I think 40K. It is a great Mercury.

Andy, be advised I have it on good authority you had better take a close look at the engine in the ex Harrah’s Merc speedster before bidding. Be prepared to take a second mortgage on your house depending on what you find. Just an FYI.

As neat as the Mercury is, I think I’ll be okay with the photo I have of it on the wall. While my Mercury may not have the provenance it is well on its way to being a pretty good example.

Andy

The description for the Couplet says the previous owner replaced the 21 engine with a correct hand crank engine but the pictures show an engine with a starter and a later, 22?, serial number.

Part of the late Mark Smith's collection. He had hundreds of cars. I have yet to see his large collection of Model T's & Model A's come to auction. I dont know if the family is keeping them or if they will be sold at a later date.

Couplet sold for 13000.00, Town car for 14000.00 ? Can that be right? Art

https://bid.goodingco.com/lots/view/1-7 ... travelodge
Surprised this brought so little.

I’m surprised that ‘17 Towncar only brought $14 K...
Nice !

I listened in to the auction live. The auctioneer was a snob and people were there to bid on some special high end classic cars. The big sale was a GM custom roadster that went for $1.5M. Several cars were in the 500K + Neiborhood. When the towncar came up he had to coax an opening bid of $5k, and the biding was slow at 1k increments. My impression was nobody wanted the towncar and it went to an impulse bidder for $14k, same with the couplet. He laughed at the AA Creaters popcorn truck and seemed surprised that it went for $60k or so. The trailer was one of the last it3ems and when someone jumped on the opening bid of $2k he didnt waste much time looking for any other bidders and brought the gavel down quick, then chuckled at the bid, and told the buyer not to forget to take it with him.

The sale must have brought in about $3M in bids, and at just a 10% premium, that is $300k, it was 12% for everything below 100 or 150k, plus a $100 registration fee for perhaps 1000 bidders and gawkers, makes an additional $100k. Dont know what his cut may have been from the seller.

At the end they said 8.6 million were received in bids. Below is a link to each lot (car). The estimated price and selling price are listed, as well as photo of the car. I thought the auctioneer did a good job, not spending too much time, but slowing down to $1,000 increments when warranted. He didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time trying to work the crowd for every last bid. Personally, I like an auctioneer who is consistent. If I am trying to sneak in at the end, I like to know that the third pass means the hammer is about to fall, not “stop and tell a story” time. A few cars brought significantly more than the projected price, and a few much less. I was surprised a few Lincoln’s and other well known marquees didn’t do better. A few brass did very well. I thought the 1903 8 hp Ford Model A was a good buy, because it’s a car known since it was new at a New York dealership, and according to a few “Model A guys,” quite correct.

https://bid.goodingco.com/lots/view/1-75OH41

The Mercury Speedster went for 74,000. Even after all these years the Harrah’s provenance stands out.

Andy

I imagine Rob must be very happy to see how much the model K touring went for. Well above the estimate at $379000.00 + the juice, ouch!

The buyers premium for the Chrysler custom roadster was over $145,000 for the fee alone.

Jeff,
I’ve seen Model K increase steadily in value over the last few years. As a personal aside, a good friend bought this K, and I’m thrilled he and his family have it, and that it will be driven and tour regularly. I’m looking forward to four 1907 Ford Model K on tour together in the near future.
Cheers,
Rob