Mecum Auto Auctions: View the Top Cars and Choose Your Favorite

08/15/2012

Rate Your Favorite – the Porsche Edition from Mecum Monterey, 2012

Now and then we like to post a few of the specials you’ll see crossing the block at the latest Mecum Auction. The latest auction taking place in Monterey starts this Thursday, August 16 and runs through Saturday, August 18 from 3:00 pm through 9:00 pm ET. We'll be featuring it live so check your schedules!

This Mecum Auto Auction just happens to be featuring some of the finest Porsches you’ll ever see. While there are some 40 that will cross the block, we've picked four that are not only stunning but have a storied history.

Tell us which one is your favorite on our Facebook Page!

1972 Porsche L&M 917/10 Spyder, '72 Can-Am Champion Driven by George Follmer

Perhaps the world’s most recognized Porsche 917, this car earned Porsche their first Can-Am Championship and is one of the most significant race cars ever built.

  

The Grand Ascent Hillclimb 2012

06/16/2012

On Tuesday 12/11, you'll get to see a classic episode of Chasing Classic Cars where Wayne Carini goes through his plan to market and then sell th Porsche Special Hill Climb Car. He takes it to the Hershey Hill Climb race to put it through its paces and has a darn good time doing it. But that doesn't stop him from taking it to auction.

THough the Hill Climb took place back in June, we were lucky enough to have Kenneth Visser - automobile fan, blogger and photographer extraordinaire on site and reporting back on the action. Take a walk down memory lane below, and don't forget to tune in to Chasing Classic Cars starting on Tuesday 12/11 starting at 9p.

Another fine tradition has been reignited with the second running of the The Grand Ascent Hillclimb held on the grounds of the Hershey Hotel.  This is a VSCCA sanctioned hill climb exhibition and features a wide variety historic racing cars thundering up a five turn three quarters of a mile long course.  A unique opportunity to see, hear and smell vintage race cars slamming gears.  This event was reignited with the start of the Elegance At Hershey.  We'll talk more about the Concours later.  Let's take a look at some of the neat machinery that was attacking the hill.

Wayne Carini was selected as the Honary Grand Marshall of the Grand Ascent.  He brought his smile and his driving skills to the hill.

Wayne Carini of Chasing Classic Cars took the Bill Rutan VW* special with a 356 four cam motor up the hill.  Wayne spoke about the rides up later "I had a blast"  And his sub 57 second times were reflective of his blistering pace. 

 

Astronomical Price For Neil Armstrong's '67 Corvette

05/08/2012

The ebay auction for Neil Armstrong's 1967 Corvette Sting Ray ended on Sunday with the highest bid being 250,090. An atronomical amount that did not even meet the seller's reserve.

The high price seems to solely be based on the fact that the first man on the moon once owned the car, not the car's model, make or condition. The car has not been driven since 1981, and looks like it made a trip to the moon itself. According to the seller the car was stored in a climate-controlled environment and is mostly original. 

To prove the validity of the car's previous ownership, the  seller presents the car's original General Motors "Protect-O-Plate," a factory issued metal tag with the name of the car's original owner. The Corvette was given to Armstrong, after race car driver Jim Rathmann convinced the GM president to set up a program to supply each astronaut with a pair of new cars each year. Most chose a family car for their wives and a Corvette for themselves.

Not bad being an astronaut those days.

In tonight's episode of Chasing Classic Cars Wayne Carini is commissioned to sell several classic Chevrolets and a Dodge Challenger. With the risk of getting lost in the crowd of 2,000 cars being sold at the Mecum Auction in Kissimee, Fl, Carini would be over the moon if any of those cars got a bid that high.

Chasing Classic Cars: Stylish, but Impractical Woodies

05/01/2012

In the 1930s, in response to the demand for stylish vehicles, many car manufacturers began building woodies: wood-bodied vehicles that possessed the kind of character and style that an ordinary steel-bodied car did (and does) not.

Many of the woodies were pressed into service by lodges, inns and country clubs, while wealthy people with country estates used them for the classy kind of suburban transportation.

Sometimes woodies were made by large coachbuilding companies, but often they were built by local carpenters and craftsmen for individual customers (I suppose we can say carpenters were the early age car customizers). The cars were usually the most expensive variants of a model made and meant only for the classiest of people.

Some woodies had curtains instead of roll-up windows and looked a lot like horse-drawn carriages and canopied express trains. But there was one drawback of the woodies: they were just about as impractical as they were awesome. Their bodywork required at least as much bodywork as a boat, but there was something enchanting about the way they squeaked and rattled.

Because of the impracticality and high cost of production car manufacturers eventually stopped building the woodies. Only a very limited number of woodies were made, which makes them so valuable today. Ford only sold 1654 woodies wagons, and Wayne Carini owns one of them: a 1939 Ford Woodie Wagon, complete with canoe on top. A woodie in good condition could bring in between $150,000-$200,000. It is no wonder that Wayne Carini has a great love for woodies, and is torn whether or not to sell his beloved woodie or not.

Watch Chasing Classic Cars tonight at 10pm to see what he decides! Only on Velocity.

Photo Credit: DCL

Iconic in Shap and Lust: the Jaguar XKE

04/24/2012

If Enzo Ferrari calls it “the most beautiful car ever made,” you know there can't be much wrong with it. And the Jaguar XKE really is stunning. This racecar made for the road combines style with speed, and savagery with civility.

This supercar was the lineal descendant of the Jaguar D-Type, a racing car that had won Le Mans in 1955, ’56, and ’57 and was propelled by a high-spec version of the famous XK engine.

The XKE made its first appearance at the 1961 Geneva Auto Show, and it was nothing like anyone had ever seen before. Stylistically and mechanically the car was similar to the D-Type Jaguar, but the body was smooth and balanced. It had a long hood and ended with a gently rounded tail.

Under that long hood was a 3.8-liter twincam six inherited from the previous Jag sports car, the XK-150S. It used triple SU carburetors and produced 265 hp. And with an impressive top speed of 150 mph the 1961 XKE was faster than any other production car at the time.

And the best part about the car was that it was attainable. Priced slightly higher than a Corvette and less than half of a Ferrari at the time, this car was a steal. It was a mass-market product, unlike any other supercar built at the time: over 70,000 E-Types were built. All in all an AMAZING car.

Tonight on Chasing Classic Cars, while Wayne Carini checks out the cars of the Hartung collection, he finds plenty of Jaguars, including a 1973 Jaguar XKE. Tune in, tonight at 10pm.