Friday, January 22, 2010

RM AUCTION AT THE BILTMORE

And you thought England was only famous for the Beatles?

By: Cathy and Bill

The Biltmore Hotel, in Phoenix, Arizona, set the stage for the grandeur and excitement of the annual RM Auction, January  21 and 22nd. RM celebrated “The British are Coming” on Thursday with choices ranging from a ’49 MG Roadster to a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 Racing Car.

Bill and I met collectors from all over the world, and enjoyed stories of cars lost, and jewels found in suburban barns over their many years of collecting. As you listened to these stories, you couldn’t help but pay attention to the soundtracks of the Beatles greatest hits, over the sound system.  It really put you in the mood to collect “British”.



One of the most unique cars on the block ( not from England)  for this auction was the 1956 Cadillac “Maharani Special” Motorama show car.  This Cadillac is also referred to as the “Kitchen Sink Cadillac.” Its stated purpose was to store, prepare, serve and clean-up an entire meal, in a setting for a king.  It was designed as nothing short of a kitchen on wheels – a function that required the removal of about half the front seat to allow for the installation of an electrical hot plate to warm food, a toaster and refrigerator in the trunk.


You could store fine china as well as a cutlery tray that features individual positions for forks, knives and spoons. 

Check out our radio interview with Ian Kelleher, the President and COO of RM Auctions, on our January 23rd show on KKNT-960 AM 5-7 PM or go to www.twofortheroadusa.com click on radio shows.

This vehicle is estimated to go for between $150,000 and $200,000 dollars.
The photo we took, doesn’t do it justice, but if you google the “Kitchen Sink Cadillac” you will see how innovative and cool this “Maharani Special” really is.











Local Motors picks Phoenix for its first Micro Factory.

January 22, 2010 – Phoenix, Arizona

Local Motors picks Phoenix for its first Micro Factory.  The exact location is still a mystery. Local Motors is your stage to celebrate the designs you love, where you ultimately have a hand in choosing the next great American car.  Intriguing idea?

Learn more about Local Motors and President CEO Jay Rogers by going to www.local-motors.com and their Facebook page www.facebook.com/RallyFighter. Jay Rogers, Ariel Ferreira and Sarah Stokes drove the Rally Fighter to the radio studio for their interview today. 
Check out the Saturday, January 23rd show on Two for the Road on KKNT-960   5-7 PM.

Left to right Ariel, Bill Z Sarah,
Jay and Cathy D.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Car Collectors Panel Discussion for Collecting In Today’s Market

At Russo and Steele January 21, 2010

By Bill Zervakos

It was a cold rainy January day in Scottsdale Arizona at the Russo and Steele Auction but the conversation was hot as a panel of eminent car collector experts talked about today’s market.

McKeel Hagerty, Co-CEO of Hagerty Insurance moderated the event and kept the questions flowing to the panel which included; Drew Alcazar of Russo and Steele, Dave Kinney of Hagerty’s Cars that Matter Price Guide, Colin Comer of Colin’s Classic Auto, Todd Wertman of Symbolic Motors, Rob Sass, Hagerty Insurance Media Services and freelance writer and Donald Osborn, appraiser and consultant.

The panel addressed the market correction of 2008 and 2009 and its affect on collector cars and which ones held their value and the ones that didn’t do so well. Dave Kinney talked about how the Blue Chip cars held up well from ’06 to the present time without much of a loss at all. Colin Comer felt that muscle cars were the poster child, his words, for the plunge in values with particular emphasis on clones with the exception being true, numbers matching cars that hadn’t been modified.

Drew Alcazar followed up by saying that it was true in the sense that documented muscle cars are and will continue to do well while enthusiast cars, the ones that people bought because they wanted to tinker with something, are taking a bit of a hit. He also said that sellers are adamant about disclosure and they back up their documentation.

Todd Wertman said that the Euro cars took a pretty big hit after a meteoric rise, but the best of the best held value and will continue to. Donald Osborn followed by saying that buyers are even more selective and Rob Sass said that German cars held up fairly well in the European markets.

The panel pretty much agreed that the some post-war American cars like Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac etc., the dream cars of the Boomers if you will, will do well and are good buys but they can be a double edged sword. The consensus was, buy if you love them, but not necessarily as an investment. They did caution that no doc cars, 4-door cars and station wagons are very slow and tough to sell right now.

The panel also agreed that cars like the tri-five Chevy’s, Hemi Cuda’s and the like have reached a saturation point and unless you have the perfect car with all documentation, prices can be off quite a bit. There does seem to be building interest in the Brass era, late 1800’s to early 1900’s with younger buyers.

Summing up the market today, high quality well documented original cars are strong and will continue to be, while clones and wanna be’s not so much. Hot rods are pretty flat and to sell buyers want to know the builder and the quality has to be there.  Drew Alcazar talked about the confusion between true collector cars and enthusiast’s cars and how understanding the difference is critical. In other words, you better love the car if you buy an enthusiast’s car, because the only way to recoup the cost, by enjoying it.

In looking at recovery, most agreed that the premium cars talked about will do fine but if a car isn’t the best of the best or event eligible then plan to ride it out. Rob felt the Euro Sports cars will recover first, Todd talked about the event eligible cars, and Colin said that the top cars in all genres will recover well. Dave made an interesting argument for minor muscle cars like small block Chevy’s, 302 Mustangs and so on doing well and Drew feels as though the American romance cars, big fins and lots of chrome will come back strong.

It was an interesting and informative session, these gentlemen are the crème de la crème of the industry so I’m inclined to believe what they say. One thing they all agreed on of course, is that it is quickly becoming a world market and knowing how to work in different cultures is going to be key for players on that stage.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Three Experts, Three Views on Collector Car Trends

Our friend and colleague, Larry Edsall from the Phoenix Automotive Press Association wrote this article for the New York Times. This was a wonderful meeting that we attended and Larry summed it up beautifully.


By LARRY EDSALL
PHOENIX – Car collectors from around the world are either here in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun (where it’s raining, with more precipitation forecast throughout the week), or they are tuned in via television, telephone or the Internet as some 3,000 vehicles of special interest and historic value are up for auction at a variety of venues.
Tuesday night in the Phoenix Art Museum, three experts shared their thoughts about car collecting at the Phoenix Automotive Press Association’s Arizona Auction preview.
Trends in collecting may come and go, but the collectors tend to remain the same – they’re 40 to 60 years of age, said Don Williams, who has been involved in buying and selling classic cars since he was a teenager in the 1960s. Mr. Williams has bought, sold or been involved in the sale of some 10,000 classic vehicles and has assembled the Blackhawk Collection, a part-museum, part-classic car dealership in Northern California.
While the buyer demographic may have remained the same for decades, Mr. Williams added that “a 50-year-old today doesn’t not want to collect the same vehicles as a 50-year-old did in the 1970s.”

What those graying buyers want first and foremost are the cars they lusted for back when they were in high school. For today’s bidders, those cars often are 1950s and ’60s models, whether European sports cars or American muscle cars.
But such schoolboy nostalgia can “mature backward,” producing serious car collectors who develop an appreciation for earlier vehicles, said McKeel Hagerty, second-generation head of a family-owned collector car insurance company. Before long, he said, a pre-war Rolls-Royce or Packard may be parked next to that late 1960s muscle car.
Donald Osborne, a New York native who performed as a baritone with the Metropolitan Opera for two seasons before pursuing his passion for exotic Italian cars, said what he’s seeing, especially from young collectors who have grown up in an age of digital electronics, is a new appreciation for the really old, “brass era” vehicles that provide a delightful usability and can be driven and enjoyed for their “purely mechanical” nature.
Mr. Hagerty said another trend is the appreciation for cars that have been preserved rather than restored. “A car can be original only once,” he noted, saying such cars are motorized time capsules and are being sought “like jewels” by automotive collectors.
But, added Mr. Williams, each generation makes its own choices about what cars it will value. For example, he said, 20 years ago, he’d never have thought 1950s concept cars would become the object of bidding wars.
Mr. Hagerty agreed and went back to the importance of the classic car buyer’s high school daze. “A 1977 Toronado is somebody’s dream car,” he said.