San Francisco Art Academy Bleeds Cars

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I watched a live telecast of Mecum’s 1000 car auction this weekend. The

Las Vegas event featured 50 cars from the San Francisco Museum. I witnessed

a ’30 or ’31 short wheelbase sedan bring $35,000 and a V12 Silver Arrow bid

to $210,000, which was not accepted. Both cars were well restored. This

summer, Bob Jacobsen and his energetic minions put on a trip to The Academy

of Art Museum as an Early Bird option. Our bus driver put on a memorable

display of skill and courage that netted him many tips when we touched the

ground. That may have been the last chance to see the entire museum. The

auction did a poor job of advertising the world class vehicles and many

did not sell. The gorgeous Duesenberg phaeton which I thought was worth

$1.5 million, sold for $750,000.It must have had a VW motor?

On a happier note, Bob and Diane Koch got a picture and interesting piece

about their triumphant appearance at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours on page

44 show coverage, of the November 2018 Hemmings.

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The sedan was a steal at $35,000.

It seems that there have been quite a few auctions lately that don’t bother to properly promote pre-war cars.

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The auction venue for those cars was asinine. Send you car to a dog of an auction, and very poor results is what you get. We were betting among ourselves how had the cars would fall flat. No surprises in the results. They are a very nice group of people running the museum. The sale was an adjustment of inventory, they actually are expanding and displaying more cars now, and into the future. I am quite sure they will do well in the future. The venue for the sale……company and location was a mistake.

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Ed you’re exactly right. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

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I saw them sell a 1937 Cord Phaeton in better than average shape for around

$70,000. Stock V8 ’30’s Ford open cars were selling at give away prices. They

were in very good condition. Mecum sold some Broncos and pickup trucks for

substantial prices, though.

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I saw a Bronco sell for 135k. Go figure on what people think value is. Fact is most people should consult an expert before they put their car into an auction. Trust me, most cars that the PAS members like don’t do well at auctions. Ed

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Good catch Tony. I wondered if anyone would notice that the Hemmings coverage of the Pebble Beach Concours included our 1703.

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The production silver arrow is now marked as sold on the mecum site……no price listed.

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That Cord was a steal at 70K, that’s for sure, unless it was a repro body or modern drive train. I’ve been offered more than that for my unrestored, driving Cord standard phaeton.

The Duesenberg was a “new” body with an original engine and chassis, so that accounts for at least part of the “low” price. As Ed has pointed out to me, provenance for cars is now critical as it relates to value, and rebodied hurts the value.

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