FLEXING THEIR MUSCLES ON THE AUCTION BLOCK
Wholesaler revs up a pair of Hemi ’Cudas for January car extravaganza in Arizona
Wayne Darby is betting that muscle cars will rule at this month’s Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. The trendsetting auction that kicks off Jan. 15 is one of half a dozen such events held in the Phoenix area during “auction week,” which largely establishes current and future values for collector and special interest vehicles.
Darby is a car wholesaler and specialist in taking Canadian vehicles south. For the past three years, car carriers have loaded up collectibles at his warehouse on Annacis Island in Delta for the trip south to a similar holding facility he has in Phoenix.
This year’s lineup of muscle heading from Vancouver to Phoenix includes a rare pair of Hemi Barracudas. The 1970 Hemi ’Cuda features a numbers-matching 426-hemi engine mated to an automatic transmission. The obsessively restored example has just 7,000 miles on the odometer and is one of the world’s most sought-after muscle cars.
Beside it is a 1971 Plymouth ’Cuda convertible with the Hemi engine running through a four-speed transmission. The world-class restoration of this car will draw a lot of attention. There were only three Hemi ’Cuda convertibles built by Chrysler Corporation in the 1971 model year with the four-speed transmission and this isn’t one of them. Instead it is a re-creation. But Darby feels it will still draw bids up to $200,000. He is hoping his other hemi — a numbers-matching car — could reach $300,000.
Buying and selling collector cars is a high-stakes game and many collectors treat these investment-quality cars like art. The hemi cars are Mona Lisas. Darby bought out a collection owned by a Vancouver-area collector who was selling his house.
Among the other highly prized muscle cars heading south is a 1969 Camaro Z28 in pristine condition and a 1970 Mustang Boss 429. This could also be a $300,000 sale at the Barrett-Jackson Auction.
The Boss 429 was the most expensive Mustang and was only available in 1969 and 1970 with just 500 built in its last year. Its enormous semi hemi NASCAR engine — conservatively rated at 375 horsepower — was de-tuned so the car could be street driven. A restored 1969 Mustang Boss 429 was hammered down at the 2015 Barrett-Jackson Auction for a whopping $550,000.
Other muscle cars that Darby is sending south for auction include a 1965 Pontiac GTO, 1970 Chevelle SS with the LS6 454-cubic-inch engine and a 1963 Corvette roadster.
Aside from muscle, interesting cars to be auctioned by Darby are a 1955 Chevrolet Nomad station wagon, a 1965 Buick Riviera GS with factory dual four barrel carburation, a one-lady owned 1966 Oldsmobile convertible with only 50,000 original miles on the odometer bought new in Victoria and a diesel-powered London taxi.
Darby also sees Volkswagen buses of the 1960s, particularly the 21-window models, as hot sellers this year. One customized model sold at last year’s Barrett-Jackson Auction for $302,000.
Resto-mods continue to hit record prices at auctions. Those are vehicles that retain the old body style looks but have been retrofitted with modern power and conveniences. A resto-mod example he is taking south is a 1955 Chevrolet BelAir convertible with a modern Corvette LS2 engine. He is hoping for a sixfigure sale.
Darby is taking four cars south for Joe Mitchell, chairman of the Carter Group of car dealerships. Mitchell’s restored 1937 Cadillac formal sedan is said to have been the second car to cross San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge when it opened in 1937 and was owned by Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California.
Mitchell’s cars heading south also include a restored 1957 Oldsmobile Fiesta station wagon, 1941 Cadillac 60 Special and a 1942 Chevrolet pickup truck.
“I have been going to the Barrett-Jackson Auction for 22 years now and selling my cars there for the past four years,” Darby says. “Collector cars sell in Canada for the same money but picking up the exchange on the U.S. dollar makes quite a difference.”
Although Mitchell did very well with the half-dozen cars Darby represented at auction for him last year, the year before he lost $35,000 on a 1954 Packard Caribbean convertible when it crossed the block at 10:30 on Friday night instead of 7:30 as he believed it would.
Vancouver-based car valuation expert Nigel Matthews, who is the global director of private client services for Hagerty Insurance, agrees that muscle cars from the 1960s and early 1970s will be hotticket items at this year’s auctions in Arizona as well as modified American pickup trucks
“Good examples of 1960s Ford Broncos and the Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 will join the VW campers in the soaring price category at the January auctions,” Matthews says. “The pickups that have been modified to make them good drivers will command the highest bids.”
Matthews predicts interest in British and European sports cars from the 1960s and 1970s will remain strong and some examples will increase in value. Something to watch will be a trend spilling over from Europe regarding the first-generation Range Rover expected to bring record high prices at this year’s auctions.
“The future, in my opinion, are Japanese collectibles such as the last edition Toyota Supra, third-generation Mazda RX7 Turbo, Mazda Miata and the 1997 Acura Type-R. The Japanese cars have to be completely stock and unmolested to retain their collectibility and value,” he says. “In a nutshell, the market will continue to be strong in 2018, literally driven by older boomers who are empty nesters, perhaps recently retired, sold their business and or reliving their past by buying a vehicle they could not afford 40 years ago.”
Auctions provide an instant appraisal of the actual value of collector vehicles: what someone will sell them for and how much a buyer will pay. They are also good entertainment to either attend, watch on television or over the internet.
Everybody in the hobby waits for the January prices to determine the health of the collector car hobby. Strong prices and sales in 2017 are indicators that 2018 will be another good year.
To view the cars Darby is sending to auction, check out darbymotorsports.ca