TRICKS OF THE COLLECTOR TRADE
Do’s and don’ts of buying and selling
The first car I ever bought was a 1959 Volkswagen Beetle. Dazzled by modifications made by the previous owner, I made every mistake in the book by bringing it home.
It was quickly nicknamed the Bondo Buggy. It didn’t run, and there was a good reason the right front fender was sitting in the back seat. I tinkered with the VW, but it never did move under its own air-cooled power while in my ownership.
I was 14, and sometimes I wonder if I really ever learned anything from that lesson.
Avid car collector Fred Phillips of Calgary says he has made the same mistake but, unlike me, he has taken the lessons to heart. Phillips combs several high-end collector vehicle auction houses, such as RM Classic Cars, Gooding & Company, Sportscar Auction Company and Barrett-Jackson, and then he selectively, and passionately, purchases automobiles to add to his impressive collection.
He plans on sharing some of what he’s learned in the collector car hobby by hosting the Used Cars – Experience Knows Best symposium. On November 26, three guest speakers — the Honourable Grant Hill M.D. PC, Peter Klutt and Dale Adams — will offer their insight and car-buying tips.
“This panel has made just about every mistake there is to be made,” Phillips says of the speakers. “Between them, they have well over 100-plus years of buying experience; why shouldn’t we learn about buying collector cars from them?”
Hosted at the Fred Phillips Collection in west Calgary, two of Phillips’ cars will be put under the magnifying glass during the symposium.
Phillips hosted his first symposium, The Road to Pebble Beach, last year. He says the response was terrific.
“People learned a lot, and wanted to learn more,” he says.
Phillips uses his car collection to raise funds for the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre (AARC). He gives regular tours, asking for a donation to AARC, and will match all funds.
“The symposium,” he adds, “is a great car event with AARC as a benefactor, and all of these speakers are volunteering their time.”
The guests come from diverse backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common: a love of cars.
Grant Hill is well known for having started the Okotoks Collector Car Auction. Now in the hands of his nephew, Jeff Hill and family, this auction, with 42 years in the rear-view mirror, is the longest-running collector car auction in Canada. Grant Hill is a lifelong auto enthusiast and has owned and raced some of the most interesting cars ever made. He’s also a former member of Parliament for the Conservative Party of Canada.
Peter Klutt, of Ontario, owns and operates the Legendary Motorcar Company. Klutt has spent a lifetime buying, restoring and selling specialinterest cars. His company, in its 55,000-square-foot facility set on 20 acres in Halton Hills, sells more than 300 cars a year. Klutt also hosts television’s Legendary Motorcar (formerly Dream Car Garage).
Calgary’s Dale Adams, of Dale Adams Automotive Specialists, has been racing and repairing vehicles for more than 40 years. The stories he could tell of unsuspecting clients bringing him lemons that they thought were high-end restorations are numerous, he says.
Phillips says, “So, what are we going to learn from an ex-politician, a used-car salesman and a mechanic? Some really good information that will arm anyone who attends the symposium with plenty of ammunition when they’re going car shopping.”
There are three sessions of Used Cars – Experience Knows Best on Saturday. The first runs from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., the second 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the last is from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Because this is a fundraising symposium, the cost of the event is a minimum donation of $125.
AARC helps youth from 13 to 21 dealing with addiction and alcoholism reach their twenties. Phillips matches all donations, thereby doubling the contribution to AARC and raising enough funds to put a family through treatment for a year. Tax receipts will be issued for all donations.
Phillips can be contacted at tours@focusauto.com. He will e-mail a link to Eventbrite.ca; your name must appear on the Eventbrite list to attend. If the symposium is oversubscribed, your contact information will be kept on file for notification of the next Fred Phillips Collection event.