The focus of the collector car world returned to Auburn, Indiana last weekend as Auctions America by RM presented its second annual Auburn Fall Collector Car Weekend, posting over $18.3 million in total sales with over 60% of all lots sold. Over 43,000 enthusiasts turned out to the Auburn Auction Park for the multi-day event (August 31 – September 4), well exceeding expectations and last year’s attendance of 25,000.
Held during the famed Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival, this year’s Auburn Fall Collector Car Weekend featured a first-class auction with an extensive car corral and swap meet organized by Carlisle Events, as well as an educational seminar featuring some of the biggest names in the Hot Rod & Custom Car industry. Kicking off on Thursday afternoon and running through Sunday, the auction presented approximately 1200 cars, 80 vintage motorcycles and a select range of vintage memorabilia before a packed house.
Illustrating the event’s global reach, bidders represented 10 countries around the world, including as far away as Germany, Sweden, Australia and Japan. On a national level, bidders represented 35 states from across America.
“We’re thrilled the results from the weekend’s Auburn Fall event,” said Donnie Gould, President, Auctions America by RM. “From the sale results to event attendance, the swap meet and even onsite motorcoach parking and golf car rentals, numbers were up approximately 40 percent across the board on our inaugural event last year. The weekend certainly played a key role in putting Auburn back on the map as the Classic Car Capital of America and re-establishing the Auburn Fall Collector Car Weekend a ‘must attend’ on the global collector car calendar.”
In keeping with the theme of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival, a pair of pre-war Auburns were the toast of the auction, with a 1936 Auburn 852 SC Boattail claiming the top sale with a final price of $396,000 and a 1934 Auburn Twelve Salon Phaeton realizing $292,600. Other auction highlights included 68 vehicles and a selection of vintage motorcycles from Indiana’s famed Rag Tops Auto Museum Collection, headlined by a 1957 DeSoto Fireflight for $121,000.
Auburn Fall top six auction results:
1. 1936 Auburn 852 SC Boattail – $396,000
2. 1934 Auburn Twelve Salon Phaeton – $292,600
3. 1953 Cadillac Eldorado – $280,500
4. 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz $ 179,300
5. 1969 Chevrolet COPO Camaro – $176,000
6. 1954 Buick Skylark – $176,000
Beyond the auction cars, the sale presented Auctions America’s first extensive offering of vintage motorcycles since launching its new vintage motorcycle division earlier this year. Well-received by show attendees, the motorcycle offering was headlined a 1930 Excelsior Super-X Streamliner for $33,600 and a 1917 Indian Twin for $31,472. In addition to the auction bikes, Auctions America also secured a number of private treaty motorcycle sales across the weekend, including that of a 2005 Harley-Davidson V-Rod ‘Evel Knievel’ Tribute Bike and a 1917 Henderson 4-Cylinder.
“We are very happy with the results from our debut motorcycle offering in Auburn,” said Glenn Bator, Head of Auctions America’s vintage motorcycle division. “The offering was very well-received and Motorcycle Alley, as it was described onsite, was a hive of activity throughout the weekend. From a marketing perspective, it was great to introduce Auburn to the motorcycle world, and we look forward to building on this year’s results in 2012.”
In addition, Auctions America proudly donated a celebrity-autographed Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe to support the important work of Turnstone in Fort Wayne, a non-profit organization committed to providing therapy, wellness and recreational programs to empower people with disabilities. The bike was raffled and drawn during Saturday’s sale session.
In addition to the auction, the weekend’s program also featured one of the Midwest’s largest car corrals and swap meets, organized by Carlisle Events. With a total of 1600 spaces sold, including over 500 car corral spaces filled with collector automobiles, the swap meet and car corral was once again a popular attraction, providing a treasure chest of all things automotive. Vendors represented over 31 states across the United States, travelling from as far as Washington and Florida to Auburn, in addition to vendors from Ontario and Quebec, Canada.
“Fall Auburn was blessed with good weather, good friends, and lots of cars and parts for everyone,” said Bill Miller Jr., co-founder and co-owner Carlisle Events. “Carlisle Events and Auctions America are putting all their years of experience together to bring the Auburn Auction Park back to being the place for the Midwest to enjoy huge Fall and Spring collector car events. We witnessed increased interest in this year’s car corral and swap meet, with a higher volume of spaces occupied, and look forward to continued growth in the years ahead.”
The event program also included a successful Hot Rod & Custom Car Panel discussion on Friday morning. A continuing part of Auctions America’s educational series, the themed panel discussion, moderated by Bill Miller Jr., featured legendary customizers Darryl Starbird, Bo Huff, Chuck Miller, and John D’Agostino, along with custom car collector, Joe Bortz. Panelists shared the inspiration behind some of their favorite designs, as well as personal anecdotes on the industry before an appreciative audience. The seminar series is set to be a permanent fixture at Auctions America’s Spring and Fall Auburn events.
Auctions America by RM and Carlisle Events will wrap up an exciting month of automotive events, September 28 – October 2 with their highly-anticipated Fall Carlisle Collector Car Flea Market and Auction, in Carlisle. Pennsylvania, featuring an extensive swap meet and over 300 quality collector cars for auction. The Carlisle weekend will be closely followed on October 8 by Auctions America’s first dedicated vintage motorcycle sale at the Barber Vintage Festival in Birmingham, Alabama.
Auctions America’s Auburn Spring Collector Car Weekend returns to the Auburn Auction Park, May 11 – 13, 2012.
For further information on upcoming events along will full results from the 2011 Auburn Fall Collector Car Weekend, please visit www.auctionsamerica.com.