On Sunday, RM Auctions is selling the car collection of longtime Detroit Pontiac dealer John McMullen. There are over 80 vintage cars, most of which hold little appeal to me; or I guess I just need to learn to appreciate that American Engineering more fully.
But there are some lots in the memorabilia category which, until this minute, you didn't realize you had to have for the kid's future happiness and wellbeing. The auction will be held live and simultaneously on eBay starting at 09:00PDT Sunday June 9, if you're comfortable buying wicker motorcycles sight unseen, that is:
Lot 106: Coca-Cola Wagon, estimate $200-400
There are several vintage Coke fridges and coolers, but they seem pretty commonplace. But a toy Coke wagon? If I get this thing, I can stop hauling home my 12-packs of Diet Coke in the Maclaren. [it sold for $720, $600+20% premium]
Lot 114: Neon Sinclair Dinosaur, est. $400-600
See, this is how it went. I'll bet you a dollar that the idea of putting a neon dinosaur in the kid's nursery never once crossed your mind before today. But now that you've seen this adorable, neon artifact of roadside America, how can you not get it? Find a green powder-coated steel tool cart/changing table, some white subway tiles, and youre good to go. You gotta admit, the idea of a gas-themed nursery would-be kind of funny. [sale result with premium: $840]
Lot 122: Wicker Motorcycle, est. $500-800
Whaaaat? I can understand a John Deere bicycle [Lot 101, est. $500-800], but a "large-scale" wicker chopper, accurate in minutev detail? That's just plum loco. [and plum expensive, $1080. But the JD Bike was only $200!]
I think this is a no-reserve auction, and given that these pieces all received the lowest- or the second-lowest pre-sale estimates around, it's entirely possible that you could roll away with a wicker motorcycle for cheap cheap cheap. Good luck!
RM Auctions, Collection of John McMullen, Jun. 9, 2007 [rmauctions.com via hemmings]
You must not have noticed the Pontiac Trans Am Wagon - otherwise I'm SURE you would've devoted a post to that item alone. Ok, well maybe a paragraph. Or a couple lines. I guess what I'm saying is... did you see that thing??
{You mean Lot 265, the 1985 TransAm Experimental Kammback test mule? Oh yeah, I did, but trying to link to it was a bitch. There's a separate post about the TransAm wagon concept, tho. The best thing is that the "squared-off Kammback bolted right on in place of the all-glass hatchback of the production Trans Am, including the latching." You could go down to your truck canopy guy tomorrow and get one fabricated for you, and just pop it on. If you wanted to. -ed.]
That 1931 Duesenberg Model J is one of greatest cars ever made. And I think my dad did the paint job on that one.
I was raised to believe that any car built after 1936 was crap.
[You never cease to amaze me, JD. I called RM this morning to ask about the TransAm wagons; he said people are just blown away by the pristine quality of the collection. -ed.]
Here's that Transam:
Just need to turn off javascript temporarily.