In working on a Chevy themed issue of Old Cars, I found myself looking back with regret on some of the Chevys I sold. A few of them still appear in my dreams, leaving me with hope when I awake that they are still in the garage. Alas, they are long gone. Among the Chevys whose memories still haunt me:

2000 Silverado two-wheel drive: Bought as a daily driver and parts hauler, and like a good friend, it never let me down. The 5.3-liter V-8 was bullet-proof and powerful, and the long bed comfortably fit a pair of 1955 Cadillac fenders. It was either fix the rust or sell it, and it was cheaper to sell.

2011 Camaro LT: It was just a six-cylinder, but it was a six-speed. With the windows down and classic rock on the radio, I could trick myself into feeling like I was back in the ’70s. When we found out we were having twins, my wife cried, “We’re not selling the house and we’re not selling the Camaro.” We kept only one of those things and you can guess which one went away.

1985 Caprice Classic Landau: Exactly how you want to find a car — with dry desert metal, but always parked in the shade. However, this babied Scottsdale, Ariz., car had one too many options for my taste: a half-vinyl Landau top. I had this car for 20 years, and even though it was replaced with a nearly identical car without the vinyl top, it still feels strange that it’s gone.

1981 Impala Sport Coupe: A beautiful low-mileage car with a crummy little V-6 engine that couldn’t pass a Pinto. This car was a museum knickknack and I don’t own a museum. I sure do miss looking at it, though.

1978 Malibu Classic coupe: A car my mom bought slightly used and eventually passed on to me more than a decade later. This is the car I credit for my being mostly a “Chevy guy” and a car I truly hope to replace some day. But I’d also like to replace the 1981 Impala coupe with a V-8 example. And if I could buy back that 1985 Caprice Classic…. Well, a fellow can still dream.

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The post To all the Chevys I’ve loved before appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Hero cars aren’t always good. In fact, they can be downright evil.

Of the 3500 or so vehicles crossing Mecum Auctions’ block at Kissimmee, Florida, this January, there’s one evil car lurking in the lineup — an original “Christine” movie car from the 1983 film directed by John Carpenter and adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name.

The wicked red-and-white 1958 Plymouth Fury named “Christine” will cross the Mecum block on Friday, Jan. 10, just six lots after another hero of the silver screen — the 1968 “Bullitt Mustang” driven by Steve McQueen. “Christine” has a pre-sale estimate of $400,000-$500,000 — not surprising since this 1958 Plymouth is one of the most famous movie cars of all time.

While McQueen’s Mustang took a beating during the film, “Christine” gave the beatings. Found in derelict condition by character Arnie Cunningham, he restored “Christine” back to new. With each piece he put on her, “Christine” took a bit of Arnie’s soul. In the novel and the film, “Christine” literally took on a life of her own, often by avenging those who wronged her and hew owner. In doing so, she often sustained heavy damage. She was even once completely destroyed by her haters, but like after every other time she had been wrecked, “Christine” rebuilt herself to new condition.

It is believed that 25 1958 Plymouth two-door hardtops were required to create the magic of “Christine” getting wrecked and rebuilt on the big screen. 17 of those Plymouths were completely destroyed, six were used for parts and just two are said to remain. The “Christine” Plymouth on offer by Mecum was a “hero” car used for glamour shots where “Christine” looked new. It appears in several scenes of the film, including at the football field where Arnie necks with Leigh on the hood of “Christine.”

After the movie, the 1958 Plymouth was raffled in a promotional giveaway during New Year’s Eve on USA Network’s show “Night Flight.” Roughly 40,000 people entered the sweepstakes. Scott Edminster of New London, Wis., was the lucky winner.

According to Mecum, “Christine” has since undergone a comprehensive restoration and is powered by a small-block Wedge V-8 engine fed by dual four-barrel carburetors perched atop an Offenhauser intake manifold. Backed by a TorqueFlite pushbutton automatic transmission, the car also features power steering and power brakes and is finished in requisite Christine red with a white top. The interior is two-tone red with vinyl and cloth and features the famous AM radio, known as “Christine’s Voice,” red carpeting, correct trim and the Fury-specific 150-mph speedometer. A bumper sticker adorns the rear bumper reading, “Watch out for me, I am pure evil, I am Christine.” Of course, that was never seen in the film “Christine,” but movie buffs may remember seeing it in the movie “Cat’s Eye,” another Stephen King adaptation in which Christine made a cameo appearance.

The post Original ‘Christine’ ’58 Plymouth Fury to cross Mecum block Friday appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Case is one of the best-known tractor makers yet is among the least-known automobile builders. It doesn’t help that there are few survivors to spread the story of Case automobiles, but we found an interesting straggler in an upcoming online auction.

J.I. Case Threshing Machine Co. built cars in Racine, Wisconsin, from 1911 to 1927. And why not? Case already had a great reputation for building quality tractors and other farm implements, so why not use the same resources and reputation to make personal transportation for farmers and others alike? Before building cars, the company already had years of motorized transportation experience under its belt. Its first steam buggy was built in 1871 and by 1886, it was the world’s largest manufacturer of steam engines. However, its automobiles received conventional gas engines.

Case took over the Pierce Motor Co., producers in the Pierce-Racine automobile, in 1910 and started building cars the following year. Perhaps to gain a stronger and more independent foothold in the automobile world, it later established the Case Motor Car Division as the company branch dedicated to automobiles.

The Case offered in an online auction by Nixon Auctioneers appears to be a circa-1920 Model V coupe, surely a rare car when new and even more so today. The Model V of 1920 had a 126-inch wheelbase and 50-hp from its six-cylinder engine by Continental, Case’s preferred source for automobile engines at this time. When new, the 1920 four-passenger Case coupe had a factory price of $3100 — a full $300 more than the most expensive Buick that year, and $300 less than the least expensive new Cadillac.

This Case appears to be a solid and intact survivor with weathered paint, an intact but aged interior and an engine compartment that could use some detailing and possibly more. Signs that this car’s history of owners includes Case’s captive audience can be found in the trunk where there’s an old Farmer’s Union Coop cap in the trunk. Other than this trinket — and the fact that the car is being auctioned in Mulvane, Kansas, among many tractors and tractor-related items — there is little information provided on the car and much to discover.

Online bidding begins on November 16; learn more at www.nixonauctioneers.com.

The post Just in ‘Case’ you were wondering appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Starting at Kissimmee 2019, Mecum Auctions began selling Pulver’s stash. Sure, there were plenty of Corvettes as one might expect from a die-hard enthusiast with a sizable car collection. But there was also a 1981 Caprice Sport coupe with 17,000 miles; a 1982 Caprice Sport Coupe with 14,042 miles; a 1984 Caprice Sport Coupe with 13,600 miles (full disclosure: we bought this car); a 1996 Buick Roadmaster with 21,317 miles; a 1988 Caprice Estate Wagon with 12,271 miles; a 1976 Corvette with 3,384 miles; and a 1984 Corvette with 1,719 miles. (There were also C1 and C2 Corvettes from the Pulver Collection sold at this sale.)

Now, more General Motors products from Pulver’s collection (and the auto industry’s lethargic period) will cross Mecum’s 2019 Chicago block from Oct. 24-26. Those who want one more swing at a rarely seen GM product with low mileage can bid on Pulver’s 1984 Monte Carlo SS believed to have 15,800 miles; his 1984 Impala sedan (with F41 suspension); his 1982 Pontiac Firebird SE with 509 miles; two 1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28s (45 and 4,470 miles); his 1977 Chevrolet Caprice coupe believed to have 13,655 miles; and his 1979 Caprice Classic sedan with a probable 21,245 miles.

We’ll be covering Mecum’s October sale to see how this round of time capsules do when they cross Mecum’s auction block.

The post Low-mile, in-the-wrapper ‘Malaise’ GM cars at Mecum Chicago 2019 appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Donald Pulver became the king of B-body Chevys, but he probably didn’t set out to take the throne. He bought more than half a dozen new Caprice and Impala Chevys and kept the mileage low — he usually stopped driving them before the odometer hit 20,000 miles. Before he hit the magic “20,000- mile mark,” he’d park the car and then buy another new one. About half of the B bodies in his collection were sold at Mecum Auctions’ Kissimmee sale. Now the rest will be crossing the block at Mecum’s 2019 Chicago sale.

“Box Chevys” from 1977-1990 are cool today, but when they were new, Impalas and Caprices were simply the standard Chevrolet that retirees bought for strolls to church and the grocery store. These buyers were used to driving the tanks of the 1960s and 1970s and they wanted to stay in a big, safe car. Sure, a few young families with the means and the headcount bought big Impala or Caprice wagons during this period, but Chevrolet had other people carriers by this time and the full-size wagons faced strong internal competition.

Pulver was no retiree when he began hoarding very well-equipped Box Chevys. His first was a jet black 1977 Caprice Classic coupe that it’s believed he drove to 13,600 miles and parked. It was followed by a 1979 Caprice Classic sedan that he appears to have driven 21,245 miles. Then came a 1981 Caprice Sport Coupe driven to 17,000 miles, followed in turn by a 1982 Caprice Sport Coupe parked at 14,042 miles. Both coupes were jet black like the 1977 Caprice before them.

No full-size Chevrolet coupes were built in 1983, but when the Caprice Classic coupe returned for 1984, Pulver bought a 1984 Caprice Sport Coupe — his first white Box Chevy coupe. Like the 1977 Caprice coupe, he drove it to 13,600 miles before parking it. Pulver didn’t stop at buying the new Caprice that year — he also bought a new Impala sedan, a Monte Carlo SS and the all-new Corvette. The salesman at Sun Chevrolet Co. in McMurray, Pa., must have loved him.

Pulver’s last new Box Chevy was a black 1988 Caprice Estate Wagon driven to 12,271 miles, then he appears to have taken a break until 1996. That year, he splurged like it was 1984 all over again and bought two new Impala SS sedans and a Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon. He drove one Impala SS to 193 miles, the other to 30,000 miles and the Buick to 21,000 miles.

Mecum Auctions began selling Pulver’s bounty of B-bodies and other GM products at its 2019 Kissimmee sale last January. https://www.mecum.com/auctions/kissimmee-2019/collections/don-pulver-collection/

There, we bought the 1984 Caprice Classic Sport Coupe, which was sold alongside his 1981 and 1982 Caprice Sport Coupes, his 1988 Caprice Estate Wagon, his almost no-mile 1996 Impala SS, his 1984 Corvette and his 1996 Roadmaster Estate Wagon.

We expected the low-mile Caprice coupes to sell in the $10,000 range. Instead, they sold for around $8000 each, a fact we attribute to market saturation for rare cars that would have otherwise sold for more if offered individually. In fact, the 1981 Caprice coupe from the auction is currently offered by a dealership for $12,995. The 1982 Caprice coupe is also offered by a dealership for an unlisted figure.

The second wave of Pulver’s stash is heading to the 2019 Mecum Chicago sale. https://www.mecum.com/auctions/chicago-2019/collections/don-pulver-collection/

This group includes the 1977 Caprice Classic coupe, the 1977 Caprice Classic sedan, 1984 Impala sedan and 1984 Monte Carlo SS, among other low-mileage cars such as two 1982 Camaro Z28s and a 1982 Firebird SE.

Pulver cars to be sold in 2019 Mecum Auctions Chicago sale

• 1977 Chevrolet Caprice coupe, 13,600 miles*
• 1979 Chevrolet Caprice sedan, 21,245 miles*
• 1982 Pontiac Firebird SE, 509 miles*
• 1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, 45 miles*
• 1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, 4470 miles*
• 1984 Chevrolet Impala sedan, unknown miles
• 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 15,800 miles*

*The mileages stated here are those that the auction company believes to be correct. In our experience judging cars and in specifically inspecting Pulver’s cars, as well as purchasing a car from the Pulver collection, we believe these mileages may very well be correct. However, prospective buyers should inspect the cars themselves and verify these odometer before bidding.

Pulver cars ALREADY SOLD in Mecum Auctions’ 2019 Kissimmee sale

1981 Chevrolet Caprice coupe, 17,000 miles ————— SOLD at $7975

1982 Chevrolet Caprice coupe, 14,042 miles ————— SOLD at $8800

1984 Chevrolet Caprice coupe, 13,600 miles ————— SOLD at $8800

1984 Chevrolet Corvette, 1719 miles ———————— SOLD at $12,100

1988 Chevrolet Caprice Estate Wagon, 12,271 miles——SOLD at $9075

1996 Chevrolet Impala SS, 193 miles ———————— SOLD at $23,100

1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon, 21,317 miles — SOLD at $19,800

We’ll be covering Mecum’s October sale to see how this round of time capsules do when they cross Mecum’s auction block.

The post More low-mile ‘Box Chevys’ to cross block in Chicago appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

A handful of car types were cryogenically frozen in the disco era, but 1975 Oldsmobile 88 Royale convertibles generally weren’t among them. Yet here’s a 45-mile example that’s still on its MSO. Yes, it’s never even been titled. Even the dealer sticker is still attached to the window.

Whitaker Marketing Group is offering the 88 Royale as part of the Harry Reed Car Collection of Winterset, Iowa, in an online-only auction ending Oct. 28. The winning bidder of the time capsule Olds will, indeed, become the nearly 45-year-old car’s first owner of record. Click on the link below to learn more.

<<CLICK HERE >>

The 1975 88 Royale convertible was the last Oldsmobile convertible — at least for a while. The 88 Royale line was also the only Oldsmobile to include a convertible that year, of which 7181 were built in the soft top’s final season. The entire 1975 Oldsmobile line made its debut on Sept. 27, 1974, and the last Oldsmobile convertible of the 1970s — a red 1975 88 Royale — rolled off the line on July 7 of the following year. 1975 Oldsmobile 88 Royale convertible sales were nearly double the 3716 built in 1974, likely a result of Oldsmobile’s announcement that 1975 would be the last year for convertible production.

Standard 1975 88 Royale equipment included power brakes with front discs, cigarette lighter, electronic ignition system, 350-cid V-8 engine, carpeting, inside hood release, bumper impact strips, dome light, lamp package, molding package, power steering, Deluxe steering wheel and Turbo-HydraMatic transmission.

This baby blue 88 Royale’s window sticker shows a list of options, but window sticker cannot be clearly read from the photos.

We’ve seen similar 1975 Olds 88 Royale convertibles with 3000 to 40,000 miles sell for around $15,000 and up as well. However, a black 600-mile 1975 Olds 88 Royale convertible with the optional 455 has also publicly sold for $47,000, so where bidding ends on this example will probably be somewhere between.

Online bidding on this car and several others in the Reed collection will end Oct. 28 with a chance to inspect the cars in person at an Oct. 21 preview. Learn more and bid at https://iowa-auction.com/

Other interesting cars in the collection include:

• 1941 Cadillac convertible coupe
• 1941 Cadillac Club Coupe (fastback)
• 1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 convertible
• 1964 Oldsmobile 88 convertible
• 1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 two-door hardtop
• 1964 Oldsmobile Jetstar 88 four-door sedan
• 1963 Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire two-door hardtop
• 1963 Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire convertible
• 1951 Crosley station wagon
• 1963 Chrysler 300 convertible
• 1960 Oldsmobile 88 four-door sedan
• 1940 Studebaker Commander two-door sedan
• 1902 Schacht
• 1975 Chevrolet wrecker
• 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham (19,800 miles)
• 1971 Cadillac Series 75 (21,300 miles)
• 1957 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket 88 convertible project

The post ‘New’ 45-mile 1975 Olds 88 Royale convertible still on MSO appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos by Angelo Van Bogart

Not even rain or the threat of it could dampen what was essentially the ultimate Cadillac experience. There were presentations by current and former Cadillac staff and designers and chances to rub elbows with them — rides in vintage Cadillacs (a 1955 Coupe deVille or a 1980s Maloney stretch limousine) — old and new Cadillac concept cars (including the very first and very last Cadillac two-door hardtop prototypes) — a display of new vehicles by Cadillac — a garage sale of Cadillac and LaSalle-related items by the museum — a concours field of beautiful restored and survivor-quality Cadillacs and LaSalles — tours — and eight museums to visit on the Gilmore Car Museum campus in Hickory Corners, Mich.

All of these incredible opportunities and more were crunched into four days of the Cadillac & LaSalle Museum & Research Center’s (CLCMRC) annual Fall Festival & Concours d’Elegance held Sept, 26-29 at the CLCMRC.

One of the principals behind the “Fall Festival” is Old Cars “Resto Basics” columnist William “Bill” Anderson, who serves as president and chairman of the board for the Cadillac & LaSalle Museum & Research Center. Since the Fall Festival is a fund raiser for the museum, Anderson works diligently to make the event a worthwhile stop for hobbyists, and he and the rest of the team made this an unmatched Cadillac experience. Among the judges were one dozen automotive designers, each of them with experience designing Cadillacs and their components over the years. These judges included the famous Wayne Kady, whose design became the 1971 Eldorado, and who created this year’s event poster. On top of it all, Kady served as honorary chief judge. Maurizio Corbi of coachbuilder Pininfarina came all of the way from Italy to participate. In addition, several Cadillac & LaSalle Club members served as judges, including yours truly, as did fellow magazine editor Richard Lentinello of Hemmings.

This is an event worthy of the Cadillacs and LaSalles it celebrates the Cadillac and LaSalle experience like no other event. I plant to return next year, and if the brake system is fully functional on my ’55 Cadillac by next September, I’ll even be there with an old Cadillac. I hope to see you there with your car, too.

Angelo Van Bogart is editor of Old Cars and has been a Cadillac & LaSalle Club member since he was 17 years old. He’s a multiple Cadillac owner and author of several books including “Cadillac: 100 Years of Innovation.” He serves as a judge at many club and concours events each year.

The post The Ultimate Cadillac & LaSalle Experience: CLCMRC Fall Festival appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

If you’re looking for more results from the 2019 Fall Auburn auction, look to the pages of an upcoming issue of Old Cars with an October cover date.

1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville: Sold @ $44,000 ($48,000 with 10% buyer’s premium)

Offered at the Fall Auburn auction was this spectacular unrestored 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville. Since no background on the car was offered before the sale, and the listing incorrectly advertised the car as having an older restoration, bidders probably didn’t know just how spectacular the car really is. Thankfully, Jeff Stork filled us in on the car’s history.

According Stork, the original owner of this spectacular 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville was Miss Carol Pierson of Flint, Mich. A wealthy heiress, Pierson did not drive and was chauffeur-driven in the Seville, a particularly rare occurrence with a two-door automobile. Pierson bought the car new from Superior Cadillac and when it came time to trade in the Seville during 1963, she didn’t like the value that the dealership put on her car so she donated it to the Flint Board of Education. The Seville was stored in the basement of the Sloan Museum in Flint until 1978 when the late John O’Sullivan purchased it. Stork lived across the street from O’Sullivan at that time and he said the car remained 100% original with just 36,000 miles at that time. The Seville also even remained on its air suspension with the original components when Stork first saw it, a noteworthy anecdote since Cadillacs so equipped often had to have the air suspension components replaced due to leaks, or cars were altogether retrofit with convention springs due to frustrating air leaks in the air suspension system.

Some time later, it entered the Ed Meurer collection and by auction time at Fall Auburn 2019, the Goodyear Double Eagle tires were gone and the mileage had crept up to 40,000 miles.

At the auction, bidding topped out at $44,000 ($48,000 with 10% buyer’s premium) — a bit more than a buck a mile — and the Seville sold at no reserve.

Old Cars Report Price Guide estimates a No. 1 Seville value of $70,000 and a No. 3 Seville value at $31,500. Since excellent, low-mileage originals can fetch No. 1 and No. 2 prices, we think the buyer got a bargain on this No. 3-condition virgin.

1962 Cadillac Coupe deVille: Sold @ $34,000 ($37,400 with 10% buyer’s commission)

No one restores a 1962 Cadillac Coupe deVille to No. 1 show car condition; maybe a 1962 Eldorado Biarritz, but never a Coupe deVille. And almost no one perfectly preserved any model of 1962 Cadillac — almost no one — which makes the 4500-mile 1962 Coupe deVille that sold at Fall Auburn 2019 a benchmark car.

The car had nary a sign of wear; the interior was crisp, under the hood was clean and authentic and the exterior was sharp. This car still looked like it had just been delivered to a Madison Avenue executive in 1962.

The final gavel price of the car was $34,000 — right about what the car is worth. Old Cars Report Price Guide estimates a No. 1 1962 Coupe deVille value at $34,000 and a No. 3 1962 Coupe deVille value at $12,850. Excellent, low-mileage originals are technically in No. 3 condition, but can fetch No. 1 and No. 2 prices. That said, a No. 1 price was not surprising for a survivor of this caliber. This car drove right up to the No. 1 mark and stopped with bidding at $34,000; once the 10% buyer’s premium was added, the car ultimately sold for $37,400. It was certainly well bought on the money by its next custodian.

1965 Cadillac Calais hardtop sedan: Sold @ $27,000 ($29,700 with buyer’s commission)

Like 1962 Cadillacs, no one restores 1965 Cadillacs to No. 1 condition unless they are a Fleetwood Eldorado convertibles. The least likely 1965 Cadillac to be off-the-frame restored is the base Calais model, so you can be assured that this 4500-mile 1965 Calais four-door is probably the nicest Calais from that model year to be found on planet earth. That’s also why it fetched a record price at the 2019 Fall Auburn auction: 27,000 big ones ($29,700 with buyer’s premium).

Old Cars Report Price Guide estimates a No. 1 1965 Calais four-door hardtop value at $20,700 and a No. 3 ’65 Calais four-door hardtop value at $9,300. Excellent, low-mileage originals are technically in No. 3 condition, but can fetch No. 1 and No. 2 prices, and this car exceeded all of them.

What one lucky bidder bought was a time machine back to 1965, Cadillac style. Although Calais models were the base model, they could be optioned with the typical Caddy goodies of the day and this one had the more attractive options, notably air conditioning, power windows and power door locks. The price was also helped by the fact the car was presented as the more attractive hardtop sedan rather than the pillared Calais sedan. This car even rode on its original tires and presented like a babied time capsule that lived its life in the maternity ward.

We’ll probably never see a 1965 Calais four-door fetch this kind of price, but we’ll also never see another ’65 Calais in this remarkably preserved condition.

Angelo Van Bogart is the editor of Old Cars and author of “Cadillac: 100 Years of Innovation.” He has been collecting finned Cadillacs since he was 16 years old and frequently judges at concours and national club events. He is a longtime member of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club, the Antique Automobile Club of America, the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club, the Minnesota Street Rod Assocation and many other clubs. He’s also an active member of several Facebook groups.

The post Crazy prices for virgin ’60s Cadillacs? appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

The right place is the Auburn (Indiana) Auction Park.

The right time is RM Auctions’ 2019 Fall Auburn sale, scheduled for August 29 thru September 1.

RM Auctions has been heavily promoting the Ed Meurer collection that it will be selling almost entirely at no reserve. The sale has gotten lots of press, including here at Old Cars, and RM Auctions has been bringing select cars from the collection – a 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, a 1938 Chrysler Imperial Custom LeBaron limousine among them – to select events in order to promote the sale.

But you have to look deeper to find the low-mileage Cadillac gems from the Meurer and other collections.

It appears that Mr. Meurer and a couple other consigners to the auction really enjoy low-mileage originals and it’s not until you dig deep into the sale bill to find them. We did the work for you and picked out a few of our favorites, because the smell and feel of a low-mileage original just can’t be replicated at any cost.

1960 ELDORADO SEVILLE

1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville — 40,000 miles – This gem shows 40,000 miles on the odometer and a GM expert familiar with the car for 40 years believes that’s the actual mileage and the car is in an unrestored original. RM Auctions’ site states the car has an older restoration so prospective buyers are urged to inspect the car for themselves. If it is indeed an original, it’s a fine virginal example of a 1960 Seville that only appears to need a driver, a fresh set of bias-plies and a stretch of open road.

1962 COUPE DEVILLE

1962 Cadillac Coupe deVille — 4500 miles – The next best thing to buying a new 1962 Cadillac Coupe deVille is buying this 4500-mile example. Sure, she’s a stripper – probably bought by the original owner as their first and only Cadillac – but she’s been babied since day one. There’s no air conditioning, no bucket seats, no fog lamps nor Guidematic headlight dimmer, but let’s face it, you’ll probably want to keep this car cherry by limiting travel to local cruise-ins and car shows rather than a road trip. At least it has standard Coupe deVille power windows for that wind-in-your-hair experience on those short jaunts. As a ’62 Coupe deVille owner, I believe there’d be world peace if everyone glided down the road in a smooth and powerful early-1960s Cadillac, and experiencing this Cadillac must be euphoric.

1965 CALAIS SEDAN

1965 Cadillac Calais — 4500 miles – From the sale collection as the 1962 Cadillac comes this 1965 Cadillac Calais four-door hardtop with an equally low 4500 miles. Unlike the 1962, this Cadillac adds much-desirable air conditioning and features power windows and door locks, both of which were optional on the Calais. It even rides on its original triple-stripe whitewall tires. If you want to go back to 1965, this is your chance.

Angelo Van Bogart is the editor of Old Cars and author of “Cadillac: 100 Years of Innovation.” He has been collecting finned Cadillacs since he was 16 years old and frequently judges at concours and national club events. He is a longtime member of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club, the Antique Automobile Club of America, the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club, the Minnesota Street Rod Assocation and many other clubs. He’s also an active member of several Facebook groups.

The post Three low-mile Cadillac cream puffs at Auburn appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Angelo says the winning bidders of the 1981 and 1982 Caprice coupes at the auction bought better than him, but he’s very pleased with his purchase. We’re sharing his first-time Mecum bidding experience to help other potential auction bidders contemplating the process.

About two weeks before the start of the Mecum Auctions Kissimmee sale, I noticed there would be three Caprice coupes with 17,000 or fewer miles crossing the block. Realizing my high-mile 1985 Caprice Landau coupe would eventually need a little work and my 1981 Impala coupe project would need a LOT of work, I sold my cars to go after one of the low-mileage cars at Kissimmee. But which one?

All of the Caprice coupes at Mecum were Sport Coupes without a vinyl top — a big plus in my book. They also had the other options I was looking for: V-8, heavy-duty F41 suspension, tilt wheel, power windows and locks — all the goodies you would want in an ’80s GM luxo boat. Each was ordered new by Don Pulver who, beginning in the ’60s, would often buy a car he liked (usually a full-size GM car or Corvette), drive it for the summer, park it indefinitely that fall, then repeat.

Two of the Caprices were gleaming black coupes that had been spit-shined down to the cars’ original white sidewalls before pictures were taken for Mecum’s website. The third was a more forlorn-looking white 1984 coupe that hadn’t been given the same attention. It had recent blackwalls with dirty handprints from the Walmart employee who mounted them; a broken body-to-bumper filler panel; and an ugly antenna on the trunk for a very “Miami Vice” Motorola car phone. Between the General Lee-like trunk lid-mounted antenna and the Caprice’s generally dirty appearance in the website photos, the car looked like it had just finished a “Dukes of Hazzard” chase scene down a dirt road.

This white ’84 Caprice would cross the block just minutes before the prettier black coupes, and I figured most bidders would bypass it for a chance at one of Pulver’s black coupes. Since the white Caprice was probably the sleeper of the three coupes, I figured that was the Caprice I would bid on.

In trying to figure out how much the cars would sell for, I went to Mecum’s website. The company has sold a few low-mileage Caprice coupes at past auctions: a 1987 Landau coupe with 167 miles for $15,000 in 2015 and a 1985 Landau with 12,000 miles for $9500 in 2012. A “slick top” 1984 Caprice Sport Coupe that is optioned almost identically to those in the Pulver collection — it was even black — just sold on eBay in October 2018 for $10,400. I guessed the black 1981 and ’82 coupes in Mecum’s sale could fetch $11000 or more and the white ‘84 coupe would probably fetch less — about as much as I could sell both of my Chevy coupes for.

With just two weeks before Mecum would auction Pulver’s coupes, I didn’t have time to sell my cars before a more qualified audience. To expedite the process, I listed them on Facebook Marketplace. The scene on FB Marketplace is filled with more bottom-feeding window shoppers than Craigslist, but that’s only because it only takes FB “wannabuyers” just one key stroke to make an inquiry. After one week and 40-50 inquiries, I had four or five actually serious buyers. One week before the auction, my ‘85 Caprice Landau sold for $5000 and my ’81 Impala sold for $2000. After fees, I figured I would need about $10,000 to bid.

I went to Facebook land and asked if anyone would be at Kissimmee and could inspect the Caprices there for me. Old Cars reader and friend Jim Caffrey said he could check them out for me while he was there. He looked over the cars and gave them his approval. Then we used Facetime video so he could show me the cars in live video while I asked him for close-ups of specific parts. Jim collects low-mileage cars, so he was the perfect guy to go over the 13,000-mile Caprice himself.

Friends and Old Cars subscribers Tom and Kathy Truhlar read my editorial about my interest in the cars and dropped me an e-mail, even offering to transport the car off the auction grounds if I won. With a good inspection and a way to move the car, I was ready to bid.

In understanding the fees and the auction process, the Mecum Auctions staff that I contacted was extremely helpful and made the expenses and bidding proceses very clear. It made me more confident in the buying process and helped me determine my budget.

Cash in hand, I registered for the Mecum Kissimmee sale. Registering can be done by calling a buyer’s assistant or online. I registered online. There was a $200 standard bidder registration fee (it would have been $100 had I registered before the sale began). Since family obligations prevented me from attending the sale, I bid online. There was a 12% bidder’s fee on top of the sale price for bidding online and a 10% bidder’s fee for an on-site winner (the minimum bidder’s fee was $1000). I provided a scan of my driver’s license and then chose to wire my deposit, which was half of my available credit line at the sale. Since my max bid was $8000, I wire transferred a $4000 deposit on top of which my bank added a fee ($30).

The Caprices sold the last day of the auction and thanks to the inter-web, my family and I were able to watch them cross the block live. Just hours before the auction, I dropped my bid down to $7500, but I figured I didn’t want to lose the car over $500, so I re-upped it to $8000. That would probably be a mistake.

The white 1984 Caprice coupe I had bid on was indeed the first to cross the block. I’ve covered a lot of auctions for Old Cars and Old Cars Report Price Guide, so I have a good idea of what’s going on during the fast pace of an auction. There didn’t appear to be any other bids on the car and eventually the bidding went up to $7000, then $7500. Since there was a reserve, the auctioneer was allowed to go up to my max bid — probably the only bid — because my bid was below the reserve price. Then When the auctioneer said he had an $8000 online bid, the reserve was lifted. With my wife and kids watching, I yelled, “That’s our bid!” The auctioneer kept looking for another bid; we did, too, but it never came. In short order he called, “going once, going twice…sold!” and we won the car.

The excitement wasn’t over for me, though. I waited to see how much more the black coupes would sell for. When the black 1981 Caprice coupe crossed the block, it took until the auctioneer dropped the bid to $7000 before an on-site bidder raised his hand. A second bidder brought the price to $7250 and there it sold. I was a little sick to my stomach knowing one of the prettier black Caprices could have been bought for less than the dirty white coupe. Hindsight is always 20/20.

A few lots later, the slightly better-equipped black 1982 coupe crossed the block. This one went to $8000 before it was declared sold to an on-site bidder — the same figure we paid. This made me feel a little better about the price we paid.

When it came time to settle with Mecum, we initiated the final wire transfer, to which Mecum charged $100 (cash and check payments do not have such fees). With about $500 in taxes on top of the final bid price and fees, I had to make a finally payment of about $5500 to Mecum and that’s whenI realized my bank wouldn’t allow online wire transfers of more than $5000. So after an in-person stop at my local banking office, and another $30 wire transfer fee, I completed the wire transfer and Mecum signed the title into my name. The total was about $9500 — not bad considering it’s probably worth around $10,500.

Tom and Kathy Truhlar picked up the car for me, as promised, and I was happy to learn the window sticker was still in the glove box.

Did I get a good deal? I think so, but I am not 100% sure yet. I haven’t seen the car in person, but those who inspected the car think so. Did I get the best deal on a Caprice coupe at this auction? No — I believe that advantage goes to the on-site bidders who bought the black coupes.

Given the number of low-mileage 1980s Caprice coupes that were at one sale, I think we all benefit from the market being flooded (the black coupe buyers especially). However, the other winners had the advantage of their cars selling after the white car that we won.

If I were to do it all over again, I would bid in-person at the auction, and I would still bid to win. Even if that meant going to my max bid.

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