Everything's shiny and loud at St. Charles collectible car auction
Nothing extraordinary about the electric blue muscle car seems to set it apart from its shiny metallic brethren inside Pheasant Run Resort's convention hall.
Nothing except the $600,000 starting price for the 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.
Nearly 750 antique and collectible cars are on the auction block this weekend inside the St. Charles resort's Mega Center, most with just a five-digit starting price. However, this already rare 'Cuda with its powerful Hemi engine has a secret that makes it a tad more valuable. Of the 108 hard-topped models that rolled off the production line, this one was the very last. No other car in the auction has a reserve price higher.
"It's only got 23,000 miles on it and it is unique," said Tom Christmann, marketing manager for Mecum High Performance Auctions.
The vehicle waits its turn inside the convention hall with other high-priced, loud-looking speedsters before it rolls along the red carpet of the auction block tonight. About 700 registered bidders will have a chance at the 'Cuda during what Marengo-based Mecum considers its "hometown" event. Visitors can see all the cars up for bid for $10, and the HD Theater channel is broadcasting the auction Saturday as well. Organizers expect up to 10,000 people will attend through Sunday.
"The more high-profile cars with a history are the ones that usually appear on the broadcast," said Shari McCullough-Arfons, an auction spokeswoman.
The auction features an eclectic mix of collectible sports cars and restored antiques. These cars aren't clunkers. Mecum recently auctioned off one of only six 1965 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe racing cars ever built for $7.25 million.
Cars from the 1920s to the 1990s are on the block this weekend. Some were project cars or cars that were lovingly cared for over the course of decades. There are even some fairly famous cars like the featured 1969 AMC AMX-400, custom-designed by George Barris as the centerpiece for an episode of the television series "Banacek" starring George Peppard.
Lou Gramm, former frontman for the rock band Foreigner, was selling a couple of his cars Friday night, and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson was also expected to be to doing some shopping over the weekend.
"He's a regular," Christmann said.
The St. Charles auction is one of the largest of the 10 major car auctions Mecum puts on each year. It drew Brian Bark all the way from Philadelphia so he could bid on several collectibles that had caught his eye.
"This is my Camaro trip," he said. "Mecum has a muscle car reputation and I'm mostly into those kinds of cars."
Rosemary Brining of Naperville was a rare female gearhead patrolling the aisles of cars. It had her longing for her first car.
"Actually, I've been into cars my whole life," she said. "My first car was a yellow 1969 Ford Mustang, and there's a Mustang here that I'm looking at."