Seized Cars on the Block : Bargains Going, Going Gone at Vehicle Auction
“Grump” sat in the front row of the crowded auditorium, tattooed arms folded over massive chest and long, graying ponytail obliterating the Harley-Davidson wings on the back of his faded denim jacket.
The aging motorcycle aficionado waited nervously for the bidding to begin on item No. 141--a 1960 chrome-fixtured Harley-Davidson, with red enamel flames licking the gas tank, a “suicide clutch,” an elongated fork with “springers” and a tricycle bell on the handlebars.
“You know, this is the only chance I got to get back on the road,” he said, as the auctioneer sold off No. 137--an inoperable 1978 Pontiac Phoenix--for $479.
“I only got a limited budget. Undoubtedly other people got more money than I have. But then, a Harley’s the only kinda motorcycle there is. The rest are merely two-wheeled imitations.”
Grump, a San Diego resident who declined to state his age or occupation with a polite, “I ain’t gonna tell you that,” added, “Anyone who would ride anything else is increasing the trade deficit with Japan. If you increase the trade deficit with Japan, that’s treason, and traitors are shot. So, people who ride Japanese motorcycles should be shot.”
The self-proclaimed motorcycle elitist was one of nearly 300 bargain hunters crowded into the small, hot auditorium at the Navy auxiliary landing field--Ream Field--here Wednesday morning for the monthly General Services Administration auction. Interested buyers are notified of the auction through a mailing list. For sale Wednesday were nearly 150 cars, vans, motorcycles and campers seized by law enforcement agents when the vehicles were used to smuggle everything from drugs to illegal aliens.
According to federal law, vehicles and vessels used during the commission of a felony can be seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Customs Service, the FBI and the Border Patrol, confiscated and sold at auction. The GSA, which organizes the sale of seized vehicles, also auctions off government vehicles that are no longer needed.
“We sold a Ferrari for $21,002 two months ago,” said Paul Cales, seized vehicles custodian for the DEA. “We’ve got a 1957 Bentley that’s going for sale and a Porsche that will be up. We’ve sold Jaguars, and I once even sold an inoperable 1963 Oldsmobile for $38.38.
“People come right in from the curious to some of these people that buy and sell one car at a time to salvage yards that come in and buy the junkers for parts,” Cales said.
According to a GSA spokeswoman in San Francisco, 2,800 vehicles confiscated in California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii by the Border Patrol alone were sold in 1984 for an estimated $2 million.
The GSA also sells houses and other real property, said spokeswoman Mary Filippini, but most real estate is seized by the DEA in Florida; an eight-day auction of million-dollar properties will end in Miami on Wednesday.
The money raised by such auctions is transferred by the GSA to the agencies that seize the property to be used to cover seizure and storage costs, Filippini said. All excess goes back to the general fund of the Treasury Department.
GSA auctions in Imperial Beach, while crowded, are rarely controversial. But the Border Patrol’s car seizures became an issue late in March after the agency seized three cabs and cab company owners complained that they were being punished for the deeds of drivers to whom they leased their cars. The drivers were accused of transporting illegal aliens.
Seven cabs sat in the back of the Imperial Beach lot Wednesday morning. They should be sold at auction within a month or two, according to one Border Patrol agent.
“When they (the cabs) go up for sale in a month or two, I’ll be there to try and get them back,” said Bill Hedrick, part owner of Red Cab. “The Border Patrol got three of them. Two are up for auction, and they called me to come and get the other one tomorrow. I don’t know why.
“We’ve had to buy two other cars and replace them and scrape up meters and radios. One cost over $2,000. The other cost right around $1,000. That’s just the cars. It doesn’t include the radios, meters and headaches. They’re just doing their job, but I think they’re overdoing it.”
On Wednesday, while Grump nervously awaited the sale of the Harley, one 53-year-old Santa Barbara mother of six chain-smoked in the rear of the auditorium, grousing about the newcomers who inflate auction prices.
“That’s way overpriced,” snarled the woman, who refused to state her name, as a 1983 Jeep CJ-5 sold for $6,881. “People get a fever when they come here. They end up buying a car for more than they’d pay for it on a lot. These newcomers spoil it for the people who put in some time and money on it.”
The Jeep, which was the highest-selling item Wednesday, had been confiscated by the DEA after it was driven only 271 miles. The vehicle’s good condition was not unusual, according to longtime auction-goer Rick Grimes.
“The DEA always has the best cars, because of the money in drugs,” said Grimes, who buys confiscated cars and houses, renovates them and sells them for a living. “I’ve been coming to auctions for seven years. It’s all I do. I’ve bought about 80 cars already.”
Grimes went home empty-handed Wednesday afternoon, and he wasn’t alone. The chrome-plated Harley sold to Whittier resident Gerald Moe for $3,226.99. After paying cash for the motorcycle and a 1969 Ford Mustang, he got his change--one penny--and rolled the bike into his pickup truck for the long ride home.
Grump, who bid $2,100, stormed off, muttering:
“That (Moe) must be the man who owned the sucker,” he groused. “Ain’t no way in the world that sucker’s worth $3,000.”
