Gearing Up for a Bid of Nostalgia : Classic Cars at Newport Auction Draw Buyers
Mark Peterson didn’t come to town to buy a car, let alone two and certainly not three. But after his fourth pink slip, he was in the groove.
“That’s it, no more,” Peterson, 39, said Saturday after spending $13,000 for a candy-red 1956 Ford Thunderbird at the Newport Beach Collector Car Auction. “But I said that an hour ago.”
Peterson was staying at a nearby hotel and just wandered over to check out the auction Saturday morning. By noon, he owned a 1971 Porsche 911 Turbo Targa, a 1958 Jaguar XK150S, a 1945 U.S. Army jeep and the T-bird. Total: $60,000.
“It was all impulse,” said the Lake Mathews area resident, who runs an air-conditioning business and as of Saturday collects classic cars as a hobby. “And a little present for my wife.”
Although flattered, Kathleen Peterson, 30, was somewhat bewildered by the high-end shopping spree.
“How are we going to drive these all home?” she asked.
The two were among the hundreds who showed up for the auction, one of the largest in the country. More than $2 million changed hands at last year’s event, and sponsors expected an even higher total this year when the auctioneer’s gavel finally rests today. One sale Saturday, a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, brought in $200,000.
“This is a very high-end market,” said an event spokeswoman.
About 250 cherry cars gleamed in the parking lot of the Hyatt Newporter: sleek, powerful Jaguars, conservative, stuffy Rolls-Royces and then the crown jewel of the show, a real doozy--an $800,000, 1932 Duesenberg convertible sedan whose style and elegance spawned the slang term.
There was even a car owned by Elvis, a sporty, banana-yellow 1971 Ford Pantera whose failure to start one cold, miserable morning drove him to shoot a bullet into its steering column, according to auction officials. The hole is still there, and can be bought, along with the car, for $550,000.
The sight of the chrome-and-steel collection inspired many auction-goers to rapture.
“These are beautiful cars. I love cars. I’ve always loved cars. And these are great,” said Nandor Hegedus, 30, of Hollywood as he stared at a bright blue 1938 Packard V-12 Phaeton once used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“Americans have always had a love affair with the car,” said Bill Wohler, a 49-year-old Pasadena resident who has restored several cars himself. “I’ve been fascinated by them since I was tearing cars apart in the garage when I was 15. Once you have that love, it never leaves you, no matter how old you are. It’s an art form.”
Indeed, many at the auction seemed bent on proving that no one has ever gone broke in this country selling nostalgia.
Fletcher Jones Jr., 43, who owns several car dealerships, including one in Newport Beach, said he paid $16,000 for a white 1952 Chevrolet pickup for the memories.
“It’s the nostalgia,” Jones said. “I’ve been around cars all my life, and these are the cars I would like to be around.”
Others, though, said lost youth had nothing to do with it. Style was what they were after.
“There are Rolls-Royce all over this town, but nobody has a Willy,” said Balboa resident Joan Utman-Clawson, 45, as she spoke glowingly of the 1951 little red jeep made by the defunct Willys Overland company and now worth about $26,000.
She had not persuaded her husband yet to buy the vehicle, but was confident of her chances. “I don’t see why not,” she said.
