Mecum breaks $10 million barrier at KC sale

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1967 Shelby GT500 on the block | Mecum Auction photos
1967 Shelby GT500 on the block | Mecum Auction photos

The top of the classic car marketplace on Amelia Island wasn’t the only aspect of the hobby posting strong numbers last weekend. Mecum Auctions’ sale at Kansas City wasn’t expected to break into eight figures but posted $10,212,687 on the sale of 409 vehicles, a 72 percent sell-through rate.

In the run-up to the sale, Mecum’s consignment director John Kraman told Classic Car News that Kansas City is one of the company’s oldest sales and among the staff’s favorite venues, but few cars hit six figures.

“We won’t hit $10 million in sales at this auction,” Kraman had said.

Part of the crowd of bidders at KC sale
Part of the crowd of bidders at KC sale

But the bidders proved him happily incorrect on that prediction, although he was correct that only a few cars — four, to be precise — cracked the $100,000 sales plateau.

The overall total marked a 15 percent increase compared with the same sale a year earlier, an indication that the heart of the market beats strongly, especially in light of Mecum’s record-setting and season-opening $100 million sale in January at Kissimmee, Florida.

The top sale at Kansas City was $210,000 bid (Mecum reports hammer prices, excluding buyer’s premiums) for a 1968 Shelby GT500 KR fastback with a factory-installed four-speed.

Also topping $100K were a 2013 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT coupe, at $185,000; a 1967 Shelby GT500 fastback, at $170,000; and a 2015 Chevrolet Camaro SVE Yenko, at $100,000.

The top 10 sales at Kansas City were:

  1. 1968 Shelby GT500KR fastback, $210,000
  2. 2013 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT coupe, $185,000
  3. 1967 Shelby GT500 fastback, $170,000
  4. 2015 Chevrolet Camaro SVE Yenko, $100,000
  5. 1955 Chevrolet 210 resto mod, $85,000
  6. 2007 Bentley Continental GTC, $85,000
  7. 2008 International MXT pickup, $83,000
  8. 1970 Pontiac GTO convertible, $70,000
  9. 1967 Chevrolet Corvette coupe, $70,000
  10. 1957 Chevrolet Corvette convertible, $69,000

(Prices reported are hammer figures and do not include buyer’s premiums.)

 

Mecum’s next sale is April 14-16 at the NRG Center in Houston, where is expects to have 1,000 vehicles crossing the block. After that comes the 2,000-vehicle 29th Dana Mecum’s Annual Original Spring Classic, May 17-21 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

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Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.