The folks at Mecum Auctions anticipated 750 vehicles would cross the block at their second annual autumn event in the Anaheim Convention Center, but “consignments came in droves” and bids were accepted on 812 vehicles.

Seems, however, that sellers were more eager than buyers, because only 412 of those vehicles sold, though for nearly $14 million.

Tied for high-dollar transactions were a pair of Ford GTs, a 2005 and a 2006, each of which brought $210,000.

The list of top-10 vehicles is an interesting mix. At $180,000 was a 1969 Chevrolet COPO Camaro, but then came a 1953 Hudson Hornet Twin-H convertible at $150,000.

Next on the list was a quartet of vehicles sold for $132,500 as a single lot — a 1955 Chevrolet 210 resto-mod, a 2005 Harley-Davidson Roadglide, a 2006 Ness Lowliner bike and a 2008 Adventure motor bike trailer.

Selling for $130,000 each was a pair of 1954 Buick Skylark convertibles. A 1956 Chevrolet Nomad resto-mod brought $125,000, the 1938 Harley WLD Solo Sport formerly owned by Steve McQueen also went for $125,000, while a 1955 Chevy Nomad traded ownership for $120,000.

Mecum ends its 2013 auction year December 5-7 at Kansas City, and then launches its 2014 calendar with a motorcycle auction January 9-11 at Las Vegas, followed by its huge — some 3,000 vehicles huge — sale January 17-26 at Kissimmee, Florida.

We have classic cars. Europe has “historic motoring.” For the third year, a British bank and magazine have sponsored the International Historic Motoring Awards to “celebrate ‘the best of the best’ in what is now a multi-billion global industry.”

The event of the year award was shared by the Amelia Island concours d’elegance and the VHRA Pendine Sands amateur hot rod races while the publication of the year went to the book “The Stewardship of Historically Important Automobiles” published by the Simeone museum of Philadelphia.

The museum or collection of the year was the Louwman Museum of The Netherlands. Motorsport event of the year was the Silverstone Classic while the race series of the year was the FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship. Rally or tour of the year went to the 20-Ghost Club’s Centenary Alpine Trial. The Aston Martin Owners Club was club of the year.

The lifetime achievement award went to F1 broadcaster Murray Walker while Philip Young, father of historic rallying, received the personal achievement of the year award.

Car of the year was the recreation of the Bugatti 57SC Aerolithe by David Grainger of the  Guild of Master Craftsmen, Canada (see photo by Joe Wiecha). Restoration of the year was the 1966 US. Grand Prix-winning Lotus 43 by Andy Middlehurst, and specialist of the year was Francis Tuthill Ltd., which sent more than 15 Porsche 911s and more than 50 tons of parts and gear to the East African Safari Classic despite being a family-run company with less than 30 employees.

Among the finalists in the various categories were concours at Pebble Beach and The Quail, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, the Blackhawk, Le May and Mullin museums, the Colorado Grand tour, Hagerty insurance (specialist), and book publisher David Bull of Phoenix (in the personal achievement category for his battle back from a life-threatening motorcycle collision).

Phoenix, October 3, 2013 – ClassicCars.com, the leading online classic car marketplace, announced an all-time high in website traffic, a total of 1,003,558 visits, for the month of September. In addition to its highest-ever number of visits, the site also served a record-breaking 9.4 million page views. These impressive numbers represent year-over-year growth of 59%.

In addition to the growth in website traffic, ClassicCars.com’s dynamic marketplace announced significant growth in other key measures, including the number of buyer inquiries submitted, total vehicles listed for sale by owner, and new Dealer Network members. The company also announced that downloads of its iPhone app, the first of its kind in the classic car market, have exceeded 25,000.

“The phenomenal growth of the site is a company-wide goal towards which we all strive,” said Roger Falcione, President of ClassicCars.com. “Topping the 1 million mark is not only a memorable achievement that we collectively celebrate; it’s an indication of our employees’ dedication and hard work. And of that, I’m most proud.”

Trusted by partners and clients such as Hagerty Insurance Agency, RM Auctions, Barrett-Jackson and more than 300 dealers, ClassicCars.com is the largest online marketplace for classic and collector cars with more than 30,000 vehicles listed. The site utilizes a robust search function to help buyers sort through those thousands of listings and a proprietary “My Garage” feature where users can save their favorites. For sellers, ClassicCars.com provides a feature-rich listing option that includes the “list until sold” benefit for one flat fee. Additionally, the site offers a comprehensive Resource Guide, an Event Calendar where members can post events at no charge and Auction Central, where enthusiasts can find the latest auction news.

“The classic car industry is in an exciting stage and we’re poised to make that translate exponentially for ClassicCars.com,” stated Falcione.

About ClassicCars.com

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, ClassicCars.com is devoted to helping owners sell classic vehicles online.  Featuring vehicles for sale by private sellers, auction houses, and specialty dealerships around the world, ClassicCars.com is home to the world’s largest online selection of classic and collector vehicles for sale. For more information, visit www.classiccars.com.

New Jersey judge Joseph Cassini III and his wife, Margie, are well known within the classic car community. For the last two years — and four times in the last eight years — their cars have won best-in-show honors at the Concours d’Elegance of America. And their 1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Victoria drove off with best-in-show honors at the 63rd Pebble Beach concours d’elegance as well.

“This Packard is the epitome of American style and grace in the Classic Era,” said Sandra Button, the concours chairman. “It is understated but elegant, and it has a striking but quiet presence. When it drove onto our show field this morning, and I stepped forward to greet the Cassinis, I could barely hear the engine running.”

The Cassinis’ Packard is only the second American car to win best-in-show at Pebble Beach in nearly 20 years (The 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster “Mormon Meteor” won in 2007).

The Cassinis also won the top award at Pebble Beach in 2004 with their 1938 Horch 853A Erdmann & Rossi Sport Cabriolet.

$5,775 for a very stock-looking 1976 AMC Pacer. $6,325 for a 1995 Hyundai Elantra that once-upon-a-time raced up Pikes Peak. $57,750 for the 1967 Boothill Express, a hot-rodder’s vision for someone’s last ride — and rites. $77,000 for a big beverage can on wheels, the 1970 I-coulda-had-a-V-8 vehicle commissioned by Campbell soup and built by George Barris. And $407,000 for a 1952 Cunningham C-3 coupe (see photo) and the parts needed for its eventual restoration.

Those reportedly were among some of the 64 or so vehicles pulled out of storage at the Petersen Automotive Museum and sold at Auction America’s California auction in Burbank.

The Cunningham coupe was among the top-5 sales at the auction, where 313 of the 389 cars were sold, along with 13 motorcycles and a bunch of memorabilia, all totaling $17.27 million.

Why would a museum sell a rare Cunningham? Most likely because of how much money and time would be required to restore it into any sort of showpiece condition. Besides, that $407,000 represents a nice chunk of the money the museum needs to proceed with its plans to update and modernize its displays. Details of those plans are promised during car week this month at Monterey. (For background, see our earlier article at http://classiccars.com/articles/le_july2013c.aspx.)

The top-dollar sale at the auction was $825,000 for a 1964 Shelby Cobra, one of the few that left Shelby America with an automatic transmission. A 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL roadster formerly owned by actor Robert Stack (see photo) brought $808,500, a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona went for $401,250 and a 1974 Ferrari 246 Dino GTS sold for $291,500.

Overall, 313 of 389 cars sold — for a combined $16.8 million — as did 12 of 13 motorcycles.

“This auction proves that with the right vehicles and the right team, Southern California can host a lucrative and successful collector car auction,” said Auctions America executive Ian Kelleher. “The location in Burbank was central to most Los Angeles residents and the fact that we were just a few blocks fro several major movie studios while cars with serious Hollywood history rolled over the block helped, but many of the top cars sold were simply outstanding cars that were highly sought-after.”

Speaking of Hollywood, a 1946 Indian Chief motorcycle formerly owned by Steve McQueen sold for $143,750 and three cars built for the 2000 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” movie each went for around $35,000.

And if you’re still fretting about the Petersen selling some of its cars, calm down. For one thing, it’s supposed to be a museum, not a storage facility. For another, I had a long conversation last week with a long-time classic car collector, auctioneer and museum director who has brokered a bunch of such sales — and many purchases as well — for various museums, including some of the most respected institutions in the country. He said car museums often sell cars and buy others, but they try to do it quietly so as not to have an undo impact on transaction prices.

The 1st-gen Lamborghini “Diablo VT” was breathtaking to behold and is arguably one of the most beautiful, sexy and extremely-fast, exotic-supercars ever produced! This over-the-top, almost-as-fast-as-a-speeding-bullet, as aerodynamically perfect as anything earthbound could be, fire-breathing beast was designed by the infamous and proud Marcello Gandini, who had also designed the two predecessors in line to the “Diablo”, the Miura and the Countach.  The “Diablo” moniker was drawn from Spanish history and was the name of a famously ferocious, 19th century, fighting bull, which was owned and raised by the “Duke of Veragua”, who also happened to be the grandson and heir of Christopher Columbus! The edict was sent from the top brass at the time (around June of 1985) to design a vehicle that could reach a top speed of 315km/hr (approx. 196 mph, for us metrically challenged folk) and yet meet all the new (and ever increasing) emissions standards and safety regulations of the day. Rumor has it, that after the Chrysler Corporation had taken over ownership of Lamborghini in 1987, (which was right in the midst of designing the “Diablo”) they frowned at the angular design of the new model ( maybe to much like the Countach?) and had their designers in Detroit take a hand at smoothing-out the aggressive angles by massaging the bodywork into a more curvaceous look.

Zero to 60 mph took just over 4 seconds and handling was unbelievably well-controlled, even under the most lead-footed of handlers, due to the perfectly-balanced weight distribution of the rear-facing, mid-engine and “VT” all-wheel-drive system, which automatically/electronically (or manually, depending on how the driver had the controls set) switched traction to the front wheels in the instance the rear wheels broke loose. Even though the “Diablo” overall was larger, wider, stronger and thus heavier than the “Countach”, it was still the fastest production car in the world at the time of it’s debut in 1990. The body was uniquely designed as well, using steel, composite and aluminum panels and retained those tell-tale Lamborghini “scissor-style” doors which opened straight up and angled forward out of the way. The new Lamborghini “Diablo” was also outfitted with more creature comforts and refinements than ever before but remained an icon of all that is Italian in supercar motoring and still draws a crowd every time one is seen in public.