MECUM AUCTIONS, GLENDALE, ARIZONA

IT WAS A WEIRD SPRING IN Scottsdale for auction goers. With the bulk of the events pushing back from their traditional January sale dates into the springtime, suddenly Mecum — celebrating its third-annual March event in nearby Glendale, at State Farm Stadium — went from “Two months after everyone else? Are there any cars left?” to being the first of the multiday auctions in the region. It’s a lot like Arizona refusing to bend to the will of Daylight Savings time: By being the only entity not to change, it completely changes the landscape. Suddenly, the last event of the season had become the first.

It seemed to work. Over three days, Mecum took in $42.3 million overall. That’s 14 percent better than its debut Glendale auction, in 2019, and nearly a third better than last year’s event, which was plagued both by rain and by COVID uncertainty. A strong 86-percent sell-through rate (712 of 829 vehicles offered, more than 20 percent better than last year) was split between the socially distanced, credential-holder-only crowd and a robust online bidder presence, plenty of whom were surely watching the action