Mecum Auctions, Glendale
Pandemic-related economic uncertainty doesn’t seem to have hurt the world of old-car auctions. Over the Glendale, Arizona, auction’s three day-run, March 18-20, at State Farm Stadium, Mecum took in $42.3 million overall. That’s a record — 14 percent better than the debut event in 2019, and nearly a third better than last year’s sale, which was plagued both by unseasonal precipitation and COVID uncertainty. The 86-percent sell-through rate (712 of 829 vehicles offered) was impressive considering the socially distanced, credential-holder-only crowd; surely a strong online bidder contingency, with some help from TV coverage on MSNBC, boosted the numbers.
The Arizona auction season got turned around this year. Usually, Mecum’s March event has locals joking that, after January’s car-auction bacchanalia, it’s a surprise that any cars are left. But with most of the auctions pushing back from their traditional January sale date into the springtime, suddenly Mecum went from the region’s season-ender to being the first of the multiday auctions around the greater Phoenix area. Mecum didn’t change its schedule and the market seems to have cooperated.
The event’s top seller was a ’67 Corvette L88 coupe that was still equipped with its factory-issued engine and had won practically every Corvette-hobby award for which it was eligible. After fees it sold for a jaw-dropping $2.695 million.
