WILTON, S.D. — Al Blatter was a lifetime car enthusiast, having bought a 1926 Chevrolet for $5 when he was teenager. He kept that car – and 96 other vehicles that he accumulated over the years – until he passed away about a year ago. That Chevy and most of the additional vehicles he acquired were sold on behalf of his wife, Sandy, on July 23 at his “Pontiac Garage” facility just outside of Wilton, S.D., by VanDerBrink Auctions.
While the inspection day was rather hot at nearly 100 degrees, the morning of the auction was 30 degrees cooler and even had the occasional sprinkle of rain during the first hour and a half of automobilia sales before the cars. Yvette VanDerBrink and her crew made short work of selling the cars – both to bidders on-site and through the online portal of Proxibid.com – with the last vehicle sold less than two hours after bidding on the first one began at 10:30 a.m. As for the vast array of parts, they were only offered to online bidders, so the auction was split into two rings.
The highest-selling car was also one of the most recent vehicles that Blatter and his wife added to the collection – a 1974 Pontiac Catalina Safari station wagon. The highly original, 26,281-mile wagon hammered at $33,000. Selling right after it was our “Pick of the Sale” – a two-owner, 40,106-mile 1966 Pontiac Grand Prix in largely original condition. While not perfect, it was very well bought at $21,000.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, VanDerBrink’s scrap bid price was $200. Per her usual practice, she had local salvage yards submit bids ahead of time for what they’d pay for each car that didn’t sell, with $200 being the high bid. That way, if someone wanted a car, they would have to bid at least that amount. All told, all 87 vehicles up for bids were called sold. Of the 19 cars that hammered at $200, 10 were bought by individuals who – like Blatter – felt that they deserved a better fate and didn’t want to see them crushed.
Following are some of the vehicles that sold:
1974 Pontiac Catalina Safari
4-dr station wagon,. This 26,261-mile, highly original example was well equipped from new with optional 455-cid V-8, air conditioning with automatic climate control, cruise control, tilt steering wheel, AM radio,
