Palm Springs, California. The mid-century modern playground of the Southwest. Stories-tall palm trees. Majestic mountains. Avant-garde architecture around every turn. Golf courses and casinos. A whiff of Rat Pack around every corner. And, theoretically, endless sunshine. Alas, this year, a freak squall timed its arrival with the bi-annual McCormick’s spring auction; it materialized on Friday night and camped out in Palm Springs all day Saturday. When you’re running an outdoor auction with no fixed abode for the sale, good weather is a must. The previous dozen (or more) trips we’ve made to visit McCormick’s events, the skies were glorious. Not this time.
The weather proved an issue for local sellers who weren’t used to water falling from the sky; many backed out. Despite this, McCormick’s still shifted $4.2 million over its three-day sale, February 24-26, proving that buyers were serious. While down significantly from the $6.7 million earned for the ’22 spring edition, it exactly matched the spring ’21 total — in an event with good weather, with a hungry crowd emerging from the pandemic.
For the old-car-friendly town of Palm Springs, visiting a
