Vicari covers all the bases in Biloxi
BILOXI, Miss. — The Cruisin’ The Coast car show has been markedly growing over its 27 years. Now the largest special event of any kind in the state of Mississippi (they even market state lottery tickets with it), the week-long car show is something akin to a Southern version of the Woodward Dream Cruise, as it takes place along a stretch of highway. For Cruisin’ the Coast, that road is US Highway 90 from the Louisiana border to the Alabama border, with a host of small events associated with it in every city that is along the route. Held during the first full week of October, this year saw the event set record vehicle attendance when, for the first time, it had more than 10,000 pre-1990 cars registered.
One of the larger events tied to Cruisin’ the Coast is the Vicari Auction that is conducted at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi. Pete Vicari has been instrumental in building up Cruisin’ to the Coast and has conducted an auction there for 26 years. This year, his Harvey, La.-based auction company attracted 441 automotive consignments for the three days of car sales. While billed as a four-day auction, the first day was exclusively for collectibles and automobilia. While the focus was on the sub-$200,000 market, there was a wide variety of vehicles to choose from. With muscle cars, trucks, street rods and resto-mods, Vicari pretty much had something for everyone.
Leading all sales was a 1968 Shelby GT-500KR convertible, hammering at $191,000. It was a Shelby 1-2 punch for the top sales, with the other example of Carroll Shelby’s genius being the next highest sale, a 1967 GT-500 fastback, fetching $176,000. While initially called a post-block sale at an erroneously stated $200,000 on the block, a factory-fresh 2023 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye
