Greetings chaps,
I just got home from the Auburn Kruse Auction in Auburn, Indiana and thought
I'd share some of the LBC news with all of you. I've been going to this
event for the past five years and have found that the interest in LBC's is
mediocre at best. There seems to be more interest in the American
automobile. Unfortunately, this year I was not able to spend much time
watching the cars cross the block, so I'm not sure what kind of money they
fetched, if any. Some of the prices that I quote below are prices that
happened to be included with the info on the sticker, not what the car sold
for.
This year, there were not as many British cars as years past but the lot
included about fifteen Jaguars ranging from XJS, XKE, XK 120 to 150, and one
XKE vintage racer.
MG's included one Twin Cam driver (the only MGA) that had a starting price of
around $18K, one MGB Special Edition starting at $8000, quite a few TC, TD,
and TF's.
Healeys included one 100M Florida Green over Ivory, a 3000MKIII Ivory over
Colorado Red and one MKIII in British Racing Green. A Bugeye Sprite with a
Nissan engine, one later Sprite, both decent shape. Even a BJ8 kit car with
a V8.
A 1968?? Triumph TR4 (non IRS) for $13000, several TR6s, two TR3's, one very
nice non original example for $13500, a GT6 MKIII going for $5500. I was
told that an original TR6 with 13K miles crossed the block and sold for
around $13000.
There was a very nice dark green Sunbeam Tiger that, according to the seller,
had the destinction of being chassis number one.
During the time I spent watching the cars crossing the block, there was a
decent looking Jaquar XK120 that sold for around $30,000. I noticed that a
lot of the car's reserve was lifted and the cars were sold at what seemed to
be very low prices. There was a very nice 1964 Corvette convertible that
went for $20,000, a steal!!
Something to keep in mind. In years past, I have noticed some very nice
British cars cross the block with very few bidders, in fact some have been
driven to the back lot waiting for the seller to take them back home. There
seems to be less interest in the British roadster and more interest in the
larger american luxury, muscle, or oddball cars here in the Midwest. If the
car for you happened to cross that block, you may just get lucky and get
yourself a decent deal. Of course if that was your objective, you'd want to
spend some quality time looking at the car very closely. Some of the cars
look real nice from the outside, but who knows what is lurking
underneath....you need to know the car(s) very well and know what you're
bidding on!!
Some of the prices that I quote above are what the auctioneer starts at, then
goes up or down, depending on where the bidding goes.
While I was out walking among the acres of cars, I even heard the auctioneer
say "sold to Mr Jay Leno!!".....another American car.
Scott Helms....who wishes he had a wad of money to have some fun with!!
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