Most of us are familiar with the name Von Dutch, even if it is through the bastardisation of his name into a clothing brand. Many of us will also know the names of Ed Roth, John D’Agostino and Al Teague. Offerings of all of these and many other famous car builders were present during the Icons of Speed and Style Auction at the Peterson Museum, Los Angeles, September 26th. This huge collection of vehicles and memorabilia was under the ownership of just one lucky guy.
Over the years, he had cherry-picked some of the most stunning and sought-after customs, hot rods, and race cars ever built, but a growing family and a recession-hit industry played a big part in his decision to auction the collection off.
Having never been to an auction of this type before, my only experiences were from watching the Barratt-Jackson auctions on television, but suffice to say this was a very civilised affair, with none of the ‘whoopin and a-hollerin’ that I was expecting. In fact, the whole auction was pretty intimate with perhaps no more than 200 people in attendance and far fewer actually placing bids.
Whether it was a result of the recession, or the over expectations of the auction organisers, few of any of the lots reached near their estimated values once the hammer had dropped, indeed there were ‘bargains’ to be had. A 75% finished Ed Roth ‘Tree Viper’ original trike went for just US$3300 (£2062), and the stunning ‘La Jolla’ (pronounced La Hoya) 1951  Chevrolet Custom Coupe built by Harry Bradley only fetched US$24,750 (£15,470). Even the attendance of an original 1969 ‘General Lee’ Charger, used in the television series and signed by George Barris and John Schneider (Bo Luke) sold for a ‘meagre’ US$27,500 or just over £17k. When you look at the value some people put on General Lee replicas, with the heritage of this car, it seemed an absolute steal.
There were many famous faces in attendance, notably D’Agostino and Teague, as well as Larry Alexander, one half of the Alexander Brothers, famous for building the Dodge Deora concept truck which had been heralded as the star of the show, with even the estimated auction price being kept under wraps. Many whispers throughout the auction hall predicted that bidding would top US$750,000, however the Deora failed to claim the top spot with the hammer falling at US$324,500 (£202,820). The king of the auction went to the ‘Little Red Wagon’, the 1965 Dodge A100 wheeler-stander, which almost doubled its estimate with a final bid of US$550,000 (£343,750).
In total, the 80 vehicles and many memorabilia lots raised almost $7million for the owner, with many of the new owners getting the chance to talk with the original builders and drivers of the cars at the event. It was a genuinely inspiring occasion to be in the presence of such an eclectic collection. My personal favourite was D’Agostino’s Firestar 1961 Ford Thunderbird, which again fetched a very reasonable price of US$31,900, or around £20k. Given the huge sums of money that are passed around in America for Rods and Customs, it really does seem a lot of car for the cash.
Needless to say, my relatively empty wallet stayed firmly in my pocket, but at least I came away with a collection of photos and memories from a great day. You can see the photos on the RSM Flickr stream .
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