Kansas City Mecum Collector Car Auction turns out to be a great car show

The joy of car shows is often a result of hanging out with friends and talking to people about your car.  But if you really like looking at other peoples’ cars, and aren’t as much into the social aspect, one of the best car shows in Kansas City turns up twice a year in Bartle Hall.  The December installment of the Kansas City Mecum auction was last weekend.  Where else can you see 700 cars, all in top, ready-to-sell condition, parked without the restrictions of ropes and stanchions?  From an automotive standpoint, there are few car shows that can top this around here. And if you bring your checkbook, every one of these vehicles has the potential to go home to the highest bidder.

Mecum Spring Auction is one of the best car shows in Kansas City

The Mecum Spring Auction in Kansas City obviously takes place so people can buy and sell cars.  But as far as I’m concerned, it has become one of the best car shows in Kansas City.  Here, you can see some really great, really unusual cars and trucks.  And since it comes in from all over the country, it’s not the same stuff you see at every other car show.  I just hope a lot of these vehicles were sold locally, because there are several of them that I’d love to look at again.

Fantastic cars fill Bartle Hall at the Mecum Grand Finale Auction

Just as the weather turns cold in Kansas City, and you think there is no more car stuff to do, Mecum Auctions comes to town and saves the weekend. More than 750 cars were packed into Bartle Hall for the Mecum Grand Finale event, and whether you were looking to buy or not, it was as good as any car show you’d ever want to attend.

Affordable bargains, six-figure gems, and one heck of a car show. 750 photos from the Mecum Spring Collector Car Auction in Kansas City

The inside of Kansas City's Bartle Hall is 388,800-feet. Now they can do lots of things in there--home shows, religious conventions, RV shows--you name it, they can fit it in there. But as far as I'm concerned, the best way to utilize eight football fields of indoor space is to fill it up with cars.

Luckily, the folks at Mecum Auctions share that opinion, and once again they managed to draw more than 750 sparkling vehicles to the Kansas City Convention Center for the Mecum Spring Classic Auto Auction.

2011 Mecum Muscle Cars and More Grand Finale. Part 2: and More

Last month, I went to the SEMA show. Now as you probably know, that is one of the biggest gear head gatherings in the world, as nearly 2,000 wild automotive creations converge on Sin City.

That being said, car-for-car, I actually enjoyed looking at the selection in Bartle Hall over the weekend better than the cars at SEMA. The annual Mecum Muscle Cars and More Grand Finale took place in Kansas City this weekend, and some 750 vehicles packed into the big climate-controlled convention center downtown.

2011 Mecum Muscle Cars and More Grand Finale. Part 1: Muscle Cars

For old car fans, December can be a bleak time in Kansas City. The car shows are over. The race tracks are silent. The weather is starting to become cruising-prohibitive. The party, as they say, is over.

But then, Mecum Auctions brings in their annual Grand Finale event, and suddenly things aren't that bad after all.

Mecum Bloomington Gold Auction to sell Bill Mullis collection of black Corvettes from 1954-1969

You have to give Mecum Auctions some credit. It seems like no matter where they go, they manage to come up with some really great collection to run through their block. Whether it was Bob McDorman’s Bill Mitchell Corvettes, the 1953 GM dream cars, or just their visit to Kansas City, Mecum is definitely pulling in some cool stuff.

This weekend’s Bloomington Gold Corvette sale is no exception. I’ve always said that a black Corvette with red guts would be my dream combination. And on Saturday, Mecum will be offering a black Corvette from every year from 1954 (the first year you could get something other than white) through 1969; many with my coveted red interior, and all of them spectacular.

Mecum Indy event offers rare chance to see 1953 Fiesta, Eldorado, Skylark, and Corvette all in one place

I’ve mentioned before that I think 1953 was the ultimate year in General Motors history. Never mind that it was twenty years before I was even born. The products, legacy, and accomplishments from that year speak for themselves.

But you can’t really get the full impact of just what GM was able to produce just by reading things. You really need to experience the crown jewels of the 1953 GM lineup firsthand. The Mecum Spring Classic Auction in Indianapolis is providing a rare, rare opportunity to do just that. Crossing the block will be the ultimate quartet of GM’s most ambitious and sought-after cars; a 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, a 1953 Buick Skylark, and a 1953 Oldsmobile Fiesta.

It's fun to look around the Mecum Spring Collector Car Auction, even if you can't afford anything

An event like the Mecum Spring Auction inside Kansas City's Bartle Hall attracts people for a couple of different reasons.

First and foremost, it is a sale. The goal is to sell vintage cars and trucks. And they were doing a pretty good job of that. Two cars sold for well over $150,000, including a fantastic, original '65 Corvette Roadster with a rare 396-c.i. big block that fetched a healthy final price of $188,000. 

In fact, six of the top ten sellers were Midyear Corvettes. So if you love those cars, and honestly, who doesn't, Downtown Kansas City was the place to be.  And it all took place on live, national television on the Discovery Channel's HD Theatre.
But some people don't have thousands and thousands of dollars to purchase their dream car. I walk among them. And for us, the reason to attend this event is that it is one strong car show.

The KC Classic Auto Display in Lenexa officially brings Christmas vacation to an end

Well, I've hit the end of the road. Having a week off around Christmas has been great, but tomorrow, the harsh realities of life set in, and it's back to the daily grind.

In a last ditch effort to incorporate a car activity that doesn't involve buying gasoline, Dad and I made a stop at the KC Classic Auto Display in Lenexa to see what vehicular treasures were in stock.

The KC Classic Auto Display has been in this old industrial building for many, many years. Occasionally, they'll get something that'll knock your socks off, but usually they stock a bunch of B-list muscle cars and cruise night specials. Some of them are offered for sale by the business itself, some are sold on consignment, and some are just being stored for the winter.

Mecum auction brought the national spotlight to Kansas City. More than 400 photos from the December 2010 event inside



Nice Bird, huh?  It sold for $186,000!

 Well, the weather outside might be frightful, but the convention center was pretty delightful. This weekend, the Mecum Collector Car Auction was held in downtown Kansas City, and after a month's dry spell of virtually no car shows, the inside of Bartle Hall was a welcome sight.

There was a real assortment of cars at this sale. You could pick up something for under $2,000 if you weren't too particular. But among the beaters and Saturday night cruisers, there were some real heavy hitters.

The top-selling vehicle was a supercharged '57 T-Bird that went for a breathtaking $186,000. A '66 "Big Tank" 427 Corvette traded hands at $141,000. And another '57 'Bird, this a dual-carb E-Code number dressed in yellow, sold for $132,000. There was also a real '65 Shelby GT350 Mustang that failed to sell after a high-bid of $185,000. So obviously, there were some real cars, and some real bidders in the house.

The Bob McDorman auction will be completely awesome, but completely sad at the same time



“Bunkie” Knudson's Harley Earl-built,
one-off '63 Corvette Roadster.
Photo: Mecum Auctions

 As a sentimentalist and a collector, I always feel a bit of sadness when I hear that the nation’s great car collections are pieced out and sold at auction. And for Chevrolet fans, one of the most significant collections was assembled by Ohio Chevy dealer Bob McDorman. His amazing group of cars will be sold by Mecum Auctions at his Canal Winchester dealership on November 6.

McDorman is well-known for owning one example of every year Corvette ever produced. And many of those are exceptionally significant cars. Twelve of those Corvettes have serial number 1. Some of them are special-order, GM-built, one-offs, like Bunkie Knudsen's 1963 Sting Ray, and his wife Florence’s specially modified “Pink Pearl” car. These cars are ridiculously awesome, with all kinds of Bill Mitchell design touches inside and out.