More Miles

Work and travel never keep me from clocking more miles on my old GPZ. I jump on my bike as often as I can. A spare minute always means another mile.

I have already managed to get a couple of really good rides in this summer. Last month; I made the trip back to my hometown of Spokane to help out my old friend, Jay with his annual car show in neighboring Rosalia. He had invited me back again to be one of the judges for his annual car show. It’s a tough job when there are so many great cars! Besides the old cars, I got to visit and chat with some of my old college friends who also made the trip to Rosalia for the day. 

My old 1983 GPZ ran like a top for the 800-mile round-trip. Even more surprising was how well I held up on the ride! When I rode the exact route last year, the 90-degree heat took it out of me. The much cooler temperature this year made for a much more comfortable ride.

This weekend, I did a couple of my favorite rides. First one had my heading east out of Portland onto Highway 84 towards The Dalles. From there I rode south on the 197 to Tygh Valley, then east onto Highway 216, which took me along the Deschutes River and up Shears Bridge Canyon. It’s a great twisty ride but you have to be careful because not all of the corners have guardrails. If you go off the road, it’s a hell of a long ways down to the bottom of the canyon! I continued on by connecting through Grass Valley onto Highway 97, then hooking onto Highway 84 westbound back to Portland. It’s a great 300-mile ride that I would highly recommend.

The next day, I took a quick spin to Mount Hood with a quick visit to Timberline Lodge. The road around the backside of the mountain takes you through the wineries and fruit tree farms of Hood River. It really was a perfect weekend of riding.

Did I do the speed limit?

Sherars Bridge Canyon - a fun and fast series of twists and turns

In the background is Oregon’s tallest mountain, Mount Hood

Taking a selfie break along the Columbia Gorge Highway

Arizona Bound

Last week marked my first return to Arizona for collector car week in over a decade. I went to work for my old boss, Mitch Silver, to help him sell some of the six hundred plus cars he was offering over his four day auction. It had been thirteen years since I had last worked at the Silver Auctions annual collector car auction in Fountain Hills, Arizona. It sure felt good to be back amongst old friends and on familiar ground.

If you're not familiar with what auction week is in Arizona, it's basically when the whole of the Scottsdale area gets turned into a huge week of collector car auctions. There were seven different auction companies in Scottsdale this year offering over two thousand collector cars for sale! It started on Monday, January 16th and continued the entire week right through to Sunday, January 22nd.

Our days would start at 10am. Each day would go on for about ten hours. That's what it would take to run two hundred collector cars across the auction block. I worked with three other auctioneers each day. We worked in shifts, each selling ten to fifteen cars before rotating out. When we weren't on the auction block, we would work in the auction ring to spot bids and to assist the auctioneer who was onstage selling. By the end of the three days, my feet and legs were killing me. I must be getting old!

The collector car business is forever changing. Cars go in and out of favor, depending on market conditions. But as always; the best quality, most rare and uniquely interesting ones, never have a problem finding a new owner.

Everyone has an opinion of the health of the collector car market. From my perspective, it looks pretty darn healthy. It was really great to work with my old mentor, Mitch, and to see all of my old friends who have been some of my best supporters throughout my career as an auctioneer.

This impressive 1960 Chevrolet Bubble Top, sold for $50,000.

This nice 1934 Ford Roadster sold for $34,500.

Who doesn't love an E-Type Jaguar?

Back On the Run

Within the first week of January, I have already been to Canada, California, and Las Vegas. It's good to be busy!

While the fundraising part of the auction business doesn't get rolling until February, January is chock-a-block full of collector car and vintage motorcycle auctions.

First up is Scottsdale, where a week-long collector car feast made up of seven auction companies competing for the business of car enthusiasts world-wide. It also happens to be a multi-million dollar week! Barrett-Jackson alone, is expecting to sell in excess of $100 million in cars; with the rest of the auction houses coming close to match that same amount too. You're playing with the big boys here.

Next up in the week immediately following, the focus shifts from cars to motorcycles in Las Vegas; where hundreds of motorcycles will cross the combined auction blocks of Mecum and Bonhams auction companies. At Bonhams (www.bonhams.com), a rare Crocker motorcycle is expected to go for $500 to $600 thousand. Over at Mecum (www.mecum.com), it is offering a fantastic selection of motorcycles at no-reserve. It's sure to be an excitement-filled week. I'll be there, so I hope to run into some of you. Drop me a line on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter; or just swing by to say hello.

Happy New Year everyone and happy bidding and browsing to those of you heading down to Arizona and Nevada!

Back to Where It All Began

This past weekend I had the opportunity to help my old friend and former employer, Mitch Silver. He was just an hour and a half away; up in Shelton, Washington for a small collector car auction held at the Little Creek Casino. We offered up 75 cars and easily sold a third of them.

Working with Mitch on Saturday brought me right back to the days where Mitch and I, along with the rest of our auction crew, traveled around the Western United States every weekend doing small regional auctions just like this. Before the time that television cameras starting showing up at collector car auctions and the age of the internet, these auctions were the mainstay of the collector car business. Oftentimes, these smaller car auctions offered the smart buyer a good deal on a car. A savvy seller could also benefit from the limited inventory at these smaller shows; making his car more special, therefore a standout at the auction.

A Week in Monterey

I just finished up a big week in Monterey, California. For those of you who are are not familiar with Monterey Car Week; it is what would be considered the Superbowl of car auctions. Not only are there six separate car auctions happening simultaneously throughout the week; there are the vintage races at Laguna Seca on the weekend, and then on the Sunday, the granddaddy of all car shows - the Concours d'Elegance on the grounds at Pebble Beach.

This year, I had the opportunity to be involved with a start-up auction with the JR Auctions team. We conducted our back-to-back auctions for 4 days in a row between 1 and 4pm; in a format that had not been tried before in Monterey till now. Our auctions took place on the grounds of the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa. The auction block offered our spectators a stunning and complete view of Monterey Bay. It was truly the most spectacular auction block I have ever worked. With the sun beaming down on hoods and hubcaps, clear blue skies above us and the ocean breeze on our backs... You get and appreciate the picture, even if you're not a car buff.

It was exciting to be involved with Jeff and Robert on this new venture. We offered over a hundred cars, of all varieties, old and new, priced from only a few thousand dollars to well over a million. We thought we might and came so close to selling the Porsche 918 Spyder. When it came down to it; this car was worth holding onto because with its high demand, they are hard to come by.

We got business done and we had fun. We learned a lot and got too much sun! I'm already looking forward to see what's in-store next year.

To build or not to build

To build or to buy? Back in the good old days, if you wanted a hotrod you had to build it yourself. That meant that you had to know a thing or two about all the different forms of fabrication - from welding, machining, bodywork and painting, to engine an transmission rebuilds. Unlike today, where you can have a car built by a professional team or find one to buy at a collector car auction. Any way you slice it, it isn't cheap; though it's not uncommon for street rods to sell at a steep discount compared to their original build costs.