Revving up to go under the hammer

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This article was published 30/05/2024 (563 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Associated Auto Auction’s own version of Ford v Ferrari will be part of its latest collector car sale Friday and Saturday.

Among the 220 items that will be on the block at the Winnipeg company’s 7130 Roblin Blvd. site are a 2000 Ferrari 360 Modena and a 1965 Shelby Cobra Factory 5 Five — from the manufacturers at the centre of the 2019 Matt Damon-Christian Bale movie.

“There’s a lot of people who’ll be thinking they’re going home in this one,” said Brooke Collingridge of Associated Auto Auction, pointing to the newly rebuilt Shelby that includes a brand-new engine.

Craig Collingridge (Brooke’s father) and his family bought the business that’s been around for more than 50 years, six years ago. They now run collector car auctions several times per year in Winnipeg, Barrie, Ont., and Regina, with plans to expand to Vancouver.

Craig figures there will be more than a dozen such cars that will sell for more than $100,000 this week.

Muscle car gearheads will be in heaven with about a dozen Chevrolet Camaros up for auction, including a dark blue metallic 1977 LT with 34,000 miles on it, whose owner dropped the car off and ended up in tears.

It was the proverbial little old lady who only took the car out to get ice cream on Sundays. “She asked me take a photo of her with it because it would be the last time she saw it,” Craig said.

Richard Janzen, a former auto repair shop owner, was on the lot early Thursday checking out the inventory just before official viewing started. He said he may try to bid on something, but likely down in the $10,000 range.

“I know how to work on the cars,” he said. “I’ve got the background that can let me do my own work.”

The condition of the vehicles is rated from one to five with one (dubbed “conquerous”) the best, down to five (“project cars”).

Most of the cars on the lot for the auction are from Manitoba and the Prairie provinces, but buyers will be flying in from Toronto, Vancouver and all over the U.S., the Collingridges said.

Craig Collingridge said demand and supply sides are both growing in the market.

“What’s happening now is that baby boomers, who’ve been collecting cars over the last 30 to 40 years, are getting to the age where they need to divest their collections or widows are selling their selling husband’s collection,” he said. “There are some amazing stories about where the cars come from.”

There are unreserved bids for about half the items, meaning the winning bid gets the car even if the final price is not as high as what was expected. Online bidding also occurs, and organizers figure as many as half the sales will headed south of the border.

With the U.S. dollar worth CDN$1.37, it obviously gives American buyers the advantage, potentially able to bid up the prices.

“But it also means there’s never been a better time to sell you collector car,” said Craig, a former auto dealer and a classic car lover who’d travelled to the U.S. for the famous Barrett-Jackson and Mecum auctions for several years.

The business is going so well the Collingridges have formed a new division called Coast 2 Coast Collector Car Auctions.

The whole family pitches in with Brooke, 23, running Coast 2 Coast.

Craig’s father was a livestock auctioneer and Craig went to auctioneer school in Mason City, Iowa. His 15-year-old son, Austin, wants to do the same.

Despite the wind and rain Thursday – Craig said he and his crew spent 10 hours cleaning the cars Wednesday – the auction will take place rain or shine.

He’s hoping the addition of a beer garden at the seven-acre site will attract even more people, even if they’re there just to look at the cars.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca