Collector car auction largest in province’s history By: Martin Cash Posted: 4:57 PM CDT Thursday, Sep. 7, 2023

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Long-time collector car enthusiast, Bryne McKay, has a six-car garage with one empty stall that’s been driving him crazy.

He may be able to get that fixed over the course of the next eight days as Associated Auto Auctions in Headingley is holding the largest collector car auction in the province’s history.

If you ever wanted a chance to be behind the wheel of an ’89 Jag or ’69 El Camino on cruise night, this could be your chance.

Or maybe you want to get way out there with a ’53 Dodge Powerwagon Ambulance, or a classic ’78 Corvette Stingray or a rare ’99 Plymouth Prowler or go very classic with a 1935 Ford Hot Rod Pickup.

They’re all going to be on the block this week.

Brooke Collingridge, whose father Craig bought Associated Auto Auction Ltd. five years ago, said availability of the quality cars they are looking for has been rising since they started the annual event four years ago.

The past couple of years they’ve had about 150 cars on the block, but this year there will be more than 200.

“People wait to consign until the last minute and then we have to turn people away (who hoped to be able to sell their cars),” she said. “They don’t want to part with them. It’s still summer weather and people want to enjoy their cars on the weekends.”

There had been some collector auctions in the past in Winnipeg, at least one run by an Alberta firm, but according to McKay — who is the editor of the Side Mount Reporter, the monthly publication of the Manitoba Classic & Antique Auto Club — those ones were disappointing.

“They’re not just 200 random collector cars. We hand-picked them across Canada… You’ll see the best of every level here.”–Brooke Collingridge

“Anyone who had a real nice car would not put it in that auction and it gradually got to the point where there was more junky stuff,” McKay said. “It went downhill until Associated Auto had the first one four years ago and it was fantastic.”

Collingridge said they bring in cars from Ontario to B.C. and get registered bidders from across the U.S. and even some from Europe. She said there could be as many as tens of thousands of pre-bidders online.

A live online webcam pre-bidding process starts Friday (Sept. 8) and then the live event begins on-site Friday, Sept. 15 at 6 p.m.

The live bidding process at the company’s nine-acre site in Headingley — where crowds as large as 2,000 are expected — starts at the highest bid that’s been placed online.

Collingridge said it’s possible that no one on site next weekend bids higher than the highest online bid, “but it’s never happened before,” she said.

The cars in the auction have to meet a certain standard and are all in driveable condition.

“They’re not just 200 random collector cars. We hand-picked them across Canada,” she said. “You’ll see the best of every level here.”

The only exception are a couple of cars being sold for parts — an extremely rare Sunbeam Rapier, a car that was only made for a couple of years in the 1970s, and a vintage Ford F-150.

Collingridge said they expect individual sales to range from about $10,000 to $350,000

While the muscle cars typically attract a lot of attention — and the highest prices — there’s plenty of collectors, like McKay, who have specialized tastes.

As a former Nissan dealer, he’s keen on the older Japanese cars.

“Back in the early ‘70s the Datsun 240-Z sold for about $4,000 new,” McKay said. “I remember when they got up to $6,000 and a colleague said we would never sell them anymore because they were just too expensive.”

But the collector market is recession proof. While the prices keep going up, so do the volume of sales.

Six years ago McKay said you could buy a nice vintage 240-Z for $25,000. Now they go for $80,000 to $100,000.

Collingridge believes the highest ticket item might be a 2022 Lamborghini Huracán that she’s expecting is coming in, that could go for around $650,000.

Some of the higher priced muscle cars that will be featured include some vintage Cudas (Plymouth Barracudas) and a couple of Ford Torino Cobras.

Associated Auto Auctions has done a couple of collector auctions in Toronto — with about 500 cars for sale — but this will be the biggest one yet in Manitoba.

In the past the live auction was just one day, but the large volume of cars means they’ll spread it over two days, with a car being sold every three minutes or so.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca