January Arizona Auction Report

Dave from GM Downunder Australia visited over January. Together we both went to the auctions in Arizona, but first it was off to Pomona for the first swap meet of the year . With the threat of heavy rain the swap meet was a blow out. It was the worst attendance I had seen in years. There were only maybe 30 over priced corvettes for sale. We came home empty handed, but were excited about to week to come.
Heavy storm conditions were predicted for Southern CA that week. We left for AZ early Tuesday morning before the weather hit. It was a nice ride to AZ with no rain at all. At home though it was a little different. About 40 miles out of Phoenix I got a call from my wife. My city at home was under Tornado watch. Water spouts were touching land and forming tornado's. This scared the living hell out of me. Who ever heard of tornado's in California. For the next 2 hours, I feared for my family and home, and there was nothing I could do about it. All worked out OK for us, but some businesses and house were badly damaged. Nice start to our trip.
We arrived at Scottsdale at about 2pm, checked into our motel and then off to Barrett Jackson. Tuesdays prices from what I saw were about average retail. There were not many Corvettes but the ones I saw seemed to bring good money.
Wednesday we were up early. We spent a lot of time inspecting cars. It was another reality check that auction cars are not all what they are made out to be. The quality of corvettes for the most part leaved a lot to be desired. Most of them looked pretty to the unsuspecting buyer, but not to the trained eye. I found many cars that had replacement trim tags and or restamped engines. Lots of replaced body panels and rusty frames made to look good. The sad thing is that most of these cars were sold for much higher than average retail prices. With that said there were lots of fantastic examples also, which sold for very high prices. Bottom line is buyer beware. Good cars with pedigree bring big money. We were done with Barrett Jackson. At these prices, there was nothing we could buy.
Thursday was another day. The storms from Southern CA hit AZ, hard. We decided to give Barrett Jackson a miss and try our luck at the Russo Steele auction. In years past this is where I had bought most of my cars. The weather was terrible. It was freezing cold and poring rain. Inspecting the cars was a challenge in the mud and rain but we got it done. The auction started and I came close to buying several cars, but no luck. I remember being the second highest bidder on a black 59 vette. Something told me to stop bidding, so I did. The guy that won the bid came up to me and told me he would have paid a lot more for it and apologized for not letting me have the car. That was nice of him. No big deal lots more to come. At about 4pm the fire department and auction officials evacuated everyone from the main display auction tents. We did not know why. This made it very difficult to see what cars were coming up and to do last minute inspections while the cars were running. I asked one of the security guards what was going on, he said that some of the tent pegs were getting loose. The strong winds combined with the wet ground were causing the main tent poles to sink which was causing the tent pegs to get loose. That didn't sound good. I didn't really think much of it, so I was walking in between the auction tent and the display tent. Then it happened. I could not believe my eyes. I saw the far end of the tent peal upwards. That whole side of the tent then caught the wind like a sale and blew away. I could see the tent poles as they feel on the cars crushing many of them. If that was not bad enough, I could see the tent ropes blowing around with the tent pegs still attached ( these pegs were 3/4 ' steel rods about 3 foot long). They kept flicking the gravel rocks through the air, like a machine gun shooting at the cars. I remember hearing Drew making the announcement to evacuate the auction immediately. I was already on my way to the exit, but I could see the crowd coming towards the exit in a made panic. Dave was in the car resting still suffering from jet lag and missed the whole thing. The second tent blew over shortly after. Masses of police and fire trucks with sirens blaring came to the auction site. In shock we went back to the motel and watch the news.
Friday Russo Steele was closed, so we went to the Silver auction at the Fort Mc Dowell Indian Casino. Well the tents blew down at this auction as well. Fortunately the cars were not under the tents yet so there was no damage that I know of. By later that night the auction was under way. We ended up going back to Barrett Jackson for most of Friday as the other main auctions were closed. The prices of cars where a lot higher and people were getting ampt up. We couldn't buy anything, but we had a look at all the vendors and displays.
Saturday at Russo Steele was open to car owners, but the auction was still closed to the public. We ended up going to the Pavilion car show in the morning, but the bad weather kept most people away, so we went back to Silvers Auction. After a whole day, we only ended up with 2 cars. Hardly worth the effort, but it was better than coming home empty handed.
Sunday was our last day. Russo Steele was finally open for business so we went there. The place looked like a bomb had hit it. 1.5 million $'s of car damage. Apparently a lot of the car owners pulled their cars out Saturday. I saw that Black 59 vette I mentioned earlier. It had a tent peg through the rear quarter. There were some of the cars that were crushed by the tent poles still there, and many of the cars had what looked like bullet holes from the gravel being shot around. It was so disappointing and sad to see all these nice cars damaged. "The show must go on". The auction finally started. It was evident early that the buyers were only bidding low prices, and most of the reserves were not being met. By lunch time we had enough. We decided to go home.
All in all a bad trip. I blamed it all on Dave's bad luck.

Corvette market report for 2009.

A lot of business here in the US are suffering badly during this recession. Unfortunately a lot have not made it and have closed their doors. 2009 for us showed some positive signs of improvement from 2008, but nothing like years prior. Our sales in 2009 were up 20% from 2008, but still down 25% from 2007. We have learned like all other business that are surviving to tighten our belts and reduce our overhead.
The low value of the US $ compared with other world currencies has continued for the second half of 2009 and therefore has helped with our export sales. A positive sign is that with the reduction in prices, the local sales have picked up also. The same holds true for the second half of 2009. It is my opinion that we have seen a bottom in the market prices. Sellers are still holding to their prices.
Mecum, Barrett Jackson, Silver, Gooding, RM Auctions all had good results with Corvette sales in their January auctions. This is also a good sign for the market place.
More reports to follow.

Australian Radio Interview

Click here for the radio interview site.


The Aussie/ American Makes ABC, Adelaide, Australian Radio.
Not really a big deal, but it was fun.
I was asked to do a radio interview on ABC Radio with two local radio celebrities from my home town Adelaide, Australia. The show is a weekly morning feature called "Beyond the Backyard". It is about talking to people from Adelaide that have moved overseas.
So many people have asked me how I ended up in the US and how I got into cars, I decided to add this link which tells my story.

MARKET UPDATE

The Corvette Market seems to have bottomed out.
Sales for us in the last 6 months have picked up.
It seems that the reduction or market correction in prices due to a bad world economy, has motivated collectors and enthusiasts to take advantage of lower prices. The profit margins are much smaller, but at least they are selling, for us anyway. I guess the old saying holds true. "Good cars at a fair market price will always have a buyer".
Auction results from previous Mecum and Barrett- Jackson (Las Vegas) of late have also shown the Corvette market to be stronger and more steady than most other muscle cars. Time will tell if this is just a minor and temporary upswing.
The export market has been a big boost to sales as well. The weak US$ combined with the lower car prices has seen an increasing overseas demand for Corvettes. This is one reason the prices have stabilized. Another factor effecting price stability is the plain and simple fact that owners do not want to loose a lot of money on their cars when they know that the prices will go up again. This I know for a fact, as I am having trouble buying inventory at "recession prices". I am having to pay up for good cars.
My prediction for the future corvette market is this. Once we get out of our recession the demand will become greater again, as it always has. The supply will not be there because it is all overseas. I can see me importing Corvette back into the US in the not too distant future.
For now we can breath again. The auctions in January will be the next market indicator.

San Jose NCRS Nationals

The San Jose NCRS National has come and gone. The Judging show was held at the San Jose Convention Center in California. The Northern California was the host Chapter. Southern and Central California Chapters all helped organize the event. Approximately 400 families and 160 cars were registered for the event. Trucks and trailers started moving in on Saturday the 11th of July. All the event organizers were frantically placing the sportsman cars in the hall, while others were lining up cars outside in the parking lot getting the flight cars lined up ready for operations checks on Monday morning. All seemed to go smoothly. Once all the cars were placed, everyone had a sigh of relief. I had my folks visiting from Australia so unfortunately I couldn't help much.

San Jose Nationals...Rest of the week

Monday morning we were up early for a judges meeting. I was judging 1968 to 1972 operations. We had 1968, L88 convertible, a 1969, 427 coupe, a 1970 small block and a 1972 small block convertibles to judge. All went well and judging was completed before lunch. After lunch owners underwent Performance Verifications. A Chevron gas refinery tour was the tour of the day. Monday night was the members meeting. This is where all deserving members received all their achievement awards for the year. Black hats, red hats, black jackets and shirts for all the Master Judges. Founders awards and plaques and much more.
I finally received my Black Hat after years of judging .
Tuesday was a day off the judging field for me, so I spent the day doing tech seminars in one of the meeting rooms. Bow Tie etc, Judging continued in the main hall. Following my seminar I had time to catch up with a lot of friends, that you only seem to meet up with at these events. I also had time to check out all the cars. The race cars were a treat and the Flight cars were exceptional representation as you would expect. All in all a fun day. The folks along with 100 others spent the day on San Francisco bus tour. The fun thing about this event, was that there was something for everyone to do, all the time, if you wanted to do it, or just relax between sessions.

Wednesday was a day off for me. I left the hustle and bustle of the show and took the folks site seeing. We went to the Winchester mystery house and the Egyptian museum. I also managed to check some of the local cars for sale ( I couldn't resist).
Thursday was my big judging day, so up early and to the judges meeting. The folks took the train tour through the mountains to Santa Cruz. My judging assignment was 1965 mechanical. Not easy and the most controversial section for judging in my opinion. It's never fun telling an owner he has a restamped engine or a clone. We had 4 cars to judge. A 365hp coupe, a 396 convertible, a 375hp convertible and a 365 big tank coupe. Fortunately all went well and we were done by 1pm. This was my first National Judging event judging. I finally made it. All these cars received their Top Flight awards.

That evening was the banquet. Fantastic. The food was exceptional and most people were ecstatic with there judging results.
A great show. Congratulations to the event organizers, participants and sponsors for a job well done.

Another year at Bloomington Gold, 2009

We flew in on Thursday afternoon. Did a quick inspection of the grounds late that afternoon, checked out the parts swap meet and looked for deals in the Gold Mine. Later on we went across the street to the exhibition hall to view some of the rarest corvettes in the world. Snacks were served followed by movie presentation. That was a treat.



Friday was a long and busy day. We were up very early. Rusty was off to the judging field. I was off to start my inspection of 320 Corvettes that were being sold at the Mecum Auction. Lots of average cars. Some with rust and body issues. Some with engine pad issues. Some were just plain bad. On the flip side, there were some fantastic examples of fully restored and well documented cars. Some very rare COPO cars, L88's, L89's, felines and one off cars. Overall a great cross section and variety of corvettes across the Auction block.


The Gold Mine car coral was also buzzing by now. Lots of private party sellers trying to persuade potential buyers to buy there cars. The swap meet also was crowded with people looking for those lost treasures.



Over 300 corvettes were on the judging field. A spectacular site to see on this fabulous golf course setting.

Owners waited in anticipation as judges buzzed around there cars like bees, scratching notes on their holy grails called judging sheets. For those of you that have had cars judged at NCRS events, this event seemed to show more of a worried and an intense look on the owners faces. The judges had a mission to accomplish. With speed and intensity they worked through their sheets and finished their tasks as expected. No rain, but it was in the low 90's with lots of humidity. Lots of bottled water consumed and lots of perspiration.



This year the Auction was in the air conditioned convention hall. That was nice. It was also broadcasted on live television on HD TV. The auction started at 3.00 pm. Time to do battle. The chemistry and intensity of the show changed dramatically. Auctioneers pumped up the packed audience as cars started to come though the Auction Block. The words "SOLD, SOLD, SOLD" blended in with " THE BID GOES ON" echoed through the hall exciting the crowd. The auction block was packed with potential buyers including me. By the end of the night, 9.30 pm, I had made 3 purchases. A 17,000 original mile 79, a 74 convertible 4 speed and a 67 convertible. All in all not bad. For the rest of the night it was time to take a break and catch up with friends at the host motel, watching the HD TV replay. I guess I was on TV. That was embarrassing, looking at my tired face, it was long day.

Saturday was another early morning. First priority was finish inspecting auction cars. With all our notes completed, we were back to the Gold Mine. There I did a deal on a 69, 427 roadster. Four cars so far. The auction started early today and was live on TV again. I tried buying several cars, but was unsuccessful. Prices seemed to be higher. All the big money cars went through, most of which did not meet their reserves. Auction results can be viewed at www.mecumauctions.com.

The auction in summary was nowhere near as strong as in years past. There were less cars for sale than usual. Most of the bid prices on cars that did not meet reserve, and were very low. If they sold at low prices, the cars had issues. Not many of the high dollar cars changed hands. The auction sale rate was low from years past. Probably a reflection of the economy. The good thing is most people were happy to keep their cars rather than give they away, therefore in my opinion keeping the corvette market alive.

Following the auction we spent a lot of time waiting to pay for the cars and getting truckers organized. Saturday night we had a sigh of relief, we were done. Sunday we did not stay for the survivor muscle cars, as we had an early flight out back to CA.

All in all a hectic, but fun and prosperous trip.

Written by John Piovesan

GM Downunder.