Silverphile
John Kuhn Bleimaier
Mirage in the Desert
The Scottsdale Experience
Above (featured image): At RM Auctions, a 1955 300SL gullwing that sold for $847,000 and a 1962 300SL roadster that sold for $836,000
There is nothing quite like driving the Mother Road at night through Arizona, pacing a hard-charging Santa Fe freight on the high desert under an outsized prairie moon. Up over Coyote Pass we dashed; through sleepy Wikieup; and across the prickly valley of the Joshua tree. In the twinkling of a far-sighted, old cow-poke’s eye, we arrived in Scottsdale, Arizona.
For quite a spell now, the Scottsdale collector-car auctions have served to warm up the classic-car trading community in the middle of the cold winter and hibernation doldrums. As my old bunkies know, I do not cotton to auctions. I don’t personally like to make purchases under pressure and I kind of resent the treatment of thoroughbred motorcars as fungible investment commodities. Nevertheless, in January I found myself under the various and sundry auction house big tops in Scottsdale among acres of shining old-car iron that were rounded up at the railhead in the Sonoran Desert.
With its carnival atmosphere, complete with the pervasive smell of kettle corn mixing with exhaust smoke, the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company might uncharitably be referred to as the vehicular equivalent of “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!” What can more eloquently describe the raucous scene than conjuring the image of a pristine Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing displayed on a turntable alongside the Batmobile. I cannot blot out of my mind a historic illustration of an unbowed Belle Starr or Marie Antoinette stoically ascending the steps to the block under the leering gaze of a clueless rabble.
After the Barrett-Jackson aesthetic debacle, it was a soothing balsam to visit the bucolic settings of the Scottsdale sales by Gooding, Bonhams and RM, respectively at Fashion Square, Westin Resort and the Arizona Biltmore. While an auction is by definition a competitive scramble to be the highest bidder, these auctions in the English manner prove that the harsh reality can be mercifully presented sub rosa to de-emphasize the carnal lust, the macho gratification and the low theater of the block and gavel.
At Bonhams, a1938 540K that sold for $1,312,500
Drew Alcazar, co-owner of the Russo and Steele auction house, addressed automotive journalists at a breakfast in Scottsdale, waxing eloquent on the subject of investment strategies, hedged bets and anticipated yields. Of course, there was nary a mention of carburetion or supercharging; of hydraulic suspension or recirculating-ball steering. Why was I was not surprised? These are enthusiasts of a different sort.
At RM this 1958 300Sc coupe sold for $275,000
As I left Scottsdale after a day at the classic car auctions and drove off into the sunset, I had a peculiar thought. It occurred to me that I have always considered the ancient Hindu tradition of sati, whereby a widow is immolated on the funeral pyre of her husband, to be a uniquely cruel ritual. However, perhaps the exotic potentates of old could not bear the thought of their beloved spouses being at the mercy of unfeeling strangers. The idea crossed my mind that perhaps I would want to be buried with my beloved finback so that she will never fall into the hands of cold and calculating auctioneers. I suppose I spent a bit too much time in the sun.
At Gooding, this silver 1961 300SL Roadster sold for $770,000.