FLORIDA VACATION DEPT
METAL MEETS
MONEY! Mecum’s big winter auction in Kissimmee hosts great cars, grosses over $200M, and wait until you see what car was the top Mopar seller for ’22!
STORY AND PHOTOS BY GEOFF STUNKARD
“NOW LOOK AT YOU, George Bailey,” Mr. Potter said.
The Barton Hemi in F107.
56 MOPAR ACTION
“A miserable little clerk crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help. No securities, no stocks, no bonds, nothin’ but a miserable little $500 equity in a life insurance policy. You’re worth more dead than alive!” Had George Bailey, of It’s A Wonderful Life, stuck around until 2022, he would finally have shown Mr. Potter a winning hand in Kissimmee, Florida. The top selling Mope at what ended up being the largest grossing car auction ever ($217M gross) was the 1919 Dodge Brothers Model 30 touring car (Lot U167) used in the classic Frank Capra Christmas story, hammering sold at $522,500 on Sunday as things wrapped up for Mecum’s 10-day extravaganza at the Silver Spurs Arena. The car collector market is strong right now, and both buyers and sellers were ready to do business. There was a total of 244 Mopars offered (36 Chryslers, 126 Dodges and 82 Plymouths) of which 199 sold. While a handful among those left on the table were big dollar machines (including a real ’70 Hemicuda convertible that went all the way to $2.1M before closing), most cars brought solid numbers and reserves were lifted over and over again as sellers said, “YES!”
