Gone Farmin’

This 1969 White Freightliner was a test vehicle built for Dana Corp. It has four bucket seats inside and a unique single exhaust stack that was re-routed to the rear. It sold for $20,000 at Mecum’s Gone Farmin’ auction.

Trucks pull their weight at Mecum Gone Farmin’

B. Mitchell Carlson reporting

EAST MOLINE, Ill. — After its second year at the Bend XPO Center, Mecum Auctions’ Gone Farmin’ Fall Premier tractor and truck auction seems to be set on cruise control as a successful and productive xture in the collectible vehicle auction world. While not Mecum’s nal auction of the year (that honor falls to its collector car auction in Kansas City on the rst weekend in December), with the cold hand of winter descending down upon the Quad Cites area again, it certainly felt like a last call of 2022 for many buyers in attendance.

As it has been the case for over half a decade, Gone Farmin’ is not just about selling farm tractors. There is a truck segment on Thursday, the rst of the three days of this event. There were also some cars on the docket Thursday, and no-sales were re-ran on the other two days after the tractors. (Three lots re-ran on Friday and another three on Saturday.) Proving that the show works best when you stick to the script, only two of those six where hammered sold on the second trip across the block (and both were on Friday).

Yet Mecum is known for post-block persistence, and here it got them to within one average truck sale from garnering $1 million in sales ($986,400 on the hammer, to be precise). While Mecum sold just 59 of the 91 trucks consigned (down 20 percent from last year’s 84.7 percent sales rate), the 575 sales out of 608 tractors consigned – for a strong 94.5 percent sales rate – helped bring total sales to $5,665,837.

Last year (and at its spring auction at the Bend XPO Center), the trucks and tractors were driven across the block. This year, the staff elected to only sell the vehicles off the monitors. This way the doors on either side of the podium stayed closed and the building stayed warm. With the pandemic closures over the last nearly three years, buyers have become used to bidding on a vehicle that’s not directly in front of them, and at least the vehicles were all on site for bidders with boots on the ground to inspect. Maybe Ma Nature will be kinder for Gone Farmin’s next sale here this coming spring, from March 23-25.

What seems to be a regular feature of the Fall Premier sale is a rare Minneapolis-Moline UDLX crossing the block, and this event was no exception. Intended to be both a tractor and something of a car — with a full cab and a 40-mph top speed — it was a phenomenal op in the late 1930s tractor market. However, in the early 21st Century, it’s a highly coveted vehicle, and the 1938 example at Mecum was exceptionally well restored and worthy of its $200,000 hammer price. It was the top sale overall of the weekend.

As for the top-selling truck, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that it was a TRUCK. The restored and personalized 1964 Kenworth K825 cab-over-engine semi-tractor hammered for $80,000. On the opposite end of the sales spectrum was a rather rough-for-wear 1951 Chevrolet model

4100 1-1/4- ton that had been a water tanker; it managed to fetch $900. Between were a myriad of trucks — and cars — that had something for most folks’ interest or pocketbook . 1969 White Freightliner Model T10464

4-dr cab-over-engine semi-tractor. Condition #4, sold for $20,000. This truck was custom built as a crew-cab for Dana Corp. to use in testing the noise levels for its transmissions. Currently tted with a Detroit Diesel Series 92 V-8 engine, a nine-speed main transmission, and a four-speed auxiliary. Original and faded graphics. Retains the original “White Freightliner Custom Engineered for Dana Corporation” plates on both front doors. Wears a 1986 Michigan fuel tax sticker on the front passenger’s door. The original but moderately worn interior features four bucket seats with plenty of room on the engine tunnel for mounting test equipment, based on the holes drilled into it. Since it was used for noise testing, it does not have a fth wheel. Instead, heavily weathered sound insulation material was added over the top of the frame and the exhaust was re-routed to the back of the truck with a single upwardly pointed pipe. Additionally, both rear differentials are also wrapped in sound deadening material. Considering that any old crew cab truck in the last decade has been selling quite well in the market, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that a purpose-built crew cab semi sold for this sum. Indeed, some would call this well bought, yet with everything needed to keep a vintage semi fully functional (and that without the fth wheel, you won’t be able to justify and expense as a eet promotional or work truck), I’ll call this a correct sale for what must be a one-of-one truck.

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1979 GMC K2500 Suburban Sierra Grande

4-dr 3/4-ton wagon. Condition #3, Sold for $17,000. This Suburban was built at the Janesville, Wis., plant and sold new in Wisconsin. However, it wasn’t a rusty, crusty example from use thing about it is a missing horn button. Otherwise, the wellequipped ’Burban was in pretty decent shape. While a heavy host of options isn’t that unusual for one of these (as this was built with air conditioning, towing package, tilt steering, a locking rear differential, power tailgate glass, and full gauge package), it was more off the beaten path for having a fourspeed manual transmission behind the small-block 350-cid V-8. Considering the continued strong interest in all things “Square Body” — including GMCs that get passed-by for those wanting nearly identical Chevys — this was actually not too bad of a buy overall. There was a lot to like here.

1963 Communter 460, 4spd, foose wheel, 9-inch rear, runs great $29,975

1927 Coupe 460cui, 871 blower, dual 4’s, auto, 8” rear, ready to go. $24,975

1972 Corvette

350, Auto, T-Tops, Green, Rally Wheels, All Original $21,975

1985 Chevy Silverado

LS3 Conv., Lowered, Auto Trans., White Paint, AZ Title $19,975

1980 Chevy C-10

LS3 Conv., Lowered, Auto, 82K Miles, Red Paint, AZ Title $16,975

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1932 Ford Model B

2-dr 1/2-ton pickup, Condition #3, Sold for $29,000. Body prep and paint won’t win it any concours awards, but this truck still looks good to the untrained eye and is nice

for a driver. Little has been added; just a clamp-on mirror to the driver’s door and step plates on the running boards. Decent-looking urethane nish on the wood ooring in the box. Basic re-upholstery work on the seats is good enough for a driver. For regular readers, if this truck seems familiar, it is — it was declared sold at $26,000 a month ago at Mecum’s sale of Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum in Fountain City, Wis. Now that it runs, I suspect that this is more of a case of a dealer ipping it rather than a deal unwinding and Mecum bringing it here to move out. If it’s the former, there isn’t much margin in waking up and ipping prewar pickups. The reserve was met with the nal bid, meaning that, if it was a x-and- ip, at best, the ipper broke even between parts, labor, plus transportation from there and then to here. For someone who appreciates an old truck in the slow lane of life, the buyer could do a lot worse, as it’s now a turn-key driver. 1927 Ford Model T

1916 Packard Model D

Open-platform 1-1/2-ton stake bed truck. Condition #3, $20,000. Another repeat offender from another Mecum Auction this year – in this case, the Spring Classic in Indianapolis in May, where it was reportedly bid to $45,000 and not sold. Unlike the ’32 Ford B pickup, this one didn’t get in better condition. Instead, it’s degrading from its older restoration while it was part of the Hayes Museum in California. When I saw it at Indy, the nish on the wood was quite respectable. Here, in East Moline, it’s somewhat weathered and starting to ake off. Otherwise, it hasn’t degraded much from May. Both then and now, the very basic solid rubbertired truck is more of what I’d call a “threshing show driver.” That’s not at all a knock on it, as folks at threshing shows can actually see it running and working as originally intended, rather than being a piece of static museum sculpture. While the no-sale bid was rather outlandish (and probably not backed by money), the actual sale here is not a bad deal at all, especially if you always wanted to be the man (or woman) who owns one.

1/2-ton roadster pickup. Condition #3, $13,000. This nal-year Model T was restored several decades ago, and has seen its share of use since. The economy-grade repaint has heavy edge wear on the hood and moderate chipping on the edges of the doors. Has re nished wood pickup bed oors, with access door cut in for the modern battery. The accessory MotoMeter was put on backwards, with the front facing the driver (at least pedestrians in a crosswalk can tell if the car is running hot). Old engine repaint with surface rust starting to take hold. Modern safety glass tted for the windshield. Top and seats reupholstered well enough around the time it was repainted. Reproduction rubber ooring. Dust on the undercarriage is more from sitting than driving. While general interest in model Ts has been picking up in recent years, it’s basically a case of “the older the T, the more it’s worth” (especially early brass-radiator examples versus the later painted-radiator-shell years). Yet the exception seems to be these 1927s, as they’re the “most modern” of the series. Being a roadster pickup helps even more, so call this market correct, and a pretty decent buy.

1936 Indiana Model 86 trucks (2)

1-1/2-ton K26 (an open cab re truck) Condition #3, sold for $27,000. K27 (a wood-bodied express) Condition #3, sold for $19,000. It’s quite rare to see an Indiana at auction — let alone two. These were from a father/daughter restora-

tion team who had a fondness for the trucks originally built in Marion, Ind. The atbed/express-bodied example was restored rst, having been featured in several historic truck-focused magazines and a video series after it was completed a little over three decades ago. Since then, it’s started showing its age with some paint chipping around the hood, a crack in the driver’s side vent window glass, and cracks in the sideboard wood, subsequently cracking the paint over it. However, the original wood-framed cab is quite sound and the doors t well. The re truck is not a pumper, but an equipment-and-hose carrier. Fittings on it are marked “USFACo,” but no builder’s plate was found on the body. It is believed to have been used by the Dover, Dela., re department, with a photo from the era showing it or a twin ghting a re. It was refurbished more recently, and subsequently hasn’t really unwound from its restoration. While given a good repaint, the paint on the headlight buckets is heavily scratched from being hit by the butter y hood. Some of the emblems were replated, but still with pitting in the base metal. Both trucks were offered at no reserve and saw opening bids of $10,000. While the re truck easily zoomed up to $27,000, the cargo truck took more effort to get bids to advance it, nally hammering sold at $19,000. Some may think of them as well sold, some others well bought. I feel they did what they were worth — even as one of the few truck brands that was named after a state. NEW! DAYTONA CARBURETOR

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1953 Chevrolet Series 3800

1-ton truck with Daybrook dump body. Condition #3, sold for $10,250. Titled off an old, fabricated tag on the cowl (likely an asset tag from the original owner) instead of the serial number on the frame and the factoryattached weight rating tag; as such it sold with a “non-conforming VIN” announcement. Fitted with a 2-yard Daybrook utility body with hydraulic hoist. Given a driver-grade repaint in medium green several years ago that generally looks presentable. Both doors t well. Seat was recovered about the same time, but is in black rather than the original brown like the upper door panels. Stock 216-cid six, repainted in light green, backed by a granny-low four-speed manual transmission. Overall, a little different from the run-of-the-mill Advance-Design Chevy pickup that you can put to work on the property once in a while. While bidding seemed to be at an impasse at 10 grand, Mecum rules were invoked: the seller said that he’d drop the reserve if the truck was bid over $10,000, so the auctioneer told the high bidder that if he’d bid $10,250, it would be hammered

sold. Said bidder agreed, and one more truck was added to the sold totals.

1959 Chevrolet El Camino

2-dr coupe pickup. Condition #3, sold for $37,000. Considering how strong the ’59 Chevy market has been for the last two years, I was initially surprised that this sold for what might seem to be a relatively low price. However, checking out the details tells another tale. While this has a V-8 serial number, the Tri-Power-fed 348-cid V-8 under the hood — with an obscured stamping pad — looks to be a parts special (as the dipstick is on the left, like a truck 348, and has a modern alternator). Color-change repaint in red from the original Aspen Green. That paint is also starting to go at on most surfaces. The interior was redone reasonably well with a reproduction Impala seat and carpet kit in red, changed from the original green (since a red interior was not originally offered in a 1959 El Camino). The lower rear corner of the driver’s door window is also heavily cracked (meaning it’s worse below the glass seals). So, overall, it’s more of a case of the market’s current infatuation with the “Batwing” ’59s that made it sell this well.

1938 Diamond T Model 201

truck to auction is for it to get damaged in transit. This one must have broke loose in the trailer (or the trailer ipped over), as it’s got heavy damage on the right side. Judging by the undamaged left side, this had a pretty good restoration a few years back – although the left front wheel well opening is uneven. Exposed body ller on the right side (and lots of it) con rms that the fenders have been heavily reworked. Undamaged bumpers, box, tail gate, hood and reupholstered interior. Cracked driver’s door glass, which can’t open due to a healthy dent in the right rear top of the cab. Fitted with a modern fabricated aluminum gas tank hung under the frame in the rear. Decent job of detailing under the hood. I gure that it will cost almost as much to x this as what someone paid for it, but at least they have a better handle on what’s going into a restoration repair and refresh — which does have value.

1977 Ford F-250 Ranger XLT

2-dr 3/4-ton 4x4 pickup. Condition #3, $24,500. Powered by a 351H V-8 with an automatic transmission. Options include power steering, power brakes and AM/FM stereo radio. Fitted with aftermarket alloy wheels shod with radial tires. Repainted in the original Jade Green Metallic, but not done really well (there’s some overspray, masking miscues and an overall light, blistered texture on most upper panels). Original brightwork shows some pitting, fade and/or scuffing — including the dealer badge from the now-shuttered

Brookdale Ford of Brooklyn Park, Minn., where it was sold new. Plastic-insert bed liner shows moderate wear. Door t is not all that great. The stock seat has been replaced with a later-model Ford power bench seat in stock gray cloth. Shift collar is in gray rather than the original black. Generally stock engine, with heavy road grime. This is one of the late-1977 non-highboy examples after the F250 went from having a divorced transfer case to one that’s married to the back of the transmission. The former style is highly coveted in the marketplace (and always has been), while the latter newer con guration has interest and values of a half-ton 4x4 pickup. As such, this sold well enough based on the halfbaked repaint and some questionable parts swapping.

1953 Divco 1965 Ford Mustang

2-dr HT, modi ed. Condition #3, sold for $23,000. Yes, a few cars did sneak into this auction. Most of them — including this Mustang — were from The Shewry Collection. Very little remains stock on this car (essentially just the doors and roof, as far as the body goes). The fenders are ared slightly, the rear fascia and trunk lid have an integral rear spoiler and it’s tted with an aftermarket hood with scoop. The repaint wasn’t too bad when rst sprayed, but now some years later, the body ller is cracking in a few places (mostly around that integral rear spoiler). Older replacement tinted windshield. Piecemeal chrome replacement and replating, with a faux Shelby grille. Originally powered by a two-barrel

2-dr milk truck. Condition #3, sold for $52,000. Titled with an Iowaassigned VIN. This was a sale that came out of nowhere. Granted, vintage step-vans have seen an uptick in interest and value (due to the generally strong vintage truck market, and as platforms for food trucks). However, this one surprised a lot more folks here than just this correspondent. One thing that helped this truck gain interest from locals was that it was done up in livery from the former Micheel Dairy — a xture in the Iowa side of the Mississippi River (the Quad Cities area). More refurbished than restored, it still had the stock athead four-cylinder engine. The repaint is more function over form, with plenty of sloppy masking lines and overspray — which is more accurate for a eet truck in daily service. The solo ip-up seat and parcel shelf on the right side was redone in industrial black vinyl. The steering wheel has multiple cracks. The cargo compartment has galvanized paneling and a newer wooden oor. I gured that this would hammer for $25,000 to $30,000, but I was proven wrong by roughly double that, as it became the third-highest truck sale here.

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1964 Dodge D200

289 V-8, it now has an indeterminate-size small-block Ford bristling with aftermarket performance components. Seats and door panels redone with reproduction vinyl. Warped replacement dash pad. Well- tted modern carpeting. Fitted with modern air conditioning, sound system, add-on center console and aftermarket small-diameter steering wheel. Before the pandemic, a two-door hardtop Mustang was a hard sell, trading at $10,000 to $15,000, especially if it was personalized/modi ed. Today, this one had no problem exceeding its $19,000 reserve, and is actually high retail market correct, even if it’s just a driver.

1963 GMC Model L7000

2-dr cab-over-engine semi-tractor. Condition #2, sold for $22,000. If you think “overkill” is not just a word but a way of life, this is your truck. Back when GMC was “the TRUCK division of General Motors,” rather than just a rebadged Chevy, Jimmy did a few things that nobody else in the industry did. This was one of them. From 1960 through 1965, GMC made a gasoline-fueled V-12 truck engine that was essentially two 351-cid heavy-truck V-6s married together. While the 702-cid V-12 used a mono-block and a huge crankshaft and camshaft, it also used four-cylinder heads and two carburetors from the V-6 among the other shared parts. While it put out a seemly modest 250 hp, the 630 lbs.-ft. of torque is what paid the rent. Not only was this an option in COE and conventional GMCs (most survivors today were originally re trucks), but the original U.S. Air Force Minuteman nuclear missile transporters were powered by these beasts. Overall, this COE bene tted from a very competent restoration, from clearance lights to tires. Considering the price of gas this year, the purchase price is one the cheapest aspects of owning this truck. Still, for having V-12 bragging rights for something that your Packard and Jaguar buddies will never guess is their peer, this was a pretty decent buy.

2-dr 3/4-ton step-side pickup. Condition #3, sold for $7,000. With Ford pickups now matching — and occasionally exceeding — values of Chevy pickups from the 1960s, Dodge pickups are nally also moving up in interest and value. Some may say it’s just “all boats rising with the tide,” yet the long under-appreciated MoPar pickups are as tough as nails with the same easy-to-repair or upgrade engines as Dodge cars. This example has “the Leaning Tower of Power” 225-cid Slant Six with a push-button automatic transmission (same as a 1964 Dart). It wears a decent repaint in Omaha Orange. If it wasn’t for the modern aftermarket spoke wheels, it would look like it should have highway department lettering on the doors. The seat was redone with generic pleats in the black vinyl. Non-stock carpeting replaces the original rubber ooring. It’s missing a headliner, so the overspray from the repaint is very evident on the ceiling of the cab. Never tted with a radio, as there’s no holes for one in the dash or for an antenna on the body. Overall, this barebones pickup reminds us of when pickups were all business without frills— which is becoming rarer each day, even on vintage pickups. If you value economical basic work transportation over ash, this was well bought. A year from now, this might be viewed as an outright bargain and a potential pro table ip for the buyer.