BLOOMINGTON GOLD
MECUM AUCTION 2009
The good news: classic Corvettes that are either original survivors or that have been restored to a high quality are continuing to command respectable prices in the collector car market. That's what we learned here at the Bloomington Gold Mecum Auction, a very popular part of the Bloomington Gold experience. The bad new: prices aren't where they were last year on Corvettes in general.Prices on the ever popular 1967 427/435 horsepower cars are down just a little from last year. On the other hand, some 427/390 horse cars were getting more money than I would have expected. Go figure. Big blocks are still getting respectable bids. Since Mecum allows sellers to fix a reserve price on their cars less than 50 percent of the cars were sold. Some of the best cars in the auction bid up to "nose bleed" prices without actually selling. Some of the early solid axle cars with "provenance" also drew very high values. The solid axle fuelie cars seemed to be going for a little over $100,000 if they had really good documentation or "provenance." That is consistent with last year's pricing. You saw them going for $50,000 to $75,000 without detailed histories. That is down just a little from last year.
Tension was high in the auction hall. After all, the Mecum Auction is the most popular part of the Bloomington Gold weekend. Everyone wanted to know what Corvettes were going to bring. The economy is having an impact on the collector car market. Everyone wanted to know if Corvettes would be able to maintain previous sale prices. Many of the Corvettes offered here this weekend had top awards to their credit, like the Bloomington Gold certificate, NCRS Top Flight award or the Bloomington Gold Benchmark.
As always, Cars On Line watches the bids very closely. We like to be on the cutting edge of pricing so that our readers are the best informed buyers. So here is an update on how some of the more important collector quality Corvettes faired on Friday and Saturday at the Bloomington Corvette Mecum Auction for 2009.
Item # Year, Make, Model Description High Bid* Result F21 1961 Corvette 283/245 HP, Automatic $49,000 no sale F28 1965 Corvette Convertible 396, 4-spd $42,000 no sale F30 1982 Corvette Collector Edition $8,600 no sale F31 1974 Corvette Convertible 350, 4-spd $16,000 SOLD F34 1982 Corvette Collector Edition $16,000 SOLD F39 1998 Corvette Convertible 100% original $22,000 SOLD F40 2003 Corvette Pace Car Brickyard Pace Car Convertible $32,000 SOLD F45 1960 Corvette 283/230 hp $56,250 SOLD F54 1954 Corvette Cost over $100,000 to restore $51,000 SOLD F55 1978 Corvette Pace Car only 27 actual miles $28,000 SOLD F66 1966 Corvette Convertible 427/425 hp, 4-spd $90,000 SOLD S69 1967 Corvette Convertible 427/435 $85,000 SOLD S78 1972 Corvette Convertible 457/270 hp, automatic $32,000 SOLD S81 1956 Corvette Dual Quad, 2 tops, power windows $51,000 no sale S82 1966 Corvette Coupe 327/350, 4-spd $36,000 no sale F87 1967 Corvette Convertible 327/350, 4-spd $50,500 SOLD F93 1958 Corvette 283/290, 4-spd $102,00 no sale S96 1967 Corvette Convertible 427/390, 4-spd $83,000 SOLD F99 1969 Corvette Coupe 427/435, 4-spd $37,500 SOLD F105 1967 Corvette Convertible 427/435, 4-spd $140,000 no sale F116 1969 Corvette L89 427/435, 4-spd $67,000 no sale F121 1962 Corvette 327/340, 4-spd $65,000 no sale F137 1960 Corvette 283/245 hp, dual quad $44,000 no sale F139 1978 Corvette Pace Car T-top, L82 $24,500 SOLD S15 1961 Corvette 283/230 hp, 4-spd $61,500 SOLD S25 1963 Corvette Split Window #s matching 327/360 FI, 4-spd $63,500 SOLD S31 1967 Corvette Coupe #s matching L79 327/350, 4-spd $40,000 SOLD S37 1962 Corvette 327/250, 4-spd, NCRS Top Flight $56,000 SOLD S50 1953 Corvette Serial No. 44, automatic $235,000 no sale S57 1957 Corvette 283/283, 3-spd $85,000 SOLD S68 1972 Corvette ZR2 1 of only 2 ZR2 convertibles $500,000 no sale S69 1969 Corvette L89 427/435, 4-spd $64,000 SOLD S71 1965 Corvette Cpe 327, 4-spd $50,000 SOLD S80 1963 Corvette Convertible Bloomington Survivor/Benchmark $130,000 no sale S83 1965 Corvette Convertible 327/250, 4-spd $43,000 SOLD S91.1 2008 Corvette Z06 Black, 6-spd $55,000 no sale S95 1970 Corvette LT1 T-top, 350/370, 4-spd $32,000 SOLD S102 1967 Corvette Convertible Bill Mitchell's 427/400, automatic $675,000 no sale S105 1967 Corvette Coupe Ed Cole's 427/435, 4-spd $550,000 no sale S109 1967 Corvette Convertible 427/435, 4-spd, NCRS Top Flight $196,000 SOLD S111 1965 Corvette Convertible 396/425, 4-spd, Bloomington Gold Survivor/Benchmark, NCRS Top Flight $195,000 no sale S120 1995 Corvette ZR1 Red, 350/405, 4-spd $37,000 SOLD S125 1960 Corvette Black, 283/290 hp, 4-spd $147,500 SOLD If you would like to compare these prices above to last year's results, here is a link to the feature we ran for the Mecum Auction at Bloomington Gold 2008.
Back to the CARS ON LINE homepage