50 years ago in America - "backyard" auction of sought-after classics
08/06/2012
When a Bugatti or a Duesenberg comes up for auction today, it is usually in the posh surroundings of Pebble Beach, Monte Carlo or Villa d'Este. And the sums that change hands for the sought-after classics are in the millions. Not so in 1962, on an afternoon in May 1962, when Wallis Bird 's collection was sold in Long Island, as described in Road & Track in August 1962.
22 classic cars with illustrious names such as Mercedes, Bugatti, Duesenberg, Isotta-Fraschini, Hispano-Suiza and Alfa Romeo were called up and sold for a total of USD 36,000. The vehicles had not been touched for over 22 years because the widow Bird was probably hoping for the return of her missing husband. They were dusty and were not shown in the spotlight in a magnificent setting, but in the gloomy light of a large garage.
The highest bid in the 31-minute auction was a 1931 Duesenberg Model J - USD 10,000. The Bugatti Type 35, which Bird himself had driven in the Vanderbilt Cup races and which still bore the painted starting number 26, went for much less, as did an eight-liter Bentley, a Cord and a 1932 Alfa Romeo 1750 Grand Sport. A Mercedes Type S from 1929, a Hispano-Suiza H6b from 1926 or a 12-cylinder Packard also found a new owner for a four-digit dollar amount; some vehicles, such as a Buick, were even in the three-digit range.
By comparison, the USD 1,750 that a museum paid for the 1928 Bugatti 35 was just about enough to buy a brand-new Volkswagen Beetle at the time.
So the impressive Bird collection scattered to the four winds. And who knows, we may have seen one or two of these cars at auction again in the meantime, not for a few thousand dollars, but for millions. Clever, whoever was there at the time and gave a visible sign ...
