Monday October 3, 2011 I finally got my answer about my bid – I was OUTBID, but there is still a glimmer of hope auction fans, let me first though fill you in on the “popular” vehicles from my last post and finally reveal which one I bid on. I believe many of these prices justify what Steve Lang has been telling us about the insanity of the used car market. I will list the vehicles in order of my likelihood of actually bidding on them (least likely to most likely.)
1979 GMC “Heavy-Half” for $212.00 (not running)
1987 ½ GMC Van went for $851.00; 1995 Ford Bronco(s) one for $2861.00 and one for $2475.00
1996 Dodge Intrepid(s) for $851.00 each
1992 Chevy Lumina(s) cheapest for $651.00 most expensive for $751.00
1987 Chevy Caprice Classic for $201.00 (not running)
1988 Dodge Diplomat for $155.00 (not running, hood won’t open)
1994 Pontiac Grand Prix(s) one for $1051.00 and one for $951.00
1990 Buick LeSabre for $651.00
And finally the one I actually bid on and came in SECOND PLACE with my bid of $551.51 was a 1992 Pontiac Bonneville sold for a bid of $751.00 to a local mechanic who bid on many of the cars.
This is where the glimmer of hope comes in folks. According to the Procurement Officer he’s done this before and then comes down and picks and chooses among his winnings. If he rejects a vehicle then the next highest bidder wins. I bid on the Bonneville because I LOVE the 2nd generation H-body cars (in fact I’m working on a CC of my own for them), and my father owned a white 1992 Pontiac Bonneville SE. I decided that I wanted a FWD (good in the snow) car with reliable 3800 power, a big interior, a big trunk, and (sorry Laurence) the 1st gen H-body always left me a little cold – too A-body for my liking.
If I win on the second chance I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, back to work on my 2nd gen H-body
$155 for the Diplomat! Running or not, someone can’t lose there.
Yep, the Diplomat and the Caprice…I’d have went for the Caprice.
Here’s what it came down to folks. I wanted a car I could drive NOW while fixing the little things, increasing my wrenching skills, and get better fuel economy than my F150. I live in a rented house (with a two car garage) but didn’t want something taking up space in that garage for long periods of time without being driven. My driveway is also narrow and the first 30 feet are a decent incline that is situated so that the water from one of the roof gutters runs down it and makes it sort of treacherous in the winter.
These factors in my mind eliminated the non-running vehicles (for now, true project cars maybe a few years from now, who knows.) The weather/driveway factor pushed me toward FWD, knowing in the back of my mind that the Grand Prix(s) would go for silly high prices (a few car dealers actually bid on the Grand Prix(s)!) pushed me toward the 3800 powered H-bodys that were available, narrowing the choices I was willing to lay $500 down on to the LeSabre and the Bonneville.
Buick LeSabres and Park Avenues are my favorite of the 1st Gen H-body cars but the LeSabre had broken A/C and door/window seals that had almost turned to dust in the Southwestern sun. This led me to the Bonneville, a car I know well through my father. I will talk more of my 2nd gen H-body love in a CC later.
I was wondering where you were. I was on vacation.
Very interesting article. My neighbor buys cars at auction, but he doesn’t get almost-junkers, but cars I can only dream of, as I seemingly don’t have the ability to buy a great car cheap and always wind up buying some else’s problem! I certainly am good at selling good used cars, however – my own!
I’m with JP on the Diplomat. A sure-fire winner! The Intrepid, not so much, although ours was pretty decent but the potential problems scared me into trading it after three years.
Saw lots of “Curbside Classics” in SoCal and in Phoenix last week. Wish I could’ve gotten a shot or two of a couple. A picture-perfect yellow 1965 Caddy convertible speeding by me on the 101 was one of them!
I know you were on vacation, tis a pitty you missed my first article on this.
Author’s note: I just looked through my files and I can’t believe I didn’t get a better shot of that Bonneville! Arrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh.
If you want to get “Dream Cars” at auctions, you need to spend a lot of time there looking at what is available. You also need cash in hand.
Good luck Dan! Those Bonnevilles weren’t bad looking, as 90s blobmobiles go. I’d save up for a paint job, though – that “gold” is just sad.
The Diplomat and Caprice were reasonably close to scrap value. If the interiors were ok they might have been worth a gamble. If you get the Bonneville it looks to be a decent buy but not much else there that screams good deal.
Let’s see if picture upload works. If it does I would like Paul to add these to the article, I just took these pics today.
Oops, file size to large, I’m sending them to Paul via email now.
That sucks that they allow that person to continually bid on multiple cars and then pick and choose which ones he actually wants.
You should have bid the $200 on the dippy if you would have known that. Then if busting out the grille and popping a battery in there didn’t make it go rent a tow dolly and hauled it to scrap and pocketed a few bucks for your time. At least around here scrap is over $200 a ton so even if it cost you $50 to rent the dolly and $50 in fuel for all the running around you’d still have ended up with more than $100 in your pocket to treat your understanding and supportive lady to a nice dinner out.
It still cost him $50 per bid thank goodness so by my calculations the crazy mo’fo spent $500 on auction fees before he ever walked off with a car. I think the real reason I didn’t bid on one of the “true projects” (non-runners) is I still hold hope of snagging my Dad’s 1967 Mustang convertible, that would be a very worth project indeed. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/my-curbside-classic/my-dads-curbside-classic-the-one-dollar-1967-mustang-convertible/
“…I still hold hope of snagging my Dad’s 1967 Mustang convertible…”
Soon-to-be-Principal Dan, you’d better! Don’t make me come out there! (at least I hope it stays in the family)
Just for comparison’s sake:
I got my ’92 SSEi for $900. It ran, but needed some suspension, electrical, and rubber work.
My Diplomat was $4000.
I’ll give a quick response to each of the bids…
“1979 GMC “Heavy-Half” for $212.00 (not running)”
The fellow will double his money when he takes it to the crusher.
“1987 ½ GMC Van went for $851.00; 1995 Ford Bronco(s) one for $2861.00 and one for $2475.00”
The GMC Van will be a keeper car. The Broncos may have likely been used as finance fodder at a nearby dealership. Either that or it went to someone who drove the car regularly beforehand.
“1996 Dodge Intrepid(s) for $851.00 each”
“1992 Chevy Lumina(s) cheapest for $651.00 most expensive for $751.00”
“1994 Pontiac Grand Prix(s) one for $1051.00 and one for $951.00”
This is the sweet spot for county auction vehicles if you’re looking for value. Older vehicles like these tend to see very limited action after ten or so years. Yet the maintenance items are still replaced when needed.
Typically they last three to five years and you make half your money back via scrap.
“1988 Dodge Diplomat for $155.00 (not running, hood won’t open)”
I think steel is still running at $13 per hundred. The fellow who bought this one tripled his money.
“1990 Buick LeSabre for $651.00”
May be the best buy of the bunch if the miles are right. These vehicles have excellent quality, beautiful highway rides, and unusual levels of longevity if they’re kept up.
“my bid of $551.51 was a 1992 Pontiac Bonneville”
Interesting! I bought one of these for $600 recently and sold it for $1500. I think it was a 93′ model. An auctioneer friend of mine has regularly bought B’Villes at the auctions with 100k miles and then runs them until they hit 250k. He’ll then sell it for $1500 and repeat the process.
Thank you for your comments, Steve. All of these vehicles had around 200,000 miles on them and yes typical maintence was still being done. It was amazing how many had “new-ish” tires on them, and Goodyear tires to boot!
The Pontiac Grand Prix(s) personally went for about $500 more than I was willing to pay for them, but if the buyer makes his money so be it. We’ll see what happens with the Bonne.
I was hoping you had snagged the Diplomat. The NH state surplus auction has this rolled Charger coming up next weekend:
But given the history of this auction, it’ll go for low book of a non-rolled one.