Jul 21
When Duesenbergs were new........
Some fun photos from before the war.......
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Reply to Edinmass…
Reply Replies (16)
· Jul 21
Great shots!
· Jul 21
I see you posted the Tyrone Powell Duesenberg. That was in the shop back in the 90s so I got to see it up close. I never liked the rear treatment but I guess in retrospect it is pretty cool. When I saw it I think it was beige. An 80s restoration.
· Jul 21
Tyrone Powell had some prime moves in the 30s and 40s. He died young, in his early 40s while filming movie scene in Spain. Was he the original owner?
· Jul 21
Excellent photos, thank you !
· Jul 22
Not sure about the headlights in the second photo...
· Jul 22
Shawn, that is the Wallace Bird car. He was heir to a huge fortune he inherited young. Bought a new super expensive car every year and put last years up on blocks. Died in a plane crash in 1940 and all the cars sat in the carriage house at his estate "Farnsworth" on Long Island. In 1963 there was an auction and it was crazy. My dad, Ted Billings and Tony Pascucci tried to buy all the cars before the auction. The bank made a deal and the lawyers squashed it. The cars all sold for crazy money at the auction.
· Jul 22
Great photo! What is in the background?
· Jul 22
I think 8L Bentley.
· Jul 22
@AJ, holy cow…. Those eight lots listed there are intimidating. 1962……. I’d love to see what the hammer prices were for each back then.
· Jul 22
John, the numbers are published somewhere, but from memory the car we are talking about brought the most money, I think almost 10k. The Beverly brought 6 or 7k. The SS Mercedes that my dad was bidding on brought 6k as my dad was underbidder and only had 5k in cash on him.
The Bugatti GP car brought 1500.
· Jul 22
That seems crazy, but logical.
A close friend of mine’s grandfather was a very big collector who shopped. at the top of the market and had some phenomenal stuff. I will never forget a quote he mentioned one time about his grandfather, he said:
“ most people buy a little bit of something that they made a lot of of. My grandfather bought a lot of things that they made very little of.”
· Jul 22
100% the way to go. I've tried to find 1 of 1 things that are not 1 million dollars. Easier said than done.
· Jul 22
Exactly.
When my grandmother passed, I had to explain to my father why the Royal Doulton china she had collected her whole life just needed to go to charity. It was not worth the small fortune he assumed it would be.
· Jul 22
Shawn, this is a common tale. Collectible in vogue in one era become worthless in another. Hopefully that doesn't happen in our hobby but it could. The worst is antique furniture. 40 years ago you could get good money for it and now it is worthless.
· Jul 23
Posted by John Mereness on Facebook.
· Jul 23