The grand Concourse d'Elegance held at Meadowbrook Hall -- a huge manor house built by Matilda Dodge, widow of auto pioneer John Dodge -- is second only to the Pebble Beach event in Monterey, Calif., in prestige among North American events.
Each August, hundreds of cars are splayed on the lawns behind Meadowbrook Hall at Oakland University in Detroit.
Almost every year I make the pilgrimage to Meadowbrook either to display cars at the Concours, assist clients with their automobiles or just to attend the various events that revolve around the Concours and touch base with friends and acquaintances in the trade.
This year, I was more interested in the RM Auction of fine cars that is held on the Saturday afternoon before the main event on Sunday. RM fielded a wonderful slate of cars that ranged from Duesenbergs to a vintage 1941 Ford school bus.
My wife and I had two cars in the auction, Janice's 1929 Essex Speedabout Roadster and the 1953 D 528 Mercury Concept car. The Essex was a wonderful car that I restored for her after finding it in a barn in Holland Landing, Ont., and Janice was really torn about selling it, but she felt guilty about never driving it and decided to sell.
Her Essex was one of five boat tails built by Hudson and was a show car aimed at creating interest in the Essex line, so it was both rare and desirable to other collectors.
The second car, the Mercury, is the only extant fifties Ford prototype in existence aside from the Lincoln Futura, which is more commonly known as the Batmobile. I picked this car up with other vintage custom cars in a collection housed in the now defunct Fantasy Car in El Cajon, Calif.
The Mercury D 528 had been sold to George Barris, King of the Kustomizers, for a dollar after Ford had finished with it in the late fifties. George's task was to extend the cars show and promotional life by getting it into movies and on to television.
The D 528 had a rather desultory career compared to its stable mate, the Futura, but ended up doing the odd commercial and cameo. Its biggest coup was with Jerry Lewis in the movie The Patsy in a scene which is unfortunately often cut from recent video tapes.
There is always a certain amount of tension when you have a car crossing the block at an auction and this one was no exception.
My biggest concern was that neither car would reach their reserve price and it would be a difficult decision whether to drop the reserve or maintain it, thus losing the money spent on the auction entry, transport and brokerage sums -- which easily exceeds a couple of thousand dollars.
As the time grew shorter for the Essex to make its appearance, both Janice and I grew apprehensive and then the little car drove on to the auction block --its Concours-prepared paint and chrome glowing under the lights.
Five minutes later Janice no longer owned the car but I am sure that its final purchase price of $79,000 (U.S.) likely set a record for price on an Essex. Janice is still regretful but visions of a vintage Aston Martin as a replacement for the Essex has soothed the regret somewhat.
A few minutes later, the Mercury D 528 Prototype rolled onto the block. I confess that I had some reservations about it reaching its reserve of $75,000 so thought that I would perhaps take the reserve off if it reached $65,000.
It did indeed seem to flag somewhat at $60,000 so I asked Dan Spendick, one of RM Auction's principals, to pull the reserve. By the time he reached the block, a sudden flurry of bids took it to its reserve. A minute later. the car had reached $100,000, then $120,000. At $130,000, Dan laughed and said it had reached his personal plateau of twice the money that it had been when I asked for the reserve to be dropped. At $150,000, the two bidding parties slowed a trifle and then suddenly a gentleman in the back of the room jumped in and the price rose again.
Moments later, the car was gaveled sold with a round of applause from the audience at a final sales price of $187,000.
All in all, I have to admit to a sensation of elation that lasted quite some time. To cap it off, George Barris, who is inextricably bound to the car's history suddenly appeared, a late arrival to the auction.
He was awestruck when I told him how much it had sold for. When George bought it, it was only worth a buck.
David Grainger owns an automotive restoration company.
