Mecum Indy 2022: 10 amazing bargains under $15K

[Hagerty]

If news of nine-figure record sales and six-figure trucks and SUVs have you feeling that you've missed the opportunity to add to or start your collection, the results from Mecum's recent Indianapolis sale may change your mind.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/valuation/mecum-indy-2022-10-amazing-bargains-under-15k/

[Grace]

that's one.... shifty jag... you could say

[Snailish]

Best in sale, worst in sale often just sums up as "sold in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time. The Nissan would have done better on Bring a Trailer.

The various generations of Thunderbird are an interesting individual study. It would be interesting to see the Hagerty policy breakdown of people that own them based on 10-year age brackets. Of the few old birds I can think of in my area all the owners are 60+ for example.

[SilentBoy741]

Funny thing is, when I was in high school, these T-Birds were all over, considered $300 beaters and nobody wanted to be seen driving them. At least 3 were at my high school, kids' first forays into cheap wheels. Look at 'em now!

[TinaBird]

I’m 33 and have owned my 1964 Thunderbird hardtop since I was 26. I might be an outlier for my age group but I have always had a penchant for mid-century modern design as well as the Ford FE. I get both for days with the T-Bird!

[Fairlane500]

I have ten years on you, but mine used to be my late father's car. I always liked the style of the car and my dad thought for sure it was going to be the hot collector's item. Boy was he wrong. Really a unique car, last generation where Thunderbird was Thunderbird. Doesn't share parts with a "sister" car. Bummer when it comes to replacement parts which adds to the cost of a restoration.

[9lbhammer]

That c5 vette is a good deal. It would be pretty tricky to go faster on 4 wheels for less money.

A worse example of that jag with a sbc would be fun.

[TG]

I almost bought one with an SBC years ago. Apparently it is a fairly straightforward conversion since they already have THM transmissions

[fueledbymetal]

Those are just buttresses on the Jag, not flying buttresses. Good picks otherwise though. I’d go with the mustang of all of those myself.

[tbm3fan]

Looking these over it is very apparent to me that the sale price was actually the good price while Hagerty's good price was once again off. Sometimes buyers are down right stupid and goofy while other times they can be smart as here.

[bkmcgraw62]

I love the 94 Ford F150 Lightning. Great trucks and style for the money.

[avideo]

Give me the C4 and C5 Corvettes anytime.. I've owned good examples of both - a 1995 C4 Coupe in Torch Red and a 2003 50th Anniversary Convertible -both were some of the most reliable cars I 've ever owned. The convertible was an especially nice car for longer trips. Had a decent size trunk - even with the top down; and got 26-29 MPG at highway speeds as well.

[Spud426]

Does the sale price include buyer’s premium et al, which adds 10-12%+ to the hammer number?

[dooscoop32]

Yes, the prices listed DO include the 10% Buyer's Premium. You can usually look at the final price and figure from there what the actual hammer price was.

For example, the '65 T Bird would have hammered at $9500 plus $950 Premium for a total of $10,450. The '89 Mustang at $8250 would be $7500 plus $750 Premium. And so on.

[awfink55]

This is a great report and news for us, "PO BOYS" in the Specialty Car Hobby.

[mfp4073]

This enforces the belief that these auctions won't bring top dollar for lower end items. I've seen this for years. Retired from the car business, I know "Bring a Trailer" or "C List" would have done much better. Even my corner lot. The (money) people have no interest in this stuff, the prize fight being over, and some only stick around to buy a unit or a trailer load for their resale. I am with Hagerty on this one. When I know I can get more for those cars, then its a good deal! Of course a closer inspection of them is mandatory and might toss some out. The best part of this shows that anyone can get into the collector car market and with a little elbow grease, be a part of the action at their local shows. Around here we encourage the "If you got it bring it" mentality. and these vehicles qualify.

[dooscoop32]

And one thing about it is that if you bought the '65 Thunderbird shown above and drove it to a local car show or cruise night, there would still be lots of people who would be impressed by it. Those T-Birds had LOTS of glitz and flash!!

Will it impress the gearheads and the true car experts? No. But not everybody fits in that category. And it will start a ton of conversations about cars other people remember or had in the past. And that's worth a million dollars right there.

[KeninFL]

The MB 230's sister car, the 240 Sport Coup is mechanically similar with equal interior materials. Baruth - was it you, Baruth? - slammed the 240 earlier in the week. But today it's "attractive," with a portfolio of "rave reviews" and persists today as "thoroughly entertaining and mostly trouble free..." Seems the bidders agree with Baruth.

[BrentF]

The '64 T Bird is a beautiful car. This example not so much, judging by the rust through in the rear quarter panels and the sad looking interior. Better to spend your money on something other than a money pit.

[BrentF]

Correction: Meant to say '65 T-Bird

[JBBearcat]

Wish I had a bidders pass for the ZX.

The $10k for the CJ isn't THAT great of a deal. It would come down to condition (rust) and any ham-fisted "bubba" mods done to it. I'm not sure what a shaved tailgate means here, but that sends up lots of red flags for iffy bodywork or even a fiberglass tub. At that price, it is not going to be a low mile original, rust free Jeep. Nice stock CJs of that vintage are pretty much unicorns living in Jeep collections.

The C4 seems nice, usually Pace Cars editions were always toys, so it should be in good shape. Wonder how many miles it has? At <$5000 you could afford to take a chance as long as there is nothing glaring at you...like a body in the trunk.

A friend was a technician at a large Jag dealer back in the day. He sings the praises of the V-12, if properly maintainef. Back then, dodgy English electrics and lousy build quality were the main issues with Jags.

[dooscoop32]

Speaking of the 4th-gen Thunderbirds, I love the Square 'Birds as well as the Rocket 'Birds, particularly the '60 and '63. I've just never understood why they aren't more in demand. I have quite a few car friends and not a single one of them cares anything about either gen of those Thunderbirds. So, naturally in this world of supply and demand, that means their supply is high and their demand is low.

I live in western North Carolina and the cars which have always lived in this area are either totally rust-free or mighty close to it. A vintage T-Bird from this area would be a great find.

[Maestro1]

For those of us with smaller checkbooks than the ones Hagerty keeps freaking out about
this is a welcomed change. To Sajeev I want to say that a continuing series of articles of this sort will encourage entry level folks into the Hobby which is deeply needed. It doesn't need
to be done every time; just frequently to show that there are other price ranges than those
residing in Ferraris and so on. It's also possible that as an Insurance Company you get to pick your risks; therefore those with high net worth and high value cars would probably be your choice. Then there are the rest of us.
Today please remember those who died so that the rest of us could do what I'm doing now.

[dinner568]

Square Birds and Fox bodies are STILL heading up, it's not over for them yet...

[CP66]

Here I've been Jonesin' a (relatively) cheap XJS for years for an LS swap and I slept right thru the opportunity!!!

[FloridaMarty]

I wonder how long before the Vega, or the Taurus, or the Chevette make the lists?

[bhankinsonn]

Being an old guy, my choices would be the Jeep, the Mercedes, the Nissan and the Jag, and not in any order. The Jeep because it is from my youth, the Mercedes because I had the Crossfire version, the Nissan because my son had one and the Jag because who doesn't want one.

[zmega]

My thoughts exactly (also an old guy). I owned a next generation Mercedes SLK and a 93 Z turbo - both great, fun cars. The Jag has to provide the best driving experience per $, ignoring the time it will be in the shop for repairs.

[MiniMig]

ALL 12 cyl XJS USA deliveries were auto transmission.

[Billthecat707]

The vettes or Mustang for me. The Jag as an LS swap candidate to keep maintenance costs lower. I go to Kissimmee annually and cheap cars are usually cheap for a reason.

[Gary_Bechtold]

Some interesting finds here. I think I like the Mustang best.

The Thunderbird is not my favorite generation of that car.

[TG]

It's nice to see auction coverage of approachable car sales

[janedon]

If I had country property--My pick would be the Wlllys--since I don't--since I don't--it's a toss up between the T Burd & the Alfa Romeo





















it's a toss up between

[GeorgeWA]

I’ll take the Red Jag XJS…

[espo70]

Nice to see a sane selling price on a fox body Mustang. Lately its been like every ratted out fox with a well worn interior and mechanicals is going for 15k plus. These are supposed to be the bargains people!

[MrBill-1943]

Sorry, for me not a single head turner in the bunch. I am more for style, color and chrome of the 50"s and 60"s. As soon as Aero became the style they all started to look the same to me.

[okfoz]

The Jag is a pain to work on, removing the rear axle to change the brakes... umm... no
The Nissan, is a cool car, but again, need special computers only available at Nissan to work on, again No.
The Alpha is kind of cool,
The Ford Lightning... Not a pickup guy, never owned one.
The C5 Corvette is interesting, an engine that could be used as a Driver, but the build quality is not a C6
The C4 Corvette is probably more interesting, special one year paint, have to be a fan to like it, I like the styling better than the C5 personally I would drive it for $5000
The Mercedes... Just too darned expensive to fix.
The Willis is cool, I see fun in that
The Mustang is interesting, but poor build quality of the 80's,
The Thunderbird I think might be one of the better deals.
Based on selling price
1) The C4 wins the day, great buy

[fasteddee]

Being an avid Mecum "bottom feeder", I think you are conveniently forgetting that Mecum has a $1000 minimum buy fee at most of their auctions (which kind of sucks when you are buying the under 10k cars). i will sleep better knowing the Jag really cost $5000, not $4400.

[Mlc7857]

The Jaguar XK8 is an unbelievable great deal for a luxury convertible. I suggest late 2001 and up to eliminate the early issues, but it’s a machine that gets noticed everywhere you go. 😊

[DaveH]

I've been to more car auctions than I can recall, as a seller but always on the lookout for overlooked deals. The thing about televised collector car auctions, is the prices often are not based in reality. All it takes is two or three egotistical guys- with TV cameras blasting their faces out live over the world- to get into a pi55ing match over cars and jack the price up much higher than what it ought to be.
Once I sat near to a guy in a bidding war on a Hemi car, his wife was asking if it worth that much and he replied to the effect "I can't let this guy beat me on international TV, what will people think?"

[Lash]

I love the Tbirds of that era although I'm not a Ford guy. I think I'd choose the MB out of this group.

[13eagle]

Might the salvage/rebuilt title have a lot to do with the Jaguar's low sale price? Wonder if the seller had an explanation for that.

[wdb]

Were buyers' premiums included in the prices?

[PhillipinSD]

This article just goes to say that older cars like these don't always bring top dollar Some of these might ok daily drivers, but most may not. Until one buys a car that appears to be a bargain at first sight. One must then evaluate their purchase and check for things like hidden body rust and worn out components. Once all said and done the purchase price may only the beginning of costs and deferred maintenance. At least most of these do pass the looks test.