The Mecum Kissimmee 2016 auction will be held January 15-24 at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. The ten-day Kissimmee sale will see more than 3,000 vehicles and hundreds of automotive memorabilia items cross the block in Florida at the world’s largest collector car auction.
Among the many other headliners at Mecum’s 2016 Kissimmee event will be nearly two dozen cars from the Wayne Schmeeckle Muscle Car Collection, which will cross the auction block this Friday, January 22.Comprising cars from 1967 through 1971, the Schmeeckle Collection features vehicles to emerge from that short-lived stretch including several cars that benefited from the dealers and skillful Day Two modifiers who knew how to create the most optimal combinations available. Muscle cars with ties to Yenko Chevrolet are among Schmeeckle’s favorite, and he has acquired many with three four-speed ’69 Yenko Camaros (Lots F157, F163 and F172), a ’69 Yenko Chevelle (Lot F167), a ’70 Yenko Deuce (Lot F161) and a ’69 Corvette (Lot F176) sold new at Yenko Chevrolet among those to be on offer at Mecum’s Kissimmee auction.
His two Baldwin-Motion Phase III Camaros (Lots F170 and F171) were among the most difficult vehicles in his collection to locate with his 1971 Camaro existing as one of three known and his 1968 Camaro standing as an original example with 4,085 miles.
Others in the Schmeeckle Collection line-up include two Boss 429s (Lots F159 and F160), two Winged Warriors (Lots F155 and F166), a trio of ’71 Six Pack cars (Lots F168, F173 and F175), two highly original Olds 442s (Lots F156 and F169), a four-speed Dodge Hemi Challenger R/T (Lot F158), a Shelby American company car (Lot F174) and more.
“A lot of times we’ve upgraded cars two or three times to get to the level where we’re at, so we didn’t just go out and buy 50 cars,” said Schmeeckle. “We’ve probably went through 150 cars to get to where we are today.”
More than one-third of the cars set to cross the 2016 Kissimmee auction block hail from the factories of General Motors, including more than 200 Corvettes, more than 100 Camaros, nearly 100 Chevelles, Bel Airs, Impalas, Trans Ams, GTOs and more. The docket includes cars that range in value from entry-level prices up to multimillion-dollar investment vehicles headlined by some of the rarest vehicles ever produced by GM, including two 1969 Trans Am Convertibles, two 1969 Camaro ZL1s, several of Corvette’s finest such as a ’68 L88, a ’63 Z06 Tanker and four of the first-year hand-built examples from 1953.
Two of the eight Pontiac Trans Am Convertibles produced in 1969 will be offered for sale in Kissimmee. The first (Lot F138) is one of four automatics and sports a blue interior, while the other (Lot F115) is equipped with a four-speed manual transmission and is the only triple-white example ever produced.
Another car considered is the 1969 Camaro ZL1, only 69 of which were ever produced. Purpose-built to rule NHRA and AHRA Super Stock drag racing, the high price made them attractive only to those who planned to recover some of that cost in professional race prize winnings. The 2016 Mecum Kissimmee auction will present two examples, both four-speeds with their original all-aluminum 427 cubic-inch ZL1 engines.
America’s favorite sports car, the Corvette, is an important part of the Kissimmee auction, and this year’s lineup is again strong. One of 80 built, a four-speed 1968 Corvette L88 coupe (Lot S140) will cross the auction block featuring its matching-numbers engine, original tank sticker and an older frame-off restoration, which earned it Bloomington Gold Certification as well as an NCRS Top Flight award, both in 1988. Another rare Bloomington Gold Certified and Top Flight-awarded ‘Vette on offer will be a 1963 Z06 Tanker (Lot S160), one of 63 built with the code-N03 36-gallon racing tank. In addition are four from the model’s debut year — Lots F183, S225, S229 and S233. All four of these 1953 convertibles boast membership in the group of 300 built that year, all of which were constructed by hand.
A pair of Plymouth Hemi Cuda Convertibles a Dodge Hemi Challenger R/T Convertible are three of 31 Hemi-powered Mopars on offer at the Mecum Kissimmee 2016 auction. Leading off is a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda Convertible (Lot F109) finished in Lemon Twist paint and boasting the code-E74 Hemi mill and a drop-top body design, a combination of which only 14 were built that model year. Of those, just five came with the A833 4-speed behind the engine.
Next up is a Sno-White 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda Convertible (Lot F102), the first of the five automatic-equipped drop tops built in that final year of Hemi production. The buyer opted to leave the large billboard graphics off, but still selected a black top and interior, giving the car a unique two-tone appearance. The N96 Shaker scoop on top of the 426/425 HP Hemi was also done in black.
The 1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger R/T Convertible (Lot F111) is finished in Sublime Green paint. That year, 1,070 people bought new R/T convertibles; only nine of them selected the Hemi engine. Four of those chose the Hemi/automatic combination. This is one of that group.
Other examples of Mopar muscle include a 1969 Dodge Hemi Coronet R/T Convertible (Lot F105), a 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda (Lot F100) and a 1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona (Lot F103).
Mecum’s Kissimmee 2016 auction will also feature an array of Ferrari road cars, such as a 275 GTB/4 Berlinetta, 365 GTB/4 Daytona, 330 GTC and Dino 246 GTS.
The 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Berlinetta (Lot S119) is finished in Grigio Mahmoud over its original Saddle Tan leather interior, the 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona (Lot T203) is finished in yellow, the 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC (Lot T206) is finished in the pairing of Rosso Corsa paint and tan interior and the 1974 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS (Lot T200.1) was factory fitted with the “Chairs and Flares” package.
Another headline vehicle at Mecum Kissimmee 2016 is the 1989 Porsche 962 (Lot S98) chassis number 962-108. The car’s list of racing achievements includes 11 top-five qualifying runs through the 1988-89 IMSA seasons, including the pole at Daytona in 1988 where it led most of the race and eventually finished second. During that same period, 962-108 finished on the podium five times, including victories in the 1989 Daytona 24 Hours and Palm Beach Grand Prix.
More than 50 additional Porsches will be offered, such as a pair of 2005 Carrera GTs, one finished in black (Lot S153) with 909 miles and one finished in red (Lot S190) with 2,720 miles.
Beyond the 3,000 cars on offer, the assemblage of Road Art being amassed features large collections including an assortment of original dealership neon signs and a collection of more than 400 original, unrestored and never touched-up gas and oil porcelains, pump plates and globes.
Mecum Kissimmee 2016 – Auction Schedule
Location: Osceola Heritage Park, 1875 Silver Spur Lane, Kissimmee, FL 34744
Dates: January 15-24, 2016
Admission: $30 per person, per day or $180 per person for entire auction
Preview: Gates open daily at 8 a.m.
Auction: Vehicles start at 10 a.m., Jan. 15-17 and Jan. 19-23; Road Art starts an hour before the vehicles each day with a full days of Road Art offered Jan. 18 and 24.
TV Schedule (NBCSN, unless noted otherwise): Thursday, Jan. 21 from 7:30-11 p.m. (Same Day Delay) and 11 p.m.-3 a.m. (Next Day Delay); Friday, Jan. 22 from noon-6:30 p.m. (Live) and 10 p.m.-1 a.m. (NDD); Saturday, Jan. 23 from 4:30-10 p.m. (SDD); Sunday, Jan. 24 from 5-11 p.m. (Delay); Special NBC broadcast on Sunday, Jan. 31 from 2-3 p.m. (Delay) (All Times Eastern)
For additional information, visit Mecum.com.
[Source: Mecum Auctions]
