By WENDY STIVER
wstiver@lockhaven.com
ROTE – It’s the third weekend of July, an exciting time for people from all over the nation who love cars.
It’s time for the 15th annual Antique and Classic Sale at Central Pennsylvania Auto Auction.
Sale events start tonight with a buyers and sellers reception. The first fabulous vehicle rolls out tomorrow morning, and by the time things wrap up Saturday, about 425 cars and trucks will have passed through the auction lanes.
It’s a thrill to watch the vehicles line up, where a 1956 Chevy Bel Air, a Chevy Impala SS, and a 1967 Ford Mustang might be seen waiting to be registered.
All local residents who love cars are welcome to pay the $10 admission fee and attend the sale Friday or Saturday, starting at 9 a.m., and enjoy the sights for themselves.
This year’s featured cars include a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner, which is a limited production high-horsepower Superbird that Chrysler developed in the racing program as a Richard Petty production car. This particular vehicle, which comes with the original owners manual signed by Petty.
CPAA owner Grant Miller puts the Roadrunner in the $150,000 range.
Miller himself is an enthusiastic car collector and owner. Yesterday, he had 50 cars parked inside his personal museum in Mackeyville, and all 50 will run through the auction lanes this weekend, he said.
“I’m hoping to sell the majority of them so I can go out and buy more,” he said with a chuckle.
Two of his highly-prized vehicles are featured in this 15th annual auction: a white 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible with red and white interior, and a red 1936 Packard 1401 Convertible Coupe that Miller acquired in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in January and that he describes as a $200,000 car.
Among the vehicles on the auction block are about 50 that will be sold regardless of the price, and some are from Miller’s personal collection.
Last year’s antique and classic auction saw $7.1 million in gross sales, with a 72 percent sale rate. Both numbers were up from the year before, Miller said. “People came to buy cars,” he said, taking that as a hopeful sign that the annual auction is growing.
Dealers came from 28 states in 2015, he said. A dealer from California and one from Arizona are registered for this year’s event.
The Central Pennsylvania Auto Auction, just off Interstate 80, has been operating for 29 years. Miller ran the first four antique and classic auctions during his regular auctions but found that the featured vehicles drew interest away from the rest of the stock. Since then, he has run this special event for collectors, always on the third weekend in July.
At most classic car auctions, Miller said, buyers are told they may wait up to 18 days for the vehicle’s title, and sellers may wait that long to be paid. At CPPA, the title and the payment are available within five minutes after business is transacted, he said, a feature that he believes has contributed to the auction business’s popularity.
“Our rates aren’t out of sight either,” he said. “I’ve gone to auctions where the rate is 10 percent of your transaction, so if you buy a $50,000 car, your rate is $5,000. The maximum here is $2,000, to buy or sell.”
Some antique and classic cars moved onto the auction facilities’ lots yesterday and the bulk of them will arrive today.
The regular weekly auto auction, with about 1,000 vehicles scheduled, will proceed as usual today. As soon as it is concluded, around 3:30 p.m., set-up will begin for the special weekend sale. A 60×120-foot tent will go up on the lot, and another matching one will be set up at “Grant’s Place” for the entertaining.
Miller and his wife, Jeanne, expect to host about 600 buyers and sellers at a barbecue tonight. They also will host the annual VIP reception Friday featuring surf and turf from The Dutch Haven and music by The Impact Band from Harrisburg.
The sale starts Friday with the introduction of CPAA staff members and a sale of auto-related memorabilia. “Then we’ll get right into the thick of things,” Miller said.
With 600 to 700 bidders and possibly 3,000 people in attendance Friday and Saturday, the restaurant inside the auction building will be going full out. Local vendors also will offer food outdoors, including The Texas with its famous hot dogs.
An average of 23 cars run through the special auction per hour, so Miller is looking at 18 hours to move 425 vehicles over the two days, not counting the memorabilia sale. A paved “corral” area is also available on the lot for sellers whose vehicles won’t roll through the lanes.
Jeanne said the Sunday after the sale is always a quiet day, but the planning process for the 2017 sale will start almost immediately and continue all year long.
Her husband added, “Every year we ask ourselves how do we make it a little better.”
To view the catalogue for the sale and see color photos of some of the rare automobiles to be auctioned, visit www.cpaautoauction.com.
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