The “vehicle” generating the most buzz at last weekend’s 2011 Toronto Spring Classic Car Auction wasn’t even a car — it was an ex-RCAF “Snowbird” 1964 CT-114 Tutor Jet.
It sold under the gavel for $48,400, and it’s off to a new home in Alberta, presumably to be restored, and possibly fitted with an engine. The original General Electric J85 axial flow jet engine was removed after the jet was retired from the Snowbird team. Terry Lobzun, spokesman for Collector Car Productions (CCP), the entity that has been holding these “spring” and “fall” auctions in Toronto since 1989, noted it is the only ex-Snowbird to retain its Snowbird paint and graphics.
High Canadian Content
The Snowbird was only one of this year’s auction entries with heavy Canadian content. The highest priced vehicle was a 2006 Ford GT, which netted $165,000. A 1966 Shelby GT350 was expected to fetch that much as well, but failed to meet its reserve, and was not sold. This particular GT350 was sold new in Windsor, where it has remained under three different owners for the past 45 years. The current owner has had it for almost 40 of those years.
The fourth highest priced seller was the 1956 Meteor Rideau Sunliner Convertible, which sold for $99,000. Meteor is one of those “Canadian-only” brands, and Rideau Sunliner ragtops are rare — only 479 were built (at Ford’s Oakville facility), with only 12 surviving today.
The oldest and mostly likely slowest car at the auction was another Canadian Ford — a 1915 Model T Touring built in Walkerville, Ontario (just outside Windsor). It sold for $20,075.
Muscle Cars strong, but…
CPP has a working relationship with RM Auctions, and Lobzun remembers when RM sold the 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertible for $2.4 million.
“I don’t know if you’ll see those days again,” says Lobzun. “We never expected muscle cars to do what they did. But they were the last era where you could make your own one-of-a kind car, with special factory options. Now you basically have to order either package A, B or C.”
The collector car market is clearly not where it was pre-2008 meltdown. But even though the general climate is soft, Lobzun notes that interest and passion for vintage cars “never wanes.”.
“Sometimes there will be a wobble with prices,” says Lobzun. When that happens, he says, the best protection is “better” cars, as the best cars always hold their values.
It sold under the gavel for $48,400, and it’s off to a new home in Alberta, presumably to be restored, and possibly fitted with an engine. The original General Electric J85 axial flow jet engine was removed after the jet was retired from the Snowbird team. Terry Lobzun, spokesman for Collector Car Productions (CCP), the entity that has been holding these “spring” and “fall” auctions in Toronto since 1989, noted it is the only ex-Snowbird to retain its Snowbird paint and graphics.
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| Photo: Mike Goetz/Auto123.com |
High Canadian Content
The Snowbird was only one of this year’s auction entries with heavy Canadian content. The highest priced vehicle was a 2006 Ford GT, which netted $165,000. A 1966 Shelby GT350 was expected to fetch that much as well, but failed to meet its reserve, and was not sold. This particular GT350 was sold new in Windsor, where it has remained under three different owners for the past 45 years. The current owner has had it for almost 40 of those years.
The fourth highest priced seller was the 1956 Meteor Rideau Sunliner Convertible, which sold for $99,000. Meteor is one of those “Canadian-only” brands, and Rideau Sunliner ragtops are rare — only 479 were built (at Ford’s Oakville facility), with only 12 surviving today.
The oldest and mostly likely slowest car at the auction was another Canadian Ford — a 1915 Model T Touring built in Walkerville, Ontario (just outside Windsor). It sold for $20,075.
Muscle Cars strong, but…
CPP has a working relationship with RM Auctions, and Lobzun remembers when RM sold the 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertible for $2.4 million.
“I don’t know if you’ll see those days again,” says Lobzun. “We never expected muscle cars to do what they did. But they were the last era where you could make your own one-of-a kind car, with special factory options. Now you basically have to order either package A, B or C.”
The collector car market is clearly not where it was pre-2008 meltdown. But even though the general climate is soft, Lobzun notes that interest and passion for vintage cars “never wanes.”.
“Sometimes there will be a wobble with prices,” says Lobzun. When that happens, he says, the best protection is “better” cars, as the best cars always hold their values.
 |
| Photo: Mike Goetz/Auto123.com |