I think it’s safe to say that with at least 40% of our fellow citizens under stay-at-home orders, the vast majority of collector-car auctions have been called off for the next little while.
I’ve been crossing off auctions on my desk calendar left, right, up and down.
Branson announced on Monday that their spring sale has been postponed due to mandatory decreased capacity at their venue and social-distancing guidelines. We will let you know when that sale gets rescheduled. Other than the currently on-going RM Auctions Palm Beach sale, there’s just one thing left standing through mid-May.
In a recent press release, Mecum stated that the current May 12–17 dates stand for their flagship Indianapolis sale, but backup plans have been formulated in case we all need to hunker down a bit longer.
Even if there is a delay, the Spring Classic will be the next sale that Mecum runs and it will probably be the first big sale we see post-crisis.
Should this COVID-19 situation persist through late spring and into early summer and end there, we’ll likely have the busiest August-September-October stretch anyone in the automotive world has ever seen.
Thankfully we have the Internet to connect us (digital divide notwithstanding), and that means we can still do some car shopping. There is still plenty of activity going on over with our friends at the ever popular Bring a Trailer. As previously mentioned, RM Auctions is still holding their Palm Beach sale on their website. The lots start closing today, March 25, and, as I write this, there are potentially some good deals to be had. Look for the results and analysis in the upcoming May-June issue of ACC.
So, it seems the best thing an American car collector can do during these is look to the light at the end of the tunnel, listen to the public health experts, and click back here for auction updates.