Mecum Kissimmee 2023 Report

Mecum Kissimmee 2023 Report

 

This one will be short - because for some reason I didn't take a lot of pictures and I didn't grab any from Branelle's phone. Regardless, once again we made the kids truant and headed to Florida in early January for cars and fun! We followed our usual MO - we hit the auction for a full day so I can inspect the thousands of cars on the Osceola County Fairgrounds, and then spend the rest of the week doing fun things with the kids while I bid on anything I might want via the Mecum App - returning to the auction occasionally for follow ups. 

Things we didn't buy:

 

1988 Bentley Eight Sedan

I liked this car. I've never owned a Bentley - a few Rolls Royce's that were basically the same car, but never a Bentley. The red color was certainly part of it, but I find these 80's sedans to be just fun cars. They never work right, and everything is expensive to fix, but still... It's probably for the best that I passed on this one. I was good up to $20K, but it sold for about $28K.

1988 Jaguar XJ6 Sport Wagon

Speaking of odd British cars - I would have loved to take this 'estate' version of an old XJ6 home. I had no idea what it was worth or what I would pay for it, but I watched it go through with great anticipation. Nel was terrified I'd actually buy it. She was safe, as it crossed the block at $55K! 

1965 Century 21' Coronado

I was absolutely planning to buy this boat. It was going up to Minnesota to be our restaurant runner in the summer. It was in great shape, and it sold for a mere $23K. The problem was, I missed it. The downside to buying on the app while enjoying Disney, etc, is that you can't stare at your phone all day. I thought I had this one timed right, but logged on to find I'd just missed it. Gutted.

Something with a wing!

I still want one of these old Mopar wing cars badly. I prefer the Plymouth Superbird version to the Daytona, but could go either way. They're pricey, but if I decide to invest in some classic muscle, this will be on the short list. 

Things we DID buy:

2001 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Volante

I kind of talked myself into this one as the car was heading up on the block. We were at the auction, and this one showed less than 10K miles on the odometer. It seemed to be perfect, so I kept raising my hand until it was mine. I'm still sorting this one out. It's been in storage for the most part, and has some odd issues that need to be addressed, but it's beautiful and when it's running right I love it. The Vantage indicates the 12-cylinder version, and the Volante just means the top comes down. I really like this car and plan to keep it for a long time. I'd like to drive it more than I do, but I'll pull it out of storage and sort it out soon.

1979 Lincoln Town Car

I can't tell you how excited I am about this one. I had been wanting one of these land yachts for years, and have come so close on many occasion to buying one. I snagged this nearly perfect barge while we were boarding the plane to come home. It's become one of my kids favorites - they call it the "luxury car" for some reason. I think it's the giant red velour seats in the back and they way it just floats. Everything works great and I do drive this one from time to time. 

The first thing we did when we got it home was see how many bodies you could put in the trunk. Turns out, the whole family...plus room for some neighbors. 

1989 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z

Yes, this was very cool to high school Scott. My first car was almost an IROC-Z - probably should have been. This one is in great shape and has about 50K miles on it. I can't say white would be my first choice of colors for an IROC, but I'll take it. Nel doesn't get this one at all. She's too young to remember when these were cool.

That was it - three additions this time around and I'm fairly happy with them all. The IROC and the Town Car have become regulars in my rotation. The DB7 might be the best one, but for now it remains sidelined for the most part. 

Delivery day is always fun. Mecum makes it way to easy to buy cars. I have a line of credit with them, so I just bid and ship home - it's like ordering a pizza. 

The rest of the time we were there, which was over a week this time around, we had a blast with the kids doing the usual Orlando stuff. I was sure we'd do this trip every January, but Nel had other ideas in 2024 so we missed out.