“Live” coverage of the RM Auction of The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum will be available Right Here.
Come back on Thursday, Friday and Saturday February 14-16
for a Live Blog from the Event and experience it as it happens starting at 10am EST each day.
Complete Auction coverage along with results as they happen, in real time.
The logs show that this site has simply been HAMMERED from around the world as, other than
the Live Streaming Video from RM,(now unavailable)
there was NO OTHER SOURCE for Auction Results and News
during the auction as far as I know.
Previously mentioned HERE, Bruce Weiner has successfully sued the people behind Spare Parts Collections and is apparently seizing their assets. Their website is currently in the hands of a Court-appointed Receiver in California. Other assets are apparently being seized at this time as well.
Their eBay account appears to be dormant for now. Their eBay “Store” is now gone as of Dec 7 2011. Anyone who recently ordered something from them will not be able to communicate with them as the website that was seized also hosted their email accounts and they really have no incentive to send you anything after you have paid.
Other assets are apparently in the process of being seized at this time, what they are specifically is not known.
If you DO get an email from someone you dealt with at Spare Parts Collections and they tell you that their website is just “down,” don’t believe it. It has been seized and they are not getting it back until they pay the amount of the judgement against them.
They may simply “pop up” under a new company name in the future. They have apparently done that in the past. Of course, if it is a “new” company, your “old” orders and payments will most likely be forgotten.
By-the-way, if you thought they had a warehouse and facilities to house a bunch of stock and do restorations, think again, this message apparently came from Plinio regarding their facilities (or lack there-of):
“We are just internet dealers and sell the parts we source from various providers in our country and the region with which we have agreements. Therefore, we do not have a physical stock of products.”
No wonder it took forever to get things from them and why shipping was so incredibly expensive.
Keep an eye out for a sparkling new 20′ car trailer abandoned somewhere around Atlanta with a 1958 Messerschmitt KR200 AND a 1953 Rovin D4 inside it. The trailer with the two microcars inside was stolen this morning in Atlanta GA.
STOLEN:
#1 1958 Messerschmitt KR200: Yellow with black fenders. VIN # 69233
#2 1953 Rovin D4: Pale yellow.
#3 2011 Horton Hauler 20ft enclosed trailer, white V-Nose. Current “TAG” on trailer is a RED TEMP Advertisement plate from the dealer that says “Trailers For Less of Newnan” and has a dealer phone number.
please keep your eyes open on eBay and Craigslist and at other Auction houses in case someone tries to sell any of these vehicles. Any information, please contact: UPDATE: Cars have been recovered.
Here is a list of Microcars offered at this year’s Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction.
Check if you get Speed Channel or SpeedTV and you can watch these cross the line on the days they are listed……
Wednesday January 19 2011: (click pics to go to detailed listings for cars,
Results are HAMMER PRICE , a 10% Buyers Commission is added)
1984 Honda Zoe Zipper lot #314.1 sold for $5000
Peel P50 Replica with PAV trailer lot 324.1 324.2 sold for $8500 + $8500 for the trailer so total = $17,000
1967 Citroen Deux Chaveaux lot # 325.1 sold for $20,000
1956 Citroen 2CV Lot # 405 sold for $10,500
1957 BMW Isetta sliding window cabrio Lot # 409.2 This car was previously sold at BJ Scottsdale in January 2010 Sold for $37,000
Goggomobil Dart replica Lot # 443 This car is being advertised as a "rare" German built roadster when in fact it is a LHD replica. *Update-Seller was forced to change listing description - SOLD for $15,000 after some confusion during bidding
Thursday January 20 2011:
1972 Suzuki LJ20 360cc Micro Jeep Lot # 612.1 SOLD for $14,000
1956 BMW Isetta Bubble Window z-mold Lot # 693.2 SOLD for $43,000
Lot # 695 1959 Autobianchi Bianchina SOLD for $45,500
Lot # 695.1 1950 Crosley Hot Shot Roadster SOLD for $23,000
Lot # 695.2 1948 Crosley Sedan Convertible SOLD for $25,000
Friday January 21 2011:
Lot # 947 1951 Crosley Hook & Ladder Firetruck SOLD for $35,000
against the high winds and damage caused by collapsed tents and poles falling at the 2010 Russo & Steele Auction in Scottsdale AZ. I was wondering why this car had not crossed the block.
The original listing for this car is HERE – More photos of damaged cars here
(not for the faint of heart, but no other microcars…)
“Terminally Cute” is how the announcers describe it, but for awhile on Tuesday, this car had the top sales spot (along with a Messerschmitt KR175 at $40,000) and probably annoyed some sellers of cars selling in the $20K range.
Expect a Behind the Scenes story of what it is like to sell a car at Barrett-Jackson from Richard Lewis (the restorer and seller) in a future issue of MICROCAR NEWS magazine. If you look *really hard* you can see Richard standing on the left side (our left) of the Auctioneer podium. He is wearing a dark jacket and baseball cap. He says that as soon as the car was brought out someone dragged him away from the car and plopped him there. Apparently standard procedure so everyone knows who the seller is and it prevents you from bidding on your own car.
This car had a “hammer price” of $43,000
SpeedTV’s own online “magazine” referred to the sale price as $47,300
but they also showed a photo of a different car when mentioning it.
and the NY Times said it sold for “nearly $50,000”
Wow, the price just keeps going up even though the auction has ended.
Nick Poll in France has been making new interior upholstery sets for Messerschmitt KR175, KR200 and KR201 and TG500 for many years. He has been listing them on eBay but now has a website just for them.
The interior sets look exactly like the original used in the early days. He makes them in red, black, blue, cream or in any colour of your choice. Snakeskin costs €30 extra.
Bunch of Microcars up for auction over Labor Day Weekend in Auburn IN at KRUSE AUBURN 2009
The online catalog is not particularly easy to navigate through, but you can get an idea of at least which DAY each car will be auctioned. Plus there the official “catalogue” shows a few more cars than appear on the website, (more…)
Mike Harrell’s 1980-era KV won the coveted WORST OF SHOW at this year’s first ConcoursD’Lemons in Montery CA.
The Concours D’Lemons celebrates “The Oddball, Mundane and truly Awful of the Automotive World”
Mike had no idea what “class” was going to be registered in originally, but when he signed up the car he was eligible for:
Umitigated Gaul, 1970-current
Oil Burners
Ass-Engine Sled, Non-Hessian
“I could only dream of winning such special awards as “Most Dangerous” or the doubtless highly coveted “WTF??? Award“said Mike before the show, “I had a shot at “Most Effluent” but the local emissions facilities will only examine vehicles which are required to be tested under state law and the KV is exempt. Just as well, I suppose.”
What put Mike’s car over the top is its drive system which is “unique” to say the least.
click for larger image
The wheels are free-rolling but driven by a pair of stone cylinders pressing against them. Working much like the capstans in a cassette player, the stone capstan drive looks bizarre and even more bizarre is that it works!
The KV Mini was built in France by the same company that turned out the Rolux and the Solyto, but the market for this car was elderly people who were unable to deal with the formalities of a driver’s test. Power to the rear wheels comes from a mighty 125cc single cylinder 2-stroke motor. Top speed is an alledged 34 mph.
“It’s just an awfully, awful, awful French two-stroke car,” said Alan Galbraith, organizer of the show.
Since then we have heard a smattering of other stories from people about their experiences with this “company” in Uruguay.
They have a nice website and a nice eBay page as seller : SPAREPARTSCOLLECTIONS
Attempts to get any comments from Martin Corbo or anyone else regarding the complaints we had been receiving were met with very defensive and hostile email responses that among other things claimed
“in every case we have resolved the issue even if it would involve compensation to the client for the inconveniences (that is another of our policies, for your record).”
At the time, this was counter to what I was hearing from The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum which has apparently now filed a lawsuit against Martin Corbo, Fabian Scavone and Plinio Gani, who all represent SPARE PARTS COLLECTIONS.
I guess they have some “unresolved” issues….
The lawsuit was filed on July 13 2009 and other than being about Breach of Contract, details will probably have to remain under wraps until a judgement is rendered.
We do have a bit more background on Spare Parts Collections and eBay (more…)
The New York Daily News decided that Vintage Microcars warranted an “above the fold” teaser on the Saturday Edition. A full “story” appeared inside on Page 7.
After this issue hit the newstands people came in through the front door of the Javits Center and went RIGHT to the Peel P50,
usually with kids towing their parents and pointing “There it is! There it is! The World’s Smallest Car!”
The Largest Auto Show in the United States and we are right inside the main entrance.
We have a 1962 Messerschmitt Kr200 from Gary Sonnenschein, a 1965 Peel P50 from The Lane Motor Musuem, a 1956 BMW Isetta from Jim Janecek and a 1958 Vespa 400 from Larry Newberry.
The above photo was taken before people started coming in, later it looks like this, only more crowded:
The exhibit is just mobbed with people constantly.
This time the 2 most annoying questions are: “Are these street Legal” and “How much is that?”(referring to the Peel)
Earlier in the day we were asked to participate in the Opening Day Ceremonies which involved a PR stunt.
The NY Auto Show opens with a PR stunt of some sort so that the local news shows up to cover it. This year they had a “Strongman Competition” where they were pulling a “train” of 10 KIA Soul cars.
As a gag, they brought out a Microcar at the last minute and had it compete against a couple other Auto Show staff who actually tried to pull just one car. How many Union Carpenters and Decorators do you think it takes to push a Peel P50 into place and then hide it under some black fabric?
The Peel P50 was surprisingly easy to pull for some reason.
Here is a behind the scenes video of the prep involved for Opening Day Ceremonies (2 minutes)
Otherwise, look for it on Speed Channel. (the entire episode is not available for download at this time and the DVD for 2009 season probably will not come out until the 2010 season starts.)
Also- dates for MicroSouth 2010 are not yet available, so if that is what you are looking for, please check the MEETS page at Microcar.org for updates and information as it becomes available.
27 Vintage Microcars from the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum are on display in a 9000 square foot area of the Atlanta Auto Show at the World Congress Center. (also present are new cars from Toyota, Mercedes etc….meh, who cares about those?)
The Club was there this weekend to chat up Microcars with people, look! they put us right next to Mercedes!
Most often repeated question: “Are these things street legal”?
Best comment so far: “Are these the first cars ever made?”
The show is open to the public and runs through Sunday March 22.
More info: www.ajcautoshow.com
Here is a short video that just appeared on GOOD DAY ATLANTA:
“Live” coverage of the RM Auction of The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum will be available Right Here.
