Buy, Buy Baby! The Saratoga Auto Auction

Our ‘Embedded Buyers’ Score Big at Saratoga Auto Auction; A Grand Time Was Had By All!

SARATOGA SPRINGS – In just its second year, the Saratoga Auto Auction has expanded exponentially, with over 300 vehicles and other collectables (vintage gas pumps, motorcycles, etc.) all available for purchase, and drawing buyers from around the world. Hosted by The Saratoga Automobile Museum (SAM), and taking place on the grounds of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) on Friday, September 21 and Saturday, September 22, the auction’s centerpiece was the Dammerman Collection – an array of 44 select vehicles acquired by the late Dennis Dammerman. These vehicles were consigned to SAM by Dammerman’s widow, Marsha Finn Dammerman, at no reserve (minimum) price.

We have an array of photos that show the overall auction and Friday night’s VIP party in the gallery below. My assignment, a labor of love to be sure, was to shadow a few potential buyers (my friends Kim, Leigh, Linda and Mike) as they targeted a few choice items. Our advance intel (including the fact that Kimberly, a collector, had winning bids on two vehicles last year) determined that she and Linda were not going to be denied. As you will see – that proved to be the case.

Earlier on Saturday, Kim had scored on a 1967 Ford Fairlane, decked out in “High Impact Grabber” lime green (above.) But this turned out to be just a warm-up for her major play later on…

Meanwhile, Linda (who I dubbed the “Mad Hatter” for the occasion,) had her heart set on this 1932 Ford “Hi Boy” Roadster (below). With Mike’s blessing on each bid, she secured the slip in short order. It really was no contest.

And now, for Kim came her main event. Which would be (below) this 1954 Chevrolet 1 1/2 ton pickup.

As it rolled onto the SPAC stage, even though I was positioned six rows in front of her, I could feel Kim’s heartbeat and adrenaline flow. I had heard, in nearly every convo we had since this seafoam 3,000 pounder hit the auction list, that this was “hers”… so I was a little perplexed when, as the auction started, she seemed to sit on her hands…

…turned out, she was playing possum, because at $30,000, she made her move…

When you start throwing out bids like $30K, you’d be surprised how quickly you attract your own personal “spotter” – who was happy to assist the auctioneer see who was throwing down (BTW: that auctioneer would be the Phenomenal Brent Earlywine and his team!) No need for Kim to raise her hand anymore: Just a nod to the spotter, who went through some mega-gyrations to assure the deal got done.

There was some contentious bidding throughout, but eventually all pretenders were vanquished, and a lesson learned:
Never mess with Planet Arthur’s Embedded Buyers!

SOLD!

Now, all that remained was the obligatory posing in their new dream chrome:

But of course, that’s not all that remained – there was a whole lotta action going on! Thank you, guys for letting me barge into your expensive fun on this afternoon. Enjoy the gallery below, and kudos to the Saratoga Automobile Museum for putting together a free admission event that had something for everyone: We all can dream, can’t we?