RM Auctions' Icons sale brings good return on customs

Hot-rod and custom-car enthusiasts came from across the country for RM Auctions' Icons of Speed and Style sale in Los Angeles on Saturday, which offered the entire collection of the Flying A Garage.

Collector Ralph Whitworth had big plans to open a car museum in his native Winnemucca, Nev., and had assembled one of the greatest rod, custom and racing-car collections ever to make it happen. He housed it in a new, climate-controlled building in Winnemucca called the Flying A Garage and had plans to open a museum to draw interest to his hometown.

But hard times hit Whitworth as they did much of the rest of the economy, and the collection was sold over seven hours on Saturday at the Petersen Automotive Museum. RM said the sale totaled nearly $7 million. A large number of cars exceeded their estimates. There were no reserves on any of the cars or any of the extensive memoribilia.

One report said that by the end of the auction, Whitworth had recovered 81 percent of what he'd paid for the cars.

Top seller of the day was the "Lil' Red Wagon," a front-cabbed 1965 Dodge pickup that did quarter-mile wheelies in the 11-second range for decades at drag strips across America. It sold at $550,000. Another exercise in cab-forward design, the Deora, went for $324,500. (Investors hint: Buy those cab-forward pickups now!)

Other top sellers of the day included Al Teague's 409-mph Spirit of '76 streamliner, which went well above its $150,000 to $200,000 estimate at $275,000; TV Tommy Ivo's four-engined Riviera Exhibition dragster, estimated at $125,00 to $175,000 that sold for $209,000, and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's Druid Princess that sold almost right on the estimate at $203,500.

Famous faces in the crowd included drag racers Don Prudhomme and Joe Amato, along with car builders George Barris and racer/builder/actor TV Tommy Ivo.

By Mark Vaughn