CORVETTE TODAY #188 - A Preview Of The Mecum Auction/Kissimmee
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May 8, 2025
Mecum Auctions TV host, John Kraman returns to the CORVETTE TODAY show to give you a preview of the world's largest collector car auction, Mecum Kissimmee! Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett gets the lowdown on what's happening et this show. In the 3rd segment of this show, Keith Cornett joins Steve and visits with Dr. Mark Davis. Dr. Davis is brining his three "Ultimately Preserved" Corvettes to auction. Each one is the best of its class and sure to bring high dollars! This Mecum Auction kicks off the new year in style. Get ready for it with CORVETTE TODAY!
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[Music] welcome to Corvette today the show that
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talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett lifetime member of the National Corvette Museum
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president of the Corvette club of Kansas City Missour and radio disc jockey at the number one radio station in Kansas
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City for over 45 years here's Steve
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Garrett thanks for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about everything Corvette and the
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only current podcast dedicated to Corvette I'm your host Steve Garrett I appreciate you tuning in Corvette today
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is brought to you by wheelcraft wheelcraft has the ultimate holiday gift offer for you buy a $100 wheelcraft gift
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enthusiasts from around the world my guest on today's show is the professor John kraman the TV host of the mum
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auctions is back on Corvette today to give us a preview of the upcoming MIM auction in CMI Florida right after the
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New Year John great to have you back on Corvette today hey Steve thanks so much man for having me on always love coming
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on and talking to you about Corvettes other collector cars as well and of course mum auctions always really
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appreciate your enthusiasm and your support for what we do thank you buddy you are always welcome on Corvette today
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you know that John before we get started talking about the CMI show let's give a grand overview of what we're expecting
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next year for the mikum auctions well it's going to be another big year we've got actually got our schedule posted at
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mom.com running all the way through October just give you an idea of where we're going to be heading next year
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we're going to be of course CMI is the world's biggest kicking off in January more about that we'll be talking about that Las Vegas motorcycles in late
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January will be out in a Phoenix area at Glendale Arizona in March back to our traditional Houston auction in April the
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spring classic the Grandaddy of all meum Auctions Indianapolis at the State fairgrounds in May Tulsa and June we're
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back to CMI Steve in July for our summer special oh it's a smaller auction but
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it's it's a great auction this year we're going back Harrisburg PA to serve at the Northeast part of our country in
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July the prestigious montere auction in August Dallas in September and then back
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to Indie for a fall special in October and the remainder of next year's schedule yet to be locked in so we did
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16 auctions this year this calendar year still got a couple to go we'll be headed off to both Las Vegas in a couple of
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weeks and then off to Kansas City to end the year up in early December of course at Bartle Hall lots of stuff going on
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the support not only from our customers buyers and sellers Spectators but also from our TV viewing audience on Motor
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Trend TV and Motor Trend plus has been extraordinary as well we are so blessed and on one heck of a role absolutely
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right buddy now mikim always kicks off the new year with one of the largest shows and it's right after the New Year
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in CMI Florida let's overview this CMI show coming up right after the New Year
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the shot heard around the world my friend can you believe this year pushing
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the envelope once again 13 consecutive days this auction cumi Florida is the
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world's largest collector car auction runs January 2nd through the 14th with a target of 4,000 cars now you and I are
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having this conversation in early November we're already as of today at 3,000 entries and we've still got a
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couple of months yet to go as far as booking inventory it will be another monster last year
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$236 million in the sale of collector vehicles at the world's largest cctri car auction that auction last year
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contributed to ncum auctions generating $785 million for our fiscal year which
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interestingly ends after CMI we don't run calendar year on the way that we internally post our results so that's
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going to be our Target for 2024 those of your listeners that kind of pay attention what we do 236 million we're
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looking at 250 million as a Target and obviously we're looking to exceed that $785 million in total sales that we
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generated last year man number one in the world that's amazing and this is the
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25th anniversary of mikum CMI oh man who would have thought started as a small
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little auction in downtown CMI and just slowly but surely and methodically has
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grown to be just this monster massive event we literally take over CMI Florida
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which is essentially Orlando now Steve where at Oola Heritage Park awesome facility the folks that actually have
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been updating the facility and black top and parking and Arrangement everything for us to accommodate us long-term
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partnership in place there and it's really steeve three auctions in one of course Florida chalk full of our
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demographics folks that love collector vehicles have the income to be able to buy them and then the nice weather to be
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able to use them but it also draws folks from the Midwest and also from the Northeast so we really got three big
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huge demographics that want to spend some time in beautiful sunny Florida in January and they bring the kids the
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grandkids the family some go to Disneyland and do the attractions and then some head over our way and do the
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car attractions it's a winwin win win for everybody brother boy that's for sure hey CMI Florida in January that
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sounds like a great destination to me buddy well it is and that's part of it and some people will say that early
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January in CMI is really the ideal time of the year to kick off the event that
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really signals and really tells all of us what it going to be like in the New Year in other words everybody the entire
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collector car world is going to be looking at that to see how meum does with the world's biggest and we kick it
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off literally right from day one it starts January 2nd it literally starts the day after New Year's Day oh a lot of
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eyeballs and a lot of attention with the press and others are going to be paying a lot of attention that what happens to
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not only the biggest event but the first event of the new calendar year and how many cars are you expecting at the CMI
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auction well here's what we do you know all of our auctions Steve we publish a number on how many vehicles now that's
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positions available it's a Target right now our Target for CMI is 4,000 Vehicles
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make a little bit of a bold statement to Corvette today listeners I'm going to say we're going to get pretty close as I
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mentioned early we're already at 3,000 yeah still plenty of good positions left available for those that want to get
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their cars entered that's an auction that traditionally does extremely well brings Top Dollar on anything from entry
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level collectible cars you know 5 to1 cars all the way and up to multi-million
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dollar cars and everything in between so if you're thinking about entering for Kumi Florida it is not too late in fact
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the timing is really good right now the next week or two if anybody's thinking about it I would hardly recommend get a
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hold of the meek and Consignment staff get it entered so you can get a good spot and plenty of time for that entry
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to season in front of bids yeah and I was going to say it's not too late to consign your car at CMI is it exactly
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and that's a point that for anybody that might be considering it it is not too late in fact I will say that really I
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mean we'll be booking entries up until when the auction starts in fact some people will come up during the auction and say I want to get it in wow I'm not
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saying that I wouldn't recommend that but if you're looking for the best possibility to make sure that your car
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gets as much attention and the biggest price on the Block get it in early enough that you can let the ma marketing
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machine go to work for you and get that vehicle promoted that's key that's smart
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and Buddy if you can't make it down to CMI we can still watching on TV can't we absolutely very proud to say that we
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will now be going into our next year we're going to be right along with the folks at Motor Trend Motor Trend TV
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which is part of Warner discovery on your table Channel and for those that want to stream streaming is Motor Trend
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plus and we will be kicking off 24 hours of live coverage over four days and the
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TV coverage begins Wednesday January 10th but don't forget everybody once the
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auction starts on January 2nd you go to me.com you can click the watch now follow the prompts to get on board to be
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able to watch gav to gavel action no commentators but you're watching Raw data the auctioner multiple camera views
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of the cars description of the cars no commercials we're running that gabble to gabble all 13 days of the auction all
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completely free that's amazing johned well buddy let's take our first break when we get back let's talk about the
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wheelcraft docomo Steve Garrett with me is my pal
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John kraman the professor from the meum auction the TV co-host we're talking about the upcoming CMI auction here on
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Corvette today John first let's start and talk about some of the featured cars that'll be Crossing The Auction Block at
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mikum CMI that are not Corvettes right and I just want to point out that the reputation of meum All Began back in
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1988 with both muscle cars and Corvettes we know that and of course they still dominate the lineup but over the years
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as we've grown we have become more and more relevant with collector cars from
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all genres all years including both vintage and high-end European Exotics as
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to be expected for CMI we've got them how about one of six a 2004 Ferrari Enzo
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it's only got a little over 3,000 miles unique color ggio titano o that's a nice
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color for kind of a silver charcoal nice name but one of only six in that color that is an aess collectible as well
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going back a little bit to kind of the Vintage Exotics 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300
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SL Roadster it was displayed at the 2010 Amelia Island conquor deagon number 526
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of only 618 that were built in 1957 these cars are very significant
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important in The Legend and the lower Mercedes Benz and then of course from the modern era the Ford GTs continue to
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be really really popular we've got a 2021 Ford GT carbon Edition one of only
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50 that were built 660 horsepower of that Ecoboost V6 Steve and only 18 not a
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misprint 18 miles on the odometer it's a brand new car that is a s figure Car
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Plus as are the other exotic cars I mentioned gives folks an idea that it's not all about Corvettes and muscle cars
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although that's what M auction is that's what put us on our feet and that's what keeps us charging ahead today man that's
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amazing now you've got some big collections coming up at CMI as well don't you big time over 25 collections
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some of those are Corvette specific in fact leading the charge on our collections is an interesting group
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Steve called the ultimately preserved Corvettes from the collection of Dr Mark Davis I think you're going to be
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speaking with him yes Dr Davis is very well known in the Corvette Community as one of the top Premier collectors an
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a-lister he has been a Corvette Enthusiast his whole entire life and he is bringing three original documented
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hence the name ultimately preserved Corvettes one's a 62 one's a 67 and
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one's a 69 I'll let you talk to him and get into a little bit of depth about those cars yes another Corvette
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collection that's going to blow my mind is something that is called the split window colorama collection oo there were
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seven colors available in that legendary 1963 split window Corvette tuxedo black
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silver blue Daytona blue Riverside red saddl tan man white t bring silver seven
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colors this collection has one of each color oh my gosh first time we've ever seen that in AUM auction and Corvette
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collections you ready for this Corvette's number one most popular mate and brand at amum auction typically
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representing somewhere around the 10% range so if we do hit our Target of 4,000 cars we can expect to see
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somewhere around 400 Corvettes at this specific auction all generations will be represented that's amazing now let's
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talk about some of the Primo Corvettes that are not collection cars that'll be Crossing The Auction Block have you seen
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some really good ones that we should be watching for well yes and I say that
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because I'm going to try to contain my enthusiasm how about a 1967 Corvette L88
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now keep in mind only 20 were built 10 convertibles 10 coups we've got a coupe coming it is Rally red with the red
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interior only L88 that was ever done in that color combination it was restored
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by the neighbor Brothers which are the premier top shelf regarded as the top Corvette restoration shop down in Texas
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oh yeah this is a car that I would expect to see somewhere possibly
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approach the $4 million range on bidding representing Steve which could very well
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be the Pinnacle the absolute top of the Corvette Market in other words the best
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of the best of the best the rarest the most historic the most desirable the best documented we put this one at the
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top of the list we've sold a handful of those very rare 67 L88 previously again
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expecting huge huge money already getting a lot of buzz on this car coming out of a serious collection out of
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Florida but he's just selling one car and with this much buzz and this much potential value one is enough on this
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deal can't wait for that now tell me is there a day or days that are best if you're looking to buy a Corvette at CMI
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are there better days to come than some others well that's a really great question Steve because this is always a
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dilemma with an auction that's going to be spanning 13 days and running about 12 hours each day by the way we begin to
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get into a situation where how much time can somebody spend at a specific auction right so here's what I say there will be
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Corvettes every single day of the auction now the early days traditionally have the more affordable Corvettes and
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then we kind of rev it up a little bit on the values but honestly the car search is really easy to find if
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somebody's interested in a Corvette or any type of a collector car you just go to mom.com use a search feature put in
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an entry that you might be interested in hit enter and boom it's going to spit them all out and that way you can kind
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of make a plan it'll say the day that the car is running of course and then you can make kind of plans because very
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very few people are going to be there all 13 days traditionally what we see is we see people coming in on the first day
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of the auction and staying through the first week and then it sort of refreshes a bit and then we get a second wave of
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people coming in the second week generally speaking like I say the entry level cars first week higher end cars
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the second week but there are exceptions to that rule as well gotcha well buddy thank you so much for taking the time to
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be on Corvette today I want to come down to CMI and see you see the auction this is going to be a spectacle isn't it it
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sure is and it's you know as much as we love Corvettes you and I both lifelong love affairs with Corvettes that still
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continue to this day it is literally a huge celebration of collector cars
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spanning well over 100 Years of Automotive History All Brands all types it will really be an extravaganza and
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love to see you down there my friend absolutely well buddy we're going to take our final break when we come back in segment three Keith cornette from
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corvet blogger.com is going to join me we're going to talk to Dr Mark Davis about the three Corvettes he's taking to
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3841 1550 and now back to the only current
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listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about everything Corvette Corvette today is brought to
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you by wheelcraft wheelcraft has the ultimate holiday gift offer for you buy a $100 wheelcraft gift card and they'll
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offer is available now and it's good through Christmas Eve so visit wheelcraft decom and get your $250 gift
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card for only $100 I'm your host Steve Garrett for Segment number three Keith cornette from Corvette blogger joins me
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as we talk to Dr Mark Davis and his three ultimately preserved Corvettes that'll be crossing the block at CMI
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Mark first of all welcome to Corvette today thank you Steve it's so good to be on your show and appre apprciate this
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opportunity greatly I want to say hello to Keith as well and tell you both that I sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm
24:36
and what all you do for the Corvette Community as you know I've been a Corvette guy for 51 years now so I'm a
24:43
big fan of what you do and once again I really appreciate it well thank you for the Kudos and for those of you that
24:49
don't know Mark Mark is a retired Chiropractic physician and a real estate developer as well grew up for the first
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13 years of his life in Proctorville Ohio moved across the river to West Virginia and now he resides in South
25:02
Carolina well Mark they say that everyone's got that origin story that first time I saw a Corvette story I'd
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love to hear yours well Keith it goes back a long time ago actually in 1960 I
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was 5 years old and my mother used to always love to tell this story about how
25:19
we were driving down the road and a small River town called Proctorville Ohio on the Ohio River there I was
25:26
riding in the back of the Pontiac that we owned at the time standing in the rear floorboard with my arms draped over
25:33
the front seat looking out the windows and obviously this was way before any seat Bel
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lws so we're driving down the road through Proctorville and all of a sudden she says that I just shouted out look
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Mommy Corvette Corvette she would always go on to say that it shocked her that I even knew what a Corvette was that was
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my first Corvette sighting and as she would always say from that point on I've been sick about
25:59
them that's a good way to put it Mark so when did you buy your first Corvette and what was it I bought my first Corvette
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when I was 17 and I like to share this story especially for the young people I
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had a great mother and father and my father was a very smart businessman and he taught me a good work ethic mainly he
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taught me how to work and save so going back to when I was 5 years old and that sickness began about Corvette I started
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working when I was 10 years old and my goal at that time was to work and save
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as much money as I could so that when I turned 16 and got my driver's license I
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would hopefully have enough money to buy a used Corvette to carve my dreams well it didn't quite happen but by the time I
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was 17 I bought my first used Corvette that was in 1972 the Corvette that I bought was a
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red with black interior convertible 1969 350 350 it went on to prove that
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Corvette was everything that this kid had ever dreamed of and then some I enjoyed that car for several years now
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here we are I'm 68 years old and 51 years later and goodness I've had a Corvette in my life ever since then now
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Mark tell everybody how many Corvettes you've owned in your lifetime well my wife and I've have tried our best to
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count them I think approximately 150 or so wow that's a amazing number Mark give
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us some details like what was your oldest one what was the newest one you've had oh let see Keith the oldest
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one I've ever owned I had a 55 one time then I've had a 57 I've had several 58s
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I think one 59 and then several 60s and then all the way up to today I've got a
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brand new C8 Z6 z7 Coupe that rolled off the assembly line in may actually wow
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very nice I was gonna ask you about the 1960s since that was the first year you saw one if you had gone back and dip
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your foot in that water so to speak with the 1960s yes I have and matter of fact
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I remember my dad would tell me later in life I mean I saw that first Corvette when I was five but I didn't know
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exactly what it was I just knew that it was a Corvette obviously a gentleman in that small town of Proctorville Ohio had
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just bought a brand new white 60 with red inter interior and you know at that point in time there hadn't been too many
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Corvettes built so for a small town to have a brand new Corvette it was like a spaceship had
28:22
landed so when I start to answer your question when I started really going back and trying to buy some old nice
28:29
original Cars one of the first ones I wanted to buy was 1960 and I did that's nice have you always been attracted to
28:36
original Corvettes yes I have Steve actually I've been that way most of my
28:42
Corvette life I've just always liked the look The feel the smell of an all original car I've been that way even way
28:49
before Survivor cars were even talked about or became popular so it's just
28:54
been my taste yeah so when you're looking for an all original Corvette Mark tell me what you're looking for
29:01
well number one is the miles I'm known in some Corvette circles as the low mile original
29:07
guy so obviously I prefer a low mile car and it always helps if that mileage is
29:14
documented I don't want a car that's never been a part the engine's original
29:19
all the running parts are original hopefully nothing's been changed such as the glass the Chrome Etc so that's my
29:26
criteria has to be all original other than such things as maintenance items such as the battery tires Etc I want the
29:33
car to be whole and all original with low miles sure and then also ownership I
29:38
want to ownership history and preferably it's from the original owner or had few owners the documentation is critical you
29:46
know I want all the paperwork and documentation there to me that validates that original car yeah and then it's
29:53
important too that where it's been kept you know if it's been kept in a climate controlled space that's critical as well
29:59
I've gone upon to look at many original cars that were advertised as such and then you get there well they've been
30:05
stored in a barn or out under a carport all their life exposed to elements and you may have a 12,000 M car but it looks
30:12
like it's got 72,000 miles yeah that's a problem so I want that to meet those
30:17
criterias you know it's always best if you can find it off the original owner because as that car changes ownership
30:25
that seems to be when things get lost such as documents and paperwork and things get changed on the car or mess
30:32
with so that's some of my criteria gotcha now let's talk about the three Corvettes that you're going to be selling at CMI then okay well let's
30:39
start with the 62 Steve I can honestly say with all of my Corvette knowledge
30:45
and history that we've discussed and all the shows and awards and everything that I've been through and two this is the
30:53
most original most pristine unbelievable all orig original first generation
30:58
Corvette in existence first of all it's the right colors it's red with red interior it has only 12,000 documented
31:05
original miles everything on the car is original except the battery it even
31:11
comes with the original tires which still have 1962 air within them
31:17
wow so it doesn't get much better than that let alone it's been through all the
31:23
judging processes of the ncrs and Bloomington gold and various concour the
31:28
Elegance events and it's won every award that a Corvette can win from the ncrs
31:34
and Bloomington gold wow and it's the only first generation Corvette in existence to have done that that's
31:39
amazing and I could talk about that car for the rest of your show and the pictures of it especially
31:45
with all the awards and everything you got the binders I mean your binders of awards I see you flipping through that
31:52
meum video you see the original keys in there I mean the amount of documentation you have on these cars is just amazing
31:57
yeah well thank you and I'm a stickler for that Keith I'm just very meticulous
32:02
and anal if I have to say about making sure all that is there not only there
32:08
but chronologically arranged from day one and documented fully as we go
32:13
through time let's talk about the 67 Mark okay the 67 it's probably and in my
32:20
opinion is the best 1967 427 Corvette coupe in existence as far as originality
32:27
provenance documentation all the things that we've mentioned before this car is just stunning it's a benchmark all three
32:35
of these cars have been used as benchmarks by the way this particular 67
32:40
has been used as a benchmark at two ncrs national judging Retreats that they have
32:46
every year in Dallas Texas and was actually invited back again this year for the third time nice so that shows
32:53
you how much of a benchmark this car is it's a 427 390 Coupe silver Pearl black
33:01
interior black Stinger 32,000 all original documented miles every number
33:07
matching it's got all the documentation when the sticker protective plate owners's manuals Etc as you see on the
33:14
meum website it's all laid out and very well organized as well like Keith said a while ago it's just a very special car
33:22
it's won every award at ncrs every award at Bloomington gold it's also one couple
33:27
Concourse de Elegance it's actually won the best in preservation class at the Hilton Head Concourse de Elegance and
33:34
best in preservation class at the green bar Concord the elegant and then to put
33:40
the cherry on top and this really is all I needed to say about this car it's the
33:45
only 1967 Corvette in existence to have ever won the alltime preservation award
33:52
awarded by the historical Vehicle Association of America so that sums it up yeah absolutely last but not least
33:59
let's talk about the silver 69 the silver 69 is special to me and the fact
34:05
that I told you earlier in your show that my very first Corvette was a 69 350
34:10
350 convertible well this 69 is also a 350 350 convertible silver Coupe and
34:18
with air conditioning so 350 350 with air conditioning is somewhat rare it's
34:24
all original paint chrome Etc as the descriptions say it's special in the
34:29
fact that it only has 11,050 Mi wow so it's believed to be one
34:35
of the lowest mile 1969 Corvettes in existence as well I think you tell the
34:40
owner story in the M video about the guy who bought the car originally forgot to
34:45
check off power steering and then found the car a little hard to drive so he went back and ordered another car with
34:52
big block and power steering AC and then just kind of put this one away yeah that's a good good story because he
34:57
blamed the dealership for not checking off power steering but regardless of whose fault it was it was a challenge W
35:05
to drive around the streets in Florida where he kept the car at his winter H home so like you said Keith he turned
35:10
around and ordered in 1970 as soon as they came out with the new 454 and automatic with air conditioning and all
35:17
the options and especially power steering it was a little easier for him to drive around town but and key word
35:25
here but he still loved the looks of his silver 69 the best and rightfully so so
35:31
he tucked it away he had a business in which he had a climate controlled Warehouse so he tucked it away in the
35:37
warehouse where no one could be around it and always meticulously maintained
35:43
and preserved that car and then later on in life it was bought about 10 years ago
35:48
from a friend of mine and an ncrs judge and he went on to take it to win every
35:53
awarded ncrs and Bloomington gold it's even been in the Bloomington gold special collection and then he also took
36:00
it to mcken where it won every award there and then since then I've taken it to win a concourse de Elegance and
36:07
showed it at various events as well just some great cars outstanding cars and I tell you what the next owners of these
36:12
cars and literally have nothing to do with them other than K them and enjoy them I guess thank you Keith you're
36:18
right they are three very special cars that happen to represent the first second and third generation of Corvette
36:25
and I'm just very proud they are low mile all original award-winning
36:30
beautiful specimens and examples of those first three Generation cors all three of them are amazing cars and I
36:37
like what you said in that video the reason why you're selling them is you pretty much have done your purpose with
36:42
the cars and then you're on the hunt for the next ones yes and you know this you're passion enough and I know Steve's
36:48
passion is there too one of the hardest things you can do is sell a car when you're this passionate that being said
36:55
there are other cars that I have on deck that I want to do the same with I want to validate them and document them and
37:02
win some awards with them so I've chosen to offer these to the public and this will be the first time for each one of
37:08
them that they've ever been offered to the public you've done some other auctions with Dan M before I remember
37:13
the red red collection and then also you had the mcera Corvette can you tell us about those two yes I can first of all I
37:21
just want to give kudos to Dana and his organization they are top-notch I mean
37:26
the best that you can be from the top down and especially Dana I've known Dana
37:31
back when he was just a little guy going to some events with car auctions back in the 80s when I chose to First sell a
37:39
very very special car in the mcnamer Corvette I didn't even think about taking it anywhere but to Dana mum's
37:46
event going back to your question about the mcnamer Corvette that was a 1967
37:51
Coupe white red interior that was an unbelievable story that once again we
37:57
could spend a whole hour talking about that was and still is believed to be the lowest mile 1967 coret in existence
38:06
there is one that I know of that has a little bit fewer miles on it but it was bought to race and immediately when it
38:13
was brought home it was disassembled and prepared to race and then it never raced and they restored it back but going back
38:18
to this car mcnamer Corvette it is the lowest mile Corvette 1967 in existence I
38:26
took it to me Houston in 2014 where it set an all-time world
38:32
record price for a 1967 Corvette non L88 so that tells you how special that car
38:40
was that's amazing Mark it's been great having you on the show I can't wait to see these cars in person hopefully I can
38:47
get down to CMI but I'm anxious to see how they do on the mik oxin Block well
38:52
Steve thank you so much and once again I wish we had more time because I could talk about all these cars for hours and
38:59
maybe someday you guys can visit South Carolina and we'll talk more that sounds great I want to just say again to you
39:05
Steve and Keith thank you so much guys for all that you do for us it really is appreciated daily thank you well as we
39:12
said at the beginning of our conversation it's people like you that are pursuing the hobby of being the Corvette owner for the passion that it
39:19
brings the joy it brings you not for the dollars or cents that it might come from selling these cars so thank you for all
39:25
your preservation effort for these documentation for loaning your cars out so other judges can learn about what it
39:31
looks like to have an unmolested car I mean it's just an amazing thing that you put together here and I urge everybody
39:37
to look at the videos that are out there in your car we're definitely going to be in me CMI to see them told Keith thank
39:42
you so much I really appreciate your compliments thanks for listening to Corvette today and please be sure to
39:47
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