Cars on the block as part of festival

By KEN de la BASTIDE
Tribune enterprise editor

August 21, 2008 11:18 pm

— Going, going, sold.
Those words will be repeated many times this weekend at the Hoosier Classic Collector Car Auction at the Kokomo Event Center.
Approximately 130 cars will be offered for sale to the highest bidder from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Brent Earlywine Auctions will conduct the auction and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Automotive Heritage Museum.
This weekend also marks the 3rd annual Automotive Heritage Festival with the Mopar Cruise-in Saturday in the Golden Corral and Lucas Fine Home Furnishings parking lots.
The 19th annual Chrysler/PQI Cruz-in will be from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Kokomo Transmission Plant on U.S. 31.
One of the cars being sold at auction is a 1965 Cadillac Calais donated by Jean and Howard Koch to Ivy Tech Community College. The proceeds from the sale will be used to fund student scholarships.
The car has 64,000 original miles and has power brakes, steering, windows complete with remote-controlled outside rear-view mirror.
Miriam Thomas, director of Resource Development at Ivy Tech, drove the car Thursday to the Kokomo Event Center for the upcoming auction.
“I love old cars,” she said.
When asked if the car had air conditioning, Thomas laughed and said it has power windows.
One of the early arriving cars garnering a lot of attention was a 1964 Plymouth Fury with a 505-cubic inch V10 Viper engine owned by famed sprint car engine builder Earl Gaerte.
Gaerte worked on the car for 30 months.
“I restored the car,” Gaerte said. “I build cars all the time. This car was featured in Car Craft magazine in February, so it was time to sell it.”
Gaerte said he works on restoring cars on nights and weekends as a hobby. He currently has his eye on a 1957 Chevrolet in Florida as the next program.
Interested in driving the car home from the auction, Gaerte said he won’t sell it for less than $110,000.
Kokomo resident Paul Bozard brought the 1990 Lola Indy car that Al Unser Jr. drove to the championship and a 1995 Winston Cup car driven by Todd Bodine.
Bozard said the car originally had the Tabasco colors but it was changed to a show car for Michael Waltrip with the Aaron’s colors.
“I have too many toys,” Bozard said, who used to drive show cars to appearances for various race teams. “It’s time for me to start getting rid of some stuff.”
The auction in Kokomo made it easy for Bozard to decide the time was right to sell the race cars.
“I hope they have a good turnout,” he said of the auction.
Auctioneer Brent Earlywine said he has been wanting to do an auction in Kokomo for about 10 years.
“This venue really interested me, having an auction right next to a museum,” the Kokomo resident said.
Earlywine said most of the cars being sold have a reserve, or minimum price, and he expects a large crowd of buyers from as far away as Canada and Florida.
Right now, the hot cars are muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s, he explained.
Those vehicles are what’s hot right now because “the people who can afford to buy a collector car grew up in that era,” Earlywine said. “A lot of people want to buy a car their dad owned.”
Earlywine said he plans on making the auction an annual event in Kokomo.
Kokomo resident Dick Smith is selling a 1972 El Camino with a 350-cubic inch engine that he restored and has owned for 30 years.
“It’s doing a lot of sitting,” he said of his decision to sell. “I lost interest in it.”
Smith believes the auction will be well attended and expects his car to sell for at least $15,000. This is a first for the City of Firsts, he said.
“I’m done,” he said when asked if he was interested in buying another car. “I couldn’t do it again.”
Ken de la Bastide can be reached at (765) 454-8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com

Classic car auction:
• When: Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Where: Kokomo Event Center, formerly the Johanning Civic Center
• Cost: No charge to attend the auction. Bidders on cars need a bank letter of credit or $500 in cash. Bidders on memorabilia need a photo identification and credit card.
Automotive Heritage Festival:
All events at Center Park, 4101 S. LaFountain St. (Golden Corral and Lucas Home Furnishings), unless otherwise noted.
Today
• Cruise-in, 4 to 10 p.m.
Saturday
• Car poker run, 8 a.m. to noon
• Car show, noon to 4 p.m. Registration begins at 10 a.m.
• All Mopar cruise-in, 3 to 10 p.m.
• Non-Mopar cruise-in, 4 to 10 p.m.
Sunday
• 19th annual Chrysler/PQI Cruz-in, noon to 4 p.m., at Kokomo Transmission Plant, 2401 S. Reed Road

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