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GM to sell off Heritage Collection

thunderw21

I'll Lock Up
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Iowa
Photos provided at link.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/0...chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_lifestyle


General Motors is cleaning out the attic to sell some stuff at the auction house to raise some much needed cash.

Around 250 vehicles from GM's "Heritage Collection," will be auctioned by Barrett-Jackson, with the first lots going on Jan. 13 in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the second hitting the block in April in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Don't think that GM is parting with the family jewels to pay the mortgage. Though insiders can't recall such a big chunk of the collection being sold at once, 25% of the total, most of the vehicles are special show cars and one-offs that GM snapped together for the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Assn. (SEMA) shows over the years, as well as some classic production cars that were duplicates of models GM still has.

Of interest to some bargain-hunting curiosity seekers, too, are some examples of GM design failures. As one GM executive told me off the record, "These are mostly cars that current management [probably product boss Bob Lutz and design chief Ed Welburn] don't much care for."

The real family jewels aren't going anywhere, even if one, like the first off-the-line 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado or 1938 Buick Y-Job, might bring as much cash as 10 or 20 of the cars being sold off.

GM Heritage Collection spokesman Greg Wallace says it's more a "thinning of the warehouse." He says it costs the company roughly $2,000 a year per car to maintain, store, and transport each vehicle. And with GM designs getting better and better under Lutz and Welburn, the company wants to make room for some of the new family gems, like the 2008 Chevy Mailbu and 2010 Chevy Camaro.

Here is a smattering of the some off the cars being sold, with estimated prices and provenance.
 

Geesie

Practically Family
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717
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San Diego
Some are very remarkable, though.
The Buick Blackhawk show car for one.

Also, just some of the vehicles which weren't that remarkable and so their presence in the GM collection is the only place where one in decent condition exists any more.
 

Flivver

Practically Family
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New England
The Buick Blackhawk is my favorite of the bunch, too, even if it is built from a front wheel drive platform.

I was lucky enough last year to have a tour of the GM Heritage Collection in Sterling Heights MI. As a long time GM enthusiast, I was "in heaven". It was great fun seeing countless historic vehicles I had previously only read about.

But the timing of this sale is unfortunate. Given the current economic conditions, I think the realized prices on the cars GM is selling will be quite a bit lower than they would be in more prosperous times. About 5 years ago, Ford had a similar sale of recent unremarkable concept cars. The prices obtained were surprisingly low...even in the better economic times of 2004.
 

TM

A-List Customer
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309
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California Central Coast
Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

The piddling sum they will get from the auction and the $2,000 a year per car cost they will save is going to save them?

Tony
 

Flivver

Practically Family
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New England
For GM, and the rest of the domestic auto industry, it's now as much about appearance and symbolism as it is about reality.

During the recent Congressional hearings in Washington, the auto execs were raked over the coals because they flew to DC on corporate jets. The cost of those corporate jets is miniscule compared to the financial issues they're facing, but the symbolism of it all was huge for Congress and the American public.

Maybe it shouldn't have been a big deal...but it *was*. So this sale of vehicles from GM's Heritage Collection is largely show...but it's also part of GM examining every facet of their operations for cost savings, which, when taken in total, *can* make a difference.
 

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