Parting ways can be hard, even when you’re only downsizing. I had a huge collection of stuffed animals that I eventually donated or gave away over the years. It got too hard to clean (yes, those fuzzy creatures are just a magnet for dust bunnies) and too humbug to properly put “in order.”
Remember those hammocks that you could string across your room? Problem with those were that if some tall person didn’t duck, the whole hammock would swing and all the animals would fall to the ground…
Interestingly, I downsized the bulk of my collection only to receive more cute critters. And nowadays, bigger seems to be the trend as I now have stuffed animals that literally are half the size of me! Since they can’t fit on a shelf, they now sit on chairs around the room. Okay now…
Well this next story is not about donating some stuffed bear, but classic cars — and we’re not just talking about one or two either!
—–
Entrepreneur auctions off 200 classic cars
By JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — As he prepares to watch his treasured 1940 Howard Hughes Cadillac and hundreds of other meticulously maintained automobiles be driven right out the door, broadcasting pioneer Art Astor is realizing a piece of his heart will be leaving with them.
A Southern California native who grew up with a passion for automobiles, Astor began collecting classic cars 30 years ago when he began buying radio stations and making the kind of money that would allow him to own something like the 1927 Rolls-Royce roadster that once belonged to movie cowboy Tom Mix.
Now 83 and unable to find anyone willing or financially able to take on his collection after he’s gone, Astor has decided to part with about 200 of his approximately 270 cars.
Those he’s selling went on the block yesterday at the Astor Events Center in Anaheim, where much of Astor’s large collection of antique radios and telephones also began being sold Friday. The sale of all items concludes today and is expected to raise $20 million to $25 million.
From Cadillacs to Rolls-Royces, 200 of radio veteran Art Astor’s cars are going up for auction. (AP Photo/RM Auctions)
It is parting with the cars, however, that is breaking the heart of Astor, who owns radio station KSPA, which broadcasts in Southern California’s inland region, and stations KFSD and KCEO in the San Diego area.
“I don’t have any car that I ever bought that I didn’t like,” the normally effusive entrepreneur says quietly during a recent phone interview from his museum. He’s just gotten back, he says, from taking his 1955 Cadillac Coup de Ville out for a spin.
“When you part with an automobile that I purchased myself and test drove it and looked at it and fell in love with it,” he adds with a sigh. “It almost borders on trauma.”
That’s why he won’t part with the 1947 Ford Woody that once belonged to actor Steve McQueen. He tried and failed to acquire it when McQueen sold his own car collection shortly before his death in 1980 and had to wait 15 years for it to come back on the auction block.
“That’s one of my favorites,” he says, even if it’s not the collection’s priciest. But then Astor, who says he moved on from hosting a local TV show early in his career to running radio stations because it was the guys who did that who seemed to drive the really nice cars, didn’t buy any of his vehicles with strictly dollar signs in mind.
“I prefer to have maybe a 1950 Oldsmobile holiday coup that’s worth maybe $50,000 instead of a Deusenberg worth a million-and-a-half,” he says. “I don’t like to drive a Deusenberg. I’d rather drive an Oldsmobile.”
Or the 1939 Plymouth with only 9,000 miles on it. It’s probably worth no more than $25,000.
“But it gives me joy because it’s an example of a prewar automobile,” Astor says. “It’s still got the ‘Elect Roosevelt’ sticker on it.”
Unlike most cars found in automotive museums, Astor could take that Plymouth or one of his Rolls-Royces or Packards or Jaguars or Buick Roadmasters out on the road right now. He keeps every car in his Astor Automotive Museum polished and ready to drive.
A 1948 Packard Custom Convertible Coupe that is part of the Astor Collection. (AP Photo/RM Auctions)
“It’s the only museum in the world that I’m aware of that everything here works — including its curator,” Astor says, laughing heartily.
And that’s part of the reason he’s cleaning it out. Maintaining a staff of a half-dozen or more people to keep his cars, radios and phones working costs him a fortune, he says, adding: “I’m not wealthy enough or have the deep pockets to throw a couple million dollars away every year.”
So when the auction is complete there will still be an Astor Events Center, albeit with a scaled-down museum.
—–
What memories do you have of your first or favorite car?
Can you see yourself holding onto a prized car for a long time just to show to your kids or grandkids? I know some guys who kept their “hot little sports car” despite it missing a door handle or other functional feature (that most girls gravitate toward) when they got a new set of wheels.
