Cash-starved GM to cut its specialty fleet in half
"Every little bit counts. It costs a lot to house that many vehicles". This is what Greg Wallace, manager of the General Motors Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, said when asked about the automaker's second sale of antique and show cars this year. Cash-starved GM has already sold 230 of its classic cars through the Barrett-Jackson auction in January. GM is now planning to cut its specialty fleet in half and it clearly shows that the automaker is struggling hard to survive. The company will auction 100 more cars from its private Heritage Collection this week. Unfortunately, GM has just managed to raise a little more than $9 million this year, which seems nothing when compared to the $13.4 billion GM received from U.S. Treasury in emergency loans. The classics will be sold in Palm Beach, Fla. starting Thursday and the list includes a 1920 Chevrolet Model T truck, a 1999 Camaro Z/28 that appeared in the movie "Runaway Bride" and a 1978 Corvette Indy 500 pace car.
Steve Davis, president of the collector car auction company Barrett-Jackson, cited:
The buzz is huge over this, especially given what's happening with General Motors these days. Even in this economy, people are looking for a tangible asset that doesn't shrink every time someone sneezes on Wall Street. Owning a piece of American history transcends owning a stock certificate or a lump of gold.
Most of the cars will be auctioned off with a scrapped title (meaning the car is not road-worthy) or as a bill of sale (meaning it’s a work of art and is not meant to be taken to the roads ever).
This is certainly great news for car collectors, but a real bad one for car enthusiasts and GM fans. Pictured above is a 1996 Buick Blackhawk Custom, which was sold for $522,500 at the Barrett-Jackson auction in January.
Via: LaTimes
