Enthusiast and dealer Bob McDorman sells his collection of low-mile, milestone Chevys
Even when you saw it in person, it was difficult to fully appreciate the scope of Bob McDorman’s Chevrolet collection. Sure, there have been larger car collections – although at nearly 160 vehicles, it was in the upper echelon – and there are collections with more significant muscle cars, but few have been as comprehensive and dedicated to a single marque.
Since 1965, McDorman has sold Chevrolets from his dealership in the Columbus-area burg of Canal Winchester, Ohio. In addition to selling them, he’s hoarded them, too, tucking away significant models as the rolled off the transporter and seeking out other special models in the collector market. A half-dozen pole buildings at the back of the dealership’s property housed the constantly evolving collection, which was complemented by an equally impressive collection of original dealer signs and other “mobilia.”
He’s been a fixture in the collector world and the benefactor of countless Corvette and other car shows, but at 78, McDorman acknowledges he’s not quite as spry as he used to be. When the tough decision was reached to sell off the collection, it sent seismic waves through the collector world. A few thousand collectors and Chevy enthusiasts from all corners of the map converged on the dealership last November to either grab a piece of the historic collection or simply take it all in.
McDorman reached out to Mecum Auctions to handle the sale, which brought collectors and Chevy enthusiasts from all corners of the map. Nearly 800 bidders competed for about 150 vehicles (McDorman held back about 10 cars for his personal use). Interestingly, the number of bidders was about the same Mecum saw for their last Indianapolis auction, which as a four-day/1,000-car extravaganza.
“This was a different kind of sale,” said an anonymous collector after the sale. “These were cars that you simply couldn’t get anywhere else. Each was a one-of-a-kind from a one-of-a-kind collection. You can bet there won’t be another quite like it.”
What made McDorman’s collection unique was the number of low-mile and milestone cars, including many Corvettes. His penchant for buying and storing brand-new resulted in a staggering number of “as new” cars, which still retained the protective plastic seat coverings from the factory and had fewer than 100 original miles. Heck some had fewer than 50 miles. His ’95 Corvette Indy Pace Car replica, for example, rolled across the block with only 5 miles on the clock. Many of these cars were still on the original Manufacturer Statement of Origin (MSO), which meant they’d never been titled or registered.
Additionally, McDorman had a thing for early serial numbers and other production milestones, so his nearly 90-strong batch of Corvettes included a number of cars with serial number 0001 for their respective model year, as well as the 750,000th Corvette build and number 999,999.
As we alluded to at the beginning of the story, the collection wasn’t brimming with headline muscle cars. There were no LS6 Chevelles, COPO Camaros or Yenko Novas. But McDorman liked his pace car Camaros and the sale included 1967 and ’69 models – including a super-rare Z10 big-block “pace car coupe.” There were also great examples of Tri-Five Nomads, a ’55 Bel Air Indy pace car replica and a 348/3×2-powered ’59 El Camino. The collection even included the 1970 Camaro with serial number 0001 from the long-gone Van Nuys assembly plant.
When the dust settled and the last hammer fell, the no-reserve auction brought $7 million, with the top sale going to a custom 1964 Corvette built by the GM Styling department for Chevrolet president Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen. It sold for $400,000 (plus a 10-percent buyer’s premium). The prices were good, but not stellar for cars that were essentially impossible to match elsewhere in terms of mileage and noteworthiness. Many of the later-model, nearly zero-mile/first serial number Corvettes went for essentially prices expected of average-mileage used cars. That was undoubtedly a sign of the current economic times mirrored in the collector market, but it also reflected the risk of putting so many cars into the market at once.
We found some of the prices downright cheap, such as the silver ’57 Nomad with factory air conditioning that sold for $36,500, and others simply head-scratching: An ’87 Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe with fewer than 500 original miles sold for the arguably bargain price of $22,000, while a “brand-new” ’90 Beretta Indy Pace Car replica (with 75 original miles) brought $19,000. If anything, the sale affirmed the notion that now may be the right time to buy the collector car you’ve always wanted, because the prices are still considerably down from their peak a few years ago.
Check out our slideshow of the sale’s highlights.
