Gas Monkey's 1980 El Camino sells for 50k

[UNGN]

It just might have been something set up by the show, as far as the buyer at the auction. It seems odd (maybe I missed it) that he was the only guy that bid. It opened at 25k or so, then he jumped straight to 50. Perhaps I missed something.

It had a $50K reserve on it and the single bidder wanted it.

I've said this many times in the past, the Leake auction sucks to sell a car at. I would bet money they pay for GMG with an appearance fee or waive their commision to be there.

 

[Jeff L]

It's all fake and GMG could give the cars away for free and they would still make a ton of money.

Last time I was in Tokyo, my Hotel had about 12 channels including the BBC, CNN international and 4 local Tokyo stations. On Saturday morning, the sports channel had the Texas Rangers game (Yu Darvish was pitching) and Discovery Japan was playing a GMG marathon. That was back in 2013.

The amount of money that this show rakes in worldwide is probably shocking.

I always figured Richard R made more from the show then all the cars they could sell.

The "reality" started to come forward more and more over the past few years on how those shows we thought as being free flowing are more scripted then a sitcom. I can see the producer telling these guys what kind of situation to have for the show, add some good all fake drama, and doing retakes when a scene just does'nt work, etc. This is the new entertainment and like you posted RR is rolling in the money just for creating the "RR character" or is that him in reality?

I always think about Wrestlers that create a character and if it catches on with the public they make a ton of money. Same goes for these fake reality shows. How much is creation vs. how much is a real event?

TV was so much easier when I was a kid with only 5-6 channels to choose from! lol

 

[gbodytoys]

It had a $50K reserve on it and the single bidder wanted it.

I've said this many times in the past, the Leake auction sucks to sell a car at. I would bet money they pay for GMG with an appearance fee or waive their commision to be there.

Why does that auction house suck to sell cars?

I was looking through auction results for g-bodies and they seem to go pretty low for cars that don't seem to need any major components. At the same time, I've never seen a g-body built to this level at an auction. You see plenty of other cars with Ridetech suspensions, crate motors, etc... but they are rarely gbodies.

 

[UNGN]

Why does that auction house suck to sell cars?

Its at crappy Dallas Market hall and its just cheazy and cheap. More of a gun show/gem show venue. Big dollar buyers/sellers avoid it like the plague.

I would consider buying a car there (because you can steal it), but I would NEVER sell a car there. The picture of the elco in the parking garage looks like it in the parking garage out back of dallas market hall.

 

[ssn696]

For $50K I could get a HOUSE in some zip codes.

 

[Ribbedroof]

but there is no such thing as a car "sitting too low" from a visual standpoint. From a practical/driving standpoint, sure, but visually, not possible.

.

Matter of personal taste, i guess, because I disagree. I hate cars scraping the ground, and it seems they always have 20"+ wheels on them, with half the wheel hidden. Not my preference, but that's what makes the hobby great...different strokes for different folks.

 

[UNGN]

For $50K I could get a HOUSE in some zip codes.

You probably can have your pick of $50K houses in Hope, Arkansas where the buyer was from, but good luck getting a Mast Motorsport 416, T56, A/C equipped, Currie 9" reared, Wilwood braked, Budnik wheeled. built over 2 hours in primetime on a major TV network anything for $50K.

Only at the Dallas Leake Auction is that possible. And that isn't a good thing.

 

[UNGN]

Matter of personal taste, i guess, because I disagree. I hate cars scraping the ground, and it seems they always have 20"+ wheels on them, with half the wheel hidden. Not my preference, but that's what makes the hobby great...different strokes for different folks.

I wish lowering didn't make cars look better, but its just a fact. our reptilian brains are programmed that way. If you have two identical cars, but one lowered and one stock ride height car parked next to each other, it's like the stock ride height car has a disease. Nobody looks at it... OK maybe a couple old guys, but it is like 10:1 for the lowered car. If you took a vote, it wouldn't even be close.

Now if one was stock ride height and the other jacked up above stock ride height, that starts triggering "want" signals in the brain, but not as much as lowering. It's like people don't have the free will they think they have... which is also why we sit thru 16 minutes of commercials every hour.

 

[AlBreland]

Having an 86 el co I loved this program...I like the narrowed bumpers but I wouldn't have painted them or removed the bed trim...to me nothing looks better than a black and chrome car...drive train was killer except that it wouldn't clear the a/c evaporator on the firewall... has anyone else done an LS conversion and ran into that clearance issue? (first time I've heard that)...I came across a rare overhead cam corvette engine that would be "killer" in any car...first one I've ever seen for sale $8k which seemed reasonable...wish I could afford it 🙁
On a different subject I found an 87 monte carlo in the junk yard and got all the window mechanisms out of both doors...my glass guy finally got my window problem fixed by replacing the crank assembly...YEAH!!!! I get the newly upholstered door panels and curtain behind the seat put in this Thursday...I'm going to leave the seats black and put some black floor mats in...Monday I'm getting the car lowered a couple of inches front and back....should be killer!!! The last update I will make will be the drivetrain...probably a BBC...got to save money for that 🙂...anybody have any issues putting a BBC in a el camino? BTW I found a chevy parts dealer with thousands of parts for sale including at least a half dozen Impala steering wheels...so I will be picking up one of those soon...I ordered LED taillight assemblies (and flasher) from Dixie Auto Restorations and should get them any day...

 

[UNGN]

drive train was killer except that it wouldn't clear the a/c evaporator on the firewall... has anyone else done an LS conversion and ran into that clearance issue? (first time I've heard that).

Aaron was seeing how far back he could slam the LS against the firewall (I think he made the comment "that looks Killer") and it bit him.