There’s a September tradition in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada—it’s the annual EGAuctions.com Fall Collector Car Auction.
This auction covers everything from entry level cars to high-end classics and exotics.
Anyone who has read my previous favorite picks from auctions over the years already knows I like to go off the beaten path in my choices, so here are my five favorites from this weekend’s auction.
Jerry Sutherland
The first one is a 1971 AMC Ambassador Brougham two-door hardtop.
I liked this car because you simply don’t see them on the car show circuit. That’s because they didn’t build many of these Ambassadors so there aren’t many left. I like this car for that simple reason—plus they are a clean-looking two-door hardtop.
My second pick is a 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook four-door sedan. Four-door sedans never bothered me—even though many guys in the hobby buy them for parts.
The lineup to buy this unassuming Plymouth will be miles shorter than the lineup for a ’70 Cuda–but that’s not the point. The point is you’ll get a car like this for a fraction of the price you’d pay for a Cuda–you’ll also be cutting your own philosophical swath in life. You can’t put a price on that.
My third pick is an upscale model from the same era as the Plymouth–it’s a 1956 Lincoln Premiere. This was a high-level car back in the mid-50s and it’s something you won’t see on the road in 2023.
I like these Lincolns because they were based on the legendary Futurama concept car—the same car George Barris used to build the original Batmobile. Basically, you can get the legendary style of a custom for a fraction of the price–plus you’re going to be a rock star at every show.
My fourth pick is a 1960 Corvair. Corvairs are cars that never got the press—unless it was bad press thanks to Ralph Nader’s book ‘Unsafe at Any Speed’.
Ralph condemned these cars and this definitely hit home with a skeptical buying public. They were cutting-edge cars in 1960 and their style put them light years ahead of most cars that year. The Corvair was aimed directly at cars like the VW Beetle and to a lesser degree—the 1960 Ford Falcon and Plymouth Valiant. GM hedged their bet when they introduced the more conventional Chevy II two years later, but for me the Corvair was an outlier. That’s why I like this auction car.
My fifth pick is a 1967 Pontiac Parisienne 2+2 convertible. American readers are typically puzzled by these Canadian Ponchos, but basically, they’re all Chevy under the skin.
That explains why this Pontiac came with a 283 Chevy from the factory. I’ve always been a huge fan of the full-sized ’67 Pontiacs—north or south of the border. I thought Pontiac took the stacked headlight trend and ran with it in 1967. They hit me right at every angle and the bonus is this ’67 Parisienne is a large-and-in-charge convertible—that makes it a perfect off-the-beaten path choice.
You’ll see far more glamorous cars at this auction, but these five will probably fall well within the affordable dream category—and they’re unique. That’s good enough for me.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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