Local Arizona businessman Ron Pratte had spent some time acquiring an eclectic collection of cars, trucks and automobilia over the years but elected to sell them all at this year's Barrett-Jackson auction. He sold over 140 cars selling for nearly $34 million.
His automobilia collection was so huge it took four days to sell the items, bringing in over $6.5 million for the 1600 pieces. Now that's a man cave! The highest seller was a Harley-Davidson porcelain sign that went for nearly $90,000.
His vehicle collection forced Barrett-Jackson to print a separate auction catalog just for this collection. Given his wide ranging tastes in cars, he had everything from Boyd Coddington built cars, to cars used in movies and the huge red 1950 Futurliner Parade of Progress Tour Bus used by GM for their Motorama's. That sold for $4 million dollars with the proceeds all going to charity.
Surprisingly Pratte had quite a few trucks in his collection. So this month we'll take a look at some of those trucks. Guess the final selling price, remember that Barrett-Jackson tacks on a 10% buyer's commission to the final price, and that's what we list. See page 30 for the list of final selling prices.
1931 Ford Model AA Mail Truck
This was an actual Model AA US mail truck used in Minneapolis, MN for regional inter-office delivery. The wooden cube box was restored using the original postal specs and holds 200 cubic feet of space. It was painted US Military Olive Green and all the mechanicals and suspension were rebuilt.
1948 Chevrolet 2100 Coca Cola Delivery Wagon
This 1948 Chevrolet Huckster was dolled up as a Coca-Cola delivery truck with even 312 bottles of Coke nestled in the wood boxes. The Huckster's were designed for mobile delivery and display trucks. This red beauty was restored in 2009.
1952 F-1 Pickup
This Meadow Green baby sported the original 239 ci flathead V8 engine, 3 speed manual transmission and white whites to match that white “toothy” grill.
1946 Chevrolet 3100 pickup
1946 was a short post WWII run for Chevrolet and hence a rare model. This black and green short bed was completely restored and upgraded with a 235 ci 6 cylinder engine. The wood side rails were labeled “Chevys for 46 Running America's Highways”.
1952 Chevy Suburban
Two tone green paint distinguished this ride from the Ron Pratte Collection. The wide whites look right and three rows of seats would let you carry a full eight passengers in comfort. The back doors were the clamshell design back then and let an owner carry a ton of loads.
1949 Chevrolet Canopy Express
Even if we weren't old enough to remember these "in person" don't all of us “remember” seeing these as rolling vegetable markets. This green truck came from the Oakland, CA factory and saw some time in Hawaii before being put out to pasture with 77,000 miles. This was a frame off restoration and looked well done.
1953 Chevy Suburban Carry All
This beauty featured three rows of seats and minimal chrome trim due to the Korean War efforts. This unit had a wooden roof rack to hold more items, including the canoe. It was powered by a Thriftmaster 216 ci Stovebolt.
1922 Ford Model TT Truck
A TT truck was a service and delivery truck from Ford. This recreated a Minnesota, MN dealership's truck, using historic photos and specs. I love the phone number shown on the doors “No. 4.” Hard to believe this truck is over 90 years old!
1931 Chevrolet Huckster Truck
How often have you seen even one Huckster at a show and here we see our third from Ron Pratte. This red and black beauty reflects the deluxe front end look of an automobile along with a 72"x45" pick up bed. These Hucksters were also formally called a Canopy Express, due to their sides but they were often used by roving peddlers to show their wares. This six cylinder overhead valve engine provided a whopping 50 horsepower.
1940 Ford Pickup
This green and black Ford had a NOS steel bed and a flathead V8 engine with a three speed. This model came with a fifth “spare” white wall on the passenger side and beige pin striping.
1940 Ford Truck
Now this one causes me a lot of head scratching. Pratte had commissioned Boyd Coddington to do four ‘40 Fords including this one, but work on all ground to a halt upon Coddington's untimely early death. Pratte had a local Mesa, AZ shop finish the work so do you call it a Boyd truck or not? They slipped a Heidt's front suspension in with a Corvette C4 rear suspension for a smooth ride. A Rousch 427 engine is hiding under the hood mated to a Tremec 5-speed. That's a 3 inch chop to help the profile on the red beast. It drew the most money of any of Pratte's trucks and the most for any of the Boyd Coddington vehicles.
The Beverly Hillbillies Jalopy
Ya'll knew I would keep this for last, right? This was the George Barris designed truck used in the TV series that ran for nine seasons, and endless re-runs. This was one of five made for the series and started life as a 1922 Oldsmobile before Barris grafted a truck chassis to it.