Donald V. Ryan Estate Auction Fortuna Foothills Yuma, Arizona
We saw an advertisement for an estate auction in the local Whitesheet paper. There was a Preview on one Saturday, and then the auction was to be conducted the following Friday. Since the estate was only a few blocks away from where we are staying, we rode our bicycles over there with Marilyn and Quirt. What we saw was amazing. Don Ryan was an antique car enthusiast, Chevrolets specifically and he had 6 cars a couple exceedingly rare and most in unbelieveably fantastic condition. He also had a metal and a wood workshop, both of which were outfitted with abundant commercial grade equipment. His metal shop had a car hoist that lifted a car overhead, He had old filling station memorabilia in this man cave area. It was really an unbelieveable set up to be found right here in the Foothills of Yuma.
We found out later that Don was a Washingtonian from the Bellingham area. Don was an Air Force Vet and founded Whatcom-Skagit Crane in 1964 and ran that company for over 45 years. Don was also a hydroplane enthusiast as well as an antique Chevrolet car afficionado. It turned out that he only had the Foothills place since 2009 and only stayed there part time. He sure was busy when he was there!
Auction day at Don's Foothills place. House on the left shops on the right in the pole building. The tall door was the metal and car shop, the shorter door on the right was the wood shop.
All of Don's things were extremely well kept. He must have had an incredible attention to details. He even fabricated a metal Chevrolet "Bow Tie" and inlayed it in his shop driveway.
Bow Tie inlay.
Auction Poster
Auction Check-In and Chashier
A project in progress up on the lift in the metal shop.
A beautifully restored Mobil gas pump sat near the back of the car shop
Quirt & Marilyn inspect the abundant hand tooling
Metal lathe and milling machine in the metal shop.
Commemoritive Buck Saws from the Deming Logging Show hanging above a work bench. I am certain Don's cranes were essential at these shows.
Potential bidders inspecting the project Chevrolet out front on Auction Day.
A few old spare tires for the classic cars.
Money Men Jerry and Quirt waiting for the bidding to begin on the classic Chevrolets. You can see part of the red project car at the right.
Bidding started on the tools inside the shop.
The 1926 Chevrolet Speedster, went for $16,500. I thought that was a pretty good deal.
This Speedster was handmade and didn't have all the original parts, which was why the sale price was lower we understand. 180 Cu In Dual Carb power plant. The Speedster was advertised as street legal and loud! They started her up right before the sale and indeed it was loud!
Cool cockpit!
A home made trophy sits in front of the rear wheel.
Close up on the interesting trophy.
The 1932 Chevrolet, dubbed "the Baby Cadillac" back in the day because of its' artful styling. This baby sold at auction for $53,000.
Elaborate front end.
Down draft Carb
How about that shiny trunk?
Trophies won by the 1932 at car shows past.
And here was the darling of the auction.... A 1918 Chevrolet touring car. It was built to compete with the Cadillac back then, but didn't do well because it was "still a Chevrolet". It had a V-8 engine only produced for 2 years back then and didn't reappear until the 1950s. The auctioneer said it was one of only 12 of these cars still surviving. This baby went for $65,000.
The storied 1918 Chev V-8 complete with stock nickel plated valve covers.
Luxurious 1918 cabin.
How about a 4-Ply tire?!
The auctioneer said this 1918 won every single car show in which it was ever entered!
Marilyn and Gari by a tall trophy won by the 1918.
OK we have seen it all now and going to ride back to the lot for some lunch.
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