Mecum Auctions is no stranger to muscle cars – the firm sells more than 15,000 vehicles every year, usually averaging at least one event a month. But it’s not every day that a hoard of top-quality classics comes from the same collector. In this case, that man is Wayne Schmeeckle.
The Colorado collector is parting company with no fewer than 23 of the star attractions from his collection, which spans 1967 to 1971. It comes as no surprise that the group includes a 1969 Chevrolet Yenko Camaro – he originally set out to collect a Yenko model in each colour, and once he’d achieved that goal he broadened his horizons: “We wanted to get the whole line, as far as the Chevelle, the Novas, the Corvette…kind of get a complete collection put together of the Yenko cars.”
What marks the collection apart from others is the quality of its component parts, for which Schmeeckle has incredibly high standards: “It’s important for us when we by a car; it’s important for us when we sell a car,” he explains. “There is only one chance to make a great first impression, and having the paperwork to authenticate a car’s origins is the best way to do that.”
Rome wasn’t built in a day though: the collection has been gradually built up over a number of years by continually ‘trading up’ to better examples. “A lot of times we’ve upgraded cars two or three times to get to the level where we’re at, so we didn’t just go out and buy 50 cars. We’ve probably gone through 150 cars to get to this point.”
