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Autoist Auction Report?
- Thread starter AngliaGT
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AutoistFamily
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Sorry to go MIA on you all-- saw Mickey's summary of the day. I needed a little time away from the auction before communicating. I would say it was a hard, hard day, one that I have dreaded for almost nine months (Monday will be nine months since the accident) and one that has weighed heavily on me as it approached. Mom, of course, handled the day like a trouper. The auction company told me last week that most people find the estate auction harder than the funeral, because it brings such closure. That was true for me. At the memorial, where I spoke, it was still so fresh, so tragic, and I was so numb, it was all surreal. Friday was very real.
I’ve told myself, many times, that we were just selling stuff, possessions, metal, wires, but the truth is, when the time came, we sold my dad's time, and his passion and his dreams. I remember Dad telling me about falling in love with MGs. He was in high school and someone from out of town stopped at the gas station in Starkville, Mississippi driving a red MG. Dad had never seen one, he coveted it, wanted it, instantly loved it and promised himself one day he'd have one. It took enlisting in the Army in his sophomore year at Mississippi State, with full knowledge that he'd go to Vietnam, to get out of Mississippi and see the world. He chased MGs in California, in Europe, across the world, before he started the collection we sold Friday.
At the end of the day Friday, Mickey and I looked at the garage, stripped of the antique signs, banners, cars, parts, engines, banners and all the fun memorabilia-- a shadow of itself-- and we both said "he had a lot of fun here" at almost the same time. At the end of the day, that's what matters. How the auction did financially (I'm told by Mickey and Bob White that we did well), doesn't matter. Dad had a lot of fun, he lived every day of his life to the fullest and he lived his dreams. That's worth more than the price of any of his cars.
Here are some of the lessons I learned along the way the last nine months, they might be of interest to your children:
Truth is, I never appreciated Dad's cars. One or two cars, I could understand, but his collection seemed unwieldy. I didn't understand why he didn't finish a car before buying another-- now I get that logic—and, now I understand that the goal isn't having a museum quality car, or a road ready car. A lot of the fun with antique cars is the journey and dreaming about what will be. Really, isn't life all about the journey, not the destination?
I used to think Dad was wasting his time tinkering around on these forums. Whenever they'd come to keep Will, come to visit, come for holidays, or we'd go on vacation, Dad would drag along his laptop and fire it up to British Car Forum or MG Experience.
"Dad, you're retired, why do you need to check in?!", I'd ask. I didn't understand his commitment to you all, or what joy and purpose that commitment gave him post-careers.
Dad was always talking about "my friend Mickey, the Episcopal priest", or "my friend Wray, in South Carolina" or "my friend Bob, who builds cars in North Carolina", or his friends in South Dakota or Montana, or Nevada or Texas, or..... I didn't think you were real friends. Real friends, to me, were friends with whom you have lunch; friends, are soul mates, friends are people you meet in real life, not online. I've learned, these last nine months, that Dad wasn't just building cars, he was building relationships, with real, true, lifelong, soul mate friends. You are friends who knew my dad in ways I didn't. I hope you'll be my friends now too. Real friends, like Mickey, Bob, Wray, and so many others of you are hard to come by in this crazy world.
On collecting--- whew. Some days since the accident, I think I need to purge everything in my home and take the 100 item challenge, where a person commits to only owning 100 things in the world. Other days, I look around at what made Dad happy, and what makes me happy, and I realize that, unfortunately, for some souls, stuff is part of the fabric from which we’re made. I never understood Dad's car fetish. He never understood my fetish for antique white ironstone, silver or antique furniture. What I've learned about his collection-- your collection-- is that, unlike most collections where items are placed on a shelf, in a drawer or in a room, with antique cars, the collector puts a part of himself or herself into each item. You lovingly restore the car, you make it your own, so that, at the end of the process, each car is a reflection of you, and where you were at that moment of time in your life. A beautiful chest, or mirror, or platter, may be easy to pass down to generations, but a car carries the spirit of the person who restored it, which makes it that much more special.
I could write pages about Dad’s cars, and books about Dad. He was a special man, a terrific husband, an incredible dad, and a one-in-a-hundred-million granddad. I can’t wait to get his first and most special MG, the ’79 B that he called his “baby”, tuned up and ready to hit the roads on Saturdays, and I’ve promised Will that, car seat or not, we’ll drive the ’53 TD in the local annual road rally every year, I can’t think of any better ways to honor or remember Dad.
So, I leave you with this question: is it sacrilege to put a CD player in these cars? It’s not Dad without some doo wap blaring on the highways….
Thanks to you all for your support Friday and these last nine months,
Shannon and the whole Autoist family
I’ve told myself, many times, that we were just selling stuff, possessions, metal, wires, but the truth is, when the time came, we sold my dad's time, and his passion and his dreams. I remember Dad telling me about falling in love with MGs. He was in high school and someone from out of town stopped at the gas station in Starkville, Mississippi driving a red MG. Dad had never seen one, he coveted it, wanted it, instantly loved it and promised himself one day he'd have one. It took enlisting in the Army in his sophomore year at Mississippi State, with full knowledge that he'd go to Vietnam, to get out of Mississippi and see the world. He chased MGs in California, in Europe, across the world, before he started the collection we sold Friday.
At the end of the day Friday, Mickey and I looked at the garage, stripped of the antique signs, banners, cars, parts, engines, banners and all the fun memorabilia-- a shadow of itself-- and we both said "he had a lot of fun here" at almost the same time. At the end of the day, that's what matters. How the auction did financially (I'm told by Mickey and Bob White that we did well), doesn't matter. Dad had a lot of fun, he lived every day of his life to the fullest and he lived his dreams. That's worth more than the price of any of his cars.
Here are some of the lessons I learned along the way the last nine months, they might be of interest to your children:
Truth is, I never appreciated Dad's cars. One or two cars, I could understand, but his collection seemed unwieldy. I didn't understand why he didn't finish a car before buying another-- now I get that logic—and, now I understand that the goal isn't having a museum quality car, or a road ready car. A lot of the fun with antique cars is the journey and dreaming about what will be. Really, isn't life all about the journey, not the destination?
I used to think Dad was wasting his time tinkering around on these forums. Whenever they'd come to keep Will, come to visit, come for holidays, or we'd go on vacation, Dad would drag along his laptop and fire it up to British Car Forum or MG Experience.
"Dad, you're retired, why do you need to check in?!", I'd ask. I didn't understand his commitment to you all, or what joy and purpose that commitment gave him post-careers.
Dad was always talking about "my friend Mickey, the Episcopal priest", or "my friend Wray, in South Carolina" or "my friend Bob, who builds cars in North Carolina", or his friends in South Dakota or Montana, or Nevada or Texas, or..... I didn't think you were real friends. Real friends, to me, were friends with whom you have lunch; friends, are soul mates, friends are people you meet in real life, not online. I've learned, these last nine months, that Dad wasn't just building cars, he was building relationships, with real, true, lifelong, soul mate friends. You are friends who knew my dad in ways I didn't. I hope you'll be my friends now too. Real friends, like Mickey, Bob, Wray, and so many others of you are hard to come by in this crazy world.
On collecting--- whew. Some days since the accident, I think I need to purge everything in my home and take the 100 item challenge, where a person commits to only owning 100 things in the world. Other days, I look around at what made Dad happy, and what makes me happy, and I realize that, unfortunately, for some souls, stuff is part of the fabric from which we’re made. I never understood Dad's car fetish. He never understood my fetish for antique white ironstone, silver or antique furniture. What I've learned about his collection-- your collection-- is that, unlike most collections where items are placed on a shelf, in a drawer or in a room, with antique cars, the collector puts a part of himself or herself into each item. You lovingly restore the car, you make it your own, so that, at the end of the process, each car is a reflection of you, and where you were at that moment of time in your life. A beautiful chest, or mirror, or platter, may be easy to pass down to generations, but a car carries the spirit of the person who restored it, which makes it that much more special.
I could write pages about Dad’s cars, and books about Dad. He was a special man, a terrific husband, an incredible dad, and a one-in-a-hundred-million granddad. I can’t wait to get his first and most special MG, the ’79 B that he called his “baby”, tuned up and ready to hit the roads on Saturdays, and I’ve promised Will that, car seat or not, we’ll drive the ’53 TD in the local annual road rally every year, I can’t think of any better ways to honor or remember Dad.
So, I leave you with this question: is it sacrilege to put a CD player in these cars? It’s not Dad without some doo wap blaring on the highways….
Thanks to you all for your support Friday and these last nine months,
Shannon and the whole Autoist family
OP
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Shannon,
Thank you - you hit it right on the head.I would have a hard
time seeing the garage without Tony's stuff in it.
I wish that our oldest Son could go over every car,box,parts in
my garage,so I could explain to him why each one had special meaning
to me,& why I kept something that seems "worthless".
I'm trying (really) to get rid of stuff that I don't want,or will
never use.I've collected 20+ boxes of Ford Cortina parts.Will I ever
have a use for them?Probably not.I'm tempted just to sell everything
off,but then I think that another Cortina will come along.
I'm sorry to ramble on,but this hits a little too close to home.
Thank you for posting here.
- Doug
Thank you - you hit it right on the head.I would have a hard
time seeing the garage without Tony's stuff in it.
I wish that our oldest Son could go over every car,box,parts in
my garage,so I could explain to him why each one had special meaning
to me,& why I kept something that seems "worthless".
I'm trying (really) to get rid of stuff that I don't want,or will
never use.I've collected 20+ boxes of Ford Cortina parts.Will I ever
have a use for them?Probably not.I'm tempted just to sell everything
off,but then I think that another Cortina will come along.
I'm sorry to ramble on,but this hits a little too close to home.
Thank you for posting here.
- Doug
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Dang, Shannon - Up 'til now I've been tear-free!
(Wanna be my sermon ghost-writer? :wink: )
Love to Will and Jeff. See you soon.
Mickey
(Wanna be my sermon ghost-writer? :wink: )
Love to Will and Jeff. See you soon.
Mickey
G
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AutoistFamily said:
Yep, you got it alright.
About CD players, don't forget you can have a 6 CD changer mounted in the trunk. I do believe there is a remore CD player that will work by tuning the stock radio to a certain station. Never been a radio guy, my wife likes it though. I'd much rather the song the engine sings. It gets you in tune with the car. Try it some time.
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Shannon,
Tony joined our forum in November of 2002 when the forum was not even two years old. At this time the forum was starting to get more active and I was in need of someone who could be a good moderator in the MG forum. It didn’t take very long for me to realize that Tony was the best guy possible for that job, if only he would be willing to take on the thankless unpaid task. To my delight, he accepted the job when I asked and the rest is history! Since then, the number of friends he made and people he touched in a positive way here is incalculable.
Due to my work in missile defense at the time, I had occasion to travel from New Mexico to Huntsville several times. On one of those trips, I drove out to Gurley on a day off and met your Dad and Mom! Of course I got the grand tour and saw the “Garage Mahal” in the early stages! I was just blown away! (And I thought I had the British car bug! Ha! I was a piker!) On another trip, I met your Dad and Mom at Olive Garden (across the street from Barnhill’s Restaurant!) for dinner and had a grand time!
Your dad and I shared a lot in common besides our love of old British cars. Perhaps in part because of our military backgrounds, we saw much of what goes on in the world through similar points of view. I used to routinely call your Dad on my drive into work and have terrific discussions about current events. He’d always answer the phone with “Hey buddy!” I could rant about something I saw on the news the night before and Tony was right there with me on the same page! Those conversations were very therapeutic for me! I really don’t have anyone whom I can unload on to the degree I could with Tony and I really, really miss that!
Trust me, the friends your Dad made on the forums were real friends and we will all miss him, but also we will always remember him with fondness!
Tony joined our forum in November of 2002 when the forum was not even two years old. At this time the forum was starting to get more active and I was in need of someone who could be a good moderator in the MG forum. It didn’t take very long for me to realize that Tony was the best guy possible for that job, if only he would be willing to take on the thankless unpaid task. To my delight, he accepted the job when I asked and the rest is history! Since then, the number of friends he made and people he touched in a positive way here is incalculable.
Due to my work in missile defense at the time, I had occasion to travel from New Mexico to Huntsville several times. On one of those trips, I drove out to Gurley on a day off and met your Dad and Mom! Of course I got the grand tour and saw the “Garage Mahal” in the early stages! I was just blown away! (And I thought I had the British car bug! Ha! I was a piker!) On another trip, I met your Dad and Mom at Olive Garden (across the street from Barnhill’s Restaurant!) for dinner and had a grand time!
Your dad and I shared a lot in common besides our love of old British cars. Perhaps in part because of our military backgrounds, we saw much of what goes on in the world through similar points of view. I used to routinely call your Dad on my drive into work and have terrific discussions about current events. He’d always answer the phone with “Hey buddy!” I could rant about something I saw on the news the night before and Tony was right there with me on the same page! Those conversations were very therapeutic for me! I really don’t have anyone whom I can unload on to the degree I could with Tony and I really, really miss that!
Trust me, the friends your Dad made on the forums were real friends and we will all miss him, but also we will always remember him with fondness!
jessebogan
Jedi Knight
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Here is my take. Tony reminded me of the person I could be. Military man in a very difficult time. I have never met anyone that served in combat that did not have their head screwed on really well. I learned many years ago that if I shut up and listened to these men, I would learn things of value.
He was a British car guy that had the drive and ability to create his own personal museum.Car collecting that is /was taken to the I have resolvedultimate level. And because he was a decent and enthusiastic man, he shared his knowlege with others, in a manner that invited all to rise to his level. The mark of a true leader.
I am sorry I never met Tony, I only knew him from the forums. Like so many others here, I think about the loss every day. I have resolved to try to establish real contact with the other folks that I am aware of on this earth that cast such large shadows. Missed opportunities can be forever, and that is too long.
He was a British car guy that had the drive and ability to create his own personal museum.Car collecting that is /was taken to the I have resolvedultimate level. And because he was a decent and enthusiastic man, he shared his knowlege with others, in a manner that invited all to rise to his level. The mark of a true leader.
I am sorry I never met Tony, I only knew him from the forums. Like so many others here, I think about the loss every day. I have resolved to try to establish real contact with the other folks that I am aware of on this earth that cast such large shadows. Missed opportunities can be forever, and that is too long.
