Going Old

For the several hundred prospective buyers who strode into a hangar at the Orange County, Calif., Airport last week, the temptation to snap a ghostly salute was nearly irresistible. There, wing to wing, were the great ones of World War I: the DeHavilland D.H.4 Eberhardt S.E. 5a, Nieuport 28, Pfalz D-XII and Fokker D-VII. And right near by sat a green and cream Sopwith Camel--the type that downed the Red Baron--with a cutout figure of that daredevil, Snoopy, as the Baron's fearless foe, everyone surely knows. The occasion: an auction of 29 veteran and vintage planes, from a tricycle-wheeled 1910 Parker Curtiss Pusher to such recent classics as World War II fighters.

The planes were all part of the famous collection put together by Hollywood Stunt Flyers Frank Tallman and the late Paul Mantz. The auction, conducted by Manhattan's Parke-Bernet Galleries, was the first one of its kind, and it marked the coming of age of the helmet-and-goggles old-plane buffs, who readily admit that their mania for flying old crates amounts to "downright sickness." Explains Seattle Lawyer Richard Martinez: "It's a sort of nostalgia. You build yourself a replica of a triplane Fokker, and there you are, Baron von Richthofen."

"Mystery Ship, Hell!" The bidding would have brought a cheer from the Lafayette Escadrille. Top price was for a Sopwith Camel, believed to be the last original, which went to Manhattan Stockbroker J. W. Middendorf II for $40,000 (it cost $8,000 new in 1918). Second highest price was $20,500 for an immaculate 1927 Curtiss Gulf hawk 1 A. The buyer: Korean War Pilot Dolph Overton, 40, who already has 40 vintage aircraft in his Santee, S.C., aircraft museum. Overton plans to fly the Gulfhawk, just as Race-Car Builder-Driver (Chaparral) Jim Hall expects to take to the air with his 1918 Nieuport 28, which he picked for $14,500.

For the old-plane enthusiasts, whose motto is "Keep the antiques flying," the only disappointment in the auction, which grossed $282,620, was the number of vintage aircraft headed for museums. New York's Aeroflex Corp. alone accounted for $120,385 of the auction sales, including $20,000 paid for a 1914 Maurice Farman Pusher biplane and $20,000 for the Fokker D-VII, both slated for exhibition in a future air museum in New Jersey. But such, at least, was not the case with one beat-up, prop-less oldtimer, listed as the "Travelair Mystery Ship." "Mystery ship, hell!" snorted Oldtime Aviatrix Florence Lowe ("Pancho") Barnes. "I bought this ship in 1930 and flew it to two women's world speed records." When she made the winning bid of $4,300 for her old plane, which had been in Mantz's collection, the crowd stood and applauded. Pancho Barnes, for her part, guaranteed to have her old ship back in shape and flying soon. "I've got a lot of friends out at Edwards Air Force Base," she said. "I'm sure they'll give me a hand."

Roar of the Antique. While their risks are lower on the ground, old-car fanciers yield nothing to the airplane addicts in their fervor for the old and authentic. Proof of their enthusiasm was the 20,000 who showed up last Sunday in Brookline, Mass., to preview Parke-Bernet's old-car auction of 65 antique and classic models. For antique collectors, brass is gold, since 1915 is the year when most designers stopped using brass as trim. Thus, when a bright yellow 1913 Mercer Raceabout, model 35-J, with a "monocle" windshield, restored by retired Los Angeles Fireman Harry Johnson, was driven into the auction tent, it rated a round of applause.

It also rated a world-record auction price. With the bid at $35,000 (already past the previous record high of $31,000), Johnson gunned the engine; with the throaty 56-h.p. roar, the bidding shot to $40,000, did not stop until it reached $45,000.

The Mercer 35-J's new owner is Harry Resnick, 49, whose four-year-old collection of old autos in Ellenville, N.Y., is already up to 60 cars. To further fill out his collection, Resnick also laid down $37,500 for a sleek, maroon 1966 Duesenberg four-door sedan (body by Ghia), $8,000 for a bright blue 1924 Amilcar three-place sport model CGS 3, and $15,500 for a 1916 Biddie Victoria touring car. Bidding right along with Resnick was the biggest old-car buff of all, William Harrah, owner of Nevada's Harrah's gambling clubs and the world's largest antique-auto collection (1,300 cars). Harrah kept his bids modest, acquired only four autos. "Exotic, glamorous cars are going for very high prices," Harrah noted, "run-of-the-mill stuff for very low."

Stuck with Goldfinger. Buyers of the less expensive models seemed even more excited than those in the high-priced market. Mrs. William Appleton of Newton, Mass., for instance, was so thrilled about owning a 1933 Rolls-Royce coupe with custom coachwork by Freestone and Webb that right after the sale she couldn't remember how much she had bid ($5,400). John and Elizabeth Harriet took a chance on a tiller-steered 1907 Sears Runabout, bid in for $850, only afterward discovered that their antique had been found under a haystack ten miles from their home.

About the only chagrined man at the auction was Boston Real Estate Dealer Mark Gibbons, 41, who had put on the block the massive yellow and black 1937 Rolls-Royce Sedanca de Ville used by Goldfinger in the James Bond movie. Gibbons bought it when, after a fenderside chat, he asked the owner to start it up--and found it was already running. But last week bids failed to meet Gibbons' reserve price of $11,000, which leaves him with a problem. "You can't drive it in the daytime," he says. "It attracts too much attention."

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