AUBURN — As the final cars crossed the block Sunday, spectators put another Labor Day auction weekend behind them.
More than 80,000 people passed through Auburn Auction Park’s gates this past weekend, unofficially. Total sales exceeded $25 million, including a rare 1935 Duesenberg that sold for $1.265 million.
But for Auctions America staff, the work is far from over.
“When you get 80,000 people through the gates, there is a mess to clean up,” Auctions America President Donnie Gould said.
After the weekend is over, Gould said the first order of business in cleaning up the 235-acre property is getting all the cars inside a building or under a tent. The cars wait there to be transported to their new owners.
The staff also works in the office doing administrative work in the days after the auction concludes, Gould said. They transfer titles for the cars and make sure the ownership is correct.
The sales aren’t over, either. Gould said the staff is still working on selling inventory that wasn’t purchased on the auction block. Between five and 10 more cars sold Tuesday, and Gould said that would continue for the next few weeks.
And though the event has just ended, Gould and his staff already have started thinking about the next one.
Before the Auburn Spring event starts in May 2015, Gould plans to have several new projects completed. Fifty new hookups for motor homes will be put in place, as well as improvements to paving and a new roof on one of the buildings. A new playground for kids will be added to the auction park.
Gould predicted that the quality and variety of cars sold at the Auburn Fall Auction would continue to get better in the coming years. He said everything was positive and up this year.
Though Gould said Auburn isn’t necessarily known for selling Ferraris, he pointed out that two Testarossas sold, one of them for a record amount.
“It shows us that people are still coming out to Auburn, Indiana to buy classic cars,” Gould said.
Top 5 car sales
• 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Dual Cowl Phaeton, $1,265,000
• 1935 Auburn 851 Supercharged Speedster, $423,500
• 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition, $360,000
• 2005 Ford GT, $330,000
• 1934 Packard Twelve, $308,000