Car Hobby Becomes Silver’S Coin
A fleet of bumper cars. That 1950s pinball game you (or your dad) pumped dimes into as a kid. Old gas pumps, the ones topped with a light-up glass globe.
Archie comic books of yore. Wurlitzer jukeboxes.
Roseville pottery. Pedal cars. First edition “Wizard of Oz” books….
Take classic automobiles out of the showroom window and the sprawling headquarters of Mitch Silver’s Collector Car Auction would still be worth a visit.
This treasure house of Baby Boomer nostalgia is one of Spokane’s best-kept secrets.
That’s because the business, which celebrated its one-year anniversary last week, still has no sign out front.
For the record, the address is 2020 N. Monroe.
“We probably should get around to putting up a sign,” concedes Silver, laughing a bit sheepishly.
“But then, my employees don’t even have business cards. I just haven’t got around to that, either. I haven’t had a business card myself in the last 10 years.”
If this sounds a few gears short of a transmission, think again.
Silver, 46, may be laid back, but he’s not lazy.
The former director of Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Extended Learning built his car hobby into the world’s second-largest collector car auction. Walking away from his EWU job in the mid-1980s, he readily admits, was the best decision he ever made.
Silver now stages 30 auctions a year throughout the western United States and British Columbia. The events sell some 5,000 cars, which translates into $20 million.
All that action leaves scarce time for trifles.
This weekend, for example, Silver and his tuxedoed staff are at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. The event features 150 cars. The doors open today at 9 a.m. with bidding beginning at noon. Admission is free.
If you’ve never been to a car auction, now’s the time. Don’t fret about accidentally raising your hand and getting stuck with, say, a ‘58 Chrysler.
Silver’s auctions are like his personality: relaxed and good-humored.
“I won’t tell you that you can’t lose money on a collector car,” he says. “You can lose money on any hobby. What I will tell you is that you will probably lose a lot less money on a collector car while having a lot of enjoyment.”
Many of the automobiles Silver sells are visions to behold. Take the cute ‘59 Rambler that is one of the current stars in his showroom. The car is in museum condition with an unbelievable 14,000 original miles on the odometer.
Those babies don’t run in herds.
At a mere $7,800, you’d have to scour the planet to find a better conversation starter.
Silver’s headquarters occupies an entire city block. The site is the former home of Jaremko Motors, a landmark business that once boasted the city’s only dealership for Tucker automobiles.
In August, Silver plans to have his first auction here. It will take place inside a hangar-sized room he adorned with a soda fountain from the late 1800s, black bleachers from the defunct Argonne Junior High and a blocky sound stage with red velvet drapes.
If David Lynch designed a nightclub, this would be it.
Silver’s empire was triggered by a 1949 Cadillac he bought for 150 bucks in 1974.
Actually, it was selling the car for double the money that got Silver thinking. He poured his profit into a ‘38 Plymouth, which begat a ‘65 Chrysler 300 convertible.
Before he knew it, the trading in collector cars became as addictive as eating Oreos. In 1980, Silver formed his own auction company.
Over the years he has added antiques, boats, clocks and advertising signs to diversify his auctions.
When exotic animals became yuppie chic, he auctioned Bengal cats, llamas and even some weird fainting goats.
“We had those fainting goats going down all day,” says Silver, chuckling at the memory. “But no matter what we did, at the end of an animal auction I’d be stuck with a building full of mess.”
It taught him a valuable lesson. Nowadays, the only wild beasts Silver deals with are on chrome nameplates: Mustang, Cougar, Jaguar …
That’s the beauty of cars vs. critters. A car may leak now and then. But you don’t need noseplugs and a shovel to clean up after it.