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This Hemi coffee table features a thick glass top, polished blower and autographs on the Enderle throttle plates.
Classic musclecar and race engines from the ’60s will be offered for sale at the Mecum Auction Kissimmee 2017 auction next month. The majority of the engines–along with numerous lots of period-correct spare parts–come from the collection of Don Fezell, who is also selling 43 high-quality collector cars.
Called the world’s largest collector car auction, the event is set for January 6-15 at Osceola Heritage Park. It’s open to sellers, buyers and spectators.
Plenty of Chevy W-series engines and parts are consigned to the auction, including a '63 Z11 427ci engine, left, and a '63 409/409.
Here’s the Chevy 348ci short-block still in the original shipping crate.
A sampling of the display engines consigned to the Kissimmee auction: From left, a Hemi on a rotating display and a Ford Flathead.
Included in the Fezell collection is a quartet of lightweight Chevy Z11 Impalas. One of the Impalas sports the most famous Z11 engine ever built–a 409 from the shop of Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins. Fezell also consigned lightweight Cobra Jet Mustangs and other well-known drag cars, so it’s no surprise that many of the parts from his collection are original or NOS replacements, including oil pans, headers, valve covers, crankshafts, pistons, rods and fans. There’s even one of the famous Duntov camshafts.
Other engine families well represented in the parts collection include Chevy small-block, Chrysler Hemi and RB and Chevy big-block. Some of the engines come complete while others are in short- or long-block variety. Many of the parts are still in the original packaging, including a Chevy 348 short-block. Some of the lots featured online have closeup photos of the casting numbers to help interested shoppers.
A few of the more interesting intake manifolds that we noticed in the catalog listings. From left, a '71-'72 Z/28 hi-rise that is also correct for the LT1 Corvette; a magnesium intake for the 426 Hemi; big-block Chevy with the Winters snowflake stamp.
Here’s a Chevy ‘Fuelie’ small-block offered in the sale. It has an estimated selling price of $10,000 to $15,000.
Another major consignor, Gary Runyon, is also offering engines for sale, although his are set up for display. Included is a Hemi glass table, a tri-Stromberg Ford Flathead on a display stand and a Hemi on a turntable.
EngineLabs has noted in the past that there is a growing trend toward displaying complete engines. There was the ’64 Chevy ‘Fuelie’ engine that sold for $38,500 at Barrett-Jackson, and an original Ford SOHC engine on eBay. Both were likely going to be display engines for some collector. And we’ve had numerous stories about Chevy, Cadillac and BMW engines as the foundation for coffee tables.
A couple of IndyCar race engines are available, including an Offy and a Ford 4-Cam V8.
The fun doesn’t stop with the Fezell and Runyon collections. Other consignors have put up a Ford 4-cam IndyCar engine and a Dodge cutaway engine used for tech presentations.
And if you can’t afford a classic engine to dress up your shop or man cave, consider some of the parts for sale. Valve covers make great wall decorations, either chromed or showing off a well-earned patina. The same goes for intake and exhaust manifolds, headers and oil pans.
