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Prominent local Ford dealer Sam Pack, one of the largest car collectors in the U.S., will sell 132 of his vehicles at an auction Saturday, including two Ford Cobras worth roughly $1 million each.
Pack, 77, said he recently had 473 vehicles spread among four facilities, and the collection was becoming too difficult to manage.
“I am downsizing the collection,” said Pack, who owns four Five Star Ford dealerships in the area. “I will continue to buy and sell.”
He expects an overflow crowd of 1,000 or more for the RM Auctions event at 13801 Diplomat Drive in Farmers Branch.
It begins at 10 a.m. and will last for roughly seven hours. General admission is $80 for a catalog, which will allow two people to enter.
Pack, who began collecting 12 years ago when he bought two classic Fords and a 1941 Mercury, wants to cut his collection size in half through the auction and private sales.
That way, he’ll be able to house his entire collection in the private museum he maintains. He uses his parts warehouse and 30,000 square feet of space in a building next door for the museum.
Pack uses a full-time staff of five people plus contract workers to tend the collection, which is focused on significant American cars from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s.
Pack has been a Ford dealer for decades, but his collection includes dozens of other brands, including Buicks, Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles, Cadillacs and Chryslers. He also owns some customs, hot rods and street machines.
“The whole idea with going to two facilities is it will create discipline,” Pack said. “With just a certain amount of space, when we buy a car, we will have to sell one.”
He hopes to raise about $9 million from the auction, some of which will be donated to charities.
All of the vehicles will be sold at no reserve, meaning the highest bid will be accepted even if it is less than the car is probably worth.
“At the end of the day, there will be surprises,” Pack said. “But the experts all said this was the best way to go. Some cars will go for less, some for more.”
Among the vehicles to be sold are a 1941 Ford pickup hot rod that formerly served as car-builder Boyd Coddington’s shop truck; a 2006 Ford GT that Pack purchased new and has less than 12 miles on it; a custom 1939 Lincoln Zephyr coupe powered by a V-12 Cosworth engine; and a “continuation” 1965 Cobra in polished aluminum once owned by Cobra creator and Texas racing legend Carroll Shelby.
Choosing which cars to keep and which to sell was difficult, Pack said. “I made lists and tore them up, made lists and tore them up,” he said. “We wanted cars that buyers could buy and be proud of.”
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