On this special edition of GEAR UP, BigIron co-founder Mark Stock and Craig Hoyer of Sullivan Auctioneers give the inside scoop on the Lukeman Collection - a treasure trove of 85+ rare cars, historic signs, and more hitting BigIron.com on October 14th and 15th. Don't miss your chance to own a piece of history from this automotive time capsule!
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Transcript:
Mark Stock 00:06
Hello everybody. Mark Stock here, and this is a special edition of GEAR UP brought to you by BigIron and Sullivan Auctioneers. And today, this special edition is built around a big sale that has a lot of gears, whether it's gears in a car or an old truck or gears in a pedal car. We've got it selling on a huge collector car and memorabilia auction in Jacksonville, Illinois, October, 14 and 15th. And with us today is Craig Hoyer. Craig is been with us for a number of years, with Sullivan and Craig. Good morning.
Craig Hoyer 00:54
How are you
Mark Stock 00:55
Before we get started talking about the Jack and Shirley Lukeman Collection, let's first talk about Craig Hoyer and your experiences here in the auction business. Craig, tell us where you're from and a little bit about you and your family.
Craig Hoyer 01:09
I'm from Winfield, Iowa, or Mount Pleasant, Iowa, southeast Iowa. It's all kind of the same. I've been working I'm a third generation auctioneer. I worked with my dad. I never really got to work with my grandpa, because he kind of retired out and but I worked with my dad for a while, and then tried out a few auction companies after going to auction school, and then met up with Dan Sullivan, and then the rest is history after that.
Mark Stock 01:44
And then you've kind of been in all phases of the auction space, but then you met up with Joe Sullivan and talk a little bit about that relationship. And who Joe Sullivan is, not that people don't know. Everybody knows Joe.
Craig Hoyer 01:55
Joe Sullivan was one of the owners of Sullivan Auctioneers, and he had a car sale forever. And when I first started out with Sullivan's, I was going house to house, farm to farm, setting it up, pulling stuff out, you know, doing all the the kind of the hard work and doing that kind of stuff. And then I did actually get my real estate license at one point and sold some real estate with Sullivan Auctioneers. But then so Joe Sullivan had a he had a car manager at the time. Unfortunately, he ended up getting sick. And then while, and then Joe kind of turned towards me to help him out. And so then we, then we kind of did the car, the car thing after that. And then from from that time on, I was, I was running the car sale, getting the consignments, doing the pictures, doing all that kind of stuff, so kind of doing it all. It's been a lot of fun. You meet a lot of people, and it's just a really good time.
Mark Stock 03:15
And then now, you know, you got a call a while back regarding this lineup of interesting cars and signage and everything else. How long ago did that call come in?
Craig Hoyer 03:31
I want to say he showed up to actually our February car auction over in Carthage. He showed up with a handwritten list of all of his cars and the kind of condition that he thought they were in. And so then, afterwards after the February sale, I said, Well, I want to come over. I want to meet you. So we came over. I came over here, and we checked everything out. And he took me from building to building to building, and we looked at all of his stuff, and I said, Jack, you're going to have one heck of a sale. And so then we we talked about a little bit how we could go about it, and then we went to lunch. While we're eating, I'd say 15-20, people came in. Every single person knew him. When I got back that day, I told Joe. I said, Joe, we got we really gotta have this sale. This guy knows everyone in town. He's a big, prominent figure. And you drive around the town of Jacksonville, it's Lukeman this and Lukeman that I just knew that this that would be have a lot of eyes, a lot of attention, and would turn out to be a really nice one.
Mark Stock 04:51
So let's talk a little bit more about Jack and Shirley Lukeman. And they are from Jacksonville, Illinois, and from the time the few spent with the. The two of those give a little history of what you are aware about their history.
Craig Hoyer 05:05
So they've been they've been in this town forever. His uncles were Ford dealers, Ford dealers, Buick dealers, and I think one of them sold Dodge. So he had a few uncles. They were new car dealers, and his family has been in the men and women's clothing business for over 100 years.
Mark Stock 05:28
So when did Jack start his collection?
Craig Hoyer 05:31
Jack started his collection when he was nine years old, and he just told me that he's 79 years old today. And what maybe really started it was, he told me that his mom had an old 53 Plymouth, and at one point she took it and just took it to a scrapyard. And he had this awful gut feeling that that shouldn't happen. And so then after that, I think he just started collecting everything.
Mark Stock 06:01
So how many cars does he have on this sale? And once again, the sales going on here, October 14 and 15th in Jacksonville, Illinois. And let's talk a little bit about some of the items selling. So he's got a whole bunch of cars.
Craig Hoyer 06:17
He's got a whole bunch of cars. I'd say there's probably 85 cars here. They just kind of range from everything you got, vintage dirt track race cars, rare, rare Ford jeeps, big convertibles and some cars that you'll probably never see. There's a there's a 1927 Moon, and it was made in St Louis, Missouri.
Mark Stock 06:48
I've never heard of that before. Have you ever heard of that car before?
Craig Hoyer 06:51
I've heard of the car before, but I don't, I don't know if I've ever seen one, a 1927 Moon, just a neat old car. Back in the day, they used to have tons of different manufacturers, because everyone was kind of racing to get the the next big thing and and that would have been one of them.
Mark Stock 07:10
That would have been one of them. So the sale's on a Monday and a Tuesday?
Craig Hoyer 07:14
A Monday and a Tuesday, there are over 1300 lots currently online, and it's going to be we've had a lot of attention. We had our first open house day on Thursday, and I'd say there's 650 people that showed up and our and we had, we had two girls over here sitting in our mobile office, and I'd say they got anywhere from 75 to 100 brand new accounts signed up, just helping everyone out, getting them signed up, showing them how to do it, just a nice deal.
Mark Stock 07:50
So how long have you personally been there on site getting ready for this sale?
Craig Hoyer 07:54
When you add up all the days, probably seven or eight, seven or eight days, like cataloging stuff,
Mark Stock 08:00
And you've had a handful of other folks that were helping you out.
Craig Hoyer 08:03
It's been a nice, big team effort.
Mark Stock 08:06
So the cars have all been under a roof?
Craig Hoyer 08:08
Yes, they've all been under roof and stayed under roof for some time. And the longest that a lot of these cars have sat outside since Jack's owned have been since when we put up the fencing and put them in the parking lot across the street.
Mark Stock 08:23
So do any of them run? You're not selling them as running cars.
Craig Hoyer 08:27
He said, quite a few of them would run if you you spent the time and effort, but he realized that, you know, it probably wouldn't be worth it. And a lot of these collector cars, the new owner likes to take control of them. They like to tinker with them, make sure it's running right. Instead of, you know, having me with zero mechanical skills, try to do anything with it.
Mark Stock 08:52
So you didn't wash them up or anything. You just pulled them outside?
Craig Hoyer 08:56
There was a handful of them, the nicer ones, kind of in the showroom, and he had a couple of newer ones, like, there's a 68 Corvette over here, small block four speed. We got it all shined up. And he's got a Thunderbird that he restored. We got it looking pretty good, but we did make a few of them run. We had a mechanic come over. His name is Jerry. You know, we did make make them run, just enough for a video that the general public or the guys out in California, which he's been bidding on quite a bit, but just so he can feel comfortable about bidding on that particular car knowing that it will run. It sounds alright, that kind of stuff.
Mark Stock 09:47
Did he have a museum where people would actually come in to look at his stuff?
Craig Hoyer 09:51
It wasn't technically a museum, but there were occasions where, like the city would give him a call, the tourism department, and they would tour his facility to check it out. He had it set up pretty nice, but I do want to give a huge shout out to Joe Sullivan, because he is, I mean, he's the guy that knows how to set everything up and make it look awesome, and everyone commented on how good it looked in there. And you could just walk around see everything, and it's just really nice.
Mark Stock 10:29
And the sale is coming up on October 14 and October 15, and it's all online. The bidding is all done over the internet. And your name and Justin Cooper. Why don't you tell everybody who Justin Cooper is?
Craig Hoyer 10:42
Justin Cooper's the rep in the area, and he's been a huge help as well. He's been coming over here. He's been lotting stuff, and he's been fielding a lot of the phone calls.
Mark Stock 10:53
So we've talked a lot about some of the cars, but there's a lot of signage in that building. Why don't you pick, pick on a couple of the the unique signs that are going to be sold.
Craig Hoyer 11:05
There is a Oldsmobile Cadillac GMC sign that sat in the front of the building, and that was the only item he had outside, just because I don't think he could get it in the building. It's 12 or 14 feet tall right now, the way it sits. It's two sided. It was an old dealership neon sign says DeWitt down the side, and it's got some good colors on it. It does not work. All the glass is gone. It's just a really unique sign. And then we also have one in a Ford dealership sign. It was a neon sign as well, double sided. Think it's about six foot long, maybe three or four foot tall, but we've had calls from Texas on it, calls from Detroit on it, and everyone wants that sign. I think the current bids that like 10 or $11,000 this morning, you know, 10 days out, that sign, that sign, is going to fly.
Mark Stock 12:13
And besides some of those signs, there's other automobile memorabilia.
Craig Hoyer 12:18
There's a couple of child's electric cars and gas powered cars. There's a couple of miniature Thunderbirds that are really rare cars. It's called a Thunderbird Junior. There's a white one that's gas powered, and then there's a blue one that would run off electricity and it those are some really neat pieces.
Mark Stock 12:39
And they all, he also was a collector of bicycles, and I even saw on one of the videos, a Harley Davidson pedal bike.
Craig Hoyer 12:49
They're pretty neat bikes, but he does have a couple of old Schwinn bikes with the spring front ends, and he does have a Pierce Arrow bike. And I didn't even know they made a Pierce Arrow bike, a Pierce Arrow bike with a stand, and I've never seen one before.
Mark Stock 13:03
And then there's pedal cars.
Craig Hoyer 13:05
50 to 75 pedal cars.
Mark Stock 13:07
I know that there's a lot of folks that come and look at these collections, as you alluded to before, Craig, that go, wow. They really do a nice job. And my parents have a collection like this, or my aunt or my uncle, or even they have themselves a collection like this. What advice can you give to somebody when they're thinking about selling their collection to the public? What's, what's one of the things that these people should know about the process?
Craig Hoyer 13:36
Something that people really need to think about when they do this stuff. They need to think about how everything is titled, where the titles are at, and that kind of stuff. That's that's the number one most important thing, but also to grab a try, to try to call someone that you know has experience doing this stuff, because there are a lot of moving parts. There's a lot of stuff to think about. And, you know, get get a hold of someone who can handle something like this.
Mark Stock 14:10
You've done, and Joe Sullivan has done several of these types of events in the past. So, you know, getting a hold of Craig or Joe or Justin Cooper would be be a good recommendation from this person on this side of the desk. Now, when the sale concludes, here, people pay just like they do on any other one of our traditional online auctions, and then they're going to show up there and tell us how your load out is going to happen.
Craig Hoyer 14:37
We're going to have a couple of guys on some heavy pieces of equipment. We'll be loading cars out. There'll be a few of us here to check receipts, make sure it's paid for, help them find their item and help them get it to their car. And so we can get people in and out and on the way, we'll. So I have a couple of girls here. You know, if you can't find your invoice or something, they can help you out. We're just going to try to make it as seamless as possible.
Mark Stock 15:08
Are you accepting payments on location?
Craig Hoyer 15:12
We are, but we are trying to encourage people to pay early, that way get it paid for. That way it's done, it's taken care of, and the whole process will work a lot smoother.
Mark Stock 15:29
And how long are you going to remain at that location then, Craig, after the sale for people to get items picked up.
Craig Hoyer 15:36
Sale ends on a Tuesday. We'll be here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, to get you out of here, and then we will also be here Monday through Wednesday of the following week to help you to get out of here.
Mark Stock 15:49
Any loading assistance on Saturday?
Craig Hoyer 15:51
There will not be anyone here on Saturday.
Mark Stock 15:53
So make your arrangements that way. And it all starts with a phone call too. I think if Craig And Justin's phone numbers are on the website as contact people. So my advice to you, when you buy some items is call Craig or Justin up and schedule a time and let them know when you're going to be there, because that's going to help them out tremendously. Because if they have a whole bunch of people showing up the same time, maybe they'll tell you show up two hours later or two hours earlier, just to help things move along a lot smoother. But tell us about how many pictures you've got on these cars, and do you have video footage, and where can they find some of your expert marketing?
Craig Hoyer 16:35
Well, I'd say we have anywhere from 50 to 75 pictures of each car. And we did do a handful of cars with a video, just some of the higher dollar cars, the ones that would people would really want to know if the engine turns over, if it fires off, and that kind of stuff. But I know Kate has been doing a good job. She made a nice little booklet, and those things got gobbled up in no time. We've been doing a lot of stuff online. I know Muffy Bennett, recent person on your show, but she's been doing a lot of marketing online as well, and and the response has been tremendous.
Mark Stock 17:21
So you've got, let's pick the top five items that you think are the most interesting. Let's start with some of the cars.
Craig Hoyer 17:30
The 55 Cadillac Eldorado is an awesome car. It's just a timeless classic. And then there's a there's a Buick Station Wagon with the wood grain down the side, and it's like a robin egg blue. And he restored that car, and then maybe drove it once, maybe, and then put it back in the shed, and never drove it after that, a Gardener. It's just another one of those brands from back in the day. It's, it's, it's a really neat car. There's two Pierce Arrows. They're a little bit rougher shape, but the rarity of a Pierce Arrow just kind of we've had calls from all over the US on those those two, there's a great big 39 Buick Convertible, and it it's just a really big, awesome car.
Mark Stock 18:34
You are available for people to call be anytime, now, up until even when the auction is going on. Is that correct?
Craig Hoyer 18:43
That's correct. The this cell phone never shuts off.
Mark Stock 18:47
Once again. Call Craig. We want to thank Craig for being on the GEAR UP podcast today. And we want to remind everybody that the online auction, the best thing to do is get registered today when you're hearing this, go to bigiron.com or sullivan auctioneers.com click on the Lukeman Collection sale and then get registered. Just go up to the top right hand corner where it says, sign in or register. Register today to get access to bid on some of the most unique, rare and interesting items that you'll have a chance to bid on and own. And we thank you so much for your interest in this sale. We want to thank you for listening to GEAR UP. And if you like this podcast, please make sure you share this and tell your friends once again. Thank you, Craig. Very much. I hope you have a great rest of the week, and we'll see you next time on gearing up with BigIron.