1938 Chevrolet Coupe Sells For $5,100 at Independence, Iowa Auction

Last Saturday interest was high for the sale of a 1938 Chevrolet coupe at an estate auction in Independence, Iowa. Prior to the sale various groups looked over the car for reasons of curiosity or genuine interest in ownership.

One story that an old timer told me about his 1937 version of this Chevy included somehow being able to pile 11 high school buddies into the roomy car. The secret to accomplishing that feat apparently was to get people sitting on the floor both upfront and in the back, and then double stack more chums on the bench seats.

Another guy told me about his desire to buy this car and restore it to its original specs. Minutes later another prospective buyer told me that he would restore the car, add some fat tires on the back, and paint the faded metal a deep sparkle black, plus chrome it out. He also pointed that this model does not have a radio installed. It would have been an option back in 1938. He said he would install some huge sub-woofers in the spacious trunk to play a state of the art sound system.

Until this point the vast majority of onlookers and potential bidders were male. When auction time arrived for this car the action boiled down to the traditional restorer guy and a women who arrived late. In the end she won the auction and expressed her delight with a big smile. She quickly went back inside to the estate auction so I didn't hear what her plans are for the 74 year old car. The person who lost the bidding told me afterwards that he should have stayed in the game but felt his opponent was determined to win, and he didn't want to run the price up...too high, he chuckled.