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In 1988 Dana Mecum held his
first automobile auction at the Rock-
ford, Illinois airport. In the interven-
ing twenty-seven years the company
has grown to be the largest auction
company in the country, offering and
selling more than 15,000 cars a year
at locations all over the country. The
largest one is held in January in
Kissimmee, Florida at Osceola Her-
itage Park.
Jeff Burgy was one of the very first
people to join SAAC. He worked for
Ford for 33 years before retiring and
eventually moving to Florida where
the climate is a little more moderate
than southern Michigan. He is a regu-
lar at places like Amelia Island, Day-
tona and Kissimmee where he took
pictures of all the (real) Shelbys he
could find. According to the catalog
there were more but they were moving
them around.
We always look for a trend: fewer
cars, lower prices, early vs. late, etc. If
there were any at Mecum they weren’t
apparent. Maybe something will
emerge at Scottsdale this year. Or
maybe not.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Spring 2016 56
Dana Mecum’s Kissimmee, Florida auction is billed as the largest one in the country. At this year’s extravaganza
they ran 3,000 cars across the block in ten days. Our man in Florida, Jeff Burgy, was there to scope out the Shelbys.
67200F8A02189
6S1874
9F02R482578
0F02R482437