Can Someone Explain This? $41,300 For A Chris Craft K Engine?

WHAAAAAAAT?

To the person that bid $41,300 for the Chris-craft K engine sold at the big Jim Street auction. Please, can someone explain this? There has to be a reason. Here are out top 10 reasons. But I am sure there is some sort of real reason.

  1. It’s a typo. Sold for $4,300
  2. Fake bidding to create hype
  3. Its made of gold – The K is for Karret?
  4. Jimmy Hoffa is ground up in the metal
  5. Two bidders got in a pissing match thinking they were bidding on a K car?
  6. It actually works.. OUCh, just kidding
  7. It will have sex with you. Yes you.
  8. Its the first K ever built?
  9. We have all lost our minds and this is what its really worth, its just that no one believes it?
  10. It cost that much to rebuild and this is the one guy on the planet that made is money back

Well there ya have it, our best guess as to why a normal K engine worth 500 bucks in rough shape, and $7K in perfect shape would sell for this amount. I mean who at 40K says, I know, I will throw another 300 on it?  Any ideas?

27 replies
  1. Captain Nemo
    Captain Nemo says:

    You’re right that it is just hype. Mecum Auctions after all, a lot of sketchy things tend to go on there.

  2. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    It’s called fraud. It is what Mecum does best. A fake bidder, ridiculously high price to grab headlines and for marketing, and then it will quietly never close.

  3. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    I would assume it would have to be 2 fake bidders. Anyone there that could testify to hearing or seeing the bids run up or did they just post this ridiculous amount to create the stir.

    Is there anything or anyone that’s legit any more?

  4. Old Salt
    Old Salt says:

    Chris Smith must have hand built it for his first duck boat that he was donating to the Vatican while eating bacon and sipping coffee out of a Woodyboater mug while thinking about proper zippers and which way the lead of toilet paper should go!

  5. Fred B
    Fred B says:

    Baloney like this will continue to happen as long as good people with good boats use any of these auction houses. They’re all lousy.

  6. Sean
    Sean says:

    This is what happens when people with too much money and no DIY skills want to instantly get involved in wood boat ownership as a status thing for their $3M+ “cottage” … In this snack bracket it’s pretty easy to justify $40,000 on a real vintage motor for your contracted classic restoration, when your new wakeboard boat just cost you $150,000. But, it’s okay as it drives the overall costs up and the values will follow.

  7. Jim Staib
    Jim Staib says:

    The buyer was a nephew that owned the boat the engine came from. He also bought the hardware back for too much $$$. Apparently there was a spat some time back and Jim would not return the parts.
    What I can’t explain is who was bidding against him. Or why someone paid $24K for an outboard.
    I bought a few engines and headed home. Big dollars spent there. I’ll read the boat results on the web.
    Towed an empty trailer there and back.

    • Mr. Orange
      Mr. Orange says:

      Jim, who he was bidding against at? The house, of course. You need two idiots to arrive at a real price like this one, and I’d say it was him against a vested shill interest, somewhere. Only one guy can own boat the engine factory installed in, not two.

      Was all this stuff “from” the Jim Street Collection, or actually “owned” by the estate, with the sale process contracted by the trustee? Semantics, but the difference would be telling. Who had title to all the Street stuff before it crossed the block?

      • Leslie Walker
        Leslie Walker says:

        His widow contracted with Mecum. She didn’t know what else to do. It has gone badly. Jim is dead. He obviously couldn’t sell the stuff. It was all his. Every bit of it. The story on the nephew is a crock.

    • Leslie Walker
      Leslie Walker says:

      Untrue story. Jims brother and nephew tricked and ripped off Jim’s mom. He convinced the poor old woman to sell her house to them for way less than it was worth. Then, they wanted her cash from the bank after she died, but it was left to Jim because the mother felt bad for what happened with the house. They went balistic and verbally assaulted the bankers. Later, there was a law suit over her other house. They are greedy!

    • Leslie Walker
      Leslie Walker says:

      Also, Joe never came to get the engine. It sat for years. He never came to get it. Jim died.

  8. Miles Kapper
    Miles Kapper says:

    Whoaaaaaaaa! 24 Grand for an outboard? Did the nephew buy that engine as well as the result of the spat? I went to the Mecum site and I saw what was sold but I couldn’t find what outboard sold for 24 grand, which is right up there with the 41,300 for the K engine. I have a few outboards in the garage. I think I’ll call Mecum and start planning my retirement!

    • Miles Kapper
      Miles Kapper says:

      FYI…. I can’t find the post now but I am a member of several antique and classic outboard motor sites on Facebook and one of the members on one of the sites specifically said that contrary to what you might read he did not sell a 35 horse, 1957 outboard for nearly $2,000.00 The point here is not that the price was that outrageous but rather he had nothing to do with Mecum!

  9. Crystal Laker
    Crystal Laker says:

    The outboard was extremely rare?There are collectors willing to pay high price for a extremely rare pre WW I outboard that is complete.
    Checked out Mecum consignment list and there was no mention of the outboard or K engine. Part of memorabilia?
    Was the K actually a KL and the original engine of the number one 18 ft Cobra that was sold? Wasn’t KL an option? Most 18’s had the KBL but believe KL’s were also offered.
    The Cobra buyer wanted originality?

  10. Russ
    Russ says:

    I think the entire Mecum Warner auction went for that price! WTF!? I have a pristine 47 Deluxe with that engine for 10k less!

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