Yep, guy bought this custom for $500 on a used car lot and now it sold for $2M. His family is probably happy he kept the old car all these years.
https://www.motortrend.com/news/hirohata-merc-sells-at-mecum-auctions/

The equivalent of almost $4800 today.

Even taking into consideration the cost of restoration, that's a tidy return on investment.

Kevin

(cough ,cough) customized cars never bring big money ) cough cough

If the customizers name is Barris, then yes, they do.

If the customizers name is the same as mine, then no, they don't.

I guess the $500 to $2mil metric is one way to look at it.
But obviously, that was 1959 money for a wrecked car, that subsequently was recognized as The #1 Iconic Merc Custom, and sold at auction now.
History/provenance, respect, and desirability factor hugely...

The guy who bought it for $500 was just a kid who knew what the car was. The used car dealer didn't have a clue what was sitting on his lot.

When I was just out of high school I bought a 1969 Torino Cobra Jet off a used car lot for $500. Had a 428CJ and a four speed. I knew it was worth more than $500 so I grabbed it. It wasn't worth $2M like this car, but it would be worth $40K or so these days if I had kept it.

The Hirohata Merc is an absolutely stunning custom. Some customs look like they were modified just for the sake of being modified, but Barris hit it out of the park with that car.
I've admired that Merc for years, just recently bought a diecast of it. And got to see it close up last November at MCACN.

I agree. I hate most customs since most of them end up looking weird, but the team that did this one hit it on the nose. They made a ton of modifications but they ended up with a coherent look front to back.

I worked with Jim McNiel in the late 70's (Sears Auto Center in Westminster).

After being sworn to secrecy, he shared with me the fact that he was harboring this very special Barris Kustom Merc (showing me various car magazines from the 1950's that highlighted the car). Apparently, a number of people were still trying to track down the car at the time.

Of course, this was about 1977. I was into affordable muscle cars, and didn't know about [or care about] 50's crap. "Gee, that's nice, Jim" says me.

Glad to see that the family made some bucks after his passing.

Yep, whoever inherited that car is probably very happy that he rescued it from the used car lot and kept it stored away. Turned out to be a very good long term investment. And the $2M would be tax free if they inherited it.

Them going on about the car being "lost" for years is a bunch of hype and BS! It was featured in the SA Design series in the book called "How to paint your car on a budget" by Pat Ganahl. It was copyrighted 2006 so 16+ years ago its whereabouts were definitely known!

When I was younger, I was not much of a fan of sleds and bombers. I collected hundreds of classic car magazines and always enjoys the many different types of rides. When I seen that merc in two magazines and I was very impressed with the build to this day, and I read those back in 1981. Love the car, and there are very few sleds that I car for. Beautiful car.

Indeed, this thread is about the auction results from last month.
However, it was never claimed that the period of time the car was "lost" spans until its appearance at Mecum last month, [or even until its appearance at Pebble Beach in 2015].

Here is the timeline, for those challenged by a short attention span:
Jim purchased the car for $500 in 1957.
He and his girlfriend-then-wife Sue occasionally enjoyed it in public in its dented form into the early 1960's, at which point it was hidden away in his garage.
In 1988, Jim was enticed to bring it out of hiding by an offer of a subsidized restoration by qualified people, including some who once worked for Barris Kustoms.
Rod and Custom magazine documented that restoration, repairing the body damage and unwinding the movie repaint back to to its original Barris color.
Part of that restoration process no doubt made it into the 2006 car painting book you reference.
Jim passed in 2018, and Sue shortly after that.
His heirs sold the car at auction last month.

Had you reviewed any of the [admittedly long] videos that tell the back story of the car, you would have found that few people knew the whereabouts of the car for a period spanning from the early 60's until 1988.
But perhaps that number of decades is not significant enough to rise above your standards for "hype" and "BS".

Innnnnteresting

Isn't there something in the IRS rules about estate property that it's "cost basis" value is reset to the value at time of death? If that is true, then the heirs would have the 2 Mil cost basis and not pay any taxes since it was sold for 2 Mil.

Yes, step up basis. But the heirs would've needed to be smart enough to get it appraised at the time of death and they would've needed to hire an appraiser who actually knew what they were doing. I doubt very many appraisers would've given them a $2M figure. If they got a low ball appraisal and then it sold for big bucks the IRS might want a cut.