COMPLIMENTARY COPY TM
The Most Widely Read Collector's Newspaper In The East Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 46, NO. 4 FRIDAY JANUARY 23, 2015
A Single-Owner Collection Of Vintage Automobiles, Petroliana, Coke Collectibles And More Will Be Sold Sunday, Jan. 25 On-Site Sale Conducted By Tim’s Inc. Auctions Will Be In Plymouth, Conn. vast single-owner lifetime collection of vintage automobiles, petroliana items (gas station collectibles), CocaCola and Harley-Davidson memorabilia and many other items in various collecting categories will come up for bid on Sunday, Jan. 25, at the Plymouth, Conn., residence of collector Tim Donahue, who recently passed away at age 58. The auction address is 80 Keegan Road in Plymouth, a town located in west central Connecticut, situated north of Waterbury. The sale will start at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. For those unable to attend in person, Internet bidding will be offered by Invaluable.com and LiveAuctioneers.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be taken. Donahue’s collections were as broad in scope as they were impressive in quality. In addition to the petrol and other above mentioned items, there will also be horse-themed items (Donahue was an equestrian in addition to being the owner of D&D Autoworks), antique pedal cars, telephone booths, pinball machines, two jukeboxes (one of them a Seeburg), bicycles, advertising clocks and a 1940s-era restored pull-behind camper-trailer. The auctioneer for the event will be Tim Chapulis, owner of
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Here, auctioneer Tim Chapulis takes the wheel of a cranberry red 1937 Pontiac four-door convertible.
Tim’s Inc. Auctions, which has locations in Bristol and Litchfield. The two men knew each other; in fact, Donahue transported via flatbed truck some cars that were recently sold at Tim’s big on-site auction in Goshen, Conn., on Nov. 1. Little did Chapulis know he’d be handling Donahue’s estate auction less than two months after that event. “I was very saddened to hear about Tim Donahue’s passing, and I am equally honored to be offering to the public these large and important collections,” said Chapulis. “Everything in this auction is
in showroom condition and represents a lifetime’s worth of passionate collecting by a man who was a true baby boomer, a product of the ’50s and ’60s, the eras that he loved.” Visitors to the Donahue property on auction day will realize right away they are in for something special. The long, winding driveway, lined with vintage street lamps, leads to a spacious property Donahue called “Hooterville Farm” (after the fictional town in the hit ’60s TV shows “Petticoat Junction” and “Green Acres”). There is also a large three-bay barn on the property. Bidders will be transported to another place and time when they lay eyes on “The Hooterville Express,” a doodlebug tractor (the colloquial name for a home-made tractor made during World War II, when production tractors were in short supply), with its Ford chassis in the front and fat tires. A fully restored Allis-Chalmers tractor made around the middle of the 20th century, bright orange in color, will also be on site. Both tractors will be sold, along
Bidders who venture inside the barn (shown) and house will be transported to another place and time.
with Donahue’s personally driven race car with #25 emblazoned on the doors (appropriate, since the auction is being held on the 25th); a vintage Le France flatbed truck used to transport the race car to events, customized with a unique front that resembles a fire truck; and a cranberry red 1937 Pontiac four-door convertible car with white top and suicide doors, in running condition and originally owned by the Lyons family of Thomaston, Conn., who showcased it in Memorial Day parades and other town functions. The car is estimated to sell for $20,000-$30,000.
Other vehicles will include a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, retrofitted to look just like the car from the Disney film from around that time called “Herbie the Love Bug,” complete with #53, a black racing stripe, roof rack, sunroof (rare for that vintage) and a fabric-like top; a 1978 MG two-door convertible car, black; and a pedal-driven (no motor) threewheeled Good Humor ice cream truck, restored and in mint condition, ready for displaying or selling ice cream. (Continued on page 2)
This 1963 Volkswagen Beetle is retrofitted to look like the car in Disney’s “Herbie the Love Bug.”
The classic floor-standing CocaCola vending machine by Vendo, with a box-like coin receiver at the top, will be sold.
A vintage Coca Cola vending machine dating from the mid-1940s, mailbox style by F.L. Jacobs Co. (Indianapolis, Ind.), will be sold.
Not many collectors keep antique phone booths on their property. Tim Donahue had four.
The vintage, circa-1930s CocaCola ice cooler was professionally restored and originally used in general stores before there was electricity in rural areas. Ice blocks kept the drinks cold.
This is a Harley-Davidson-themed Tim Donahue’s personal-use Harley-Davidson motorcycle was on display soft drink dispenser with the distinc- Tim Donahue was a race car driver who drove car #25. Fittingly, the auctive black and orange H-D logo. in his house. tion will be on Jan. 25.