What’s likely to be one of the more interesting auction lots of the year (yes, I am aware it’s only February), the car collection of the famed Academy of Art University in San Francisco is up for grabs—and with no reserve. More than 100 vehicles are part of the sale, and at least in part because kids these days don’t like ’em.
The collection was curated over several decades, starting with the late Dr. Richard A. Stephens, the university’s longtime president, and then his daughter, Dr. Elisa Stephens. Elisa shared her father’s passion for classic automobiles but also saw the need to “revamp the collection” for fresher stuff, which means “to sell everything and start from scratch.” About half of the vehicles in the lot were built before World War II, and students who are involved in the university’s automotive programs, be it design or restoration, study them as part of their coursework.
Now, before you get angry at those students, think about what cars you liked when you were younger, versus what you like now, versus what your kids are interested in. If the school’s purpose is to educate but also keep the new breed of artists enthused about their projects, forcing them to work with designs they’re not interested in is traveling the wrong direction on a one-way street.
“Our students are much more interested in muscle cars,” said Jana Sue Memel, the school’s executive vice president of brand storytelling, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. “The money from the sale is going into American, Japanese muscle cars, from the ’60s through the ’80s. Even the generation preceding our students are muscle car geeks.”
And the generation to come is interested in a different kind of mobility.
Dave Chiotti, newsletter editor for the Antique Automobile Club of America’s Redwood Empire region, posits that today’s young auto enthusiasts “are just not interested in a 1930 Duesenberg. They want Teslas.”
During school group tours, Wayne Barnes, the academy’s museum curator, said the students regularly ask, “Don’t you have cars that drive themselves?” To which he responds, “You don’t wanna drive?” At this point, after years of campaigning to save the manuals, I’d say any kid wanting to take control of the steering wheel is a damn blessing, even if it’s not a stick shift.
Changing the makeup of the museum collection is a sign of the times, and the university says the auction is in no way to suggest dire things behind the scenes. Memel told the SF Chronicle that the vehicle sell-off had nothing to do with dropping car prices and was unrelated to the academy’s enrollment decline, legal settlements, or accreditation issues.
The lost enrollment was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she explained, as well as an overall lack of interest in four-year university programs. To pivot, the Academy of Art added a two-year associate’s degree and bolstered its catalog of online courses.
Additionally, the evolving vehicle inventory has itself been a long-term effort. According to Mission Local, starting in 2018, 56 vehicles were sold within a year’s time through various auctions from Monterey to Indianapolis. Those sales brought in nearly $9 million for the university.
Broad Arrow Auctions is handling this current crop of classics, and the Academy of Art auction catalog has something for everyone. Yes, there are high-ticket items like a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Coupe valued between $1.2 million and $1.5 million, plus a 1933 Chrysler Custom Imperial LeBaron estimated to be worth as much as $1.2 million. But there’s also a 1934 American Austin Panel Truck listed for $8,000. With no minimum price, these vehicles could go for nothing or everything.
The auction will take place in San Francisco with preview days scheduled for February 13-15. Admission is $10 for attendees ages 16 years old and above. The auction itself will formally begin immediately after the preview hours.
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