The auction in 2008 contained over 200 cars and 800 lots of pre and postwar memorabilia and sold for over $15.4 million, his collection was not only massive but extremely rare. Since the 1940’s Art Astor has been collecting cars. He amassed cars that are now worth more than any new car on the market and barely touched any of them. What is left of his collection is still impressive. Over 70 of Art’s favorites can be seen at the Astor Classics Event Center in Anaheim, CA. Some of his cars have shockingly low mileage. Some were cars bought by dealers or race teams and never driven. Some were owned by celebrities he met while working on his radio shows. Some of them are extremely rare limited production vehicles. All of the cars are unrestored, working, and in pristine condition. It is really like a walk through time. There are Packards, Chryslers, Jaguars, Mercedes-Benz, a Camaro, a De Soto, a Thunderbird, and some Woodies. When I arrived with a group from The Early Ford V8 Club we were greeted by Michael Keener, Director of Operations. He calls himself the Baby Sitter. The collection is now housed in a 20,000 sq foot building, before it was in 110,000 sq feet. Along with the classic cars are, model trains, vintage broadcasting equipment, a toy collection, classic televisions & radios, old telephones and everything WORKS! If you don’t pay attention you will miss something you’ll be sorry about later. The Art Astor classics event center hosts events like weddings, parties and large business meetings so if you are an auto enthusiast you might like to plan a special event, contact Michael Keener at www.astorclassics.com.
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