They were part of an ambitious local project that spanned more than half a century, but now the time has come to look for new directions: 29 classic cars that belonged to the Argentine collector Julio Mendizábal will go out to auction this June 17 in Junín, the city in the west of the province of Buenos Aires that was the home of this endearing character of the motor universe of our country.
They are not all Don Julio cars, as those who knew him called him, but they are authentic jewels of all time: they will look for new owners of American brands such as Cadillac, Lincoln, Desoto or Mercury, but also European, such as BMW, Jaguar or Mercedes-Benz. And there is even room for the Argentine industry, hand in hand with an Institec Justicialista Sport, the car developed in 1953 on the initiative of then President Juan Domingo Perón.
Mendizábal began collecting at a very young age, after imported vehicles in different states of conservation began to arrive in Argentina during World War II, but he was in charge of buying to restore with patience and sell or, simply, to treasure.
Julio Mendizábal's car collection at auction in Junín: Cadillac 1957 4 Puertas.
Under this last alternative is that he was slowly completing a huge shed that he locked and cared for with suspicion, because he did not want anyone to mess anything up for him. Their ultimate goal? To put the collection in place and open its own Automobile Museum on Juninense soil, so that everyone could marvel at a catalog full of mystique and in which nothing would be missing.
He was also a regular at Auto Clásica, the largest exhibition in South America that takes place every year at the San Isidro Hippodrome, which he used to attend with some of his models and exhibit them.
In the most complex moments of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, Don Julio died, and his mission was truncated. Now his family decided to get rid of some of those pieces, which is worth clarifying that they are in different states of conservation and, in some cases, are not based in the country or directly do not have documentation.
In charge of the real estate Carnelli, the auction will accept bids both in person and online and will begin at 13.30. There will be two instances of previous exhibition of the cars, both on Saturday, June 10 from 9 to 17 and the same day of the event, from 9 to 13. It is an auction that could be around 50 million pesos raised. To participate and obtain the address of the place of the auction it is necessary to communicate up to 24 hours before via WhatsApp to +54 9 236 454-1080 and request the catalog.
The best cars in the auction
"My dad was very passionate about iron. His intention was to rescue them, to recover their history, their origins, to know where they came from. But he also incentivized everyone around him to value classic cars. He always said: 'If these cars go to the foundry, they are lost forever,'" Martín Mendizábal, son of Don Julio, who was a lawyer and civil pilot in his active days, told Clarín.
Thus, he was assembling "in more than 50 years his own collection and without the help of the Internet", to configure an inventory of almost 60 cars accumulated in his sheds. Don Julio, who died in 2020 at the age of 82, also had special devotion to the Ford V8, legendary models prior to World War II that in Argentina were part of the legion of cupecitas that gave life to the first years of Turismo Carretera. He was a member of both the Ford V8 Club and the Junín Historic Vehicles Club.
Julio Mendizábal's car collection being auctioned in Junín: BMW 635 CSI 1980 Coupé.
Of the 29 cars – plus a batch of spare parts – one that will surely take many eyes is the BMW 635 CSI of 1980, which with a base price of $ 7,500,000 is the highest initial price of the entire list. Unlike other cases, the papers are up to date and in perfect condition, saving the logical need for a set-up for a car that was stopped for so many years.
Julio Mendizábal's car collection at auction in Junín: Jaguar Mark VII 1954.
But there are more highlights, such as the Cadillac Fleetwood of 1957, a true gem that, although without documents, at the mechanical level is in optimal condition: it was restored to be part of several exhibitions, has no missing and retains its original upholstery. Its quote will start at $ 4 million.
In that same price line are four other classics in very good general condition: one of them is another Cadillac, a 1947 sedan that Mendizábal also proudly walked through more than one iron encounter. That is why it is not surprising that it is in operation, complete and in very good condition in general. In this case, it also has a title, period certificate, and domain report.
Julio Mendizábal's car collection auctioned in Junín: Mercedes Benz 300SE 1965.
Another must-see that also has that base price is the white Jaguar Mark VII of 1954, a unique car that accuses the passage of time since its last restoration but that is still preserved, according to Carnelli, in "very good condition" and with the engine running. To take into account: it was never registered in Argentina, but to this day its documentation is Uruguayan.
Julio Mendizábal's car collection auctioned in Junín: - 1947 Cadillac 4 Doors.
Two Mercedes-Benz 300 complete the select group, the first of them a 1961 model also with engine running and which only lacks the rear window to say that it is complete. It is a specimen of diplomatic scope and very advanced, with 3-liter injection engine, automatic box and hydraulic steering.
The collection of cars of Julio Mendizábal that is auctioned in Junín: - Mercedes Benz 300 1961.
The other of the German brand is a 300SE of 1965, coupe that needs to update documentation but is in very good general condition. And it comes with an extra challenge for the nuts: its original engine is disassembled – now a Falcon block 221 – so it is also an interesting project to resume and complete, just as Mendizábal himself would have done.
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