Charlie McCarron was a legend of sorts. As his obituary said in August 2017 explained: “an institution in Canowindra for more than 50 years”.
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He was known – not just in Canowindra, but across the country – for his passion for Holdens.
On Sunday, the late Charlie McCarron’s iconic Holden FX 48-215 went under the hammer at an auction in Echuca.
It didn’t fetch the expected price but sold for $130,000.
The top bid came from a man “on the floor” who lives in Mansfield, Victoria. The same man bought Charlie’s Holden FX 48-215 utility at the Canowindra Motors auction during October 2016.
Charlie’s Holden FX, the 46th car to roll off the Holden production line which had been driven by Peter Brock, didn’t sell on that occasion with Burns and Co auctioneers opening the lot at $500,000 and closing it soon after at $200,000.
Burns and Co auctioneer Ashley Burns said the family had decided to move the car on and were happy to have it sold during the run of vehicles at the D’Alberto Holden Motors auction.
“The guy who bought it also bought some other cars that were sold at Charlie’s Canowindra Motors auction,” Mr Burns said.
“He’s from Mansfield in Victoria, he also bought the 48-215 ute that Charlie had so it’s good that they’ve stayed together.
“It’s a bit under what we had thought.”
Other memorabilia from Canowindra Motors went under the hammer at the D’Alberto auction including old Holden brochures, work shop manuals and sales awards.
Charlie started collecting Holdens during the 1970s.
More than 2000 lots went under the hammer during the Canowindra Motors auction in October 2016.
He passed away peacefully at Canowindra Memorial Hospital on August 15 last year.
Auctioneer Mr Burns said he’ll remember Charlie’s auction as the biggest in terms of the amount of interest.
“Charlie’s was the biggest in terms of people,” Mr Burns said. “Charlie was a likeable guy, a lot of people went to the auction in Canowindra just to be a part of it, not necessarily to buy.”
The D’Alberto Holden Motors auction completed transactions of $4 million-plus across four days.
