Astor’s autos up for auction

Art Astor's car collection is astonishing. Plus all the antique gas pumps, vintage radios, telephones, televisions and various other gems from way back when. To see it all is like going back in time. There are more than 250 vehicles; a few have been restored, but many appear factory-fresh. And now, two-thirds of the whole shebang is up for auction.

All the cars are operational (Astor still drives most of them), original, low-mileage examples, spanning from the 1920s through the 1970s. There are Chryslers, Fords, Cadillacs (the collection is predominantly American machinery), several woodies and possibly the most Packards ever brought together under one roof.

Some have celebrity provenance or historical interest, including cars owned by Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and Howard Hughes or used by Admiral Nimitz in World War II. Lovers of more modern cars will appreciate the Jaguar E-Types, Mustang fastbacks and a fabulous Healey 3000.

Bidding for more than 200 cars and 800 lots of memorabilia begins June 27 in Anaheim, with the last fall of the hammer on June 29. RM Auctions, which is officiating at this no-reserve event, calls the Astor Collection "perhaps one of the most diverse, highly original and extremely well maintained of its kind ever offered to the public."

Who says money can't buy happiness?

-- Colin Ryan

Photos: The Astor Collection