Rev-Eleation Classic cars at Owls Head auction will bring out the speed demon in everyone

You couldn’t knock the grin off Dave Machaiek’s face with a chisel.

Machaiek has the full-time, daydream job of wrangling the toys at the Owls Head Transportation Museum. On this August afternoon, his assignment is to stretch the gorgeous Italian legs of a red (naturally) 1961 Ferrari Testarosa. This screamer is expected to bring in the neighborhood of $150,000 at the annual OHTM auction, which begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 21, at the Owls Head museum.

The Ferrari, once manhandled by Mario Andretti, is so fast that Machaiek ran out of roadway while he was still in second gear. I asked if I could drive the monster, just for the bragging rights. He said no with a single look.

“Insurance,” he said.

The speedometer went all the way up to 180 mph.

The Ferrari was powered by a V-12 engine with five speeds and six Webber carbs. You should have heard it. Neither of us doubted that it could reach the red line.

It won’t be just Ferraris at the auction. A few minutes later, Machaiek climbs aboard a 1949 Ford pickup truck owned by Steve Fogg of Vinalhaven.

“Watch out for the springs, they are coming through the seat.”

He was right.

The Ford, still kicking after five decades, sounded like a cement mixer in reverse gear, but still managed to roll down the runway at a respectable 45 mph. “The speedometer says 80, but I would hate to be in it at that speed,” said Machaiek.

The long list of cars for the 27th annual auction contains the usual “field of dreams” according to museum director Charles Chiarchiaro. Every year he says the auction is “one of the biggest and best in New England.”

Every year, he gets no argument.

Officially known as the New England Auto Auction of Antique, Classic and Special Interest Vehicles, the event brings about 3,500 visitors to the museum located on a corner of the Owls Head airport on Route 73, three miles south of Rockland.

It’s not just well-heeled investors who come to bid, but also pocket-poor dreamers who just come to look at the MGs and BMWs, the Fords and the Chevys, and imagine what they would look like in their garages.

About 400 bidders are expected pay the $40 fee and fill the reserved seats in the open-air pavilion. The spectators will pay $9 ($7 for children) for admission to seats in two adjoining tents.

Last year, sales topped $1.4 million and generated $200,000 for museum upkeep. It is the largest fund-raiser for the organization.

This is the usual varied field. The oldest will be a 1904 Locomobile steam car, several Ford Model A’s and a 1928 Packard roadster, expected to fetch $100,000 or more.

Several classic “woodie” station wagons will fill out the field with all the usual suspects, including various editions of Buick, Volkswagen, Cadillac, Chrysler, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Willys, Alfa Romeo, MG, Austin Healey (my favorite) and Triumph.

But the long list also will include a 1918 Overland touring car, a 1929 Marmon sedan, a 1916 REO touring car, a 1939 Hudson Terraplane custom rod and a 1911 International Auto Buggy.

One of the headliners will be another screamer, a 1968 Shelby GT 500 Mustang, which could sell for as much as $100,000.

One of the quietest cars in the auction will be the Nash Metropolitan owned by Jim Westervelt of Tenants Harbor, who bought the car at last year’s auction. Westervelt retired after 40 years in the auto business and moved to Maine at least in part because of the annual auction and his weakness.

You cannot explain why a person falls in love with a particular car model any more than you could explain why people fall in love with each other. Despite his brief, one-year affair with the Nash, it is the Corvair that owns Westervelt’s heart.

Westervelt proudly admits to buying more than 40 Corvairs and still damns the name of Ralph Nader, who attacked the model in his epic “Unsafe at any Speed.”

“They were great cars, way ahead of their time. They handle as well today as anything on the road. It wasn’t Nader who killed them. It was the Mustang,” he said.

At his Tenants Harbor home, Westervelt has an eight-car garage (“Doesn’t everyone have one?”), and his wife supports his 40-Corvair hobby. “I haven’t spent any more on buying and selling those cars than I would have on one single new car,” he claims.

Even a movie star will attend the event. The 1987 Camaro, which appeared in the “Empire Falls” production with Paul Newman will be up for sale. South Thomaston’s Tim Payson arranges unique cars for Hollywood visitors.

The 27th annual New England Auto Auction begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 21, at the Owls Head Transportation Museum. Admission is $9 for adult spectators and $7 for children ages 6-11. The auction preview is 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday, Aug. 20. For a complete list of the cars to be auctioned off, visit www.owlshead.org.