Bobby Adams thought he’d purchased a 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II Sport Coupe for $31,000 during a Mecum auction last week. His bid was the highest when the hammer fell, but immediately after, the auctioneer accepted another bid that drove the price to $32,000. Adams was instantly torqued by the decision to keep the auction going, and ever since, he’s been sticking it to Mecum on social media with droves of people joining his corner by the day.
The entire ordeal was caught on camera by Adams’ personal staff as well as Mecum’s Monterey Car Week film crew. You can watch it below, and decide for yourself if the auctioneer slammed the gavel and yelled “sold” before moving into a count for the $32,000 bid:
Adams, as well as thousands of social media commenters, believe the Lincoln should have been his. Multiple people in the crowd saw it go down, challenging the Mecum staff right alongside Adams as he told them to “shove the car up your a**.” And yet, Mecum insists that the auction was fair to continue as the auctioneer accepted a questionably timed bid at his discretion.
Mecum’s response to Adams is included in this post:
I reached out to Mecum after witnessing the back-and-forth, and the company’s Chief Operating Officer Sam Murtaugh replied with the following comment:
“If you listen closely to the social media video, you can clearly hear a bid being called before the fall of the gavel. At that moment, the auctioneer exercised his discretion to accept the bid and continue the auction, in accordance with California law. Mecum Auctions represents both buyers and sellers, and the auctioneer carries a dual responsibility, which includes ensuring that sellers achieve the highest possible hammer price for their car at the auction.”
Some are calling the sale’s legality into question based on California Commercial Code § 2328 (2), which states, “A sale by auction is complete when the auctioneer so announces by the fall of the hammer or in other customary manner.” Somewhat ironically, that’s the same regulation Mecum cited in its response to me as a defense for its actions.
Depending on whether the Mecum auctioneer announced the sale following Adams’ $31,000 bid or the next one for $32,000, then a legally binding contract would be in place between the seller and whoever the highest bidder was at the time the auction officially ended. Mecum holds to the claim that Adams’ bid was not the highest, nor the final. The auction house’s statement mentioned in the video above refers to the bidder’s agreement that states, “the auctioneer’s determination in these circumstances is both final and non-appealable.”
When reached for comment, Adams told me that several lawyers have offered to handle a lawsuit against Mecum pro bono. However, that’s not part of his plan right now.
“I haven’t made a move yet,” Adams explained. “I’m not dying to sue anyone. But I do want to see things change. I’ll probably talk with them to hear what they think, but the truth is, I don’t think going to court would fix much. Even if I win, it doesn’t change how things operate. The real impact comes from people speaking up and showing what’s happening.
“That’s why I shared the video. I didn’t contact Mecum directly. I didn’t feel like I needed to. I told the truth and put it out there. The public response has been huge, and I think that shows how many people have felt this but stayed quiet.”
Adams is always buying and selling cars, sometimes through in-person auctions like Mecum’s Monterey Car Week event and others through sites such as Bring a Trailer. He told me that he’s working on starting a new auction platform that isn’t limited to cars, claiming, “It’s time for a shift in how auctions work, and I’m serious about being the one to drive that.”
One way or another, Adams is not the happy new owner of a ’56 Lincoln, and this saga has caused more blowback for Mecum than anything.
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