"Blood Money" muscle-car auction rakes in $2.5 million for fraud victims

For all the glamour that builds up around high-dollar car auctions in Las Vegas, Pebble Beach and other money pits, classic car buyers don't need that much pomp to spend money. Today's demonstration comes from New Jersey where the "Blood Money" collection of convicted medical scammer David Nicoll went up for sale. In a matter of minutes, the nine well-preserved examples of American muscle cars brought a total of $2.5 million, money that will go toward restitution for his crimes.

The highest bid was drawn by a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Superbird which sold for $575,000, apparently a new record for the bizarro NASCAR relic; not only was it one of the few ever built with a four-speed and the 426 Hemi, it had nearly all of its original parts. The next-highest bid arrived for the 1970 Chevrolet Yenko Nova, bringing $400,000.

All of these prices seem fairly healthy; if there was anything resembling a deal to be had, it might be the one car that had some assembly required — a 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda which had been partially restored. With Cudas now bringing more than $1 million, simply finishing this job could net a healthy profit from the auction price of $347,500. Here's the rest of the results: