Estate Auction of Sam Cipriano's Automotive Collection

[BigAl]

Large estate Auction November 22, 2025 of early Model T cars, parts, tools and equipment. Google Sam Cipriano Estate Auction for listing and bidding information. This will be the first auction of three of Sams extensive collection of early Model T parts, cars, bodies, etc.

[Junk poor]

https://www.auctionzip.com/Listings/4078656.html

[Junk poor]

https://braunandhelmer.com/?es_feed_tar ... fid%3D3522

[GGZ]

Better Made Snack Foods. Very, very famous Detroit potatoe chips. Started by Peter Cipriano in 1930. Still in the family and Sam was the CEO of the legendary Detroit's potatoe chips. Sam used to buy a lot of Ford parts and cars. He really loved old cars-especilly Ford. Sam went to all of the swap meets and shows. Always had a big smile and always happy. A great person.

[ThreePedalTapDancer]

Oh boy. That’s a lot of good stuff. Even open valve blocks on the shelf.

[TXGOAT2]

I hope it all finds a good home.

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Oh boy. That’s a lot of good stuff. Even open valve blocks on the shelf.

If your not bidding on-site, be aware that he had several open valve blocks that had the mains overbored to fit Scat cranks with Model A sized journals. Also, had the intake ports widened a bunch. Maybe you like that kind of stuff, or maybe not. Either way, just be careful to get what expect.

[1925 Touring]

Oh boy, here we go again!
Dispersing another big collection!

[KimDobbins]

I’ll miss Sam, always great to deal with, always a gentlemen.

[1913Runabout]

I need the Stoddard Dayton radiator. Will they crate it and ship it? Sounds pricey.

[BigAl]

With the large quanity of early parts all going at once it is hard to say what the prices will be. There are at least a half a dozen early new brass readiators even a V radiator plus various others for sale. Remember it only take two people to creat an auction. Good Luck.

[Gleaner]

This is 2025! A very poor way to auction some very rare parts. There should be internet bidding with very clear pictures of each lot. Aumann would have done a much better job for the seller. I won’t be driving up north in late November

[BigAl]

I met Sam in 1968 when he opened Motor City Antique Auto Supply in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Having a Model A 31 DeLuxe Roadster he quickly introduced me to Hershey. We went there in 1968 and 1969. Then in late 1969 Uncle Sam had the first draft lottery an I was immediately inducted into the Army and off I went to Fort Cambell. I missed the next couple of years of Hershey and upon my return, I pursued my degree and worked part time for Sam at his Antiue Auto Supply. Upon my graduation I pursued my career and Sam move on to his family's business becoming the CEO of Better Made a legendary well-known and respected Detroit producer of Potato chips and various snacks for the last 95 years. Our friendship grew and we traveled to various swaps meet, usually Carlile in the spring and always made the track to Hershey in the fall from 1972 til Sams death on April 13, 2021. Now all of Sam's treasures are going to auction starting this Saturday and will be dispersed throughout the hobby. While it is great that everything will be used to support other restorations it's sad to see Sam's life passion dispersed. Even though the collection will be gone my memories of such a great and trusted friend will always be with me. Goodbye budddy you are and will always be missied. AL

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

I met Sam in 1968 when he opened Motor City Antique Auto Supply in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Having a Model A 31 DeLuxe Roadster he quickly introduced me to Hershey. We went there in 1968 and 1969. Then in late 1969 Uncle Sam had the first draft lottery an I was immediately inducted into the Army and off I went to Fort Cambell. I missed the next couple of years of Hershey and upon my return, I pursued my degree and worked part time for Sam at his Antiue Auto Supply. Upon my graduation I pursued my career and Sam move on to his family's business becoming the CEO of Better Made a legendary well-known and respected Detroit producer of Potato chips and various snacks for the last 95 years. Our friendship grew and we traveled to various swaps meet, usually Carlile in the spring and always made the track to Hershey in the fall from 1972 til Sams death on April 13, 2021. Now all of Sam's treasures are going to auction starting this Saturday and will be dispersed throughout the hobby. While it is great that everything will be used to support other restorations it's sad to see Sam's life passion dispersed. Even though the collection will be gone my memories of such a great and trusted friend will always be with me. Goodbye budddy you are and will always be missied. AL

Very nice Al. I am happy to have known Sam as well, though not nearly as close as you did, but still for many years. He was a fun guy and always thrilled about antique cars. I'll never forget visiting him at his home and seeing a Model T engine being assembled on his kitchen table. Fun stuff! I bought his 1904 Curved Dash Olds. I hope to get it done in my retirement. It will always remind me of Sam.

[Tbird]

The auction had a good turnout. Great to see some forum members. Good prices on some early stuff. Early 10,11 heads went for $200. V brass radiator sold for $1500. Brass radiators were selling for $800-1100. Torpedo column sold for $1200-1300. Scat crank shafts were selling for $1000+. Early open valve engines were about $1300-1500.

1911 runabout, 11 engine, chassis etc sold for 16K bought by a guy who wasn’t even planning on buying one, never owned a T.
1911 wagon was a great deal with 11 chassis/running gear for 3K.

I scooped up a couple lots that were at the buzzard leftover tables.

[Gleaner]

Had there been proper internet bidding I would have been on a couple of those radiators. Maybe we will see some parts listed here for sale soon. Thanks for the report.

[Tbird]

Had there been proper internet bidding I would have been on a couple of those radiators. Maybe we will see some parts listed here for sale soon. Thanks for the report.

They were doing over the phone bidding. Some guy in the East coast was buying a lot of stuff.

[Pep C Strebeck]

I am sure that there are others out there, but I have only seen a couple gasket boards like this one before. Not the greatest condition, but still nice. There are supposed to be 2 more auctions from the Cipriano estate in the "future" according to the auctioneer.

[Allan]

Telephone bidding helps absent buyers like internet bidding, but slower in practice.
What really hurts the vendor is the way the lots are set up. I don't know how the front axles were sold, but if they went as a lot, the early one piece spindle axle may have been a bargain hidden in a big lot.
Too late to really help, I was once invited sort out some heaps of parts into lots for a lady whose husband was going into care. Local service clubs had dragged a huge amount of stuff out of sheds and made piles. I just had time enough to sort out the 50 or so T and A model wire wheels into sets before they got started.
I was tasked with holding up the lots an the back of the truck traytop so typical of country clearing sales. The auctioneer asked for a bid of $100 for a box of motorcycle carbide headlights. I grabbed one from the box and had him offer that. It made $90. They sold a dozen or so out of the box at similar prices. Then they got over a $100 for all the bits and spares left over. At about that time they reaised that they not allowed anywhere near enough time for the sale.
Later, back to my sorted out wire wheels. A new young hotshot took over the gavel. The wheels were the second lot he offered. He put the whole lot up in one lot in order to speed things up a bit. I bought them. When loading up later I sold the real roughies for garden decorations for more than I paid for the lot. i felt really sorry for the lady who was the seller. With planning, the result could have been far better.
Fortunately, the extensive collection of radios was not offered. A later sale of 80 lots was all catalogued, they were displayed on shelves for all to see, and brought out of the shed to the seated bidders, and offered one by one. Way to go. You didn't need to know anything about radios to set them up this way. It was just well organised for maximum results.

Allan from down under

[Pep C Strebeck]

What really hurts the vendor is the way the lots are set up. I don't know how the front axles were sold, but if they went as a lot, the early one piece spindle axle may have been a bargain hidden in a big lot.

Everything was numbered and the axles were done in lots of 2, choice out. The "early" axles were sort-of early axles, they were not early one piece spindles. The spindles were the later one piece design that was used around 1921, the steering arms were bent/curved, not straight and you could see where the flats that would be behind the inner wheel bearing had been welded up to fill them in and then dressed to look "right" for the earlier one piece design.

The lots of parts were quite mixed up. A lot of the lots that sold early in the parts auction were put together because they were brass, in short they were all the same color. We bought one lot of "brass" items and in the box were brass buckles for hood straps, the springs were in another box that sold about an hour later and the leather straps were in one of the lots towards the end. There were a lot of GREAT deals towards the end.

For some of the wire wheels, none of the splined hubs that should have been with them were anywhere to be found, they will probably show up in the next auction (hopefully), as well as the rest of the AC brake system. There was one brake band for an AC system, brand new, and nothing else. The auctioneer was telling us when were talking with him at the preview that there will be at least 2 more auctions.

The 1929 Model A Stake Truck, did not sell. The final price was $9,000 and they were looking for just a bit more at $10,000. A nice truck, started and ran well, needs new tires, but nice.

[Model T Mark]

My dad and I bought the depot hack and the 11 open valve block. The depot hack had a complete 11 running gear under it. Has a later coil box and carberator on it. It was a deal for sure. More than anything we were looking for an era appropriate commercial body for a brass chassis. It fits the bill pretty well. Stuff sold well and some of it brought really decent money that was fair to both the buyer and seller. It was nice to put faces with names from the forum. We had a great day as my dad actually got out and really enjoyed himself.

[Dollisdad]

I thought the Mother in Law was a good value for the buyer. With the exception of some paint lose on the wood trim the cosmetics had held up well, considering the car is a 1971 AACA national 1st. place winner. Wouldn’t take much to correct it and swap out the incorrect pieces.

[Dollisdad]

They had good weather and a good crowd. I got a few things but got beat out A LOT

by a gal phone bidding for an off site buyer. But happy with what I got.