What’s better than being the mayor of Flavortown? How about being the proprietor of a larger city. Move over Guy Fieri, because Rick Treworgy lords over the land that is Muscle Car City. Or at least he will until Muscle Car City closes its doors for good on January 17, 2021.
You see, Muscle Car City is a municipality in name only. In actuality, it’s a museum that contains Treworgy’s massive car collection. We’re talking hundreds of cars. Enough to fill up almost an entire Walmart. Literally.
Before it became a haven for Treworgy’s collector cars, Muscle Car City was an actual Walmart in Punta Gorda, Florida. The building will return to its roots as primarily a place of commerce from January 22-23, when Mecum begins auctioning off the automotive residents—and other associated treasures—of Muscle Car City.
Treworgy’s collection of cars all share one through-line: General Motors. Predictably, performance machines such as Chevrolet Camaros, Chevelles, and Corvettes, as well as Pontiac GTOs and Oldsmobile 442s, live up to Muscle Car City’s billing and make up a large portion of the auction lots. Still, there are a few aberrations in the bunch, including a replica 1902 Oldsmobile, a race car from the 2000 film “Charlie’s Angels” (with a GM V-8 engine, of course), and a couple of Chevy-based ice cream trucks.
Not a single item in this lot has a reserve, either. In other words, everything auctioned off from Treworgy’s collection will sell to the highest bidder. These collector cars may soon get evicted from Muscle Car City, but each will hopefully end up in the garage of a genuine home.