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AUTOS: RM Auctions Buys Kruse Assets In Auburn
Canadian collector-car business takes over famed Indiana auction site and will conduct annual Labor Day event.
Bob Golfen  |  Posted July 01, 2010   Auburn, IN
Kruse International has been conducting collector-car auctions in Auburn, Ind., since 1971. (Archive photo: Kruse International)
RM Auctions has purchased the assets of troubled Kruse International and will conduct the 40th annual Auburn, Ind., collector-car auction during Labor Day weekend, RM announced this morning at the Auburn-Cord-Duesenburg Museum in Auburn.

Rob Myers, chairman and founder of the Ontario, Canada-based auction, said RM has purchased the 235-acre Auburn Auction Park from Dean Kruse and is establishing a new company, Auctions America by RM, to conduct multiple sales at the famous site.

Rob Myers, chairman and founder of RM Auctions, announces the acquisition of the Auburn facility during a press conference at the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum. (Photo: RM Auctions)
The sweeping Auburn collector-car auction event, a Midwest institution and a major source of local revenue, has been held every year since it was founded in 1971 by Russell Kruse, Dean’s father.

The acquisition by RM, known for its small but high-end collector-car auctions at multiple locations in the U.S. and Europe, is a major leap into new territory for the Canadian company, Myers said.

“We’re expanding our company again into mainstream auctions,” Myers said. “We are by nature a niche auction company.”

RM will continue the Auburn auction’s tradition of hobbyist-level collector cars and trucks for sale, focusing on the popular muscle cars, customs, sports cars and post-war American classics that have comprised Auburn’s sales in recent years.

Financial details of the RM acquisition are confidential and were not revealed at the press conference. RM said it would retain a number of Kruse employees for Auction America and would be hiring more people in the future. Dean Kruse would have no financial interest in the new company, RM said.

Last week, RM filed articles of incorporation with the Indiana secretary of state's office, which allows it to do business in Indiana.

The executives of Auctions America by RM were announced at the press conference: collector-car expert Donnie Gould, president; Ed Cepuran chief financial officer; and Ken Wallace, general manager.

The announcement at the famed auto museum was attended by local political leaders, underscoring the local importance of the Auburn auction. Kruse International has been embroiled in financial and legal troubles for the past couple of years; Indiana revoked its auction license in May, which cast doubt on the future of the huge annual event.

A young Dean Kruse leading the bidding during an Auburn collector-car auction in the 1970s. (Archive photo: Kruse International)
The Auburn auction attracts about 200,000 people and is a key component to the regional economy. Because of the Kruse event and the Auburn-Cord Duesenberg Museum, Auburn touts itself as the Classic Car Capital of the United States.

Myers said the auction will go on as scheduled for Sept. 2-6, a scant two months away, with its usual offering of 1,000-1,500 collector vehicles for sale.

“Sure, there will be some challenges in the next 60 days,” Myers said. “There will be some kinks this year, but we’ll do fine.”

Myers said he is intimately familiar with the Auburn auctions, attending his first-ever collector-car auction there in 1974.

Auctions America will initially conduct an additional collector-car auction in the spring at Auburn, Myers said, with plans to bring more sales to the facility.

Dean Kruse, the longtime owner of the auction company founded by his father, was the first speaker at the press conference, saying he was confident that RM would be able to mount a successful auction and carry on the Auburn tradition.

“For some, including me, this would be the end of an era,” Kruse said. “I feel this is the best possible deal I could bring into Indiana. It’s a dream come true.”

Kruse International has been on a downhill slide during the past few years, bedeviled by financial problems and accusations from collector-car consigners and vendors of non-payment. In May, Indiana yanked Kruse’s auction license and banned Dean Kruse from taking part in any auctions for two years, plus fines and restitution to about 70 consigners who sold their cars at Kruse auctions but were never paid.

Several months ago, Dean Kruse said that he was entertaining offers to buy his auction business. He said today that he was paying off the angry consigners as quickly as he could.

Cepuran said at the press conference that rebuilding the Auburn auction after its recent troubles will be a critical priority.

“We realize that we will have to restore some integrity and confidence into this institution,” Cepuran said.

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, who has driven and evaluated essentially every new vehicle sold in the United States. A lifelong car enthusiast with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle, he annually attends and writes about Arizona's famous January collector-car auctions, focusing on Scottsdale’s monumental Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event and other Barrett-Jackson auctions. SPEED.com fans email Automotive Editor Bob Golfen at

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