The Post Star Home Newspaper of The Adirondack Region Glens Fall, New York Bidders snatch up cars, key blanks, lifts By Michael Woodyard Staff Writer QUEENSBURY - Queensbury Motors, the longtime local auto dealership, was dissolved Friday with the bark of an auctioneer and the calls of buyers The auction was held in response to a federal judge's ruling last month that the dealership Move to liquidate its assets under Chapter 7 of U.S. Bankruptcy Law. Sherman E. Parrott, owner of the dealership, was ordered by the court to sell off his possessions to pay creditors. A ring of people - mostly men - clustered around the auctioneer as he called off prices on items from tires and cans of spray lubricants to cars. Two 1950s Cadillacs were among the 11 vehicles sold Friday. Over the amplified patter of the auctioneer's drone, two men used power tools to unbolt the large steel lifts anchored in the former service bay The sale of the inventory was expected to bring in about $300,000, said Randy Passonno, president of Collar City Auctions and Realty of Troy. This was triple the preauction estimates of $100,000, Passonno said. "We're very satisfied with the results," Passonno said. "Attendance was great. There were maybe 2,000 people here this morning when we auctioned the cars off. Some of the vehicles sold higher than retail." The inventory was sold off exclusive of the land on which the dealership sits. Parrott owns the land, but Evergreen Bank had petitioned Bankruptcy Court to begin foreclosure. Passonno said the bidding on the 12-acre parcel had climbed to $1.2 million, adding that he hoped it would sell for more. As the auctioneer called off numbers at a dizzying pace, buyers engaged in an array of stealthy signals to indicate an interest. Some positioned themselves in front of the auctioneer and merely nodded their heads; others fluttered there bid cards in the air when the price matched their pocketbook. When the crier got to a lot that included a key grinder and several boxes of automotive key blanks, Mike Rafferty made his intentions clear. Rafferty stood in the back of the audience and raised his numbered bid card high over his head as the numbers started to fly. He stood stock-still as the figures climbed from $200 to $675, when he was the last man left standing. His clear interest in the lot at hand was evidenced by the logo on his bat: Mike's Lock Service. "I would have liked to have got it for less, but it's still a good deal," Rafferty said. His purchase included things that the average person would not think are valuable, he explained. Among his booty was an Automatic Curtis 2 000 key cutter, worth $600, $ 1,000 dollars worth of key blanks including a handful of gold-plated Cadillac key blanks - and a stack of code manuals. He already has many of the things he bought, but the auction was an investment, and he'll turn around and sell enough of the items at a bargain hunter's sale next week to recoup his cost, he said. The rest he'll keep. "Like anything you buy, you've got to have a place to use it," Rafferty said. "It's an investment for future work."