The Klairmont Kollections Automotive Museum, 3117 N. Knox Ave., will close next month, and its collection of nearly 300 cars and road art go on the auction block Sept. 19-21. | Mecum Auctions
By Kade Heather | Chicago Sun*Times
In 1967, Larry Klairmont bought his first keepsake car, a 1951 Rolls-Royce.
By 1974, he had added a few more cars to his stock, including a 1946 Lincoln Mark II and a pair of other Lincolns from 1957 and 1965.
Years later, “he was buying cars by the dozens,” said his son, Alfred Klairmont.
At its peak, the collection totaled nearly 600 cars.
And they weren’t just ordinary cars.
They include a gold-leaf plated 1920 Pierce Arrow; a custom blue and silver 1983 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur decked out in 1 million Swarovski crystals; and a futuristic, remote-control prototype 1956 Golden Sahara II with one-of-a-kind glowing tires. He even owned a replica Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine and a 1960 “Munsters” Coffinmobile.
Cars came and went, and Klairmont stored them all for decades, hidden in a half-mile long industrial building in Belmont Cragin, which became the Klairmont Kollections Automotive Museum. For years, the museum was private, but in 2019, Klairmont opened it to the public.
The museum has remained open since Larry Klairmont died in 2021 at age 94, but it will close next month and his collection of cars and memorabilia will be sold off.
Bidders can purchase any of the 275 vehicles and more than 1,000 pieces of road art and automobilia during the Sept. 19-21 no-reserve auction overseen by Mecum Auctions at the Klairmont Kollections Automotive Museum, 3117 N. Knox Ave. An auction preview will be held Sept. 13-14.
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