Gordon Apker (center) with his wife Janet and Barrett-Jackson Chairman and CEO Craig Jackson at the 2005 Scottsdale Auction.

The collector car community had to say goodbye to one of its leading lights last February with the passing of Gordon Apker. A longtime friend of Barrett-Jackson, Apker was a collector renowned for his expertise and refined taste. Among other achievements, he became a judge for the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and was also on the organization’s advisory board.

Gordon and Janet Apker

Apker’s expertise was respected throughout the collector car industry – something pretty impressive for a man with very humble beginnings. He grew up in a small town north of Seattle, the son of a millwright. Although money was scarce, Gordon had fond memories of his childhood and how they raised their own food: milk cows, chickens, a large vegetable garden. At 14, he started hanging out at the local Texaco station, offering to do anything for the owner, who eventually gave him a job. “I loved it because I was around cars,” Apker once recalled.

Apker worked at service stations – tinkering with a variety of cars and collecting what he called “junk” (now known as valuable automobilia) – right through college, moving from Texaco to Veltex. By 1964, he was married, was driving a $50 1941 Oldsmobile and was still working at Veltex … and the company went out of business. His wife had just discovered she was pregnant. “I went home and didn’t know what I was going to do,” he confessed.

He heard they were hiring at a new Shakey’s Pizza parlor in Tacoma, and two weeks later he was once again employed. He became an assistant manager within three months, for a whopping sum of $425 a month. Years later, Apker would be the largest franchisee of Shakey’s Pizza restaurants, although if you asked him, he would humbly just say he “owned a few pizza places.” By early 1984, he had stores in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. He also opened Monarch Foods, a wholesale food company, to supply his and other establishments. In 1989, when an offer was made to buy Apker’s Shakey’s stores and his food company, he sold.

Gordon Apker’s extensive automobilia collection event included a detailed re-creation of a Veltex service station where he once worked.

Apker’s self-made success with Shakey’s allowed him over the years to “play with cars” once again. “I used to play cars when I was 5 on my knees in the dirt,” he once said, “and now I get to do it on nice carpet, but I still do the same thing.”

He bought the core of his collection between 1979 and 1984. Apker’s remarkable collection of automobiles and memorabilia were displayed in a large but unpretentious-looking building at one end of his 17,000-square-foot compound commanding a postcard view of Washington’s Puget Sound. The display even contained a detailed re-creation of that Veltex service station where Apker once worked. Up to the mid-90s, Apker hosted fundraisers there benefiting the local Children’s Hospital and Medical Center. His Apker Affair d’Elegance Car Show was also held there every August.

Apker’s car collecting passion naturally brought him to cross paths with Barrett-Jackson and the key players in the collecting world, in particular Russ and Brian Jackson. Brian and Apker immediately bonded over cars and racing. “Brian and I talked about everything,” Apker once said. “I don’t think we ever had a bad time. We were kindred souls.”

Another longtime Barrett-Jackson associate and fellow car enthusiast with whom Apker became close was Don Williams. “We always had rooms side by side at Hershey,” Williams remembered. “We talked pretty much every day for past 25 years. I considered him a personal friend first, not just a ‘car guy.’ Cars brought us together as a common bond back in the early 1970s, but it was the friendship I valued, and it was one that grew into something very special.”

“Gordon was a fixture in the collector car community,” said Barrett-Jackson Chairman and CEO Craig Jackson. “He was a very astute judge of cars – to the level that he was a Duesenberg judge at Pebble Beach. He was a mentor of mine for years, and has helped Barrett-Jackson in numerous ways over the years. He was the ultimate enthusiast. Because Gordon was one of my brother Brian’s best friends, I grew up around him – I spent a lot of time shooting pool with him at my brother’s house. I called and asked his opinion about various car-related things all the time.”

Gordon Apker, Brian Jackson and Tom Congleton.

Over the years, Apker bought and sold many cars and automobilia through Barrett-Jackson; many of his key pieces of automobilia were in fact one of the major collections featured at the 2016 Scottsdale Auction, and many more will be a key part of the 2017 Scottsdale Automobilia Auction.

One of Apker’s most notable automobile sales at Barrett-Jackson was a remarkable 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 GM Concept Car, a pet project of Harley Earl. Four were made, but only one survived, and Apker owned it. He put it up for auction at Barrett-Jackson’s 2005 Scottsdale event and offered it at No Reserve. It sold for an incredible $3.3 million.

“Gordon has been around the collector car world forever,” said Barrett-Jackson President Steve Davis. “If you didn’t know him, you knew who he was. I worked directly with Gordon when he consigned his F-88, going through documents, preparing storyboard, spending hours with him in his warehouse.

“The F-88 was the shot heard round the world, when it came to putting concept cars on the map, realizing the history they represent,” continued Davis. “Gordon was an astute collector with a large variety of cars.”

“I knew Gordon for 40 years,” said Barrett-Jackson Vice President of Consignment Gary Bennett. “I always had the utmost respect for him. He was a real car guy, passionate about all things automotive. He was a solid guy, grounded in reality and passionate about the things he loved and believed in. He was a lifetime supporter of Barrett-Jackson events.”

Not only was Gordon Apker a longtime friend of Craig Jackson, he was a trusted mentor.

Barrett-Jackson is honored to feature a large selection of rare automobilia and 13 extraordinary vehicles from the Gordon Apker Collection at the 2017 Scottsdale Auction, all selling at No Reserve. Among them is a fine example of Oldsmobile’s ascendancy during the early 1950s: a 1952 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday (Lot #7002), to be sold at approximately 8 p.m. on Thursday, January 19. The gorgeous, mostly original car has less than 30,000 original miles on its robust V8 engine.

Another star of the Gordon Apker Collection is a stunning 1934 Packard (Lot #1386.1) that will be auctioned as part of Barrett-Jackson’s significant Salon Collection on Saturday, January 21. A car that epitomized America’s luxury-car market during the early 1930s, this CCCA Full Classic is finished in an attractive two-tone livery accented with red pinstriping and has been comprehensively restored.

It is Barrett-Jackson’s hope that Apker’s legacy and love of the collector car hobby will spread far and wide as his remarkable vehicles and pristine pieces of automobilia make their way to their new homes.

Enjoy the gallery below featuring the cars from the Gordon Apker Collection that are ready to cross the Barrett-Jackson auction block in Scottsdale.

For more information on these and other vehicles on the Scottsdale docket, click HERE.

For information on this year’s automobilia docket, click HERE.