With the aim of re-awakening the nostalgia that American Graffiti spawned for classic cars when it was released 40 years ago this autumn, Witherells Auction House is holding an extraordinary sale of more than 100 revered muscle cars from the American Graffiti era. The sale starts on October 15 on iGavel.com and runs through October 29, 2013.

Predicts Brian Witherells of the eponymous Sacramento, California-based auction house, the vintage cars will drive sales towards the half-million-dollar-mark. The cars are to be displayed on the property of Ward and Rose Gandy in Redding, California, straight north of Modesto, California, where American Graffiti was filmed in the summer of 1972.

“This is the sort of sale that sets hearts racing,” says Witherells. “Because of the wide-spread affection and admiration for American car culture of the mid-20th-century, we expect to see buyers beyond the traditional circle of auto enthusiasts, and we can’t wait to wave the green flag to get this unique sale started on October 15.”

 The unreserved auction features nearly 100 classic cars from the 1930s through the ’60s, along with a panoply of 400 classic automobile parts.

 Among the highlights are:

 *A Blacl 1957 300C Chrysler Hardtop Coupe; estimate: $30,000-40,000

*A White 1960 Cadillac Convertible series 62; estimate: $20,000-30,000

*A Teal-Blue 1939 Willys "Gasser" 4-door sedan with a 392 HEMI V-8; estimate: $10,000-15,000

*A Lipstick Red 1955 Chrysler New Yorker Newport; estimate: $10,000-15,000

The cars were collected by retired septuagenarian Ward Gandy, who established a successful accounting firm in his hometown of Redding and began collecting muscle cars about 30 years ago.

About Witherell’s Auction House

The Sacramento-based Witherell’s Auction House was founded by Brad Witherell in 1969. It didn’t take long before his son, Brian joined his father at the age of 16.

Since that time father and son have worked side by side to build one of the top regional auction houses in the country.  They have conducted thousands of sales and appraisals in California for both private and institutional clients such as the Crocker Art Museum, Pacific Asian Art Museum,  the California State Library, and the Sacramento Valley Museum.  As authors they co-wrote “California Best Old West Art and Antiques and Museum.” Brian regularly appears on the PBS series, “The Antiques Roadshow.” www.witherells.com

About iGavel Auctions

When Lark Mason founded iGavel Inc., the online international network of independently owned regional auction salesrooms, specializing in the sale of fine and decorative arts, in 2003, his stellar reputation as a leading expert, appraiser and television personality on the PBS series The Antiques Roadshow, was already well-established within the art world.

Mason served as a general appraiser and Assistant Vice President of fine and decorative arts and household furnishings from 1979 until 2003, and as a Senior Vice President and specialist in Chinese art with Sotheby’s Chinese Works of Art Department from 1985-2003.  From 2000-2003 he was a Director of Online Auctions for Sothebys.com, and served as a consulting curator at the Trammel and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art in Dallas, Texas from 2003-2009.  He is an expert in the field of Chinese furniture, having responsibility for this area during his tenure at Sotheby’s. As a Chinese furniture specialist he has valued and advised many private collectors and institutions.

As a general appraiser with Sotheby’s Appraisal Company, Mason valued notable collections including those of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the Rockefeller Foundation, and many others.  In addition to his appraisal work, he has taught courses in the fine and decorative arts at Parson’s School of Design, the New York School of Interior Design, and currently is a professor at New York University.

With iGavel's large network of regional auction houses and dealers, there is always an abundant roster of items daily flowing onto the iGavel site from dealers. They include: Litchfield County Auctions Inc., Litchfield, Conn.; Nye and Company, Bloomfield, N.J.; Everard and Company, Savannah, Ga.; Locati Antiques, Maple Glen, Pa.; Elder's Fine Art & Antiques, Nokomis, Fla.; South Bay Auctions, East Moriches, N.Y.; Witherells, Sacramento, Calif.; and Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York City.

iGavel Auctions is located at 229 East 120th Street (between Second and Third Avenues), New York City. Visit www.igavelauctions.com, or phone 212-289-5588.