Just found out I've an uncle w/ a stage pass at B-J; am looking for him tonight, and oddly find that the only particularly compelling reason to be watching. He's good friends with the guy who bought the F-88 (?) Olds a couple of years ago....Wish I was closer to him; might ask for a special birthday present...... :-\
Haven't watched one of those auctions in years.
Watched it pretty intently last year, but agreed w/ whomever posted re- the lack of variety. Was thinking about attending it in person this year, but finances/downsizing nightmare precluded it. I still think that it might be a cool event, but you know my feelings about crowds. I truly think one of the smaller shows, e.g., Christie's, RM, etc., might be more fun these days.
Kind of surprised re- the trends as well; back in the day, a "clone" reproduction of, say, a Yenko Camaro would have been derided and sold for bottom dollar. These days, they're actually the source of some of the higher sales numbers. Looks like it's time to get that Fiero/GTB conversion back on track!
I'd like to go to Auburn someday. Had a lot of fun last year watching BJ and those Futureliners. My son saw one on a trailer[must have been a big one...] on SR 29 in Michigantown, IN not long after the auction. Don't know where it was going.
Dan
I saw online a nice Cougar convertible that went for less than $20k. I didn't care for the color, but I always like the looks of those cars.
A couple of photos for you from last years auction. I was on stage when the Oldsmobile was sold and boy was it tense. There was a man reputed never to have lost a car at the B-J auctions, but when this man bid $2,8 million for the Oldsmobile the youngster opposite immediately came under pressure to bid $2.9 million. He eyed his opponent up and then jumped straight to $3 million. The other fellow gave up.
here are a couple more of the 700 photos I took. Meguiars sold two semis full of polish in a week. The majority of cars had mirrors underneath and as you can see from the underneath photo one of the cars was even on a ramp. But everything was overpolished. The woody sold for $200,000.
I forgot this one
Nice photos!
Dan
I'll bet Meguiar's sold 2 truckloads of Chamois this year...
Dan
How many chevys can one watch being sold? How many Mustangs and Cobras are there? That sale this year got real boring just real quick. I was surprised the Duesenberg went so cheap. $660,ooo was cheap. Why is it really unique cars like the Dusey go so cheap and what was a run of the mill Chevy gets top dollar? And why can an aftermarket supplier manufacture a new 57 Chevy and sell it for $100,000? If they can do that why cant the general do it? The more I see of it the less I understand. :'(
otto
A late-'50's VW Beetle went for over 40K...it was nice, but not THAT nice...I'd like to see more classics, even cars from the '50's.....maybe some older Ferraris to go with the 300SELs that always seem to show up. Some Chrysler dream cars from the '50's would be nice, too...but I'll bet BJ would like all these cars, too. They can only sell what they get...
Dan
Quote from: otto on January 23, 2007, 06:05:02 PM
How many chevys can one watch being sold? How many Mustangs and Cobras are there? That sale this year got real boring just real quick. I was surprised the Duesenberg went so cheap. $660,ooo was cheap. Why is it really unique cars like the Dusey go so cheap and what was a run of the mill Chevy gets top dollar? And why can an aftermarket supplier manufacture a new 57 Chevy and sell it for $100,000? If they can do that why cant the general do it? The more I see of it the less I understand. :'(
otto
Supply and demand my friend.
Duesey = low supply, and low demand
Chevy, mopar, or ford muscle cars = relatively low supply, but high demand.
It's an age thing. Most of the Duesey buyer's are well into their "unable to drive years" while muscle car buyers are just gaining access to their retirement funds or home equity credit lines.
That said, I'm 32, and I'd rather have a Duesenberg. I've already owned a 427 powered 67 Chevelle. Classic muscle is fun, but not as fun as the prices they're fetching now.
In all honesty, and perhaps as a sign of my advancing age as well, I was much less interested in the hotrods, resto-mods, resto-rods, kustoms, and muscle than I was in some of the original, late forties, early fifties iron that was being sold. I'm no investor, but I would predict that in twenty years, the Duesy will still hold its value while the Chevelle LS-6 clone will disappoint its owner fully...
That's like saying that Rene Russo is somewhat more attractive than Cindi Lauper! :o
Quote from: MG on January 24, 2007, 01:09:06 PM
That's like saying that Rene Russo is somewhat more attractive than Cindi Lauper! :o
She is.
Dan
I'm in no position to be a snob when it comes to cars OR women. ;D
The emphasis was on "somewhat." ;)
Kind of an interesting article on Autoweek.com (I know, I know) re- Keith Martin being fired by Speed/Barrett-Jackson. Confirms my thoughts re- Craig Jackson being a Big Dick although I do appreciate his comment that no one sucking on B-J's teat should be bashing the company sto'....or, words to that effect.....
So it seems now that muscle are in an arc much as Ferrari was a decade ago. What goes up will come down. Wonder what is next. I like American cars even the common ones maybe original Nashs and the like. After all they are only original once. As much as the restored ones are beautiful it would be difficult to actually drive them on the street with that much money in them.
Also why doesn't the General retool for a Tri-five run and cash in on a niche market? Some with Cudas etc.
otto
I think that the Holden Efijy(sp?), if built, would sell like crazy. The problem w/ retro, as Ford is finding out, is that once you go back how do you go forward again?
Where have you gone Marty McFly?
Our General turns its lonely eyes to you...
Woo Woo Woo.....
Yea I really like that car. It could fill a niche market that's true but retro rods sell so why not. And General Sir PLEASE make the Buick Blackhawk. Chrysler make the Atlantic Coupe. Small market but much buzz.
otto
Is that Woody the one Boyd did for the Ameristar Casinos? I just saw the show starting the rebuild of that vehicle last week....
make the Atlantic Coupe
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
It would be really nice to see retrocars like the Atlantic and the Efijy, but Ithink that the Prowler kind of proved that there isn't much of a market for them. The PT Cruiser sells because it's also practical, but the bloom is off its' rose, too...
I'd like to see Ford build the Forty Nine instead off those bland Lincolns...
Dan
I TOTALLY dug the concept they had a year or three ago, the one that reminded of the early sixties Continental but looked completely contemporary and got great reviews....funny how most auto companies seem to ignore what people go crazy over and invest on lukewarm appliances.
Uh oh.
Quote from: Fourwheeldrift
http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=99547
January 27th, 2007 by fourwheeldrift
As a collector car journalist, I have been watching the Barrett-Jackson auction for years. For the last five or so years, it has been very apparent that the Scottsdale auction is at best a bastion of greed and manipulation...and at worse, all-out fraud.
I've discussed B-J with collectors, dealers and enthusiasts, many of whom would be considered "insiders," meaning they've bought and sold cars at B-J and other auctions, or are well-known in the collector car hobby. For some reason, it is this year that people are all finally grumbling and passing rumors in unison.
The bottom line is that Craig Jackson and the B-J company have really screwed themselves this year. Their contracts specifically promise every car three minutes on the stand. Due to ego and greed, they expanded the Scottsdale '07 auction to the point they could not provide this, plus they had the audacity to do it on live television.
A well-known former head judge in the Ford Thunderbird circles was one of the sellers who had his car short-timed. He has already filed a law suit against B-J, and this is already headed towards class-action status.
According to this judge and other sources, it appears Barrett-Jackson was operating a bit on the same level as an evangelical healing show. They had assistants milling around asking what specific sellers thought their cars would bring. Armed with this information at the control desk, if a lot passed the value at which a seller indicated he'd be happy, the car would be rushed off and the gavel would fall – even if bidding was still very much alive.
Because the event was televised on live television via the Speed TV network, the plaintiff(s) now have video/audio proof that buyers were signaling increased bids before the three-minute marks, but were denied by a too-fast last call and hammer.
While this all might cause Barrett-Jackson to have to pay money to sellers in the form of a judgment or settlement, it is something else that might land Craig Jackson in jail.
It is no secret that Barrett-Jackson owns many cars that are run through the auction – it was something I suspected many, many years ago. This was proven when they started maintaining a showroom of cars in Arizona. This is not illegal, but stay with me.
I've always suspected that the cars owned by Craig Jackson and the B-J company were often driven up by shill bidders working for the company. Essentially, the strategy works in the sense that ever since the auction focus moved from classics like Packards and Duesenbergs to muscle cars, B-J has been able to shill, say a Hemi Cuda or mid-year Corvette 427 they own, which causes the value of the 10 other identical cars to increase. They wind up "buying" their own car back, but the others go on to regular buyers, who now are paying higher because of the perception the market has moved up.
This suspicion has been validated by auction attendees this year that witnessed cars sold at auction headed in trailers back to B-J's warehouse. The lawsuit allegedly points out that these cars also spent significantly more time on the block than others.
If this isn't all interesting enough, during this year's auction, fellow collector car journalist, Keith Martin of Sports Car Market, was booted from the Westworld premises and his media credentials revoked for voicing loud, specific concern regarding the event while sitting in the media room. Barrett-Jackson accused Keith Martin of "holding court" and attempting to send VIPs and journalists to the competing RM and Russo and Steele auction events. Among the alleged opinions included that the cars at B-J were of inferior quality (and had quality misrepresented,) as well as that the bidders were significantly over-bidding cars, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has witnessed people paying six figures for cars they could have bought for under $50,000 any other day of the year!!!
This is somewhat of an interesting twist. Keith Martin's publication has marketed the B-J events and has helped fuel its popularity. Keith is definitely one of the great "insiders" of the hobby, and has been a friend to Craig Jackson. In past years, Keith nor his publication have been critical of the goings-on and rumors, while other collector car journalists have been outwardly screaming that something stunk.
It makes sense, since Sports Car Market really only tracks the value of vehicles and other items sold at auction, rather than via private sales (which really has skewed SCM's values for years!) So without kissing-ass to B-J, Keith would have missed insider info on the largest events covered by his mag. So we can only guess that Keith and Craig had a falling out of some type.
I applaud Keith for turning the corner on his view of B-J, but I'm with others I've talked to about this: I hate to say this about a colleague, but I felt his behavior was a bit unprofessional. As journalists, it is our responsibility to write what we think, but going to the show for years, then promoting RM and Russo+Steele while at Westworld is somewhat unprofessional. I agree that Keith, a true hobbyist who started out by writing an Alfa Romeo newsletter, was for a long time too much a part of the "circus" about which he finally rejected, and that SCM has to a significant degree helped to fuel misinformation and a house of cards regarding specific auction prices and bidding behavior. Keith, by all accounts, is a really good guy — an enthusiast, who maybe just needed to take a step back and a big breath and reacquaint himself with those outside of the very insulated collector car "in crowd" — and spend time with some car people who are not trying to exploit the collectors. There are plenty of guys who have dug themselves too deep into this little crowd, and are no longer fun to deal with, because they've put personal greed well ahead of the cars and the collectors. Keith will rebound — he has a great internal staff of really fantastic people, who hopefully will help him return to his roots.
That being said... While I've never met him, the buzz among those in the hobby — both collectors and journalists, is that Craig Jackson is quite arrogant, so don't expect many to come to his rescue. He inherited his father's company, and has fueled B-J's growth with a combination of intelligence, drive, ego, and greed. While there is nothing wrong with that combination, when it results in unethical and possibly illegal activities, that's inexcusable.
Like many surrounding the hobby, I will be watching the events unfold. Will the Westworld tents come down like a house of cards, or will everything just go away with an exchange of a little money? It's hard to predict. Craig Jackson has become a very powerful man, and his company has pumped billions of dollars into the Arizona economy over the years.
This all being said, there's no doubt that Barrett-Jackson "jumped the shark" this year. Unlike when Fonzi did it, Craig Jackson drove his allegedly shill-bid Hemicudas over the tank and down a ramp that could lead to six years in a minimum security prison-issued orange jumpsuit. If that's the case, maybe he can get Sports Car Market in the slammer to keep-up on Russo and Steele, RM and Kruse auction results.
I'm sure that this practice of "shill bidding" goes on at a lot of auctions, but that doesn't excuse the practice. If it did actually happen, and can be proven, this is a slap in the face of everybody who is involved in the hobby.
I'll bet that it will be very difficult to prove any wrongdoing on BJ's part, but that their reputation will suffer, regardless.
It's too bad, because the cars don't know any different, and it should be about the cars.
Dan
Interesting ... could definitely explain the wacky pricing ...
Regarding the remark by Tifosi above about more classic cars it has to be remembered that while th B-J is on there are two other auctions in Phoenix the same week and these cater for the more up market cars. A Duesenberg sold for $2.8 million, Plymouth 'Cuda for $2.4, Corvette for $1.5, and even a Ferrari Dino for $1 million. The upmarket, especially foreign, cars are rarely seen at the B-J but the other auction houses that week and some buyers go to each one since the smaller ones are held in the evening.
They don't call it BJ for nuttin'! ;D
Checkin' out the Barrett-Jackson on Speed today and I really enjoy seein' the cars. Still amazed at how much some cars bring in.
Anyone else see any of the Auction this year?
Quote from: Ultra on January 18, 2009, 02:03:00 PMAnyone else see any of the Auction this year?
Not me, but I've been reading and seeing pics from it...interesting.
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I watched a bit. Seemed like almost every time I called it up, there was a Tri-5 Chevy or a Camaro for sale. If there were any unique vehicles (beyond the over-the-top Ford pickup with matching boat and trailer), I missed 'em.