Thoughts on Barrett Jackson

[Ed Bighi]

I don't know how, but this auction makes less sense every year. I think Barrett Jackson is the only auction in the world where a Ferrari Daytona with a chevy small block in the front can fetch more money than a Daytona with its original Colombo V12. Not that it has happened yet, but at this aution it is possible. That is the level of the utter lack of taste in the average bidder at BJ. A few hours ago, some hot rod fetched $400,000. Even the announcers were speechless while trying to make sense out of that waste of money. I mean, after all, for that kind of money one can buy a Mille Miglia car. Heck, maybe even something good enough for Pebble Beach in the form of a Dusenberg, Delahaye or even Bugatti. Just yesterday, at the RM auction, I saw a Delahaye with Figoni et Falaschi coachwork sell for not much more than $400 at RM. Pretty good deal really. But to explain that to the usual yokel that goes to BJ is too challenging. To think of the minimum of $300K that was wasted on the purchase of that hot rod boggles my mind. I just hope that guy's kids are done with college. 400K and what does one show for it? A hot rod. Give me the Duesy instead. At least it will look proper when showing up in the entrance of the Breakers for instance.

[cellison]

Watched tha last 3 hours today. big bucks for nice musle, but what drives the hot rod market? My wife saw the $400K hot rod and puked...well she does have the flue.

Charles
88 Cab

[JeremyD]

No sense, no style, no appreciation for history. Too much money - not enough sense.

[Crachian]

Money laundering?

I only watched for three minutes, but I saw a beautiful Ferrari Barchetta in non-metallic French racing blue in as-new condition go for $251k, a little below market. Guess that only reinforces what you guys are saying about the bidders' taste.

[cyprusx]

From what I have seen, I wouldn't want but a few of the cars that I saw. But for the money they went for, it was money well wasted. I can't believe there are people out there that pay mucho bucks for such crap, IMO.

[tobluforu]

How funny is this post. My best friend just got out bid on a yellow bird from this site about 3 hours ago or so. Not sure if this car was worth it, but 0-60 in 2.8 sec-huh!!

[techweenie]

A '54 Corvette for $100K? $74K for a '69 Malibu convertible? $84K for a 2-seat T-bird?

BK is lunacy. It's a combination of too much money; too much nostalgia for one's past, and for the past couple of years, it's been "patriotic" to buy Uh-merican iron instead of really significantly advanced cars like the abovementioned Ferrari.

Kinda sad. But fascinating, nevertheless.

[Rich Lambert]

I'll bet there'll be quite a few buyers (or spouses) waking up tomorrow wondering, "WTF was I thinking?"...like the guy that paid $104K for a '58 Impala.

[techweenie]

LOL.

I paid $800 for one when I was in college, and it wasn't long befoe I was asking myself 'what was I thinking?!'

:-)

[Az911]

Anyone know how much the yellow iroc went for?

[JeremyD]

What did the yellowbird go for?

[jrb964]

Or how about the guy who paid over $800K for the four, yes four, Corvette Callaways!!!! And he bragged about how their were going to appreciate...

[GIBSON]

I wondered about that Callaway buyer too, sure seemed like he was talking himself into believing those things are going to appreciate. That one seemed odd to me, I'm sure the buyer knew Callaway, makes you wonder why they didn't do the deal
before the auction and save a lot of auction fees etc.
I think BJ wanted the cars in the show and worked a deal with
Reeves.. just guessing.
It's a good year to be selling muscle, maybe not such a good year to be buying.

[tobluforu]

The Yellow bird went for $52,000. Seems like a steel to me. My buddy is sick to death that he got out bid in the last 5 minutes. Does anyone know anything about this car? http://www.barrett-jackson.com/events/scottsdale/vehicles/cardetail_list.asp?id=175174
He wants to call the new owner and buy it off him if it's worth it.
Thanks

[JeremyD]

Good god - that is a steal for $52K - If it's as what it seems - that car was the deal of the show... $400K for a Mercury Zephyr - $52K for a real Ruf "yellowbird" - something is amiss...

[Axeman]

$52k??? That was an awesome steal!!

[masraum]

Money does not = sence




... or I'd be rich instead of poor

[jrb964]

Would you rather have 4 Callaway Corvettes or 8 RUF Yellow Birds. There the same price!!!

Also, to the guy who bought the 4 Corvettes - you could have had 4 993TT S's for $500K, a $300K savings over what he paid. And in 5 years what's going to be worth more?

BJ has become an American Muscle car paradise. The P-Cars don't do well here because the market is not sophicated enough to know the value of the cars. Recently there has been some good P-Car buys to be had. Not many, but a few.

[CarreraS2]

Wow, that was a lot of car for $52K.

A friend who was there said a lot of the cars (and most of the Ferraris) were doggies, or "10 footers."

[DonNewton]

". . . because the market is not sophicated enough to know the value of the cars. . ."

I couldn't disagree more. Because that collector car market does not jive with your likes, it's (that market) NOT less than sophisticated. What I saw during the 15 hours was a group of buyers who are indeed sophisticated in their desires for their favorite marque, and were prepared to spend their money backing those desires. Implying those buyers are less than sophisticated doesn't do too much for our image amongst the car afficionados of the world, does it?