Jan 22: Barrett Jackson Auction - $ well spent?

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale. This is the big gun auction. Sure, there are several others held at the same time in the same area, including one by our Canadian company, RM Auctions, but B-J is the numero uno. This past weekend saw six days of prime time TV coverage and multi-millions of dollars spent in front of that TV audience. I love to watch folks with money play.

Although it runs for 6 days, the cars going for the biggest bucks go over the auction block on Saturday evening and that is where one sees HUGE dollars change hands. How much you ask, well take a look.......

The right to buy the first 2014 Corvette went to mega dealership and NASCAR team owner, Rick Hendrick, for a cool $1.1 mil. But to put this into perspective, the proceeds went to charity, so he wasn't completely crazy. One of my favorites was the gray and cream '49 Delahaye coupe.......

......this rolling sculpture went for $1.2 million. Picture this beauty at the Tim Horton's drive thru, "I'll take my double/double in a gold cup, please." Want something a little more up to date, a little less expensive? How about this Porsche 959.......

Considered a wonder car when it was intro'd and sold only in very limited numbers (and none in North America), this one went for $440,000. A rather small(?) amount when you realize that was about the 10% buyer's premium on the much anticipated Batmobile.......

Hyped up to the nth degree, this icon and TV star sold for $4.2 mil plus the $420,000 buyers's premium. Way over the top and to me a waste of hard earned dollars. Back to reality with Clark Gable's '55 M-B 300 SL, hammered down for $2.035 million.......

Here are some other gems........

'71 Hemi Cuda - $1,320,000

'50's Chrysler Diablo concept car - $1,375,000

1934 Duesenberg - $1,430,000

Starting to get a noise bleed, have runny eyes? Well let's step back a bit and realize that not all of the bidders were related to Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or had just won the Powerball lottery. This Caddy from 1973 probably wins the prize for the cheapest car per pound at Barrett-Jackson.......

.......since it went for a measly $9570 and it weighed about 2.5 tons or more.

But even the top bids couldn't prior some cars from their current owners.......

This '67 Shelby Mustang prototype ("one of one"), went as high as $1.8 million, but stayed with its owner. Not sure what the reserve would have been, but I'd guess that it was close to $2,500,000. Noise bleed territory indeed.

Your retirement nest egg burning a hole in your bank account? Well, don't despair that you missed out on this event, since Barrett-Jackson runs three more throughout the year. Lots of time to earmark your hard earned dollars for a primo piece of shiny metal. And remember.......my advice is always free!

Until next time.......