Sorry I missed the show Sat. I have a good excuse. I got the opportunity to go to the Barrett-Jackson auction. My best Ford fanatic friend called me 1/13 to offer me a ride as someone had to back out at the last minute. They were driving from North Carolina and I had to meet them in Hueytown. Didn't take but a few minutes for me to decide to go. We took his F350 Super Duty, what a nice ride and 18 MPG! I never had been west of St. Louis so this was a first for me. Can you say ROAD TRIP? 1850 miles each way from HG. We left Sunday, slid through Dallas on Monday (saw no less than 2 dozen semis flipped over and witnessed one NASCAR style accident in the oncoming lanes), and arrived at the auction on Tuesday about noon. Shuttle buses were constantly moving the spectators from parking to the entrance, so there was very little walking up to the point of entering the event. Ford had one hellova interactive display right inside the main entrance with 2 Shelbys tied down to a stage, giving everyone who desired to race them a chance to have their name drawn to make a 1/4 mile run. There was a mall set up with about everything for sale that a gear head could want, gas pumps, die cast, tool boxes, couches made from backends of cars, '57 Chevy bbq grille, artwork, Rousch engines (with the Ring brothers 67 fastback on display, the nicest custom Mustang built to date IMO), classic car insurance, and FOOD (tasted several different bbqs, there was a restaurant called the Pink Taco but I didn't eat there). Looked at most of the 1200 cars, trucks, and other vehicles over the 3 days I was there and watched about 300 go across the auction block live, and caught a few on the big screens positioned around the staging area. If you are watching replays of the auction, look for me, I was wearing our bright yellow RCMC shirt one day and an Auburn shirt another, met a member of the Govenors staff on Thursday, I wonder what he was bidding on? Looked at the newest continuation 'Shelbys', and one of the 12 66 convertibles from 1981 was there as well (it a shame that someone bought that car and didn't preserve it, now that its one of the 1st continuation Shelbys prior to the Unique cars, it has somewhat of a historical siqnificance). We headed home on Friday travelling 1100 miles in 18 hours stopping for the best steak I ever ate in Abilene, everyone in the steak house had on a cowboy hat but the 4 of us! We took turns driving and while I was behind the wheel in Texas we entered an 80 MPH zone, not often you can legally go 80, but I pressed the limit a little. Went through several Border Patrol Checkpoints, and saw an '04 Mustang and a F150 Texas Highway Patrol vehicles. Stopped at a rest stop in New Mexico that had a sign that read 'Beware of Rattlesnakes'. Saturday while passing through Monroe Louisianna we encountered an accident involving an '04 Mustang that had crossed over the retaining wall into oncoming traffic and was run over by a semi then burned, we lost a fellow Mustanger that day. Overall it was a great trip and I recommend the Barrett-Jackson auction if you ever get the chance to go. Next time I'm flying! kennyg

 

Sounds like a blast. I'd love to go someday.

 

You would definately enjoy it! I forgot to mention that a bidder's pass was $500 and came with free drinks for the week. Notice how the prices got higher later in the day?! I've considered taking a car out there to sell, but the no reserve scares me. I saw a 4000 mile Mustang II sell for $7000 and a '72 convertible that was fully restored sell for $22000. I bid $1 million on the 427 Cobra looking for a deal (just kidding).

 

I read yesterday where BJ is getting sued because in their contract they state all cars will get to stay on the block for at least 3 minutes. Apparently several were cut short. And the sellers were not happy! Also rumors of Craig Jackson running several of his own cars through, yet they were seen going back to his storage area, apparently not meeting his "reserve". Very shady operation if you ask me.

 

 

I heard of one car owner that was upset that their car was not given enough time and it brough about $15K less than they felt it was worth. But, I also talked to the previous owner of a vehicle that brought $110K and he was hoping for $65K. Also, saw one go across the block, auctioneer made the last call and put the hammer down @ $37K then opened the bidding back up and it brought $52K. The one Pantera that went through was a daily driver at best with a cheap paint job. Caveat Emptor!!!

 

I really enjoyed the live VIA t-mobile cell phone hourly updates. Ken would call when something good would go across the block. You could hear the auctioneers in the background. I look forward to flying out there soon to observe !

 

Kind of related as far as pricing goes - Howell Hooper's old '67 Shelby GT-350 is listed in this month's SnakeBite Bulletin for $150,000. And we all though he was CRAZY for spending $12,000 for rusted hulk!

 

What did he sell for?, $60K? Had a man ask about my Cobra yesterday and I told him the not for sale price of $10K and he may have someone interested. No I haven't done anything to it!

 

i`m thinking i saw a particular car ( dont remember what it was ) sell for 75 grand on wednsday nite come rite back on saturday nite and bring only 50 grand.. the first buyer thought the richer folks later in the week would pay even more .... wrong !!!

 

I don't think that it's possible that the same car got ran back through as all of the spots were sold in advance. I've got a catalog of the 1200 or so auction items. There were however several similar cars. How many times have you heard someone compare their vehicle to one that sold at B-J? Every one is different in some way. They sure did mention that alot of the vehicles were '1 of 1'. I'm sure they were!

 

Long but worth the read: http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76353

 

Great link Mgreeene.