The 2008 Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, AZ is winding down today. Accepted as the price barometer for the new year, B-J 2008 certainly lived up to its reputation. Saturday was one of the most exciting car days of all time. Just to give you a small sample of the super excitement, try the sale of Carroll Shelby’s 1969 Shelby GT500 Convertible, a car he had specially assembled in 1969. The beautiful Candy Apple Red dream machine closed for $675,000, plus auction premium. The much ballyhooed “Rondine” Pinninfarina 1963 Corvette concept car sold for $1.6 million. The largest mechanical robot, 40 foot long “Robosaurus” closed at $575,000.It is estimated that it would cost $5 million to develop and build today. A 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 sold for $625,000, a 1969 Camaro RCR car sold for $575,000. If that isn’t enough 2008 Shelby GT500 KR sold for $550,000. A trend from last year continued this year. Early M-B SL convertible are rising in value.A pretty 1961 M-B 300SL sold for $525,000. A 1959 M-B 300SL sold for $435,000. Hot domestic muscle cars remain hot, just maybe not quite so much. A 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda went for $245,000 followed by a 1969 Dodge Hemi Charger 500 for $165,000. The LS6 Chevelles were off some, most selling in the $80,000 range, but a Saturday car, a 1970 Chevelle LS6 454/450 sold for $177,500 giving heart to the bow tie boys. There were some disappointments, an obvious one being a 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV Convertible that could only muster $110,000, about $125,000 less than last year. In conclusion, B-J confirmed that prices had declined in general during the last year, something most collectors already had a feeling for. The strength is in the real market, the Baby Boomer marketplace. The market is alive and well and we are all having a good time.
Archive for January, 2008
the Barrett-Jackson auction
January 22, 2008the Arizona auctions
January 19, 2008I am avidly watching the Barrett-Jackson antique and classic car auction on Speed every day. This is really becoming a custom car auction! The customs are doing well pricewise, but it sure seems like there are not that many stock, original cars. I personally kind of cringe every time I see what looks like a beautiful muscle car roll up on the block and then I glance down and see these humongo cartoonish looking chrome wheels…. But, the engine bays and interiors are mighty impressive, I have to admit.
Would you like to be in the restoration business?
Not me, based on the prices I am seeing. Over the last few days that I have been watching the auction, I have seen car-after-car selling for about what its restoration cost….maybe. I have seen many beautifully restored 50’s 60’s and 70’s cars sell for seventy or eight thousand dollars……cars with fresh ground up or frame-off restorations. Believe me, those restorations costs more then eighty thousand dollars. I would guess that the average restoration on those cars is well over one hundred thousand dollars. Nobody is making money on those sales, except the auction company. And the winning bidders are getting some very good buys.
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