I bought a............ t-shirt, cap, and a shot glass. Never saw any cars that really grabbed my attention, while there were a few I liked, they just weren't perfect:ill: .

Tomorrow's another day, maybe I'll come home with a new vehicle. Overall it was fun, contrary to popular belief, there were a few bargains, but unfortunately none were appealing.

Well I hope you find the car you want, and get it for a steal. I didn't realize they had "less expensive" cars on the block. All I ever see are the record setting cars on their show. Those auctions are quite a spectical. I'd like to attend someday. Keep us posted!

Yeah, there were a couple there that were not prize winning cars, but alot were just drivers. I really did like the 302 Z/28 though. I think it was a '68, can't remember. That '69 SS 369 Camaro was nice as well, as that 1970 Boss 302.

Save your money. You will make a much better deal on a private owner car than anything an BJ.

Save your money. You will make a much better deal on a private owner car than anything an BJ.

I agree whole-heartedly but he doesn't care. His heart is set on not only being there but buying something. In an earlier post he mentioned something about "having more money than brains..."

If needed, I'll trade you some brains for your money :)

Save your money. You will make a much better deal on a private owner car than anything an BJ.


Most people buy cars at Barrett- Jackson because they know that they are getting an authentic car, not a clone; and documentation is important to me. I do have a set limit on certain cars that I don't plan on breaking. I'm not going to pay an obcene amount of money for a car that's only worth so much.

His heart is set on not only being there but buying something. In an earlier post he mentioned something about "having more money than brains..."

I mentioned that many people that buy there have more money than brain......not me of course :D!

I'm selling my 1972 Mustang showcar at the Spring B-J in Palm Springs this year,,,,so I'm really keeping close tabs on how much things are selling for in Arizona this week.

I thought that '68 Hemi GTX went for a real bargain.

Generally speaking, B-J and some others are well known to have inflated priced cars. Most serious dealers admit there's much better places to go for bargains. Even B-J spokespeople admit it and try to play it down by pointing to the pluses of the event. They admit that if you're shopping for price only, their show is probably NOT the best place to be.
IMO, this kind of stuff is artificially inflating values of many cars and fueling what will in the end turn out to be bad for the industry as a whole. As prices go up, the average car moves out of the average Joe's reach. In the end, the rich suck up and hoard all the nice iron. Eventually, the whole thing falls in on itself and there's a crash in the pricing structure. I just hope I'm around for that so I can pick up some nice cars at more realistic prices. In the mean time, I guess I'm lucky that I'm not limited to just buying nice cars, I can build one if I really want.

Well Katshot, in earlier years (late '80s - early '90s), there were alot of speculators that got into the old car market just to make a quick buck and flip the desirable cars (Superbirds, Hemi-anythings, nice CobraJets, GTOs, etc.) - using the cars to fluff up their stock portfolios, which weren't doing great things at the time, anyway. Nothing like a few tasty musclecars to bolster up those flagging bonds, eh?

The market corrected itself in the mid- '90s when alot of the speculators got burned (no tears here for them!) and left the scene, leaving dyed-in-the-wool car guys to continue on with their beloved hobby. There are still mega-buck cars out there - due to either their rarity or the type, or the condition, pulling in the numbers, but for the most part the cars you see today are selling for what it would take to bring them to their current level ie; I saw a number of cars yesterday going in the $20 - 30K range that sounds about right, considering what went into them both mechanically and body-wise. At that amount, the sellers are probably NOT getting the full amount they put into the car to get it to that level, but that's life. Hell, even the clones are pulling realistic numbers; nothing like the real thing - which is as it should be; they'll always be hi-dollar machines.

Those hi-dollar ones will be hitting the block later in the week. For the first coupla days, the more affordable cars are going across, letting the average Joe have a shot at them, if they want to get into the hobby, or maybe supplement what they've already got in their collections, whatever.

B-J has inspectors that for a fee will go through your car prior to the auction - in fact, it's recommended - to verify that what you are representing is what you are selling (condition of body, matching numbers, NOS parts, mileage), among other things. This inspection can then be handed out to any interested bidders prior to the car hitting the block. I plan on getting that inspection done, as I have nothing to hide - and the main reason I'm selling the car through B-J rather than selling it up here in Northern Rubber Boot, Ontario is that I know I'll get a price that is reasonable and fair, considering the history of the car and all the work I've done to it.

Being sold at Barrett-Jackson adds an interesting footnote to a car's history too.

Reasonable and fair? Come on, you know exactly why you're selling there. Bottom line. Pure and simple. That's where you stand to make the most. Problem is, if places like B-J aren't careful, they're going to price themselves out of the game. Their ever increasing overhead is forcing them to charge more and more to all involved. Eventually, the market won't be able to support the circus show they have built and there'll be problems.
And as for the values of "collectible" cars, I can only tell you that overall, if you think that cars are good "investment", you're sadly mistaken. Most, if not all builders understood for a long time that they would never get out of a car what they have into it. Now, thanks to a growing group of idiotic buyers, that's changing and now you're seeing all kinds of people coming out of the woodwork with cars for sale. They all think they're sitting on gold mines. I can't believe what some people think their cars are worth but hey, if some moron is will to pay that for it, I guess it's worth it. You see, morons with money just artificially inflate the market.

I don't blame Barrett Jackson for high prices. I blame foolish buyers. People paying 150K or more for a cloned Hemi car? 3 million for an ugly concept? Please. Sure there were only something like 7 Hemi 'Cuda 'Verts made in '71 but no one wanted them then. This is why 7 were built. I'm not sure why it is a 2 million dollar car today. It can't do anything but go in a straight line.

Buyers need to stop having pissing contest with each other at this auction as well. I think a lot of people lose thier heads when that camera is in thier face. Maybe they don't want to get punked but I'd rather be punked and keep a fat wallet.

A car's true worth is what someone is willing to pay for it. There are many cars I wouldn't waste time even storing, but someone else may find exceptional value in them.

It's like artwork. Some understand it and some don't.

Katshot, you are 100% incorrect. You can't blame the price of these cars on Barrett Jackson and foolish bidders (most of them are actually very smart). As the years go by, the rarity of these cars increases which leads us to the dramatic price increase over the years. Some cars do sell for piles of money, but most are worth it. I'll take the concept car from last year's BJ as an example. That car was a concept, 1 of 1 ever built and designed by one of the world's greatest car designers of the era. This car was stunning in all sense of the word. Wether it was worth $3.2 million is debatable, but someone wanted to own a piece of history. It's now in a museum in Denver for the public to see.

Many of the people that go to Barrett- Jackson do have quite a lot more money than you or me, but if they want to collect rolling sculptures, more power to 'em! I think of myself as a discerning buyer and I won't pay much more than the car is worth, and many people that go there have the same mindset.

If you want a bargain basemant car for a bargain basement price, look in the classified ads; if you want a fully restored car for an equally good price, go to Barrett Jackson.

The Barrett-Jackson deal does add to a cars value, but with an 8 percent buyers commission, 8 percent sellers commission, AND a 350.00 entrance fee, BJ is cleaning up and thats ridiculous.

Ebay can be a source of cars that are almost as good, and truthfully, I frequently see wonderful cars on ebay that I think could be good "Barrett-Jackson" cars, but the sellers seem to know their audience and may just not want to participate.

speedy , buy the "futurliner" and call it a day ....

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/about/pressreleases/bj06_futurliner.asp
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/images/carjpg/2006bjcca/2/1307/2006BJCCA2_1307_34.jpg

You know Stoneage, I actually read a long time ago (in one of my Collector Car magazines) about some dude Stateside that collected old buses! He had the room for them - lived on a farm somewhere with oodles of acres of nothing, so filling that nothing with buses was as good a plan as any else as far as he was concerned, I guess.

His Pride and Joy, the Jewel of his collection, the Epitome of bus-dom, was a one-off bus that was manufactured by the MACK truck company in the early '50s. Apparently MACK was bidding on supplying buses to some city and built this prototype as a proof-of-concept for them. They lost out and this bus, left to rot, left to return to it's own elements, was picked up by the collector, lovingly restored to pristine conditionand now resides in one of his large closed facilities.

I've never heard of Bus conventions being held around the country, but anything is possible, as the PGA likes to say. Can you imagine how long it would take to detail a bus?!?!?!?