Barrett Jackson?

I enjoy watching the auction just to see vehicles like the GM Futurliner and hear about its story. Or even see what the Monster Garage cars sell for. Otherwise, seeing the auction prices for some of these cars is just astronomical.



In regards to the General Lee, I was watching a show on CMT about the DukesFest annual gathering the other night. It was interesting to see how many General Lee clones were at the event.

My assessment of the auction is a bit different than those above. Let me brake it down this way:

First day: The cars are the type you and I own. Some are really nice, some are high end drivers. The muscle cars, and those normal Vetts, mustangs and Thunderbirds were about where I expected them to be. They were very consistant with the prices you would find in the respectable collector guides. The orphan cars were a great buy and the hot rods were unpredictable and about 9 percent above the going estimated prices.



The days leading up to "Super Saturday" were filled with high end muscle cars and name brand builders that have not yet made their name in the business. The price on most of the muscle cars were running 17 percent below normal rate. Seven cars that I identified were sold from Barrett-Jackson in previous years and returned to the block this year and that is were I factored my declining rate from.



Super Saturday was a freak Show. They dug up anyone with a name and ran a car through with their name on it. Several cars were charity actions and seemed only to be on the block to inflate the other cars being offered. There were a high number of specialty cars and clone cars. As printed above in a thread--How many General Lee's can you have (just as a side note, I would have bid much higher if Barbara Bach, the only real Daisy Duke, had been there at 25 years of age in those famous levi shorts) Not a single price obtained from Super Saturday could be considered responsible.



Sunday will happen today. I have not a clue how this will pan out. But, I would love to know how the Italia will perform. And as a side note. This has to be one of the finest car shows in the World! Great cars, fantastic weather, fun people, spectacular displays from vendors and a reality show that puts to shame all the other trash that saturates our television viewing evenings.:rolleyes:



Just some thoughts here "Somewhere west of Salt Lake."

I think you've got some heartsick folks out there now- the ones who paid the crazy prices last year, have been paying 200 a month for climate-controlled storage, and now see their "investment" going south on them. And they're in a box- they can't ditch the fancy storage and start driving (and enjoying) the car, because then they will surely lose their investment, even if another "bubble" comes along. Believe I'll stick with real estate as far as investments go, and stick with drivers for my auto purchases.



One of my favorites was the '65 (or so) Mercury Comet Caliente- pretty car, but when it came on the block, I asked myself, "Why would anyone spend the bucks to restore one of those?" Ended up selling for $19,500, and they mentioned $50,000 in documented restoration receipts. I guess "irrationality" was the answer to my question.