My .02 on Barrett-Jackson

[Ngtflyr]

If you consider yourself a car nut, and I'm guessing most of you do. Do yourself a favor and come out to see it in person. I've been thru several years of auctions now and consider myself fortunate to be able to drive 30 minutes and be at ground zero. There is so much to do and see. BJ is huge, I was there the day before Robosauraus sold, it was just something over in the corner, hardly gave it a look. Last time I was there was 4 or 5 years ago and thought it was huge then, I bet it's 5 times as big now, maybe not in the number of cars but the sideshows, covered tent space, and attendence. There are thousands of cars to see between, BJ, RM, Silver, Russo Steele, Kruse, and others I don't even pay attention to, oh and of course go to the Pavillions on Saturday, and this year Christenholtz's. Unless you've been there you can't fully comprehend it, most of the big events are 10 minutes apart so you can take in Russo Steele, BJ and the Pavillions in one day, but you better have your roller skates on. There are so many top notch cars you can't possibly evaluate them all, it's impossible. And I am just talking about the miniscule slice of the market I know something about. BJ's is a circus, from junk to the best of the best and a bunch of side shows to boot, Russo and Steele has the best if you are a pure muscle car enthusiest, the pavillions draws a huge number of cars, a lot of the really cool high dollar cars aren't there because their owners are to absorbed in the auctions but I would stack up whats there anyway against pretty much any public "free" car show. I was glad to go back to work last nite so I could rest. I agree that to the purist BJs is not what we would like it to be but who can blame Craig Jackson, he is pulling in money from so many directions it's incredible, he's smarter than a lot of people give him credit. I wouldn't be surprised if the buyers and sellers commissions are less than 25% of the overall take. So start planning your trip and saving your pennies and see it for yourself. It really is the Mecca of Musclecars. BTW, BJ isn't moving to Vegas, they are creating another auction for Vegas which is very appropriate considering the kind of show it is. BJs has purchased land from Scottsdale finally and will be building permanent buildings on site to replace some of the tents.

[Charley Lillard]

Did they buy the Westworld site ?

[Yankit]

It sold for $575K which is the same price the RCR 69 Camaro sold for, there no question which I'd rather have given the choice......

[Les Quam]

I can't blame Craig Jackson. I blame Charley, it's guys like him drooling over that robo-thing and being a John Schnieder groupie that caused all this?

Although if I was king of BJ world I would bring back the reserve, which would bring back the significant and historic cars and dump the boats, robots and washed up celebrities and their crappy cars. Why does Goldbergs clone HEMI cuda CV get a prime Saturday night spot? Because he is Jackson's buddy? The car is an average quality clone and gets prime Saturday night? Is the quality of the cars so weak a boat gets a prime Saturday night spot along with a Cuda clone and general Lee made up car?

Last Mecum auction I went to I was talking to Arnie Beswick as he stood next to one of his historic race cars that was for sale. At BJ you get a robot, Goldberg and a dukes of Hazzard guy. Tells you everything you need to know about the state of BJ IMHO. Tells you everything you need to know about Mecum and his respect for muscle history that he puts the historic drag cars and their drivers front and center. BJ thinks John Schnieder is an important piece of automotive history and Mecum thinks Arnie Beswick is? Enough said.

[southernfriedcj]

Do the auctions have "cars for sale" corrals for people that want to name their price and not send their car across the block? If so which ones?

[PhilS]

I wish Charley had bought Robosuarus. He could charge admission to watch it chomp on the Isetta he bought at Russo. Those two machines are truly diametrically opposed. As for the auctions, I spent less time at B-J than ever before so It's hard for me to say but I did sell 2 cars at Russo and was treated very well. I would never have gotten that much time on the block at B-J. They really worked for their money.

[Paul_S]

Like a Mouse to an Elephant!

[Ngtflyr]

BJ does have a "car corral" but you may not be able to name your price. A friend wanted to put his highly documented CE block LS6 El Camino in it and was told it was not worth the reserve he set. He was told it was a $40K car, needless to say it didn't go there.

[Ngtflyr]

Rumour is that they bought either part of Westworld or some adjacent property with plans to put in some permanent buildings. Of course a couple years ago I heard they were pulling up stakes and moving the whole thing out to the Cardinals stadium in Glendale. That was probably a negotiating ploy with the city of Scottsdale.

[427rcode]

IF YOU TAKE YOUR CAR THERE AND IT IS A REAL QUALITY CAR,YOUR TAKING A CRAP SHOOT THAT THE HAMMER MIGHT COME DOWN VERY QUICK TO A INSIDER.RUSSO AND STEELE IS PICKING UP STEAM AND IS GOING TO BE A HEADACHE FOR B-J.THE CARS ARE NICE,THE ATMOSPHERE IS GREAT,HE FEEDS YOU,AND THE AUCTION IS FUN,AND MOST OF ALL THE PRICES ARE A LOT BETTER IF YOU ARE A BUYER