Barrett Jackson observations

• Boy, did the economy just pwn the auction this year. One of the most cringeworthy lots was the new ZR1 and the 1993 ZR1 sold together as a package. IIRC, it went for $160k. OUCH. The big sellers were really unimpressive (price-wise) this time around.

• Is it me, or are there a LOT of douchebags in the audience there??? I got almost constant douchechills while seeing all of those "night-at-the-roxbury v. 2009" toolbags in the audience

• for some reason, I want to strangle the dude w/ the ponytail who is always up next to the auctioneer. I'm sure he's a bigiwg at Barrett-Jackson, but I get the impression he just wants to be seen on TV and is starved for some sort of fame. Please go away, sir. And BTW--your ponytail makes you look silly. When Jay Leno cut it off of you last year (an another attention-grab) you should have left it off.

• Some of the resto-mods were gorgeous. There was a pro-touring Cuda that was outrageous.

• Still too much American muscle. Looks like the Euro exotic collectors are waiting this mess out.

• Seems like a good time to by a musclecar. Shelbys have taken a hit from 5 years ago. Ditto for Hemi cars.

...and yet, I still tune in for a lot of it...

I heard that an early Thunderbird went for $650,000 while a Saleen S7 twin-turbo went for just around $100,000. That's about $100.00 per hp.

I have never understood the appeal of that for buyers. If there is a significant car that you just have to have and can't persuade the owner to do it any other way then I get it but otherwise... why in the hell would you go there to "shop"?

You see what they pay for some of that utter crap and wonder if they know about Carlisle.

its interesting to flip back and forth between barrett-jackson on DHDT and the mecum auction on speed. at the mecum auction, they didn't appear to be trying real hard to bump the prices up on some of the cars. there were several very nice looking partially restored cars/trucks that went for less than 10k. and even more that didnt break 20k. i guess thats the difference between those two.

also, they sold "the rights to" the very first 2010 camaro off the line, serial 10001 to rick hendrick for 200k, but those proceeds went to the american heart association

So, they're uh, actually going to build the Camaro? (I can't wait to see it.)

I was watching the first night and NOBODY was in the audience. Tuesday? Wednesday?

It looked like some nice stuff was barely getting $11,500. Some older Chevrolet red pickup went for minimum.

I imagine some were given away? I agree that Saturday night is a bit of a freak show.

HUH? I didn't see the economy hitting anything. Average sales prices seemed to be up the first few days. They seemed to have a lot more $100k sales than normal.

I haven't watched it all, I do love my DVR, but I have watched all the first days and am into about mid day Saturday.

I don't understand how anyone can sit through that crap....

yes, there are alot of douchenozzles in the audience by the way!

confuZion3 wrote: So, they're uh, actually going to build the Camaro? (I can't wait to see it.)

they actually had a pre-production version (vin ended in exp or something) there to show what it would look like.

i thought it was funny how the announcers were like "and this is not a retro car like the other ones, it doesn't take anything but the exterior lines, and the headlights, and the taillights, and a bit of the interior...from the 69 camaro"

berkleying dolts

maroon92 wrote: I don't understand how anyone can sit through that crap.... yes, there are alot of douchenozzles in the audience by the way!

+1. I do not care to waste my time watching a bunch of clowns waving their gigantic financial penises around.

1. Record the whole mess on DVR - all 39+ hours of it

2. Pop some popcorn

3. Get a cold drink.

4. Take everything to the recliner and get comfortable.

5. Hit Fast Forward and stop only on the things that interest you. I found I could do each day's 5 hour session in about 45 minutes.

You will miss some of the most interesting information since the announcers throw that in at odd moments but it is still fun.

I didn't see a penis one, but I did see some pretty cool cars. If you were looking for or at penises then you were on the wrong channel. You want Pay Per View.

That is EXACTLY what I was going to say. This stuff is made for the DVR. I wouldn't dream of sitting through the entire thing but liberally FF'ing and only stopping when you see something really awesome is a great way to blow a couple hours.

Even better, with our digital cable package we get Speed Channel On Demand, and they always put the B-J coverage up on the On Demand channel after it's over. So I don't even need to remember to DVR it, or waste my HD space :).

Strizzo wrote:

confuZion3 wrote: i thought it was funny how the announcers were like "and this is not a retro car like the other ones, it doesn't take anything but the exterior lines, and the headlights, and the taillights, and a bit of the interior...from the 69 camaro" berkleying dolts

Well other than a few styling cues it's nothing like the real Camaros. It's WAY bigger. It's like the Challenger has more in common with the Charger than it ever had with the real Challenger.

lets not get all hung up on dimensions, all cars have gotten larger over the years. that would be like saying that the 09 f150 should actually be an f250 because its larger than the original.

so tell me, those gauges, they don't look anything like the old camaros? that radio, its not styled at all to look like the old punch-button radios from back in the day? i'll give you that not everything has been retro-ized, but c'mon, don't piss on my foot and tell me its raining.

Jensenman wrote:

maroon92 wrote: I don't understand how anyone can sit through that crap.... yes, there are alot of douchenozzles in the audience by the way!

+1. I do not care to waste my time watching a bunch of clowns waving their gigantic financial penises around.

Putting a lot of guys with big egos in front of an cheering audience complete with television coverage is a good way to bid up the price on something.

The interesting thing is that many of the bidders are doing this with a line of credit, not with cash.

Strizzo wrote: lets not get all hung up on dimensions, all cars have gotten larger over the years. that would be like saying that the 09 f150 should actually be an f250 because its larger than the original. so tell me, those gauges, they don't look anything like the old camaros? that radio, its not styled at all to look like the old punch-button radios from back in the day? i'll give you that not everything has been retro-ized, but c'mon, don't piss on my foot and tell me its raining.

The 24 valve V6 they are putting in those would only be retro if we were talking Ferrari.

I want one.

I loved the $6700 mercedez 280 d 1978 or so , great buy rest trash

Yessir, that interior has ALL the cues. I wonder if the automatics will have that 'stirrup' shifter?

'57 bel air ragtop went for $80k. i was shocked at how "cheap" it was. it wasn't red, though.

Jensenman wrote: Yessir, that interior has ALL the cues. I wonder if the automatics will have that 'stirrup' shifter?

doesn't look like it.

We have a tradition at my house of watching the Saturday auction to see people losing their damn minds and spending money. Prices were way, way down this year. Sure, there were plenty $100,000 cars, but there wasn't a single $1 million car as there has been every year for the last 5 or so. Some stuff is still very expensive, but for example the Hemi cars weren't getting nearly what they were two or three years back.

I actually went to the auction. It was pretty funny, my wife and I were mostly interested in the limited number of imports that we saw there. After a while it was just saturation in american muscle, so finding something different was fun. We went in the staging lanes (waved hi to mom) and looked at a couple of cars there, then watched them go across the state. In person, it is even worse, you cannot see up close, there is basically no description, and I couldn't bid on the Jag that I wanted

Found out to bid it is $500, and then the seller's cost is 8%, the buyer's cost is 10%.

I will have pics up tonight of the cars I thought were worth looking at, wife took them so not sure how much filtering went on.

I enjoy watching, although not as much as a few years ago. I mainly watch to see what preserved, low mileage cars will go for in that setting.The 427-tri-power-4 speed-air-tank sticker-matching number Vettes tend to get a little old.

I can't figure out the nimrod announcers name that irks me...maybe Rick Debruhl??

I do like to watch the RM Auction with DeCadenet.

they did have a 1956 Ski-Master Healey power boat that sold for $12,100 on Tuesday.

this is from the donald healey design.....nice.

You can scan the cars on this site: http://www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/search.aspx?st=1&aid=283&d=01/18/2009

And a Pontiac Aztek Pace Car sold for $13,750, so obviously the alcohol was flowing freely here.....

InigoMontoya wrote: Found out to bid it is $500, and then the seller's cost is 8%, the buyer's cost is 10%.

I think you have to pay sales tax too?