January in Arizona is full of sunshine, tourists and a week crammed full of car auctions. The “mother” of them all is Barrett-Jackson with over 40 hours of live coverage on cable television through Speed. This year over, 1,300 cars will be auctioned off in six days and, I would expect sales to climb over $100 million.
But besides BJ’s, there are also Silver Car Auctions, RM, Russo Steele, Gooding and Company and a new player for this region Bonhams. So, there are plenty of cars to be enjoyed and drooled over!
This short report is being written way before the final days (due to printing deadlines) where the major cars show up on the auction block. This year, for the first time in a while, Craig Jackson is allowing a handful of cars to be up for sale with a reserve price but most will go as is, where is for the highest cash in someone’s pocket.
A buddy of mine was looking for a 1956 Ford pickup and was floored to find out that SEVEN are being sold this year at Barrett-Jackson alone. In my experience of covering the auction scene here: if it is for sale, it will be found in Arizona. It seems that lots of buyers have money in their pockets and are itching to buy something and are tired of seeing it earn 0% interest in a bank.
As usual, Chevys outnumber the Fords for sale, and this year, Craig Jackson seems to have returned to his roots and brought out some classics from the 1930-1940’s, along with a gullwing Mercedes and a genuine Tucker.
Hope you enjoy the quick pictures I took and look for more coverage in the next issue.
See ya’ on the road!