The classic car scene resides in Arizona for one week in January, when six famous auction houses come out to play in the sun and cactus. The six auctions offered up a collective 21 days of car sales with over $292 million dollars worth of cars and trucks being sold, up from 2014's total of $248 million. Overall, nearly 3,000 cars were available to buy and over 2,500 actually changed hands this year. I always say if there is a car or truck you want to buy, it is in Arizona for sale in January.
Due to their television exposure, now on the Velocity Channel, Barrett-Jackson may be the most well known auction company to the general public and this year they had to add some extra auction days to accommodate all the vehicles and automobilia offered for sale. Except for a select few high end units, all the cars and trucks at the Barrett-Jackson auction are offered at "no reserve" meaning that the seller agrees to sell the car for whatever the highest bid was. Typically the buyer and seller both pay a 10% commission, so a winning bid of $50,000 means the buyer actually must pay $55,000 while the seller only collects $45,000. When we report prices from the auctions, we always include the 10% seller's commission to fully reflect the actual cost to buy the truck. Of course the buyer may have to pay sales tax, either here in Arizona or their home state, as well as the expenses of shipping it home.
A highlight for Barrett-Jackson was famed collector local Ron Pratte selling off his collection of cars, trucks and automobilia. Pratte housed his mammoth collection in Chandler, AZ and never opened it up for display to the general public. I had the chance one time to see his collection, before he moved it to a different, bigger site and it was impressive even then. In next month's issue, we'll have an article focused solely on the trucks sold from the Pratte Collection.
Gas Monkey Garage from Dallas, TX and the stars of Discovery Channel's Fast and Loud brought out eight vehicles, including a well used 1969 shop truck that sold for a surprising $42,900 and a green and white 1976 Chevy C-10 that had just been featured on their show, which went for $45,100. Yes, that's the same truck that was sold on their TV show at a Dallas charity auction for $85,000. Ouch!
Each morning, the auction starts off with a round of automobilia items to sell. Then the big buyers step up in the afternoon as the cars and trucks roll up the stage for their moment in the spotlight. Typically the higher priced vehicles are in the late afternoon and early evening hours and especially so on Friday and Saturday. As the saying goes, when the TV lights go on, the prices go up!
Given the prices paid overall, you have to figure the classic car market will be in good shape this year. Typically the Arizona sales in January help set the tone for the year. Barrett-Jackson set a record for total sales of vehicles at $131 million dollars and over $6.5 million again for automobilia. Barrett-Jackson also has a soft spot for charities and sold ten cars (without charging a commission) that raised over $8.6 million for the sponsored charities. That included selling Ron Pratte's 1950 Futurliner display bus for $4 million dollars.
For the past few years, the truck market has exploded. Trucks of all vintages and marquees are in demand, whether restored or with ancient patina clinging to the iron. Jeeps and four wheel drive trucks are super popular. I suspect as the buying market trends younger, those people were more apt to have a truck in their formative years, hence the demand for trucks, Even Datsun pickups and Toyota Land Cruisers were evident and sought after. That's another trend for our readers to consider. The Japanese marquees are going to surge in value and demand.
In the January 2015 issue of Truck Round-Up we featured a 1937 Diamond T truck and this year the boys at Barrett-Jackson snagged three model 201's to sell. A 1947 sold for $44,000, a pre-war 1941 went for $70,400 while a 1949 went for $71,500.
The car scene in Arizona is a fun, fast paced in January and if you have never been, you owe it to yourself to come out, enjoy some good sunny weather and see a great collection of trucks offered for sale from the auction houses. Next year the Barrett-Jackson auction will be from January 24-31, 2016. See you there?