Barrett-Jackson C4 Sales. Palm Beach 09

[Dad2BJO]

Thursday in Palm Beach there were several C-4's that were sold and I happened to catch the 88 going accross the block. It was intersting to hear the comments from Mike Joy and the other commentators regarding C4's in general. They discussed are the C-4's finally getting the "collector" status for some of the models. As the 88 went accross Joy commented that he thought the C-4s were good cars at the time and thought the 88, 35th anniv car would bring more since there was only 2000 built. This car had less than 700 miles and was just like it was off of the show room. They showed the window sticker and Joy commented on that Chevy did NOT put HP on the sticker just 5.7 litre, almost like he was indicating GM must have been embarassed about the HP of the 88 Vette.

They also mentioned a 40th that sold earlier in the day and that it did not bring $20k and the 88 was bringing more than double what the 93 did, one of them mentioned that only 2000 35th's were built and 1 in 3 of the 93's were 40th car's. (Is that right?)

Anyways below is a list of the C-4's that sold on Thursday. The first day tends to bring out the "lower" dollar car's and I see there ar not any C-4's today or Saturday. All prices include the 10% buyers premium.

88 35th Anniv. car 686 Miles $41250
94 Admiral Blue "first built in 94" (was GM car) $23650
90 ZR-1 27K Miles $22,000
94 Admrial Blue, 17K Miles, $17600
93 40th Convertable, 53K miles, $16775

Personally, I thought the 88 went higher than I thought, but it was basicly a showroom car, someone put it in a bag to keep it for 21 years. Also I thought the ZR-1 went for less than I thought but I did NOT see it cross the block so I dont know the full story.

Any thoughts or other comments?

 

[o2bnkc]

Paid to much for EVERY ONE OF THEM. Do these guys just have to say they bought something at Barrett Jackson? Kind of a prestige thing or something? Man, I wish I had enough money to throw around like that.
That show was fun to watch at first, but I just can't watch it anymore. Craig Jackson reminds me of every oily used car guy I've ever dealt with. I wouldn't rust him as far as I could throw him. I'm a car guy who dvr's every car show that's on, but something about this auction...........ah, I don't know how to explain it, I guess. Never mind.

 

[o2bnkc]

rust? I think I mean't trust.

 

[MRANT212]

I would have sold my 88 35th car for subsatantially less....okay I have 34k miles on mine but still that car pulled some big $$$$$$. You know the old saying...an ass for every seat!!

 

[jr3]

Paid to much for EVERY ONE OF THEM. Do these guys just have to say they bought something at Barrett Jackson? Kind of a prestige thing or something? Man, I wish I had enough money to throw around like that.
That show was fun to watch at first, but I just can't watch it anymore. Craig Jackson reminds me of every oily used car guy I've ever dealt with. I wouldn't rust him as far as I could throw him. I'm a car guy who dvr's every car show that's on, but something about this auction...........ah, I don't know how to explain it, I guess. Never mind.

There is some shady stuff that go's on there. You do have some sellers bidding their own cars prices up or get their buddies to bid the prices up. It can help them inflate prices.

It's like fishing. They make the bait look good and then they snag a large mouth bass there with a boat load of money.

As long as the Auction gets their sales fee cut they dont care.

And you have to also concider that the auction is also about entertainment and egos. Many bidders will bid more if they're on TV. Everyone wants to be a winner. And if you got 2 guys with egos on Live TV bidding against each other they are going to get a higher price.

The entire worlds economy seems to be in the toilet. And many people are dumping high end items... But magicly at BJ the world record prices just keep on coming .

I still like to watch it though. I like to see all the different cars.

 

[MBDiagMan]

jr3 has obviously spent some time at a few auctions. I have never bought a car at auction, but I've bought lots of cattle. You have to be completely aware of everything that's going on with the greatest attention paid to who is bidding, how they are bidding and what they are bidding on.

If you frequent the same auction you learn pretty much who is selling what and who their cronies are. That's a big part of it.

Going into such a HUGE auction as the Barret Jackson, there is NO WAY you can know the players. This puts you at a distinct disadvantage.

If I had a few million in completely disposable money and there was a car there that I was prepared to pay whatever it took to get it and there was no other way to purchase it, I would THEN be a Barret Jackson buyer THAT ONE TIME!

 

[jr3]

jr3 has obviously spent some time at a few auctions. I have never bought a car at auction, but I've bought lots of cattle. You have to be completely aware of everything that's going on with the greatest attention paid to who is bidding, how they are bidding and what they are bidding on.

If you frequent the same auction you learn pretty much who is selling what and who their cronies are. That's a big part of it.

Going into such a HUGE auction as the Barret Jackson, there is NO WAY you can know the players. This puts you at a distinct disadvantage.

If I had a few million in completely disposable money and there was a car there that I was prepared to pay whatever it took to get it and there was no other way to purchase it, I would THEN be a Barret Jackson buyer THAT ONE TIME!

Some of the same things you mentioned above you have to also look out for at auto auctions. Over time you just gain experience and learn things, and learn what to look out for. Not just B-J, but any auction.

And you are correct, the huge size of B-J makes it very hard to know who the players are. Plus at B-J you have some bidders that just dont care what they pay for the car. They just gotta have it.

 

[ZumZum]

IMO, Barrett-Jackson has ruined the classic/muscle car area. Every Joe Blow that has a POS Camaro or Cuda sitting in their back yard rusting away now thinks it's worth a fortune.

 

[MBDiagMan]

IMO, Barrett-Jackson has ruined the classic/muscle car area. Every Joe Blow that has a POS Camaro or Cuda sitting in their back yard rusting away now thinks it's worth a fortune.

Yes the BJ auction has probably made this worse, but high prices for premium cars has been a problem as you describe for the 45 years that I've been into old cars.

Even back in the sixties, someone would sell a really nice Model A or 32 Ford for $1,000 and this would make anyone that had a restorable junker think that theirs was worth $1,000.