Barrett-Jackson
With a brand-new auction facility and Guinness World Record-setting marquees, hundreds of cars sold at no reserve, celebrity appearances and charity fundraisers, it was a banner year for Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale. Gross sales for the event were the highest in the auction’s history, topping $113 million. If you weren’t among the auction’s estimated 300,000 attendees, here’s what you missed:
The week started out with the fanfare of the opening night gala, headlined by rocker Bret Michaels, and with Billy Baldwin auctioning off a 2015 Super Bowl package to benefit the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Over the course of the week, $4.4 million was raised for charities including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, NASCAR Foundation, Armed Services Foundation, Make-A-Wish, and others.
Celebrity couple Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed-Simmons were on hand to auction a custom 1956 Ford F-100 Shelby truck, which raised $450,000 to build a children’s hospital in Shannon’s home province of Saskatchewan. Famed friends and rivals Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen signed autographs before selling full-sized replicas of their famous Hot Wheels vehicles for $990,000. The highest sale of the week was a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 for $3,850,000.
More than any other auction, Barrett-Jackson is also a lifestyle event. Over the course of the week attendees had a chance to preview new models like the just-released 2015 Ford Mustang (the first retail model earned $300,000 on the auction block for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), and the yet-to-be-released Lincoln MKC. The Arizona Foothills Ladies Lounge offered a respite from the testosterone-driven excitement of the auction floor, and there was plenty of food, fun and shopping experiences for everyone.
at RM Auctions
RM Auctions
How’s this for a record setter? A 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider sold for a whopping $8.8 million, setting an Arizona Auction Week record. Over the course of two days, RM realized $45,563,450 in sales, including ten sales over a million dollars.
Gooding and Company
Down the road at Gooding and Company, 110 of 117 cars sold, with an average price of $449,650 per car sold. Leading the way toward $49.4 million in total sales was a dark blue 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 Cabriolet, which set a new world-auction-record for its model at $6,160,000. Overall, 13 cars sold for over a million dollars, and 11 new world auction records were established at Gooding.
Russo and Steele
More world records were set at Russo and Steele’s five-day auction, where total sales exceeded $21 million. A Lamborghini 360 GT set a record at $742,630, and a legendary 1963 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans Super Duty drag racing car, 1 of 2 known examples still in existence, sold for a record-setting $335,630.
Experts point to the success of the Scottsdale auctions as an indicator of the strength of the market, and a promising outlook for the remainder of the year’s events. The next stop on Barrett-Jackson’s auction schedule is Palm Beach, Fla., April 11 to 13. Russo and Steele will head to Newport Beach, June 19 to 24. For complete auction results, visit Barrett-Jackson‘s, RM Auctions‘, Gooding and Company‘s, and Russo and Steele‘s websites.
