Am I the only one who thinks the Barrett Jackson auction is turning into a joke?

Question

I used to love watching the classic cars that were sold.. a few years ago it seemed like a fair place to purchase a car. Now it is a circus- the cars are going for up to 60% more than they would get on the market. Anytime it slows up you get Craig Jackson grabing the microphone and pumping up the crowd with hype.. Loved watching the Von Dutch bus go for only 40K... the expressions on the B-J staff said it all.

Answer 1

I think I agree with you !! Last night they had a piano and a guitar up for auction !!
I do not like Craig Jackson he seems to me to be a very greedy person. He takes 8% from the seller and 8% from the buyer and
when he picks up the mike to jack up the crowd it's not fair to high bidder at the time. That auction is what is jacking up all classic car prices in the world and soon regular guys won't be able to afford this hobby anymore. I have a big block (427) 1969 camaro and I sit and watch and say to myself my car would be worth $65 to $70 thousand down there but I would never sell it. I am sure there are alot of guys like me thinking the same about their car also. That's why the price of these cars are going up.

Answer 2

I for one certainly DON'T think it is a joke. I have been restoring and collection cars for 20+ years. These cars are rare to find and do not come up for sale very often. I do however hate anything that is cloned. If you can't play with the big dogs, stay on the porch with the pups. That was a reference to those 'Cloners' out there. Muscle cars are great investments, and trust me, you can make many times more over on these cars than you can in the stock market.

I would also like to add that if any of you guys are looking for project cars, you name it, I probably can find you one. I am a hot rodder first, I am into the muscle cars and there are still a lot of cars out there. Check out Racingjunk.com, there are a lot of rolling chassis just ready to be bought cheap and turned into prostreets. One more thing, you have got to remember, paying $100'000 for a car might seem a lot to the mass majority, but some of these guys are worth tens, hundreds of millions of dollars, so $100'000 to them is not a lot. Then again, they don't get to enjoy driving their rods like everyone else, so who really gets their money's worth?

Answer 3

On the other hand, it can mean you can turn a profit from restoring a car yourself, which is quite a rare occurence.

Here in the UK, classic cars went through a seriously funny-money period in the '80s, but it's calmed down now.

Stick to shrewdly buying privately, then sell yourself at auction for the 60% more you quoted, and suddenly you'll find that this is, in actual fact, a good thing.

Answer 4

You noticed Craig's expression on the Von Dutch Bus too! Can't stand that Auctioneer's assistant Clint Minchew, BJ's answer to the "Screamin' Mimi".

Answer 5

We always talked about going to one of the BJ Auctions.. this year has cured us... The prices are so far out of line.. It is ruining the common market.. everyone who has an old/older cars thinks it worth a fortune.... regardless on the horrible condition it is in... seems like every rust bucket out there is now worth thousands..
I wonder where these people get the money to participate at these events.... they must all be related to a business or museum....
I'm cured... they are a JOKE..

just my 2 cents... and I know it ain't worth much...

Answer 6

I think it's showtime also. Who's to say that the cars are actually sols or are "PINKS" given back after the show. Maybe many of the buyers are "plants" playing the part of high rollers. Seeing the cars is fun however, especially if you've owned one 40-50 years ago.

Answer 7

I'm not a huge fan, but watching the Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake going for $5M was pretty exciting.

Answer 8

theres so many reasons they could be doing business like that now, maybe if they're trying to get the consumers energized and excited to spend their money, reach a younger audience, make it more "entertaining" or hell, maybe even they're getting bored of the same old auctions.


I can tell you what, If I had the money and my favorite car came out, perfect everything, & I was getting pumped up, I might overpay for that car.

Answer 9

Hey, 4.2 mill for a Shelby Cobra. That tells me they are doing there job. I just wish I could come up with a ride to take to them to sell.

Answer 10

Yes !! It's ruining the car hobby. Thanks to rich people with to much free time and way to much money they are causing the prices of cars out of reach of the common working class.