by Rick Tavel ©11-19-2012 All rights
reserved Do not use without permission.
As many of you probably realize, preparations for
Barrett-Jackson's world famous January collector car auction are already
underway in Scottsdale, Arizona. This year’s
auction is January 13 through 20. The magnitude
of this auction requires Craig Jackson and his team to begin preparing for
their flagship Scottsdale auction almost a year in advance. This event is a
must for any car enthusiast and for those of you who have never attended a
Barrett-Jackson Auction you have to put it on your Bucket List. It is one of
the top ten auto based events in the world and you need to know that you don’t
have to spend a fortune bidding on a car.
You don’t need to bid at all because the greatest enjoyment of
Barrett-Jackson for those of us who do not have a couple million dollars to
drop on a car is to enjoy inspecting, arguably, the largest great collection of
diverse collector cars in the west.
Guaranteed you won’t see a larger assemblage of cars west of the
Mississippi the entire year. Of course
there is a side benefit of spending days inspecting the myriad of cars
displayed in several tents, some larger than a football field, that benefit is
you could become the owner of any one of them, if your bank account is large
enough. Sure all cars are not “showcars”
but most would qualify.
This year in addition to their
usual offerings of outstanding sports and muscle cars they will also be
offering their “Salon Collection”. This
is a special exclusive offering of very rare, award-winning collector
cars with great historical provenance, many of which have not been up for sale
in quite some time. In their tradition
of bringing top grade collectables to the collector market and devoting a
portion of the prime time auction to this segment of the car collector hobby
illustrates Barrett-Jackson’s commitment to excellence and diversity within the
collector car community. As most of you
know their focus over the past years has
primarily been top grade American muscle and sports cars, but what you may not
know is that years ago the cars typical to the Salon collection are the type
and era of car that Craig Jackson’s father focused on as he was building the
business. Barrett-Jackson's Iconic 1/4 Mile Tent |
But there is another side of
Barrett-Jackson aside from auctioning
some of the finest collector cars in the world. That part is giving back
to the community – helping raise money for charities. Partnering with General Motors, other
automotive manufacturers and dealers, Barrett Jackson has raised millions of
dollars for charity. Who could forget
last January when Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports teamed up to offer the first 2013 Corvette 427
Convertible offered to the public. That
car sold for $600,000! The proceeds were donated to the AARP Foundation’s Drive to End Hunger initiative. Just imagine, $600,000 for a C6 427! Granted it was the first “427 Convertible” sold
to the public with a VIN of 001. Forget
that the seven liter, LS7 engine produced a mere 505 horsepower. And even forget that it’s a car that can do 0 to 60 in under four
seconds, it’s still a bunch of cash to
come up with! Pardon me, but even for a
Corvette!
The 1st 427 Corvette Auctioned at Barrett-Jackson |
So
on one hand we have Barrett-Jackson with a track record of creating unbridled excitement, setting
world-record auction prices, with a 120,000 square foot tent packed full of
cash-laden, hungry buyers and almost non-stop national cable TV coverage
throughout the entire auction from Speedvision.
This may sound politically incorrect,
but even the “Helen Keller” of marketing whizzes could see the obvious
opportunity before their eyes. It is
what is known as “low hanging fruit” in the industry. There for the taking. The only problem for Barrett-Jackson’s and
Chevrolet’s marketing people was it could keep them awake at night wondering just how much someone would be willing to pay
for the number one C7 ever offered for sale to the public. That would most likely be serial number 2,
assuming that number 1 would go to the National Corvette Museum.
Now we are talking about
the number one car offered for sale of an entire generation of Corvettes, not “just”
a special model! Imagine it! Understand I am not minimizing the importance
of or undervaluing the “427 Convertible”, I’d love to own one and am envious of
those that do, but I am speaking “relatively”.
Would the first C7 available for sale to the public bring $750,000, a $1,000,000, $1,500,000 or even more?
I am not sure anymore where this could shake out. If it were 2007 I might be able to see two
million dollars, but with the volatility of the collector car market since 2008
I am not sure. The market has made a
comeback but it, hasn’t made it all the way back to the market where an
Oldsmobile prototype topped four million dollars at Barrett-Jackson during the
peak. But when you consider the fact
that the one hundred and fifty tickets the National Corvette Museum offered
sold out almost overnight at $995 a pop, just to be at the C7’s introduction in
Detroit on 1-13-13. A thousand bucks to
be a part of the media introduction gives rise to all kinds of price
possibilities. Whatever, the prospects
are more than enticing for both Barrett-Jackson and Chevrolet .
The $600K 427 Auctioned by Barrett-Jackson |
So I am asking you, “How much would you pay for the
first C7 ever offered for sale to the public?” And if
you’re a little short this month and can’t quite swing it then, “ How much do
you think someone else would be willing to pay?” With all the hype and enthusiasm around the
new Corvette’s introduction it is an interesting point to ponder. Even Vegas could get in on the act and offer
odds. Maybe it’s not worth laying awake
at night over, unless you have just checked your investment position, clipped a
few coupons, liquidated a few stocks and transferred some money between
accounts. But my guess is something is
being put together right now between Chevrolet and Barrett-Jackson, something
that will top last year’s “427 Convertible”.
Something BIG – Barrett-Jackson only does things BIG in the collector
world – and it doesn’t get any bigger than auctioning off a low production
number C7 to be built. I may be wrong on
this, not likely, and you will have the opportunity to find out this coming
January 19th, in the iconic quarter mile tent located in Scottsdale,
Arizona. I can’t be in Detroit on the 13th,
but you can bet I’m going to be at Barrett-Jackson on Saturday, January 19,
2013, to find out.
Jalopnik's concept of what the C7 will look like |
It's a shame you don't have a donate button! I'd most certainly donate to
ReplyDeletethis brilliant blog! I guess for now i'll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account.
I look forward to new updates and will share this site with my Facebook group.
Chat soon!
My web-site - Kelle
Thank you for your kind words. You might want to bookmark my new website which is where most of my new work will be published. It is Corvetted.com and just went live last month.
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