Wednesday, November 19, 2008

What Economic crisis?

While Wall $treet has been routinely losing 700+ points and BURNING thru One TRILLION Daily! There seemed to be little concern in “Los Wage$,” (Las Vegas, NV) during the inaugural Barrett Jackson auction, held at the Mandalay Bay casino, over the weekend of October 16-18; of which I decided to watch after lamenting those immortal Bruce Springsteen words; “57 channels and NOTHING on!” So, thus indeed, I decided to watch a few hours of the final night’s action, with it being Saturday night and NOT a BLOODY thing on the tellie...

And just like buying a car, a cursory look of the dreaded paperwork denotes the following;

“Hammer” prices do NOT include the mandatory Barrett Jackson commission fees: Seller, 8%; buyer, 10%. State/local taxes extra. (Prices include buyer’s commission fee/total auction price)

And being especially particular to Blue Oval products, my notes primarily jotted down the quick facts of various Ford Motor Co. sales, although typically the entire “Muscle Car” segment seemed to be still commanding top dollar, as a total of 40 vehicles were hammered for over $100,000.

Lot #798
1968 Shelby GT 500 Mustang
Hammer bid: $140,000 ($154,000)

Lot #801
1938 Packard
Hammer bid: $190,000 ($209,000)
This was a very nice restored two door Victoria convertible...

Lot #803.1
1969 Ford BOSS 429 Mustang
Hammer bid: $195,000 ($214,500)
First of two BAD ASS BOSSES to cross the stage, still bringing good money, but value has dropped...

Lot #804.1
1967 Shelby GT 500 “E Super Snake” Mustang
Hammer bid: $170,000 ($187,000)
These cars always amaze me, since the “E” suffix means that it’s an Eleanor re-creation, as in the movie; Gone in 60 Seconds (II) yet, I’m not sure what’s up with the “Super Snake” moniker, as perhaps this car had an all aluminum motor shoehorned inside it? Nevertheless, I’d rather plunk down that sorta dinero on a Ferrari, instead of a six cylinder donar Mustang...

Lot 805
1992 Jaguar XK220

Hammer bid: $137,000 ($150,700)
Car #91/280 built. These were amazing cars that simply got lost in the Supercar market downturn...

Lot #805.1
2003 Saleen S7
Hammer bid: $237,000 ($260,700)
This was fairly entertaining, as chief auctioneer Spanky was trying to bump the price up to $250k, a bidder said: “I DON’T care! $242,500!” To which apparently Spanky wasn’t to be pushed around and the car was gaveled for $237K instead...

Lot #806
1973 De Tomaso Pantera
Hammer bid: $100,000 ($110,000)
I’d have to guess this is a record hammer price for a Pantera? As this ’73 “plain Jane” De Tomaso, was rejuvenated by the styling cues of its original designer; Tom Tjaarda, who’d created brand new front & rear carbon fibre composite facia’s for it, also redesigning the interior, along with the requisite “bigger is better” aftermarket alloy wheels. But, I’d definitely have to say the car looked great, along with Mr. Tjaarda, who at 74 year’s young looked quite dapper...

Lot # Unknown
1966 Cobra 427 “E” (Replica)
Hammer bid: $100,000 ($110,000)
This car was being sold by a museum and has a somewhat interesting, albeit tarnished past, as the car was originally passed off as the real macoy. Only problem with this was that the original Cobra later surfaced and hence this car had to be re-licensed as a replica...

Lot #816
1970 Ford BOSS 429 Mustang
Hammer bid: $187,000 ($205,700)
Second of two BAD ASS BOSSES to cross the stage, which are still bringing good money, but below the hammer price listed on Barrett-Jackson’s website for BOSSES: with four cars being sold for a low of $245,000, (2) $300k & $325k at Scottsdale, AZ this past January, which pales in comparison to the “record” hammer price of $550,000 garnered in Scottsdale in 2007! (Which I’m guessing Ron Pratt was the bidder?)

Lot #817
1957 Ford Thunderbird
Hammer bid: $145,000 ($159,500)
This was SPEED TV’s final Fantasy bid car, which was a pretty cool T-bird. Setting the ’57 Thunderbird apart from the rest, was the fact that it was a rare “F” code; 1 of 211 supercharged chassis. Even better yet, was the fact that it was Robert McCulloch’s personal car. As in McCulloch/Paxton Supercharger’s, who made the cars blower...

Lot #819
1949 MG TC
Hammer bid: $285,000 ($313,500)
And while awaiting the start of the featured car’s auction, the telephone rang...

Alas, I didn’t get to see what Shelby’s racing car went for... Which seems a bit of a stretch, since although Carroll did indeed capture his very first victory in Norman, Oklahoma, in this very car back in 1952, when ‘Ol Shel’s good friend Ed Wilkins loaned it to him; but it’s a BLOODY MG after all!

Thus, I had to scoure the internets to learn that Carroll Shelby’s very first race car, a 1949 MG TC, was hammered for $285,000, minus the 10% commission fee.

Yet, this wasn’t to be the auction’s #1 high bid of the weekend, as a car that I missed seeing on the telescreen; a 2006 Ford Mustang GT customized by some cat named Funkmaster Flex pipped Shelby’s MG by a scant $15 grand. (With apparently no commission fees applied)

As seven cars were sold for various charities, totaling over $655,000, including $150,000 for the 2008 Barrett-Jackson Limited Edition Shelby GT; others included a 2006 Ford Mustang modified on the television show Car Wars with Funkmaster Flex that sold for $300,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and a 2007 Dodge Charger raced by Kurt Busch for $85,000...

For a recap of the inaugural Los Wage$ spectacle, see; 2008 Barrett-Jackson las Vegas review.

And to check out all of the over-hyped, over-priced, showmanship, you may wish to check out the official website, (if you can stomach the long winded self promoting video, which has thankfully been shut off!) see; barret-Jacson.