Barret Jackson Auction Action Good or Bad?

[jikelly]

So my wife and I were watching the Barret Jackson auctions this morning and I was surprised to see restomods going for 2 to 3 times as much as the original cars were. For example there was a 67 Corvette that was numbers matching that went for like 46 thousand then later they had like a 56 Corvette with a tube frame, five speed, and a modern LS1 engine in it that went for 140 some thousand bucks. I was really surprised by that. It kept happening though. Especially when they got to the Eleanor mustangs.

Anyway I was wondering if this occurance was good or bad for the car hobby. Or is this the car hobby at work?

Shoot after watching the show I was telling my roomate that we should start finding cars to build for the auction. One car could easily payoff all our debt from school and stuff.

 

[Cannoball888]

Barrett Jackson is very high profile and so cars sell there for more than they're worth. If you tried to sell the same car through any other source you wouldn't get nearly as much. You also may be flawed in thinking that a restomod brings more than a concourse original because you have compared two cars from vastly different years. Depending on the car and year a concourse original can bring more than a restomod.

 

[chromedog]

i think barrett jackson has maybe gone to some of the folks in the streetrod scene's head...i was at summit last week, when a fellow come in carrying a new set of hooker headers he had just bought. since i was waiting for the pipes for my 351, i struck up a conversation.he was complaining about the sealing ring around the exhaust port, how the gaskets supplied didnt cover the ring on one port, etc...but the kicker was when he said"i have a 64 gto with a 400 (huh?) in it, and i dont want this junk on a 100,000 dollar car!" what im saying is, if these high profile auctions raise the bar to the point where the average muscle car, original or not,is bringing 100k,what is it going to do to the cars that need the work? my buddy just bought a numbers matching 69 goat conv...needs paint and detail, only thing not date coded was the alternator ...17 k. was he nuts? maybe, but if that car done is worth 100k he will be laughing all the way to the bank, even though he bought it to keep.

 

[Max Power]

I think Barrett will ultimitely have a negative impact on the hobby overall. The fact that clones and restomods sell for so much tells you something about the buyers of these cars. They are just toys-du-jour for the nuveau riche.

One possible negative impact is the prices of parts and resto work. If you can buy a $10,000 basket case and make it a $100,000 car with relative ease, the parts suppliers will take notice, and parts prices "may" creep up.

I think body work and paint have already gone way up.

 

[jikelly]

One possible negative impact is the prices of parts and resto work. If you can buy a $10,000 basket case and make it a $100,000 car with relative ease, the parts suppliers will take notice, and parts prices "may" creep up.

I think body work and paint have already gone way up.

That's what I was thinking too. Body work, now there is something a little different, cuz that stuff is not easy and it's time intensive.

 

[RedGTvert]

It is very rare that a restomod will bring higher dollars than the original, but there are a few exceptions. I have gone to every B-J auction since they started here in Palm Beach. I do agree that some cars will do much better than other avenues, but for every car that goes for big dollars, there are many cars that can be bought reasonably.

And contrary to popular belief and opinion, the cars that do rather well are the ones that have had quite a bit of $$ spent to make it a strong #2 or better car and are rare.

Look at Wrecks to Riches, almost all those cars are restomods. Although they use that darn spendometer, notice they don't value the labor at real world costs. If you watched the series, at least 1/3 of the cars do not even sell for the under-valuated cost.

Everyone seems to key on B-J because they have greater exposure, but check out Hemmings sometime and look at how many auctions are out there.

 

[Max Power]

I have friends that cover the big BJ auction (Scottsdale), and it is a circus for the look-at-me crowd. The real cars guys got to Mecum and RMM just down the road, or so I am told.

 

[krash kendall]

Look at Wrecks to Riches, almost all those cars are restomods. Although they use that darn spendometer, notice they don't value the labor at real world costs. If you watched the series, at least 1/3 of the cars do not even sell for the under-valuated cost.

Yeah but remember, no matter how many GTO emblems they stuck on that one car it was still just an old Le Mans with some big ugly wheels on it. The same goes for the Coronet-come-GTX.

 

[1995cobraR]

Anyway I was wondering if this occurrence was good or bad for the car hobby.

I don't think it is bad for the hobby.

Ebay is a more popular auction site, and I see it as a successful enterprise. I don't see that B-J is any different than Ebay, RM, and any of the others.

Shoot after watching the show I was telling my roomate that we should start finding cars to build for the auction. One car could easily payoff all our debt from school and stuff.

You may be joining a long list of people trying to do the same thing. I assume you are a very accomplished mechanic and have excellent skills in body and paint work?

And contrary to popular belief and opinion, the cars that do rather well are the ones that have had quite a bit of $$ spent to make it a strong #2 or better car and are rare.

Based on my observations, I'd suggest the non-rare cars are #1's, and the rare cars are either #1 or #2.

...at least 1/3 of the cars do not even sell for the under-valuated cost.

I agree. It's not a slam dunk that you'll make money. You could even lose a bunch of money.

The buyer's premium is ridiculous. You'll have to pay to ship the car to AZ. You need an airline ticket, hotel rooms, and incidentals.

I am an expert at losing money on cars as I have a long uninterrupted string of taking loses.

 

[RedGTvert]

Ebay is a more popular auction site, and I see it as a successful enterprise. I don't see that B-J is any different than Ebay, RM, and any of the others.

The biggest difference with true auctions vs. ebay, as a seller, you know the car will be paid for. When the gavel drops, there is no such thing as buyers remorse. The auction houses do a good job knowing who the buyers are and the money is in the bank. Look how many Ebay auctions state there was a non-paying winner.

I agree. It's not a slam dunk that you'll make money. You could even lose a bunch of money.

How true. Again, contrary to popular opinion, many people do lose money. It is hard to do a car up right and put it into the auction right away and expect to make money. It took 6 years for my Mach to get past the break-even point at the last auction. Some of these buyers are not as stupid as people think.

The buyer's premium is ridiculous. You'll have to pay to ship the car to AZ. You need an airline ticket, hotel rooms, and incidentals.

At BJ both sides pay and pay heavily, but they do a great job in marketing their product and get the right buyers in. Unlike some of the dog auctions that the wrecks people seem to go to.

Many people make it a vacation when they go to the AZ auctions. I am fortunate, the Palm Beach Auction is 5 minutes from my house.

I am an expert at losing money on cars as I have a long uninterrupted string of taking loses.

I guess I am not the only one to suffer from this syndrome.

 

[RedGTvert]

Yeah but remember, no matter how many GTO emblems they stuck on that one car it was still just an old Le Mans with some big ugly wheels on it. The same goes for the Coronet-come-GTX.

And they didn't learn that Blue cars just do not do well. The only car I really likes was the Hemi Dart.

I don't know who's choice of wheels are worse, him or Foose. Personally, they drop the cars too far and the wheels are a bit ricey for my taste, but then again, that is just my opinion.

 

[Realmongo]

Those auctions are so far out there I just have to laugh. Those cars are not worth anywhere near what they are selling for. Half of them are conterfeit GTOs, Roadrunners, GTXs, etc. Those people are obviously fools with more cash than brains.

I'm sorry, for those requiring clarification, my remarks were specifically to the aforementioned cars from the Wrecks to Riches program and not to the automobile auction system in general.

 

[1995cobraR]

The biggest difference with true auctions vs. ebay, as a seller, you know the car will be paid for. When the gavel drops, there is no such thing as buyers remorse.

You make a very good point. It is not only the issue of a buyer backing out of his bid, but I see so many "shill" bids: Sellers (or their friends/associates) bidding up their own cars. I also see people bid on cars that they have no intention of buying. One such bidder made a bid on every Ford GT that was up for auction in a thirty day period (just for fun, I guess).

Those auctions are so far out there I just have to laugh. Those cars are not worth anywhere near what they are selling for. Half of them are conterfeit GTOs, Roadrunners, GTXs, etc.

Do you have any tech to back this up, or is this statement just your opinion?

Those people are obviously fools with more cash than brains.

Yea, people with money have no brains, and poor people are brilliant.

 

[Max Power]

Well, they may not be stupid, but they are fools. These are production cars, and these people clearly didn't see how many got burned in the late eighties.

Everything is cyclical, I guess. These people spending money like Mike Tyson are good for the economy, I guess.

 

[RedGTvert]

These auctions are both good and bad for us, the enthusiast. They are good for us, because some day we may want to move onto something new and your chance of coming out even or ahead are much better now.

They are bad, because it has pushed prices up for the average Joe to afford something decent.

The thing I hate when listening to people put these things down are when the complain about how much the big money cars go for and it is pricing them out of the market. Let's get real, when the Hemi Cuda's were still $50K in the late 90's it was just as unaffordable then as they are now at $200K plus.

I remember back in 99 looking at a GT350H and bitching about it being $40K, well if I was smart, I would have bought it at that price.