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January 17, 2009

You Too Can Afford a Car at Barrett-Jackson. Yes you can!

UDMan

The Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction has a reputation for getting top dollar from the buying public that attends this mega collection of vintage, performance, and significant vehicles. Many of these folks crave to own something a little different, or to recapture their lost youth. And why not? Where else on earth can you witness such a vast collection of machinery, all there just for you, if you have the money to back up your desire. You have cars and trucks from the early Brass Era, through modern concepts and customs, even a significant airplane.

But what if you’re not exceedingly wealthy, and can only afford about 1/2 of today’s average new car purchase (for arguments sake, lets call that about $22,000)? Could you actually take home something vintage, significant, or one-of-a-kind from the world famous Barrett-Jackson Auction. Why, yes you can, and here are some interesting examples.

Continue reading after the jump.

How about this little number, sold on Tuesday night? It’s a 1985 Oldsmobile Calais, decked out in a Michigan State University color scheme. The Calais is decorated for the “Spartan” fan in Green and White, Special logos are embroidered on the seats, and it looks like a convertible (but probably not). The final bid price for the lucky Michigan State Fan? $2,475, which includes the 10% Buyers Premium. Not a lot of money for what really is not a lot of car.

Same night, and a car that I outlined on an earlier posting. Remember this? The 1989 Geo Metro “Zonker” Coupe. This was a personal project for GM Design VP, Chuck Jordan. Developed in conjunction with Suzuki, this small package packs a punch with dual overhead cams and multi valve engine. So how much did this little piece of GM Heritage history go for? A whopping $3,300, including the buyers premium.

I know what you are a little disappointed so far. The two examples above are simply just paint and accessory specials, tarted up to look like one-of-a-kind customs. Well, this next example is anything but a paint and trim custom, in fact it looks like a bone stock 1991 Chevrolet Caprice. However, what lurks under the hood is anything but stock, as this car contains a V-12! So how much did this 2 tons of V-12 stealth fun go for? $3,630! A unique, one-of-a-kind 90′s whale of a Caprice went for used Hyundai Accent money…

Believe it or not, there were also 3 Saturns, one Pontiac Sunfire, and a couple of other Oldsmobiles that fit into the budget category on Tuesday Night, but let’s move on to Wednesday. How about a 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora? It was a significant Oldsmobile, until the brand was euthanized a few years ago, but this vehicle was built to commemorate the Aurora V8 engine into the Indy Racing League series. Vehicle features special paint with an Aurora emblem ghosted into the paint on the hood, Aurora emblem laser – etched into the rear rotors, leather interior with Indianapolis Motor Speedway emblem on the headrests and Boyd Coddington wheels. I wonder how long the laser etching on those rear rotors will last after driving the car a few miles… Anyway, what did this piece of history fetch on the Auction Stage? $7,150!

Craving something British? I have just the car for you, but it’s not an MG, Triumph, Austin, or even a Rolls Royce. It a Wolseley Hornet MK II. Built by Crayford Coach Works in London 1966 for Heinz 57 Soups as a promotional car. Conjured up at a cocktail party in London, England in 1965, when two members of the Promotions Department from Heinz Soups met up with two representatives from Crayford Coach Works of London. Heinz was set to introducing a new line of soups in England, and the Promotions Department was looking for a spectacular giveaway item to promote this new product. Crayford Coach Works, still in existence today, is a custom automobile coach builder and the four came up with the idea of creating a limited edition car to use as the promotion piece. Wolseley was British Leyland’s premium brand, but in reality, it was nothing but a tarted up Mini. Powered by a 998cc engine with a 4-speed transmission, the engine mounted transversely driving 10″ wheels. The interior of this Wolseley was originally upholstered in Connelly Hide leather and Wilton wool cut pile carpeting, the same as used in Rolls Royce. The engine was rebuilt to 1275cc Mini Cooper S specifications. Cosmic alloy wheels with lower profile tires were added. What does a piece of British Top-Down History go for? Apparently not much, as the top bid was $9,625.

If British cars do nothing for you, feast your eyes on this German Tank! It’s a 1976 Mercedes Benz 450SEL, this Big Benz! One owner car, registered to screen actress Doris Day from new. 71,000 original miles. Original paint with the exception of right rear door, part of right rear quarter and deck lid. Owned by Doris Day and kept generally at her home in Carmel. Books and original records including Build Card and Original Maintenance Manual. Interior original leather not cracked. OK, what would you pay to own a Mercedes Benz, once owned by Doris Day, with what really is very little mileage? How about $8,470.

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Posted at 1:00 am in Barrett-Jackson, Chevrolet, Geo, Mercedes-Benz, Oldsmobile, udman, Wolesley

Comments

gmcarguy
Jan 31, 2009 at 9:58 pm

Folks, this is a perfect example of why one should really question unedited, unsupervised blogs hammered out on keyboards by bloggers who really need to do their homework. If UDMan (the blogger here) had attended the auction, or done his homework with someone like myself who was there in person, he would have determined that the Caprice he noted DID NOT have a V-12 in it. The Barrett-Jackson announcer clearly pointed this out (that the previously posted decription was incorrect) when the car was announced on the block prior to the auctioneer asking for the first bid. The on-line write-up was WRONG and was corrected in person. Just another reason to be leary of anything you read–particulary from a blogger…jeez. Hey “UD”, don’t give up your day job just yet. I’ve had it with this kind of shoddy “reporting.” Done, had it, over and out.

Paco Ibarra
Jan 21, 2009 at 1:16 pm

I was there and I can tell it was sad to see some of the supposed high priced cars go for such a low amount… A lot of charity association were expecting more than that for sure.
On the other hand it was also rare to see so many “not so special” cars like the 100,000th and 200,000th production Saturns.
Weird thing is to see some cars that are not that valuable go for so much money like a 1998 Buick Riviera that went for $10,450?? I mean you can buy a nice Rivi for less than $5,000 any day.
Lot of concept cars that also went for nothing like the Chevy Tahoe K5 two door concept, only $16,500….
Anyways, to me it was the rarest Barrett Jackson I’ve ever attended.

Justin
Jan 20, 2009 at 3:41 pm

CarDomain was disrespectful, as usual. They have no heart for anything but money an a dildo up thier asses. Theyd rather publicly make fun of people, then just learn to deal with jealousy.

Franxou
Jan 20, 2009 at 6:25 am

I don’t remember disrespecting/hating GM nor the BJ auctions…

platinum
Jan 20, 2009 at 12:36 am

so who knows how i can get one of those caprices????????????reward????????

brivan
Jan 19, 2009 at 11:14 pm

Aurora all the way.

Don
Jan 19, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Ok, Justin….the both of you….

Shut up….

So what did the Saturns go for?

Uh…Justin…both of you….I apologize for my rudeness…

Zach W
Jan 19, 2009 at 8:32 pm

Ill take the weee yellow car!!!!

Justin
Jan 19, 2009 at 6:16 pm

if you try to portray yourself off as me, atleast know how to spell.

Justin
Jan 19, 2009 at 6:15 pm

I know I like barrett jackson, but why must you people always change your moods? I never change my mood. I thought you hated battert hajckson. Now I know you love it.

Justin
Jan 19, 2009 at 2:24 pm

first you guys tell people to not watch the barret jackson auto show, basicly disrespecting it AND GM for the vehicles they donated an that Barret Jackson would sell, now your praising it all? what happened? you people have worse mood swings then a bitch on her period.

Franxou
Jan 19, 2009 at 8:19 am

ooh BTW please continue the autcion coverage, it’s interesting to see what kind of vehicles were kept by GM

Franxou
Jan 19, 2009 at 8:18 am

Any way to fetch more infos about the V12 caprice?
Was it a prototype made by chevy engineers or just an innovative engine swap made by someone?
Any official infos, and who got the car?

nes!
Jan 18, 2009 at 12:06 pm

hahahahahahahahahahahaha this is funny!

EarthQuaKeAudio
Jan 18, 2009 at 10:10 am

WTF, who has time to type all this shit? 8-(

Jim Brennan
Jan 18, 2009 at 9:30 am

Tony, I do have one or two follow-up postings about the pricing at BJ this year, but I have to say that it’s starting to get played out, and by next week, it will be very old news. Anyway, the prices for those particular examples are anomalies, for three very different reasons.

1) The Jeff Gordon Race Car: The proceeds went to a Bone Marrow Donor charity, and as such, you really can’t find the actual value of the car, because of the charity aspect of the bidding. There are several examples of this, and I will try and highlight each one over the course of the next couple of days.

2) The Ford Tri-Motor Airplane: I follow vintage aviation along with the car and truck market. This was actually quite a bargain, as it has historical provenance (Shot while on the runway when Pearl Harbor was under attack), unbridled presence, and exceedingly rare. To restore one of these planes into the condition that this example is in would cost between 4 and 6 Million Dollars!

3) The First Production Camaro. This was a bid that is not only outrageous, but is also quite foolish. There will be no way in the next 20 years to recoup the amount spent on this car. Look, the first production 1955 Thunderbird was also put up for bid (same night, a few lots earlier) and after a through restoration, using only the finest materials, top notch labor, and exquisite finishing, sold for $660,000, over 50 years after it was produced. I know this will be referred to as blasphemy, but the new Camaro can never be compared to the original Thunderbird, or for that matter, the 1969 Camaro on which it is suppose to be modeled after.

Tony Cassa
Jan 18, 2009 at 2:55 am

Jim, have you seen the final auction prices on some of the cars sold on Saturday? Wow! The new 10 Camaro over 350k, Jeff Gordens Nascar 550k, that airplace at 1.2mil. I am simply amazed at the prices these cars went for. Would of been an amazing experience to attend an even such as this. Looking foward to your next BJ post Jim.

dude from the north
Jan 18, 2009 at 1:26 am

bmw v-12 caprice link http://tinyurl.com/84bptr

dude from the north
Jan 18, 2009 at 1:25 am

Bimmer v-12 in the Caprice?

Chris J
Jan 17, 2009 at 12:15 pm

Carpice shoulda had Donks on it!
i would laugh.

Steve Neil
Jan 17, 2009 at 10:32 am

There are only two Merlin powered cars in the world.

A Merlin powered Bel Air, and John Dodd’s “Beast”.

bob balderston
Jan 17, 2009 at 8:34 am

one can dream

Steve Neil
Jan 17, 2009 at 8:27 am

I doubt there is a Merlin under the hood of that…

bob balderston
Jan 17, 2009 at 6:02 am

i’ll take the caprice; just curious to whose v12 is under the hood? make it a rolls royce merlin and i am so in; who’d need a jato rocket motor to achive orbit?