Barrett-Jackson Must Hate Cadillacs

[Richard Sills - CLC #936]

I watched the auction on Speed TV, and was surprised at how little of the broadcast time was devoted to following the auction.

When a football game or baseball game is televised, I can't imagine that the announcer would be chatting with people or discussing trivia while the viewers miss the crucial plays of the game.

When the 1935 Cadillac Fleetwood Imperial V-12 convertible sedan -- one of the most magnificent cars in the auction -- came on the block, the announcer was busy interviewing someone and paid little attention to the car.  As the bids kept escalating and went past $200,000, it seemed like the amount of money suddenly caught the announcer's attention, and then he began talking about the car.  (It sold for $275,000 plus buyer's commission.)

The next car on the block was a 1931 LaSalle 345A touring, but the viewers didn't get to see it at all.  After that was a '33 Chrysler Imperial, and the camera focused on it just as the bidding was ending and it was leaving the block.

I'm glad I got to see some of the auction this way, but in my view it would have been a much more rewarding experience if we could have seen more of the auction.

[Doug Smith]

Well I might as well add my 2 cents worth to the "Winer-Line" here. I too had waited all weekend to see one car. I had scanned thru there list of cars offered at the auction and found a car exactly like mine which is a first...1961 Cadillac Sedan Short deck, 4-door hard top. This isn't a very popular car to say the least as I have researched and have found there just aren't many left out there.
Never the less, the show had one scheduled to be auctioned off first thing Sunday and so I set up my TV, drinks, popcorn and away we go....where???  They skipped my car and went right to the next one...which one???  You guessed it a MUSTANG.  Dam it !

[George Mckenzie]

I went to a Rich Cole Auction in LA along time ago .It cost me $25 to sit between Mike Tyson , Nancy Sinatra .the house builder in Hollywood and a Texan .I was there to buy a 59 yellow CVT .but it was sold  outside to a Japanees before the sale for $75000 .There was two cars going by ,the Texan bought the first one for 1,200,000 and the second one for 1,300,000 .He was jumping up and down celabrating his good buy. I had to ask him what's the big deal .It turned out that these were the two GT40 Fords that beat Ferrari . Now I was told B&G charge $500 for biding plus 30,000 bond  to sit in the front. You don't see many great old cars in the sale but I still like the Big old Caddys best .and I have a COPO 69 Camaro but it just doen't have the elegance and class of the Cadillac

[briggy]

no there arnt many left i have one in england but i think its the only one here because i cant find another

[R Winchell]

You can watch the entire B-J auction live on their website free, no commercials.... Their website shows all sale prices immediately after the sale so you can easily track a favorite and not dwell on the stuff you are not interested in. The bidders have preferred seating. The spectators have free rein of the facility except for the stage and the bidders seating area. The Palm beach auction is more of a "Chevy" show than Scottsdale, but is fun anyway.  You should do Scottsdale at least once just for the "event size and scope"..  Expensive but worth it. Bring very good walking shoes. I've been going for 20 years, and still look forward to it.
                          Bob W.

[David Smith]

I was at the Palm Beach auction for all three days.     It was my first time and I enjoyed it very much.   Seeing all the luxury and exotic cars in the spectators lot was just as impressive as the auction!  LOL.

There were a few Cadillacs on the block.

1972 Coupe Deville with 43,000 miles.  sold for $4750
1972 Sedan Deville with 18,000 miles.  sold for $7000
1959 Coupe Deville with poor chrome sold for $20000.
1978 Eldorado Biarritz with 21,000 miles and rare T-tops.  sold for $16000
1982 Seville with 53,000 miles  sold for  $5,000
1956 Eldorado Biarritz  sold for $100,000
1996 Eldorado convertible sold for $15,500
1993 Allante convertible with 7000 miles! sold for $23,000
1941 Cad 4-door convertible sold for $32,000
1958 Cad seies62 customized sold for $28500

above prices do not include the 10% buyers premium.

[Owen Nacker]

 To the whole charade of the B-J auctions is a farce, and it does more damage to the hobby as a whole than many are willing to admit. Their showing of all the flashy stuff, the Mustangs, blah blah blah...

 To me Mustangs and Tri-Five cars are entry level collector cars. Cars that non car guys buy because they want an old car. Money does not seem to play a part in it either. The dizzying heights that these cars are bit to is just insane. And all it does is drive the price of everything else up.

 The vast majority of folk in this hobby are just poor working stiffs like me. We pull all of our resources to do what we can to enjoy the hobby. Then these wags drive up the prices of the nice stuff so that we could never hope to ever afford anything, and it drags the price of the more plebeian examples along with it.

 B-J is just a circus. The sooner it ends the better for us all.

 Mike

[David Smith]

I will not argue that many of the cars sell way over their value.   But to a point, Ebay has done the same damage to the market.   I've seen some cars sell way over their value on Ebay as well.     I really wanted to go there and see for myself what it was all about.    And to be honest, I learned alot.   I saw that some cars sold below their value.   For example: a 1978 Ford Thunderbird Diamond Jubille edition with only 16,000 miles on it sold for only $7,000.  That is a rare car and should have brought at least double that price.   A 1962 Imperial 2-door hardtop with 50,000 miles sold for only $13,000.    The cars that brought stupid big money were all "over restored" cars.   Rotiserie restorations with no expense spared.  Many looking far better than they did when new.   There was a 1963 Lincoln 4-door convertible there.  Triple black, low miles and restored to perfection.    In reality that car should have sold for $20 to $30K.   But it was a pretty car and no doubt 2 or 3 rich guys with very deep pockets bid eachother in a frenzy and the car sold for over $70,000.    But then again, was that a nice $15-20K car  that someone did a $50K restoration on?   If so, that seller was probably relived to break near even.    But does that now set the value on those cars at $70K+?     No, not in my eyes.   

A few years back a mint 57 Chevy ragtop was selling for $75-100K at auctions.  Same for 59 Biarritzs.   Not any more.     A car is only worth what a person is willing to pay for it.    Just because one car sold for stupid money doesn't mean they are all worth that much to me.    When they all sell for that price, then the market has spoken.  Until then, there will always be people with deep pockets that will over pay for something they want.   I tell you, that If I had registered as a bidder there would be a Thunderbird Diamond Jubilee edition in my driveway today.