Calling the Barrett-Jackson event a car auction is like calling Disney World a bunch of rides. While it is an incredible car auction, there is way more to see and do than just the auction. Vince and I went to the Scottsdale auction, we spent about 6 hours there and I would plan for 3 days next time.
There are really 4 different things going on at the event:
- Collector car auction
- Car exhibit (where you can see the cars that are being sold)
- Vendor exhibits
- Performance track (where you can watch & ride in performance cars, sponsored by car companies)
Collector Car Auction
The car auction is an incredible experience. It is spread over 7 days and on the day that we went they sold 400 cars (they were averaging one car about every 90 seconds when we watched it). While that does not seem all that fast for an auction, many of these cars are selling for over $100K. Both Vince and I were surprised at which cars sold for a lot of money, and which ones seemed to go pretty cheap. On the low side, a “1978 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER WRAITH II SEDAN” sold for $17,600, it was a beautiful car.
On the high side, a “1978 CHEVROLET G10 VAN “MYSTERY MACHINE” RE-CREATION” which sold for $67K (yes, from the Scooby Doo movies). I am sure Amanda and Stacey would have picked this one over the Rolls Royce.
If you want to register to bid on vehicles, you need to provide a $30,000 deposit to Barrett Jackson – just to show you are serious.
No shortage of people bidding.
Car Exhibit
All of the cars being sold were available to preview, and there were thousands of collector cars spread out over a huge area. Vince and I got through about 1/2 of them, but eventually you get overwhelmed by the incredible vehicles. Everything from antique collector cars to Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc to a collection of 5 – 2015 Dodge Hellcat SRT cars with under 200 miles on them (one had 5 miles on it). Then they also had the odd items – a restored 1970 Arctic Cat Puma snowmobile that sold for $10.5K, antique ice cream truck, and a monster Can Am side by side.
Vendor Exhibits
I have no idea how many vendors were showing at the auction, but it was a lot. They had everything from car accessories to jewelry, garage furniture (think man-cave), electronics, vacations, and corporate helicopters (including a helicopter on site). I would guess that we saw 1/4 of the exhibits, this is an area that I would dedicate a day to.
Performance Track
Dodge, Chev, and Toyota each had some of their performance cars at a race track outdoors. You could either watch the cars rip around the track, or you could go for a ride in one of them – like Vince did. After watching the cars do a run, his only comment was “I really hope they end the ride close to a bathroom”. He went for a ride in a Toyota Supra, and it looked like a lot of fun. After the ride he said that he would not want it longer – the drivers push the cars hard into and around the corners, jarring your body at each turn. He was excited getting into the car, and a little bit wobbly getting out after the ride.
Wow, you soaked up the experience in full – glad you enjoyed it!????
Rick and I want to get to Barrett Jackson one of these days. Sounds great!