I went to the Barrett Jackson auction last year and it's basically a wallet
swinging contest. It's all ego and bragging rights. The man with the most
money wins, not necessarily the man with the most sense.
This year, the bald guy in the white T-shirt was a good example of that. He
went toe to toe with another guy on the GM Futurerama-whatevermobile and ended
up getting spanked after jacking the price up to a phenomenal 4,000,000 bucks.
The next thing he bought was the Elvis Limo, what's up with that? What sort of
collection is this guy trying to put together?
Craig Jackson is definately a genius. He has provided the arena for a selected
group of Tommy Bahama-clad gladiators to go head to head with one aother and
at the end of the brawl everyone goes home happy. The winner gets the car, The
loser doesn't get hurt, The real car guys are making their money back on the
restos, and Craig himself makes a killing. Heck, even the little guys have fun
drooling over the cars, drinking beer and watching the action.
And then there's the Hemi 'cuda craze:
The current infatuation with the Hemi 'cuda is a huge mystery to me. Sure, I
grew up lusting over the line of Superbirds and 'cudas at the local Plymouth
dealer, but I think buying 'cudas for 2 million bucks is absurd, Hemi or not.
Especially when a beautiful CSX 3000 series roadster (real) and a real GT 40
go for 500K and 300K respectively. I suspect that the current generation of BJ
bidders read a lot of Hot Rod magazines in high school, but over-looked the
Road & Track and SCG. In ten years I predict those 'cudas are going to be a
bust, one reason is that the next generation of bidders will be into something
completely different, and second, they're really not that good of a car. It
appears that the big players at BJ are flush with money, and the investment
concern is not a priority.
I sure wish I was in their reckless shoes.
My 2 cents.
MS
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