Barrett Jackson 2005

[Jonny B]

Only two 113's

68 with claimed 37K original miles, sold for US$ 20520 (suspect other things going on with this one, or perhaps 137K original miles?)

70 with 77K sold for US$ 27000. Claimed to have been restored in 1999, pictures looked decent, engine bay so-so.

No other 113's at the other auctions listed in Sports Car Market for 2005.

Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

[Ed Cave]

Brian Peters, the guy restoring my car told me he was also suspect of the mileage claim on that one car.

Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA

1964 356C
1971 280SL
2002 SC430
2004 A4 3.0

[sammyr]

Howcome it seems like most of the cars sell for more than what they are worth at the auctions?

[Cees Klumper]

I have been wondering about that myself Sammy. Prices at auctions are frequently much lower, and then sometimes higher, than one might expect. Maybe it has something to do with the limited evaluation possibilities at an auction (= negative impact on value) and the imperfection of this type of marketplace (if there happen to be many interested buyers + only one car = upward impact on value).

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[Benz Dr.]

This auction states the price as the selling price with buyer fees added. This has a way of artifically raising pices several %. This makes it look like cars are worth more and trends the prices up a bit which gives the auction house a liitle more money at each new auction event if everyone thinks the cars are selling better there than at other venues. The prices in Toronto are the sale price only, so on the same 2 cars it would look as though one sold better even if the top bid price was the same on each car.
BTW, I've heard that there we some bidding problems this year. Anyone else hear this?

Daniel G Caron

[KevinC]

I looked closely last week at the dark red '68 with the 37k claim...definitely not a low mile car unless it was used as a rental!

Regarding other Barrett-Jackson comments, the buyers paid 8% over the bid price to buy the car, while the fee to each seller was ALSO 8%. Not bad when '60's Corvettes and Camaros were selling upwards of $60 to $100k depending on condition and "rarity". There were 897 vehicles and 3,900 registered bidders as of opening day last Wednesday. ALL VEHICLES were "no reserve" meaning you had to sell, no matter what the bid.

Dont forget, this was not a "dealer" auction, but a "collector car" auction...most cars selling for at or over NADA collector car pricing. It was a grease-monkey's feeding frenzy but I will be certain to do it again next year!

[Ed Cave]

The Doctor is correct. The amounts shown on the 'Results' page from this most recent Scottsdale auction include the 8% that the purchaser has to pay in addition to the winning bid.

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/auctionresults/common/resultsbylot.asp?auctionid=51

I watched quite a bit of it on Speed (not me, the channel) but didn't sense any bidding problems. Once in a while they struggled a little to keep up with internet bids coming in but over all it seemed to go as usual. I guess the high point was Saturday night when the 1954 Oldsmobile brought a BJ auction record $3 million, shattering the previous BJ auction record of $2 million, set in 1989. Of course, as noted above, the buyer of that car had to throw in an additional $240,000 as his 8% purchaser fee.

BTW, the prices shown on the results page do not include the 8% also paid by the seller that, like the 8% from the purchaser, lands in Craig Jackson's pocket; but then again, its not an inexpensive event to produce.

Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA

1964 356C
1971 280SL
2002 SC430
2004 A4 3.0

[KevinC]

Ed,

I heard that the "Owner" (founder/CEO, maybe)? of the History Channel bought the $3M Olds.

-Kevin

[Ed Cave]

Kevin:

The guy that bought the Olds also bought 3 or 4 other cars prior to that and claimed he was buying them for a museum, I believe he said was in Denver. He was the dude you saw so much of with the red Ferrari jacket and cap. He looked to be about 35 years old. I never heard them mention the History Channel thing, but you may very well be right.

Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA

1964 356C
1971 280SL
2002 SC430
2004 A4 3.0

[Mike Hughes]

A $3 million '54 Olds?  This I've gotta see!

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[Ed Cave]

Here is the description of the $3m Olds and a link to a page where you can see a few photos of it.

The XP-20 project, commonly known as F-88 was a pet project of Harley Earl (working with him was Bill Mitchell, Ken Pickering, Zora Duntov etc.). Four cars came out of the project, but only styling order #2265 (this car) survived. It was sold or given to E.L. Cord (Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg owner) in 1955. Hundreds of internal GM documents and original blue prints are still with this sole survivor.

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/events/scottsdale/vehicles/cardetail_list.asp?id=178112

Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA

1964 356C
1971 280SL
2002 SC430
2004 A4 3.0

[France]

Hi Guys,

When you factor in the various geographic differences and exchange rates, it gets even harder to determine "true" prices for our beloved 113s.  I look at auction sales, but then I also watch lists like Classic Cars' Price Guide, which attempts to get to real value by looking at auction action, asking clubs, and consulting pricing experts (whoever they are...).  

February's list gives a Dealer Price for the 230/250 as 22,500 pounds--that's almost $44K.  Mint is listed at 22K pounds.  The 280s are rated a little higher, at 24K quid and 21,500 for Dealer and Mint.  So you can see these cars are probably pulling the highest values in the UK, which is part of our "brain drain" problem.

To me she's priceless...

Trice
1968 280SL US, signal red/bl leather, auto, kinder

[Douglas]

Brian Peters did a nice summary of his favorites from the auction. I was particularly impressed by a repro Gullwing that went for astronomical money:

http://motoringinvestments.com/fPhotos.htm

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

[Benz Dr.]

By bidding problems I don't mean the stuff you see. I mean the stuff you DON'T see - as in things you aren't supposed to see or hear about.

 I 've been to autions were the only bid was the top bid but the price kept going up. Only one bidder.
Stick to your price no mater how much you want the car. A lot of guys at Scotsdale are loaded and I don't mean only with money........

Daniel G Caron

[KevinC]

Anyone going this year? I will be there Thursday through Saturday.

Kevin Caputo
Boca Raton, FL
1967 230 SL Automatic
670 Light Ivory
113 Bronze/Brown MB Tex

[n/a]

Going this year as every year.   Can't wait to see what pops up.   The company is taking a 190Sl to the RM sale at the Biltmore, but so far I know of only 2 113's on the BJ list, but I am sure there will be some more at Silver, Kruse or Russo & Steele.   As to the auction prices for these, In my experience they ususally mirror retail and private sales in price.  While the buyers premium does add to the bid price, most experienced bidders take this into consideration when bidding.  
Alot of times you can get a good deal at certain auctions because many people are either scared of bidding in a public place, or are scared of buying a car that they have not driven.   I have gotten great deals by doing my homework on the car before it crosses the block by a careful inspection, talking to the owner and checking any records on file in the office.  Many people simply bid without doing any of this and either get burned by a bad car, or underbid because they are worried about hidden defects.
BJ of course, usually does not offer many good deals, however with most cars being no reserve, and it being a mostly custom/muscle car based sale, you never know.  Usually the odd duck at an auction goes cheaper because of lack of interested bidders.



Nathan York
71 280 SL
www.santiagosc.com

[ranchomerced]

I will be having my annual open house at my restoration shop this year once again during Barrett Jackson. I would like to extend the invitation to all the members. It is always on the last Sunday afternoon of the auction; this year it is the 22nd of January at 1PM. Tons of beer, Gullwings, Roadsters, 280SL's food and fine women. We are located aprox. 15 miles north west of the Barrett Jackson auction site in the town of Cave Creek AZ. See my website www.ranchomerced.com Email me if you need more information. Hope to see you guys here, Mark Passarelli