The January classic car auctions of Scottsdale, Arizona


Every January the car shows transform Scottsdale, Arizona into a wonderland of classic cars. If you like classic cars, like I do, it can be great fun. If you have more money than I do, you can get a bargain - that's the whole point of auctions.

By far the most famous and popular classic car auction is the Barrett-Jackson, which began in 1971, and is held at WestWorld, on the polo grounds, just south of Bell Road, east of the 101. If you've never been to one of these car shows, this is the place to start. And if you're like me, you won't go to the auctions, you'll just go look at the cars. I'll tell you how it works.

Several days before the auction the cars are set out for inspection. You can wander around and look at them at your leisure. No, you can't drive them around, or kick the tires, but you can do a careful inspection. Usually the sellers are there all week so you can talk to them, and there are other things to see, you know, booths that sell stuff, posters, etc. It takes a bit of walking, but it's great fun. And yes, you'll see the "rich and famous" - and if you recognize celebrities better than I do, you'll see a lot of famous people.

I'm lucky because I have a friend who restores and sells some of the most amazing cars you've ever seen. So I get to tag along. He started selling many years ago at the Barrett-Jackson and has now moved up to one of the more exclusive auctions, called the Gooding and Company. It's also in Scottsdale, but it's much smaller, and way more expensive, and just blows my mind. It's held in a tent in the parking lot next to the parking garage at the Scottsdale Galleria. No, I won't tell you who my friend is, I don't do that, but if you see a very tall man in his late fifties with a shaved head and sunglasses with a beautiful fluffy white dog, that's him.

Like I say, if you're a spectator, like I am, it's great fun. The reality of buying and selling cars like this at auction is actually pretty awful, unless you have nerves of steel, and I don't. A crazy amount of money goes back and forth, and went the auctioneer says "sold!" that's it. The most common question I hear from people is how much a car is worth, and I've learned that it's only worth what someone is willing to pay.

I have a lot of friends who do this, and I've been opening up my house to "the car guys" every year for a long time now. They bring excitement and glamor into my quiet life. They get nothing from me except a roof over their head, and they're fine with that. Sometimes I tag along, sometimes I just wish them well and watch them drive away. Either way I get to see a lot of cool cars.

If you're going to one of these auctions, and want to look like one of the rich and famous, there are some things that you will need to do. First of all, you have to look as if you don't need to impress anyone, so wear clothes with holes in them, go without shaving for a few days, that sort of thing. Of course to be sure to combine that with your Versace sunglasses - the type that cost more than the mortgage of my house. Whatever you do, don't gawk and take photos - that's for people like me!

See you at the car shows!

Looking inside of a 1954 Ferrari 250 GT Europa. I love looking at these kinds of cars! And the people-watching is fun, too!
If you liked this article, and would like to see more, please consider becoming a patron of History Adventuring on Patreon. If you're already a patron, thank you! You make this happen!

 Click here to become a Patron!
History adventuring posts are shared there daily. The basic tier is a dollar a month, and the PhD tier, which includes "then and now" photos, billboards, aerials, videos, and super high-definition photos, is five dollars a month, and is discounted for seniors, veterans, and students.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why cars in the future won't need stop signs, red lights, or stripes on the road

Image
Time-travel with me into the future. Where we're going, we'll still need roads, but our cars won't need the kind of stuff that human drivers need, like stop signs, or stuff painted on the road. And if you're already panicking that computers will take over, don't worry, they already have. The fact that you're reading this right now combines so much amazing computing power that it would have been unthinkable to anyone in the 1960s, or '70s, when I was a kid. Speaking of being in the geriatric age group, if you're like me or older, you took a lot of pride in knowing the rules of the road, such as what to do at a stop sign if four cars approach at the same time, the difference between a "yield" sign and a "merge" sign, or maybe how to parallel park. But calm down there old-timer, that type of knowledge will just be as quaint as how to use a horse and buggy is nowadays. Sorry! The best way to picture how traffic will flow in the future is
Read more

Watching a neighborhood grow and change in Phoenix, Arizona

Image
I stopped to take a closer look yesterday at where the old Circle K had been in my neighborhood, which is a suburb of Phoenix. And it's got me to thinking about how much Phoenix grows and changes over the years, and how people feel about it. This particular neighborhood was built in the mid 1980s, when there had been only a smattering of houses and a community college (Glendale Community College, built in 1965). There are some houses that I can tell are from the 1970s, and a few even older, but what happened here is that the neighborhood suddenly appeared in 1985 or thereabouts. There are three shopping centers on the corner of 67th Avenue and Peoria - the one in the photo is called "Peoria Station", and it was designed to kinda look like a train station. The other three are called Westporte Village, Brittany Square, and Crossroads Plaza. I've lived in this neighborhood for a very long time, and no one ever uses those names, even though the signs are still up. But the
Read more

Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?

Image
As someone who has been interested in history since I was a little kid, I've always asked the most childish questions, and quite often never got an answer. As a kid, I was told to run along and play, and don't bother the grownups, so I set my questions aside to work on when I myself became a grownup. But some questions I really haven't found a satisfactory answer for, and get thrown away as I find myself learning the more important stuff. I now understand the grownups, but the kid in me still has childish questions like "Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?" The first question to ask is whether a particular style (whether hair, clothing, etc.) was in style at the time. The moustache was, and you can Google a photo of Charlie Chaplin, who wore the same style of moustache at the time, and quite stylishly. The wide lapels were in style in the 1930s, as was were the tall shirt collars and small ties. But the haircut wasn't - it's just awful. Me
Read more