Car Auctions Are Coming To Arizona

- Mark C Bach

Each January the car auction companies flock to various Phoenix area sites to hold their classic car sales/auctions.

The grand daddy of them all is Barrett-Jackson’s auction held in Scottsdale and featured live and on tape on Speed with nearly 40 hours of coverage next weekend. This will be the 38th annual auction for them which they call – The World’s Greatest Collector Car Events” TM. And they probably are right! This year the auction offers a stunning black T-Bird, the first one off the factory floor. Plus Craig Jackson will assist GM in auctioning off for charity the first 2010 Camaro, outfitted as the winning bidder desires. Readers might remember that last year at Barrett Jackson, the first production Corvette ZR-1 sold for $1,000,000. GM is even feeling the pinch and will be selling some cars there from their extensive collection.

Russo Steele will be holding four days of car auctions further north in Scottsdale and ESPN cameras will tape the auction action for later broadcast. The contrast here is that only actual bidders are allowed into the auction tent and cars can be sold with a reserve. This means if the current owner wants to sell the car for at least “$x” amount, they can keep an unannounced reserve on the car and hope it fetches at least that amount.

Silver Car Auctions will be on the east edge of the metropolitan area at Fort McDowell for four days as well. Mitch Silver and his auctions helped establish Hot August Nights in Reno and is boastful that their slate of cars is more for the average buyer – meaning more reasonably priced.

Boutique auctions also occur next week with RM and Gooding in town as well for separate one day sales.

In two weeks Kruse Auctions comes into town and sweeps up the remnants, boasting of nearly 1,000 cars to auction. Sometimes I think they must be counting the car’s wheels to come up with their car counts but they still have a great selection.

The bottom line is there will be plenty of cars in Arizona for the next two weeks and lots of money passing hands. Will there be million dollar cars crossing the auction block? You can count on it.

Stay tuned for more coverage as the auctions proceed.

Copyright Mark C Bach 2009

OODLES OF FREE ADVERTISING!

OODLES OF FREE ADVERTISING!
- KL Nichols

Craigslist.com is the first place, these days, that most people think of when they want some free advertising, but I am going to recommend Oodle.com. In the cars for sale category as I write this, there are over 27,000 cars for sale. Admittedly, like on CraigsList.com, most of the cars for sale are daily drivers. But this indicates the activity on Oodle.com and where car buyers congregate, collector buyers can't be far behind!

Admittedly, CraigsList.com is a bigger website with more traffic, but the fact that you can only advertise in one city at a time on CraigsList.com negates their size and traffic.

I report this information only to prove that as a collector in these trying times, you can sell your collector vehicle and save money on advertising to boot!

http://oodle.com

SEMA SHOW 2008

SEMA SHOW 2008
Mark C Bach

Each year the Las Vegas Convention Center is besieged by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). Over a million square feet of indoor spaced was covered with cars, car parts and an expected 125,000 registered attendees.

Over four days this week countless celebrities mingle with the crowds, unveil cars, sign autographs and drool over the cars. Perhaps the strangest celebrity pairing was Carroll Shelby from Cobra fame and Guy Fieri the cook/host of “Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.” This year a record fifteen car manufacturers brought out their stock of new releases and concept cars.

Despite the economy we read about in the newspapers and hear on television, there was plenty of business to be made. Typically at the SEMA show manufacturers strut out their latest offerings and products and write orders with their jobbers and wholesalers. As the public sees the new offerings they tell their suppliers what THEY want to buy. Besides the car manufacturers, almost 2000 other exhibitors brought out their lines. One of the highlights of the show is many exhibitors bring out their demo cars or show cars to draw in the crowds and showcase their equipment. So over 2000 great cars are on the premises to look at.

Some of the cars included a restored Ghostbuster’s ambulance, some pimped out cars from DUB with outrageous rims, the much touted 2010 (or whenever) Camaro, the Hyundai Genesis and Toyota’s Venza. If you looked closely you could find more brands of quick detailer car spray than you even knew existed!

This year marked the 36th year of the show which first modestly started at LA Dodger Stadium. As tantalizing as all this sounds and seems, it is a trade show and closed to the general public.

Copyright 2008 ClassicRag.com

1936 Ford Tudor Sedan Stainless Steel

This is the 1936 Ford Tudor Sedan built for and owned by Allegheny Ludlum Steel. This is 1 of only 4 in existence and is the only one currently in running & in road worthy condition. The car is in exceptional condition, with the interior and even the frame looking great. All 4 cars each had over 200,000 miles on them before they removed them from service.

These cars were built for Allegheny as promotional and marketing projects. The top salesmen each year were given the honor of being able to drive them for one year. The v-8 engine (max 85 hp) ran like a sewing machine and was surprisingly smooth and quite.

The story has it that the dies were ruined by stamping the stainless car parts, making these the last of these cars ever produced. More information of the history on these automobiles can be found at Allegheny Ludlum's website

http://www.alleghenyludlum.com/pages/companyinfo/stainlesscars.asp

Happy Birthday USMC

November 10. The only fraternity I ever joined, Semper Fi Marines!