Dave, What are you insinuating?!

 

Jeepers, I thought the "granddaughters" see even less action than the cars... don't they hang them up in them closet at night? Wouldn't want to wear them out! They are a worse "investment" than a Hemi Cuda.

 

I watched with great interest this last couple of days of the BJA, you got to wonder how many of those big dollar cars will be back for this years auction and what kind of numbers they will bring.

 

I've been going to the B-J auction off and on since 1985...I don't go any more unless I get a free pass from somebody..Like my other favorite pastime---baseball---it's just gotten a little too big for it's britches...I hate sounding like an old curmudgeon that yearns for the 'good ole days', but it seems like when something starts becoming too popular among the common folk, corporate-types start sticking their claws into it and milk it for as much money as they can, 'til the average Joe is priced out of it...

A turning point for me was when I was at the auction back in the days when it was at Phoenix Muni stadium, and you could chit-chat with rich and famous people as well as other hobbyists...I heard a guy walk up to Reggie Jackson and say " Mr. Jackson, I'm Joe Blow, President of XYZ Corporation, and we're the proud new owners of the car you just auctioned off"...Seems like that was about when classic vehicles went from being a fun hobby to being more of an investment---like land, mutual funds or pork bellies...How can the average individual keep up with corporations?..

Although, I don't wish any ill-will on anybody, I wouldn't lose any sleep if the collector-car market tumbled, along with the market rate for tickets to attend a baseball game, so that the people who made these two great pastimes what they are could again afford to participate in them...EOSB ( End Of Soap Box)....

 

yup, just like real estate around here.

 

Oh,,, maybe something presidential...

 

Joe,

I couldn't agree with you more.

I refuse to go to any professional sporting event. The teams dish out exorbitant amounts of money to men to play kids games and then expect us to pay for their stadiums with little return to the public. I would like to go to my local government and have them (us) pay the mortgage on my building. I'd like to see how that would work. I think I know.

As for the BJA, thanks to them everyone who has a rusting hulk sitting behind a building thinks it's work a fortune just because some one saw a vehicle like it sell for $150K. I occasionally watch a few minutes of the auction, until I get too irritated by the fools bidding like nuts on a car that sold for $3,000 new. The one thing about the BJ auctions that really irritates me is the commentator who walks around the car and picks it apart. These goofs act like the car on the block is a fine meticulously assembled watch. It's a car, most time just a Detroit built car that was assembled in a matter of minutes and shipped out. They were built to be driven and worn out. I couldn't care less if the paint on undercarriage is one shade off or if the bolts holding the inner fender panels are turned a 1/4 turn too much. I doubt if the guys on the assembly really cared, they just wanted them out of the plant. I like to drive my old trucks, not worry if I used the correct bolt to hold the fender on.

Unfortunately, there will always be dopes lining up to watch the games and buy the cars.

Now that's a soap box speach...

 

Admittedly the cars on the big days, i.e. Friday and Saturday, go for insane money. But the cars that sell early in the week and on Sunday tend to be normal driver type cars that have been nicely refurbished or restored. To my eye there are a whole lot of them that sell below what it cost to restore them. Then when you add commissions, people are giving there cars/trucks away. Like the '39 Hudson pickup that sold for $34.000. Unless the guy did all the work himself, and works for nothing, he got hurt.

 

39 Hudson; is that the truck that looks like the bed is about 12 feet long?

 

You got that right Bob...

I think one word covers it all, HYPE...

Those aren't normal people. At best you have abnormal people with too much money. I look at it for what it is, entertainment and not very good at that because It's what I watch when there is nothing else of interest. I would much rather go to a local show what you drove car show. That is where you meet the real people who did the work, not some phony with a fat checkbook. The only way those guys would interest me is if they are writting me a check. And we all know that ain't gonna happen...

Later Man...

 

Dave,

I haven't gone to a decent car show in years. It seems like most of the cars that show up are cars someone had someone else do all of the work. Most look like the the longest distance they have been driven is from the trailer in the parking lot to the show grounds. On top of that the cost to enter your car is getting too expensive, IMO. At least around my area most of the shows are being held at the big car dealers, again only top of the line show cars. The place I really like to go is the cruise ins at the local small restaurants. There seems to be a wide variety of cars that show up at the cruise ins. I've seen a lot of top end cars but have never seen one that was trailered in, or least I haven't noticed an empty trailer anywhere. You also get quite a few half finished or obviously home built cars. My trucks fit right in with the overall group. On top of this there are quite a few in a 30 mile radius of me that I can drive to on a Friday or Saturday night, hang around for a couple of hours, grab a burger and drink, BS with some old acquaintances and then head home.

 

Every year about a block from my house they have a car show put on by the "orphan car club", and they tell me that some of the proceeds actually benefit orphans...I don't know what proceeds they get because the show is free, but I go nuts looking at the old Nashes, Hudsons, Crosleys, and old Hudson pickups (and yes, raerjim, they DO look like they have about a ten foot bed)...Most of those cars are driven there and probably wouldn't be the high dollar types auctioned at B-J....

I will admit, though, it was pretty exciting being in the tent a couple of years ago at B-J when they auctioned off a 1953 one-off Oldsmobile concept car that was the precursor to the Corvette...When the bid went over a million, the crowd went wild, and when the bidding finally ended at about $3.6 mil, the whole place was in a frenzy---like seeing a walk-off home run

It seems like Barrett-Jackson has really been more about muscle cars the last ten or fifteen years, and you're right, truckdog, early in the week you can see some 'regular guy' type of vehicles...Who knows, when women really start realizing just how sexy our old Ford pick'emups really are, we might all be priced out of the market

 

Bob,
I live around a little town of maybe 16 K people and there are some other slightly larger and mostly smaller towns near by. Columbus and Cleveland would be the closest big towns at roughly 100 and 150 miles away. We have at least four outside car shows a year here that are all free. They do solicit donations for charities but I have never been forced to give if I didn't want to. Most of the time they profit by 50/50 drawings or raffeling off something donated. I have seen only one trailer queen which I posted pictures of here last Summer. There are more than a few non-professional jobs to see and some works in progress. You also see some rather well preserved but driven oldies. Most of the time, entry fees are low or free and that usually goes to operating cost and charity. They are usually a great atmosphere to be in. Going by what you have said, I guess we are a bit lucky in this regard. I would like to see more Cruise-ins though. There are some put on around outlying villages at DQ's and the like. More and more the Cruise-ins are like geezer get togethers. Of course me being one of them, I don't mind that at all.

Later Man...

 

How about the '57 Chevy Nomad with lots of chrome and plush interior that went for 49,500??

 

I for one am glad my trucks have virtually no chrome. The chrome bill alone on some of BJ's finest would price us normal guys out of the market. And NOBODY does that part themselves.