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Hi All,
I am fortunate enough to be posting from beautiful Scottsdale, AZ. Not to rub it in but the weather is mid 70’s and we’ve yet to see a cloud! Quite a contrast from the typhoon of last year and a much needed break from the subzero temps back home!I will be checking in the next couple days with updates from the Barrett Jackson auction. This year’s line-up looks excellent. While there isn’t a “main attraction” this year (as there has not been the last couple years) there is definitely a fine crop of vehicles to hit the auction block. As many of you know Barrett Jackson is a “no reserve” auction which means that all vehicles will sell for the highest bid. While this can be a little nerve racking for the sellers, it makes for an amazing spectacle as a spectator. We have been coming to this auction for 25 years and it has gotten progressively better each and every year. This year is the 40th anniversary of the greatest collector car auction in the US.
For you Pontiac fans like Andrew and John, one car getting a lot of hype so far is the 1963 Pontiac Bonneville Ambulance that transported JFK’s body from Air Force One following his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. This ambulance is one of 66 Bonneville ambulances built in 1963 and of those only 15 were contracted for military use. This vehicle was stored for over 40 years and is 100% unrestored and in its original condition. The car looks exactly the way it did back on that fateful day and has been perfectly preserved. It is being dubbed as “the most historically important vehicle in US history”. It is also fully documented by the PHS.
There are also a couple high profile collections going through this year from Sylvester Stallone, Allan Jackson, and Bret Michaels. The highest selling vehicle of the auction so far (as of Thur. eve 9:00 local time) was a 1955 custom Chevy pick-up with a Corvette LS2 power plant that sold for $147,000.
Things are just starting to warm up and I will keep everyone posted over the next couple days. I plan on having some photos to share as well from Friday and Saturday. Don’t forget to tune into Speed Vision to watch live coverage all weekend. Have a great weekend everyone, and I will keep you posted tomorrow.
Kerry
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It is interesting to hear from someone that was there, thank you.
Personally, I was disappointed in Saturday night and the amount of time they took on some of the cars (the ambulance and the boat, whatever that was), and the lack of time on others. There were some really good cars lined up that never got any airtime and others that didn’t seem to bring much interest were on stage forever. The charity cars also cause huge backups, I didn’t think they brought the money this year they have in the past. I didn’t notice Ron Pratt buying too much this year (or missed some of the cars he bought), Rick Hendrick on the other hand, bought several!
I agree Circle Track, some of the cars sit on the auction block far too long while others are rushed through. Most of the time the ones that sit on the auction block the longest are charity cars which they understandably want to get as much money as possible for. It seems like in other cases it comes down to politics and who you know to get the most stage time. There is an extra fee for going through on Saturday night, but you usually get the biggest pool of high dollar bidders at that time, so its probably worth it in most cases. Ron Pratt was pretty active this year, not sure exactly how many he bought, but they may have missed some of his purchases on commercials. Thanks for the feedback!
Interesting comments and story behind the car…
I agree with these comments also (except about the Chevelles, BJ always bring the Corvettes and there are plenty of buyers) ~
As a side note, this year’s B-J coverage by The Speed Channel had to be the worst ever. I wasn’t counting, but it seemed like four cars per hour were shown being auctioned.
The rest of the time, you were being “treated” to stupid stories about the world’s biggest motorcycle or some B-list celeb selling one of his cars. YAWN!
When a car actually came up for auction, you still had more garbage to suffer through, such as:
* Charity auctions for shitty cars that nobody wants to buy, but probably gets strong-armed into doing so they get invited to Craig’s Christmas party.
* Super-customized cars that have as much chance of being street-driven as a Tonka truck.
* A seemingly endless supply of 66-67 Corvettes and 69-70 Chevelles. Don’t get me wrong, they are cool cars, but I don’t need to see twelve of them.
One thing for sure – there is no shortage of controversy surrounding this JFK ambulance! :ohmy:
It would be interesting to see what side of the fence individual members of this forum are on.
MMRJR wrote:
Quote:It would be interesting to see what side of the fence individual members of this forum are on.Joe Kennedy was a bootlegger. He became rich illegally.
His children all got into politics. John cheated on Jackie with Marylin Monroe, and quite possibly had a three-way with her and his brother Bobby. His demise of course was some lead to the head, courtesy of Lee Harvey Oswald. 6 years later, Bobby met the same fate. Teddy was the only one who seemed to live, but ironically killed a woman and got away with it. Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment.
If I feel sorry for anyone, its Jackie O. She was a genuinely good person.
With that being said, the authenticity of this ambulance will always be in question. I find it very interesting, and will be curious to see the outcome, if there is one :dry:
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