Ron Pratte Collection Going To Auction

[D.Dawg]

(this article can be found in its entirety in the September 2014 issue of “Hemmings Muscle Machines”)

“Ron Pratte Collection Up For Grabs At Barrett-Jackson…

After spending more than 10 years and millions of dollars buying rare and one-off vehicles at auction, developer Ron Pratte has decided to liquidate his entire collection at auction. Pratte, the founder and former CEO of Pratte Development Corporation of Chandler, Arizona – who has an estimated net worth of $350 million, has set auction records with several of his past purchases.

Though Pratte never publicly showed his collection and has refused to give interviews, he has reportedly allowed a select few to view his vehicles.

Barrett-Jackson, which will handle the auction of Pratte’s collection at its 2015 Scottsdale auction, has yet to release a full inventory, a total count of the cars, or Pratte’s reason for liquidating. In 2012, Barrett-Jackson handled the sale of 15 vehicles from Pratte’s collection, including a Tucker 48 that set a world record by selling for a total of $2.915 million.”

Topic

[GTO Man]

Interesting. Sounds like he is getting out of car collecting, probably since he has the ultimate collection. Should bring some interesting bidding to the auction.

[Amigo2k]

I can’t wait to hear Craig Jackson on the mic announcing that Ron paid 3 million for that car 8yrs and with a bid at 250k it is way under the money …

[GTO Man]

“That’s a $5 million dollar car!!”

[circletrack]

Ron must be going in a different direction… or needs some new cars

[D.Dawg]

Here is some additional info and insight on Ron Pratte and his top notch collection…

http://www.foxsports.com/speed/cars/ron-prattes-stunning-car-collection-to-be-auctioned-off-at-barrett-jackson-scottsdale/

[circletrack]

Did anyone watch the coverage from Reno this weekend? We watched about an hour total, it’s not as exciting as January (when it’s -20)

[jonmandude]

I watched some of it. Same old “this car is way under the money” “This is a steal at this price” “This is a half million dollar car” bullshit.

And then they ended it with an hour long trophy presentation “The Barrett-Jackson Cup” for five cars that had won prestigious awards (like Riddler). It came across as “giving our rich friends trophies for all the work they paid to have done”.

[GTO Man]

jonmandude wrote:

I watched some of it. Same old “this car is way under the money” “This is a steal at this price” “This is a half million dollar car” bullshit.

And then they ended it with an hour long trophy presentation “The Barrett-Jackson Cup” for five cars that had won prestigious awards (like Riddler). It came across as “giving our rich friends trophies for all the work they paid to have done”.

Good description. Unfortunately most of the auctions on TV have gotten so commercial they are losing their appeal for watching them. And with Barrett Jackson too many car owners have unrealistic ideas as to what their car is worth. One of the awards cars had 5000 hours in it. What in the hell can you do for 5000 hours, did that owner ever get suckered.

[moparkid25]

GTO Man wrote:

jonmandude wrote:

I watched some of it. Same old “this car is way under the money” “This is a steal at this price” “This is a half million dollar car” bullshit.

And then they ended it with an hour long trophy presentation “The Barrett-Jackson Cup” for five cars that had won prestigious awards (like Riddler). It came across as “giving our rich friends trophies for all the work they paid to have done”.

Good description. Unfortunately most of the auctions on TV have gotten so commercial they are losing their appeal for watching them. And with Barrett Jackson too many car owners have unrealistic ideas as to what their car is worth. One of the awards cars had 5000 hours in it. What in the hell can you do for 5000 hours, did that owner ever get suckered.

Ive been saying this for awhile now. Though its fun to watch these auctions, the market is over inflated and and the common man can’t afford to buy or even build a classic car now days.

[jonmandude]

moparkid25 wrote:

GTO Man wrote:

jonmandude wrote:

I watched some of it. Same old “this car is way under the money” “This is a steal at this price” “This is a half million dollar car” bullshit.

And then they ended it with an hour long trophy presentation “The Barrett-Jackson Cup” for five cars that had won prestigious awards (like Riddler). It came across as “giving our rich friends trophies for all the work they paid to have done”.

Good description. Unfortunately most of the auctions on TV have gotten so commercial they are losing their appeal for watching them. And with Barrett Jackson too many car owners have unrealistic ideas as to what their car is worth. One of the awards cars had 5000 hours in it. What in the hell can you do for 5000 hours, did that owner ever get suckered.

Ive been saying this for awhile now. Though its fun to watch these auctions, the market is over inflated and and the common man can’t afford to buy or even build a classic car now days.

5000 hours is very do-able for cars at that level. Some of the full custom work can take weeks to get right, and many of these cars are 1.5-2 year builds.

Spot on Zac. I do not know how many guys I have talked to selling cars that say “one sold on Barrett-Jackson for $xxxxxx.” People think everything built before 1975 is worth tens of thousands just because it is that era. Darts and Demons (although very cool cars) are now selling for $20K plus…….not even built. Dumb

[GTO Man]

Since I am not that knowledgeable as to what it takes to build a custom I shouldn’t say that 5000 is allot of hours for that, it just seems like it would be. Especially if it something that is a one-off with many of the curves and corners changing.

At a minimal $50/hour that is $250,000.

[jonmandude]

most shops charge around $100-125/hr

Keep in mind these are cars at the “Riddler” level, Generally those cars tend to take millions to build. half million dollar car probably wouldn’t even make the “Elite Eight”

[Author]

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