Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale
There’s little question that Barrett-Jackson is the big dog at auction week in Scottsdale and can alter the climate of the auction season ahead. Three hundred thousand people filtered through the gates over the course of the week, and every single one of them seemed to be in the audience on Saturday evening. If you weren’t there in person, you probably saw it on television: Barrett-Jackson’s annual all-no-reserve auction extravaganza, the anchor around which auction weekend in Scottsdale is built, took in more than $141 million. More than 1,900 vehicles crossed the block in nine days, accounting for $129.7 million of that total. And despite ample TV coverage of the event, the auction was rolling before the cameras went on, and it was still going once announcers Mike Joy and Steve Magnante signed off.
The sheer sales numbers beggar belief. After a couple of years flirting with salon selections — prewar classics that had reserve numbers attached to them — the return to a (nearly) all-no-reserve auction means that sell-through rates were at an incredible 99.99 percent. Out of 1,931 lots, over those nine days, only a single car refused to sell. One.
Please note that Barrett-Jackson disallows close inspection of its vehicles (i.e., opening doors and hoods, touching), and our descriptions reflect this.
