Auction Recap: Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2017

There were seven collector car auctions in and around Scottsdale this year, but Barrett-Jackson’s is always the sale on most peoples’ minds. They sell more cars, bring in more money and have a larger American flag than any other auction house. This year was no different. Barrett-Jackson offered 1,711 vehicles, and sold 1,703 of them over seven days for a grand total of $101 million and an average sale price of $59,323. These totals were down from 2016’s $103.3 million despite over 200 more vehicles being sold.

The top sale of the week wasn’t an American muscle car but rather an iconic British GT car, with a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 selling for $1,485,000. That is an extremely strong price for any DB5 not driven by James Bond. Not far behind the Aston was the famous CERV-1 (Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle) that sold for $1,320,000. An open-wheel, mid-engine test vehicle used by Zora Arkus Duntov in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, CERV-1 was previously bid to $800,000 at the 2015 RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction but didn’t sell, so this was a much more successful trip across the block. Other strong sales at the top of the list included a 1965 Shelby GT350 at $445,500 and a 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia (owned by and customized for Justin Bieber) at $434,500.

Barrett-Jackson sells just about everything at no reserve, but they do make exceptions for high-dollar lots and in Scottsdale this year there were eight big no-sales. The most notable were a 1969 Corvette L88 Coupe at a high bid of $600,000, boxer Floyd Mayweather’s Bugatti Veyron at a high bid of $1.9 million (reportedly he was holding out for over $2 million), a ‘68 Aston Martin DB6 at $475,000, and an extremely rare 1964 Bill Thomas Cheetah race car at a high bid of $850,000.

Further down the price spectrum, one of the biggest takeaways from Scottsdale was that vintage trucks are showing a lot of strength. A dozen Broncos were offered at Barrett-Jackson. All of them brought strong results, and eight of the first generation examples on offer brought prices over $40,000. Three vintage Dodge Power Wagons also amazingly brought prices near or above $100,000. Other strong segments included Dodge muscle cars and ‘80s domestic performance cars.

Overall top 10:

1. 1964 Aston Martin DB5 sold for $1,485,000
2. 1960 Chevrolet CERV-1 sold for $1,320,000
3. 1930 Duesenberg Model J Dual Cowl Phaeton sold for $880,000
4. 2012 Hennessey Venom GT Spyder sold for $800,000*
5. 2005 Porsche Carrera GT Coupe sold for $616,000
6. 1965 Shelby GT350 Fastback sold for $445,500
7. 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia Coupe sold for $434,500
8. 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (big tank) Coupe sold for $385,000
9. 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 sold for $385,000
10. 1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Roadster sold for $341,000

*sold as charity

Barrett-Jackson’s next collector car auction is the annual Palm Beach (Fla.) sale on April 6-8, 2017.