Media | Articles
11 Cars That Caught Our Eye at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2025
Barrett-Jackson’s signature sale of the year ended its nine-day auction frenzy with $194.3M in total sales, $6M down from Scottsdale 2024. Just over 2000 vehicles crossed the block in WestWorld and, since Barrett-Jackson is almost entirely a “no reserve” operation, all of them sold, and the average price was just over $97,000.
Bargain hunters found some deals early in the week, but attendance Thursday-Saturday was high, and high-dollar restomods and modern exotics brought big prices that eclipsed many of the sale’s traditional American muscle cars. We were on the ground for the three major auctions in Scottsdale this year (Barrett-Jackson, RM Sotheby’s, Bonhams), and below are some of the cars that grabbed our attention.
Lot 1066.1: 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe
Sold for $110,000
Chassis no. 124377L100016. Ermine White over red vinyl. Older restoration, #2 condition.
Equipment: 327cid/275hp V-8, PowerGlide automatic, hub caps, BF Goodrich Silvertown tires, bucket seats, console, AM radio.
Marketplace
Buy and sell classics with confidence
Condition: Inspected by Jerry MacNeish. Serial number 00016, and body number 1 on the Los Angeles production line. Restored in 2006. Very good body, although the driver’s side fender has a couple of scratches. The bumpers and trim show well. Under the hood is excellent and the underbody is like new. The interior has been completely redone, but the steering wheel appears original and has some gouges in it. Not over-restored and a very good restoration of one of the earliest Camaros ever produced.
Bottom line: When it comes to cars, the “first of” something tends to have cachet among collectors, and therefore be worth more money. “One of the first” of something is less straightforward. It might impress some, but not others, and that is exemplified by this car’s auction history. It sold here back in 2007 for $75,900, then was a $45,000 no-sale at Mecum Indy in 2009, then sold for $110,000 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas later that year. It was a $35,000 no-sale in one of Barrett-Jackson’s mid-COVID online sales in July 2020, and brought $110K in 2025. This is a nice Camaro but its equipment and options are nothing special. Much of this price is down to that early build date, and it’s not guaranteed to do so well the next time it crosses the block.
Lot 427: 2001 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Sold for $47,300
Chassis no. 1G1YY12SX15123558. Millennium Yellow over black leather. Original, #2 condition.
Equipment: 346cid/385hp V-8, six-speed, red calipers, Goodyear Eagle F1 tires, original window sticker.
Condition: Represented with 29 miles and showing no age to speak of. Window sticker reads $49,470.
Bottom line: The 2001 model year was the first for the C5 Corvette’s game-changing Z06 model, and it had a lower-output 385-hp version of the LS6 engine (2002 bumped it up to 405hp). Nevertheless, this is a delivery-mile car finished in the C5 Z06’s best color, one that both looks good and evokes the Corvette C5-Rs race cars that were winning Le Mans at the time. This result represents a healthy premium over most ’01 Z06 sales, but given the crazy prices that some low-mile “wrapper” cars bring these days, it also shows some surprising restraint from the Scottsdale bidders. Several other delivery-mile Corvettes from the same collection brought similarly strong-but-not-crazy prices.
Lot 140: 1980 Datsun 200SX Coupe
Sold for $11,000
Chassis no. PS110013627. Metallic blue over blue cloth. Unrestored original, #2- condition.
Equipment: 2.0-liter fuel-injected four, floor-shift automatic, Uniroyal narrow whitewall tires, T-roof, factory cassette, air conditioning.
Condition: Showing 55,504 miles. Extensive recent servicing. Beautiful paint and trim. Clean wheels. Very good interior. Cracked weatherstripping. An exceptional example of an unexceptional car.
Bottom line: Remember these? Not many people do. An export version of the Nissan Silvia, the Datsun 200SX was a handsome but humble car available as either a coupe or three-door liftback in North America. It was a throwaway car in the vast majority of instances, so this one’s level of preservation would have been impressive 30 years ago, let alone in 2025. Even so, most of the bidders at WestWorld found this car shrug-worthy, and 11 grand was all it took to buy what may very well be the world’s nicest 1980 Datsun that doesn’t have a “Z” in its name. It’s not all that much more than the $9555 this same car brought on Bring a Trailer back in 2019.
Lot 1146.1: 1999 Nissan GT-R V-Spec
Sold for $139,700
Chassis no. BNR34002464. Cloud White over gray cloth. Modified, #3 condition.
Equipment: 2.6-liter I-6, six-speed manual, V-Spec, added NISMO turbos, exhaust and suspension, BBS LM wheels.
Condition: Good paint overall, although the trunk paint color does not match the shade of the rest of the car. The underbody is aged and crusty, showing some oxidation and grime. Inside, the car doesn’t show excessive use or wear. This is a driver-quality R34 with some light modifications.
Bottom line: The R34-generation (1999-2002) Skyline GT-R, once forbidden fruit in the U.S., finally became eligible to import here at the beginning of last year. It’s rarer, quicker, and more visually aggressive than the R32 and R33 that came before it, and it’s hard to overstate the hype around this car’s (legal) arrival, especially among the PlayStation generation. Lots of examples, both good and mediocre, have made the trip across the ocean (or over the border from Canada) since, and perhaps some of that hype has died down. Recent prices, including this one, have been soft.
The GT-R in Scottsdale is a pretty good car, and a quarter-million dollars for a V-Spec (which got an upgraded all-wheel drive system, better suspension, upgraded aero, and active limited-slip rear diff) in this condition would not have a big deal a year ago.
Lot 1128.1: 1998 Callaway C12
Sold for $104,500
Chassis no. 1G1YY22G2W5117410. Ferrari Yellow over black and gray leather. Original, #2- condition.
Equipment: 5.7L/440hp LS1 V-8, six-speed, adjustable suspension, carbon fiber dash trim.
Condition: Represented as one of 20 built, the only one in this color, and with 5408 miles. The paint and weatherstripping are starting to show their age a tiny bit, but it’s mostly a gorgeous presentation and of course much more than a re-bodied Corvette.
Bottom line: Based on the contemporary C5 Corvette but restyled with only the Vette’s glass, roof, and door handles remaining in place, the C12 raced at Le Mans and took the class pole there in 2001. Callaway offered it from 1997 to 2001, at an average price of approximately $200K. Today, it’s a bit obscure, and its performance advantages over a base C5 are less impressive in a world with C6s, C7s, and C8s. The cool factor and racing connection are enough to keep these cars desirable, but not extremely so. A handful have sold at auction over the years, and this price in 2025 is roughly in the middle of the range.
Lot 1344: 1953 Chevrolet Corvette
Sold for $370,700
Chassis no. E53F001103. Polo White over red vinyl. Older restoration, #3+ condition.
Equipment: 235cid/150hp I-6, Powerglide two-speed automatic, wheel covers, Firestone whitewalls, WonderBar radio.
Condition: Number 103 of 300 Corvettes built for the inaugural 1953 model year. Pulled out of long-term storage in 2003 and restored. Paint is crazed on most surfaces, and there are large chips near the right headlight. Headlight bezels don’t fit flush. Tires look old. Underbody and interior both look very good.
Bottom line: On June 30, 1953, GM built the very first Corvette and would go on to build just 299 more for the model year, all finished in Polo White over red. The two-seat roadster with its gaping chrome grille, upbeat-looking single headlights, and curved windshield certainly looked the part of a sports car, but its performance on the road left a lot to be desired. Even so, it’s the first Corvette and it’s rare, so ’53s are quite valuable since any large Corvette collection would seek one out as a bookend. Prices have been fairly steady over the years, and this one sold at the Worldwide Hilton Head auction in 2007 for $440,000. Then, it sold here two years ago for a surprisingly high $550,000. Given the age of its restoration, the result here in 2025 is more realistic.
Lot 1365: 1977 FORD F-150 CUSTOM PICKUP “HOONITRUCK”
Sold for $990,000
Chassis no. F14HNY60978. Black and gray with sponsor graphics. Custom, #2- condition.
Equipment: 3.5-liter/914hp EcoBoost V-6 3D-printed intake manifold designed by Ford Performance, custom all-wheel-drive system, custom wheels made by Fuel Off-Road, Toyo tires.
Condition: Built by Ken Block/Hoonigan team, in collaboration with Detroit Speed, for the viral Gymkhana drift video series over the course of two years. Driven by Ken Block in the Gymkhana videos, its debut being in 2018 in the 10th installment of Block’s Gymkhana series and also used in his Climbkhana 2 film.
Bottom line: The late Ken Block’s videos are still wildly popular, especially among younger car people. This is the most significant of his serious custom vehicles to come to auction, and it’s the most expensive. Although the final price for it is a bit less than the $1.1M a dealership listed it for a few years ago, bidding for it in Scottsdale was fast and feverish. To enthusiasts of a certain age, a cool vehicle from a viral YouTube video has as much star power as one from a famous movie.
Lot 1385: 2014 Pagani Huayra
Sold for $1,925,000
Chassis no. ZA9H11UA3ESF76050. Black Carbon over black leather. Original, #2 condition.
Equipment: 5980cc/730hp twin-turbo V-12, semi-automatic gearbox.
Condition: One of 100 cars built for the 2014 model year and was ordered with the $180,000 “Tempesta Package,” which reportedly included exposed carbon fiber, a front diffuser, larger wheels, and a burnt titanium exhaust system. The seats show very mild signs of use, but overall the car looks barely driven.
Bottom line: Built in tiny numbers to unique specs at exorbitant prices, Paganis are almost as much design studies as they are exotic automobiles, with sci-fi interiors and poster-worthy engine bays. Even the mirrors are gorgeous. Most of the select few Huayras that have come to auction in recent years sold in the high-$1M to mid-$2M range, which puts this one on the higher end of things. It was the third-most expensive car sold at Barrett-Jackson this year, and the ninth-most expensive car sold in all the January auctions.
Lot 1410: 2005 Ford GT
Sold for $456,500
Chassis no. 1FAFP90S95Y400925. Mark II Black over black. Modified original, #3+ condition.
Equipment: 5.4-liter V-8, Heffner Performance twin-turbocharger system in place of the original supercharger, six-speed, red calipers, aftermarket slotted rotors, BBS wheels, McIntosh stereo, Bridgestone Potenza tires.
Condition: Represented with 8000 miles, which is remarkably high for a GT. Not that this is cause for concern, it’s just that nobody seems to drive these cars very far. This one shows little more age than other, lower-mile ones out there. Black with no stripes might be the sharpest look of all for the 2005-06 GT.
Bottom line: This car sold for $287,500 on Bring a Trailer in 2021, which was about right for the market at the time. Given its modifications and its mileage the result in 2025 is surprisingly high, especially since other, lower-mile GTs at the same sale brought little more than half a million dollars.
Lot 522: 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC
Sold for $31,900
Chassis no. WDBCA45D3JA393306. Arctic White over dark gray leather. Original, #3+ condition.
Equipment: 5549cc/238hp V-8, automatic, Michelin tires, sunroof, car phone, Becker Grand Prix radio.
Condition: Bought new by Johnny Carson, who kept it until 2003. Extensive refurbishing in 2017. Good paint. Clean wheels and tires. Some of the exterior trim is a little dull. Showing 86,832 miles. Some of the interior trim is cracked, which is common on these cars, but the interior is mostly good. A nice but unremarkable SEC with celebrity history.
Bottom line: Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He was no Jay Leno when it comes to automotive enthusiasm, but Carson nevertheless owned some cool cars. The result for this one is spot-on for the condition with no notable premium for the celebrity seat time.
The story doesn’t end here, though. Immediately after Barrett-Jackson, the car popped up on Bring a Trailer with the same seller from Arizona. Presumably he wasn’t happy with the bidding on the block in Scottsdale earlier in the week before the bigger crowds got there, and bid it up to keep ownership of the car. Bring a Trailer is generally a vanue that’s better-suited to ’80s Benzes than the muscle and restomod heaven that is Barrett-Jackson, but the car nevertheless sold for $34,179 (including fees) online. Looks like the seller lost money here, and it’s another example that although celebrity ownership can be a boost to value, it’s never a guarantee.
Lot 1369.1: 2019 Ford GT
Sold for $1,210,000
Chassis no. 2FAGP9CW9KH200233. Grabber Orange over Dark Energy leather. Original, #2 condition.
Equipment: 3.5-liter/647hp V-6, automatic, Extended Carbon-Fiber Package, 20-inch gloss carbon-fiber wheels, Akrapovic titanium exhaust, Sparco seats with six-point harnesses.
Condition: Represented with just 1613 miles and $95,450 in options. This is also supposedly the only GT ever finished in Grabber Orange. No surprise, it’s in like-new condition.
Bottom line: The Grabber Orange on a new GT is a bit unusual, a bit McLaren-y, maybe. But it does look good. GT values have dipped a bit over the last couple of years as their novelty has worn off and as more examples hit the auction market, so anything over a million lately is a bit of a surprise and I’m not the only one who thinks this orange looks good.
Find more values
Search for prices of other cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles
The Z06 was reported to have factory cloth seats that were never production. All the Corvettes were under value.
The million dollar cars mostly broke even.
A 1980 Datsun 200SX Coupe is a weird one to see at an auction. The surprise to see one that has not rusted to death is remarkable for an otherwise boring car from 1980.
Yep, not all that and a bad of chips, but I had one back in the day and it was a great car (same color as auction). Have a place in my heart for it.
0 to 60, 13 seconds, 1/4 mile, 19 second at 79mph
Someone still lost $40k+ storing an unused corvette since 2001.
Yeah, probably going to lose money holding a 95 viper since 2010
I question the reference to the 67 Camaro. 327/375 hp. Don’t think so unless modified. 350 yes.
Misprint, should be 275hp.
Considering the nothing-special equipment on the car, could be a 327-210 HP
As do I.
Owned one from new, or my mother did anyway. Yes, it is a 327 with a powerglide. Would do 70 mph in first gear. Don’t ask me how I know but she let me drive it to my Junior prom in 1970.
My father’s 1963 Fairlane 500 station wagon with a 260 V8 would also do 70 mph in first gear.
Yes the “aluminum” Powerglide was introduced in 1963 for use with the 327 and larger engines. YES it would do 70 MPH in first gear (of only two gears) before upshifting. I know as my Mom had a 63 four door hardtop I drove in High School. Still a favorite. My first new car was a 1969 Camaro with a 350, good torque, but rough when revved compared to the turbine smooth 327 at redline.
I owned a 67 Camaro with 327, 2 Barrel and Powerglide. It did the quarter mile still in 1st gear doing about 75. When I sold it a few years later it was a 350, 523 HP, Muncie 4 speed and 4:56 gears. Did the quarter mile at about 130 MPH. Buddy of mine said he had never seen one car go through so many changes.
There was not a 327/375 hp option for the ‘67 Camaro. Prove me wrong, ha!
Correct, it’s a 275hp! Fixed now.
I had A ‘67 Camaro L30/M21, it’s 327 was rated at 275hp, don’t know if that engine was offered with a power glide. I’m sure a Camaro expert would know.
I still can’t get over the price on older 4x4s this year. To me, something is amiss in the collector car world when an average first-gen Bronco sold for more than an original Charger Daytona!
The only interesting one is the 200SX.
Thank you for the perfect comment on that one. When those came out, I loved them. They were like a mini 450SL. I’m glad to see that at least one still exists in this condition. One of these would fit in very well, in my collection.
I guess it’s just jealousy, but when people buy cars purely to resell (hopefully) at a profit, with no improvement to the car, I can’t help but smile a little when they lose money……and when they store a car without ever driving or really enjoying it, the smile turns into a big grin 😉
Wouldn’t bother me if the flippers would take up another hobby. They’ve already put most fun to drive older cars out of reach of most people, while making the auction companies rich.
Just a “I do too” for the writer’s opinion that the Ford GT looks really good in orange.
I like the “Gulf” livery.
I didn’t follow the sale this year. It is the who’s who and same old same old. Funny Hagerty lists the droning previous sales. It would be nice if they would only show the never before sold cars. But then again it might only be a half hour televised event. Life goes on.
I will say the Datsun is cool to see. Too many Corvettes posted in the article as usual. Don’t care if it has a one of one painted ashtray. Pretty boring.
My understanding is that GM started building all it’s vehicles prior to the model year and introduced them in the fall of the year preceding the model year.
That was common to Ford as well. The assembly lines would shut down for a week or so in August to allow construction crews to modify them for the next year. I spent a week working on changes to the Doraville plant in 1981 (I still have the hardhat badge that got me past security).
I worked for a Corvette restoration shop for a time, and learned a a lot from the NCRS folks. So much for the “1953” Corvette. I would think a car with a low production number would have a higher value to collectors though.
If I could afford a Ford GT I would drive it every chance I got. To hell with the miles. The smiles would be worth it. After all, it is meant to driven.
Unfortunatly, Ford didn’t build them to be driven otherwise they would have made more of them. They only built them for the collector market. As a lifelong Ford fan, that was a slap in the face to their loyal customers.
You guys made this selection easy. Hard pass on all of them.
My pick is the 2019 Ford GT in that amazing Grabber Orange paint! Would have loved to see more pix of the interior, etc. If wishes were fishes, I’d have an ocean full… :))))
Interesting about the 200SX. A guy I knew had one, back in the day.
The first Corvettes were flashy-looking, but not too exciting. I do not see why they bring this much money.
“Paint is crazed on most surfaces, and there are large chips near the right headlight. Headlight bezels don’t fit flush. Tires look old.” Corvette collectors noticed the condition and knew how much it will cost to make it right. It had already been done before, in 2003, and in this condition, it probably wasn’t done right. So, restoring the outside again will be necessary to bring any more money.