Auction Recap: Barrett-Jackson Northeast 2016
Despite the Northeast’s large population and numerous auto enthusiasts, there haven’t traditionally been many collector car auctions in that region. There is Bonhams’ Greenwich sale as well as sales in Harrisburg/Hershey, but that’s about it. The muscle car crowd isn’t particularly interested in Greenwich, and the Pennsylvania auctions are a little too far away for most New Englanders. Barrett-Jackson’s inaugural Northeast sale, then, was definitely something new and exciting. Held at the Mohegan Sun resort and casino that’s located about halfway between Boston and New York, the sale achieved $30,378,920 in total sales, and 574 vehicles sold for an average price of $52,925. For reference, Barrett-Jackson’s last sale in West Palm Beach achieved $27 million.
Even without examining the numbers, anyone at Mohegan Sun could tell that this sale was a huge success. All they had to do was look around. Over 1,700 bidders registered, and at one point there wasn’t enough room in the auction arena for all the bidders present. Bids had to be spotted from up in the grandstands. As for spectators, there were over 90,000 in attendance. That’s a record for a Barrett-Jackson three-day event, and apparently the auction was the biggest even ever held at Mohegan Sun by a long shot.
Top sale of the weekend by far was a fully documented body-off restored 1969 L88 Corvette at $624,800. Big sales in the American muscle category included a 1969 Boss 429 Mustang at $346,500, a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Superbird at $330,000 and a 1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible at $203,500. Barrett-Jackson had numerous Italian cars in the lineup, including several 1990s Lamborghinis and 1980s Ferraris. The most expensive of them were the 1998 Lamborghini Diablo SV Monterey Edition at $253,000 and the 1967 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2, a two-headlight car, at $330,000. This being a mostly no reserve Barrett-Jackson sale, there were only a handful of no-sales, but the most significant car to fail to find a new home was the 2004 Ford GT prototype, which was bid all the way up to $539,000.
As for bargains, there were a few to be had despite the enormous bidder turnout, but most of the cars brought fairly strong prices. Among the best values were a 1986 Jaguar XJ-S with a V-12 and less than 50,000 miles for $5,280, a race-ready 1958 Bugeye Sprite for $8,800, a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger Mk I for $60,500 and a 1988 Porsche 930 factory slant nose for $66,000, which is well below even condition #4 money.
Overall top 10:
1. 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 sold for $624,800
2. 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 sold for $346,500
3. 1967 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 sold for $330,000
3. 1970 Plymouth Hemi Superbird sold for $330,000
5. 2005 Ford GT Custom sold for $253,000
6. 1998 Lamborghini Diablo SV sold for $236,500
7. 1966 Ford Mustang Ringbrothers “Bailout” Fastback sold for $225,500
8. 1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible sold for $203,500
9. 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Custom Convertible sold for $192,500
10. 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/435 Convertible sold for $187,000
Barrett-Jackson’s next collector car auction is the ninth annual Las Vegas sale on October 13-15, 2016.
