$3 Million dollar Olds!!!

[Lou 19058]

Did anyone see the Barrett Jackson auction yesterday? A 1953 Oldsmobile F88 prototype fetched $3 mill. Once again big block muscle cars got the big bucks. Cadillacs were few and far between. On a side note I seen one of my customers there bidding on a Vette, He went up to 139k and was out bid. Whew, maybe now he can pay his bill!  LOL
                 Regards, Lou    

[Yann Saunders, CLC #12588]

The BJ organization [no pun intended] has had this Motorama showcar on display in Scottsadle each year for the last 5 years.

We shall probably see it "for sale" [and sold] again next year.

[Lou]

The winning bidder said he was going to put it in a museum in Colorado. He bought quite a few cars there. BTW it was a 54 old not a 53. Sorry.

[Dick Heller]

For 53 & 2003 (?) corvettes with matching VINs!  What did Reggie Jackson buy?

Dick

[Brian Rachlin]

The Barrett-Jackson auction is a real spectacle for any car enthusiast.  This year, the biggest prices were paid for the big block muscle cars, and or course, the HEMI brought the biggest price at about $330,000 in a 70 Hemi Cuda.  All of the exact prices can be found here:

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/auctionresults/common/bj05results.asp TARGET=_blank>http://www.barrett-jackson.com/auctionresults/common/bj05results.asp

I guess the biggest money for a "fin" car would have to be a little over 200K for a 1961 Chrysler 300 G convertible.

Noticably absent were many of the 50s Cadillac Converts that were the big money cars of the past.

The babyboomers have "come of age" and have "lots of disposable income to spend on re-capturing their youth" or so it has been written.  I was born in 1957, which puts me in the boomer category, but where is all of that disposable income?  Did someone leave MY name off of the list?  Where do I sign??

Perhaps I am just not "Smart" enough to see the wisdom of spending 125K for a Cuda-hemi-clone (clown?) car.

I sure wish I had kept the car I had when I was 17.  The year was 1974, and I was driving a pretty plain 318 Dodge Challenger Coupe.  Just a 318 automatic, air, ps/pb,.  A nice medium blue with a black vinyl top.  A guy I worked with that had a nice 68 GTO hardtop.  He told me about his friend that had a triple black 70 Challenger RT convertible with a 440 SIX-PACK engine, 4 speed, and 4:10 dana rear, a truly awesome car.  I joked with him and told him that if his friend ever wanted to trade, I would be very happy to trade cars with him.  This was a passing comment, and I never thought another thing about it until one day...

THE DAY THAT MY LIFE CHANGED:

On this particular day, my co-worker came in to work and said that his buddy with the Challenger would like to see my car, and he was interested in swapping cars.  I thight that this kid was pulling my leg, but he swore that his friend was serious.  It seems that the owner of the RT had a little situation with his girl friend, and needed to get married right away.  It was right around Christmas in 1974.  Back then there werent as many teenaged girls having babies and living with mom and dad like this is normal, like they do today, so this dude HAD to get married.  Problem was, his soon-to-be-wife couldnt drive a 4 speed, 440 powered car with no power steering.  He liked Challengers, and though he would be happy with my little 318 automatic with all the options and AC for his "family" car.

So the deal was struck... an even up trade....title for title...
He got a 318 Challenger Coupe, and a got a 440 SIX-PACK Challenger RT Convertible, black, black top, black interior.  Wow, talk about literally screwing yourself out of a nice car!!

I drove this car all through the rest of High School, and kept it untill 1979 when I wanted to buy a Vette.  I sold the car through an ad in Hemmings for the tidy sum of $4000.00, about what it cost new.  Not bad for a 9 year old car that I wanted to get rid of...

It was purchased by none other than Richard Carpenter (of the singing group The Carpenters) and picked up in person by his parents and driven home by them.

I think that Dodge only made a handful of 440 SIX-PACK Challenger RT Convertibles in 1970, about 17.  I also think that the car, which was mint when I sold it (it had been repainted and much NOS chrome and trim installed while I owned it)would probably be worth about $250,000 at the Barrett Jackson auction, based on what I have been seeing.  Mopars are described in the first 6 characters of the VIN.  I always had to recite the following when I went to the Dodge dealer for parts:  JS27VO.

I was asked on more than one occasion "are you sure".  I said yep, its a 440 SIX-PACK Convertible.  

Why did I want a Vette so badly?  Why did I let this car go?

I still ask myself these questions, and watching the B-J auction really makes me wish I had the car today, not only for what it is worth, but just because you cant always re-purchase your youth.  It slips away little by little, so if you have the car of your dreams, do what you can to keep it.

By the way, I never did find the Vette I was looking for.

Brian

[Steve Cole]

Using the B-J website, I saw only 24 Cadillacs that were registered for auction. I watched a large portion of their coverage & saw the auctions for a grey 1959 Eldo Biarritz & a 1958 Eldo Brougham. I think both went for about $80k each.

Overall, I liked this years coverage much better because it seemed to me that there was much larger range of cars being covered. This year, it wasnt camaro after camaro, etc.

Anyways, I kinda like their website because they usually have good detailed photos which I like to copy for visual reference while I try to restore my Cad..

[Charles D. Barnette #1465]

The car was the coveted one of a kind 1954 Olds F88 roadster, a Motorama star of the GM Motoramas. It proves that the Motorama magic created by Harley Earl is still alive and well!