Well, one more item down on the bucket list – I made it to Barrett Jackson!
Now, I try to get around to things having to do with Antique Cars – vintage races, shows, the AACA National Fall meet at Hershey (33 years in a row!), even Nascar races! But let me tell you, people – NOTHING IS QUITE LIKE THIS!!!
To put it simply, this experience BLEW MY MIND!!! Now, if you read the blog alot, you know that I use that phrase every once in a while, so it might seem a little “tired” – but let me tell you, I REALLY mean it – LITERALLY – in this case!
Friday started off kind of quietly… Thursday was a blast, but was also a LONG day for me – waking up in Maryland at 3:15 AM, and finally turning in at 9:30 PM in Arizona – with the extra 2 hours, that’s quite a stretch for me! Friday morning, Steve had a conference call for work at 11:00 AM, and Shaun had suggested coming by around that time for a shop tour. So I hopped in the rental car and headed up to Scottsdale to meet Shaun at 11…
I was a little ahead of schedule, and hungry, so I drove around Scottsdale for a little while looking for a place to eat some breakfast, finally settling for a little coffee shop. Scottsdale is NICE – very high-brow it seems – with Tesla dealerships, no neon signage, etc…
Something told me I should call Shaun first, and when I did, his crew was starting to stir, but still working on getting into gear after a long night of complimentary auction cocktails… Then they were planning to head back up to Gooding’s and RM to meet some friends and see the other E-Types go across the auction block. Well, I had already experienced all that, and was only a few miles from Barrett Jackson, and to be honest, seeing that was really my biggest reason for coming out.
I started watching Barrett Jackson about 10 years ago while I was refinishing my basement one year over the long MLK weekend. I ran across it on the SPEED channel, and found it mesmerizing! And it was a perfect companion for long days of home remodeling – it felt like Mike Joy was standing there with me and we were just hanging out talking about cars! And so ever since, I almost always plan a big “rally” on a project out in the shop, lock myself out there, and have Barrett Jackson running in the background for about 100 hours straight!
Sadly, a few years ago, the SPEED channel died, and with it went the around-the-clock coverage of Barrett Jackson! This REALLY sucked, and the coverage has never been the same since… Flash forward to this past December, and both Shaun and Steve mentioned coming out for the auctions. When Steve offered his spare bedroom, I really had no more excuses for not coming!
So I told Shaun on Friday AM that I would see him later that night and we would possibly do the shop tour on Saturday AM, and jumped in the car to head over to Barrett Jackson. What you are about to see are 120 of the best photos I took there…
What I EXPERIENCED there was a whole new thing… I guess I might as well just tell you guys what I told all of my friends this weekend on the phone, “It’s like the Hershey Car Corral – times ten – combined with a Nascar Race – held inside of the world’s largest strip club!”
From all of my years at Hershey, I had a pretty good idea what it would be like outside around the auction, and I was pretty much right about that. It was nowhere near the size of Hershey of course, although it was alot bigger than I expected – say about 1/4 the size of Hershey.
What I DID NOT see coming was the Alcohol – and the “women”… (when I told Janie this, she just rolled her eyes with a look that indicated I was an idiot for not imagining that aspect of it…
The alcohol… Now I’m a drinker, but I’m a lightweight. 3 or 4 beers and I am feeling GREAT, and I’m pretty good at pacing myself. I will dabble in a couple Gin & Tonics in the Summer, but that’s about it for actual liquor. Intoxicated for me is pretty much “Chuck in overdrive” – louder, happier, and more animated – if any of those things are actually even possible… Now I knew that alcohol is regularly served at auctions, and so it was no surprise to see everyone with glasses of wine and champagne at RM last night. But somehow I never really pictured that for Barrett Jackson – I pictured Hershey – where there is not a DROP of alcohol in the place, and you don’t miss it – it just doesn’t go well with “dealing” at a swap meet. Well, at Barrett Jackson, EVERYONE was drinking – as soon as I walked in the door – at 11:30 AM!
The women… This topic is a little more delicate, but it needs to be mentioned because I want you guys to get the true feel for the experience. At Hershey, there are NO women. OK, that’s an exxageration, and there seem to be more and more as the years go by… So let’s say that when I started going as a kid, the ratio of men to women at Hershey was 500:1, and has drifted down to about 100:1 currently. Barrett Jackson still has more men then women by far, but it’s probably about 5:1. But that’s not what stood out for a rather conservative boy from the East Coast who grew up in the 1980’s… It was the TYPE of women…
Now, I don’t want to use any descriptions that seem crude or anything, so I’ll try to explain it very literally: 6-inch spike heels, Spandex pants, LARGE breasts that were BARELY covered, LOTS of makeup, LOTS of hair – you get the idea… And there weren’t just one or two girls dressed like this – THERE WERE THOUSANDS!!! I honestly have never seen anything like it. EVERY vendor of ANY kind had girls like this working their booths, bartending, waiting on tables in the food areas or on bidders in the booths and even on the floor. And 99% of the auction visitors who were women were dressed the same! AND – there were ALOT of May-December romances, with 20-something grils who were REALLY dolled up. Steve said they were escorts, and that I am naive (I just can’t believe that someone would hire an escort to drag around on their arm for Barrett Jackson!) In fact, women dressed like this were so prolific, that when you saw a woman who looked like a NORMAL 40-year-old wife and mother, SHE is the one that stood out!
So I don’t want to dwell on that, but it seems to be a BIG part of it, and after a long day of wandering around looking at every type of performance car possible, your brain is literally going a mile a minute, fueled on alcohol and an overdose of male hormones, and the answer to ALL of your problems seems to be purchasing a vintage performance car! – which all seem CHEAP now after being bombarded with 6-figure sales all day!
Hey… Wait a minute… Maybe this is all by design?… “Oh, Chuck… (you’re an idiot…)”
Enjoy! – and go there yourself some day! Take your buddies with you – you’ll have a BLAST!
-
- Headed up Highway 101 to Scottsdale!
-
- I wasted no time parking the rental car, taking the shuttle over, and getting in the front door. JUST inside the front door were two brand new Mustangs on a pedestal, strapped down to a rear wheel roller dyno, where visitors could drag race each other! So I quickly moved past that, and this “motorcycle” was just past that – Dodge V-10 powered!
-
- This is the first tent you pass through – the show is held at Westworld in Scottsdale, AZ.
-
- This was pretty neat – a wooden Chris-Craft converted to duty as a bar!
-
- Mixed feelings her – I guess I would rather see it in the water, but man, this gives me alot of ideas for the Summer House!
-
- This ws taken as soon s I came out of the tunnel and into the main auction room – and it wasn’t until AFTER I snapped this photo that I realized what was up there!
-
- Can you believe it!?! I swear this is true – I walked right into one of the few E-Types at Barrett jackson being auctioned off – a Series 2 Coupe!
-
- I worked through the main auction room quickly – to be honest, it was more than I could even handle at that point – I was in TOTAL SENSORY OVERLOAD! Back outside now and coming into what I would call the “Midway” I guess – this is a “Perana” – essentially a high-level kit car. I dig it…
-
- This is the Jack Daniels tent – where they were either selling or giving away these actual Jack Daniels barrells.
-
- A little further along, and I was taken aback by this display! Wow – that’s ALOT of Cobras!
-
- These were all new or pre-owned, built replicas. To be honest, they seemed inexpensive considering what’s there and that the work is all done. This one had a Ford Big-block, correct 4-speed, and was $69k I think…
-
- Turn the corner, and OMG – there’s even MORE! I think there were a couple of different outfits here, and these were the Shelby CSX-4000 and 6000 series cars (built by Shelby, but in the 90’s and later…) The gold-looking car was hand hammered out of BRONZE in Poland! Steve and I spoke with one of the guys extensively later that night, and got a good look at this car close-up. The metalwork was incredible!
-
- Talk about incredible metalwork, check this out!
-
- Bare, polished aluminum – now THERE’S a car with NO FILLER!!!
-
- Take it from a guy who has made aluminum bonnets by hand – this is not “as good as”, but BETTER THAN IT GETS! You can order these cars with fiberglass OR aluminum bodies. To have the aluminum bodies finished to this level and polished is an EXTRA $15,000!!!
-
- Stepping out into the midway just past the Cobras, this is a shot looking West…
-
- …and South from the same spot (these tents housed the auction cars)…
-
- …and East from the same spot – it was HUGE!
-
- Stepping inside the first tent reveals what looks to be close to 1/4-mile of auction cars! Each tent contained 4 rows of cars, so you walked down the outseide edges, and through the middle to see them. Let’s get started!
-
- And what better way to start than with a 1968 E-Type OTS!
-
- This car was a good solid “driver” – in what is currently just about the most desirable color combination. This car had already gone through, and was sold for $93k – a good, solid, fair price for this Series 1.5 roadster.
-
- The car looked good from all angles at this distance, and I would be HAPPY to own this one!
-
- Getting up close on here revealed a few fit and finish issues here and there, but this is EXACTLY the type of thing you can expect on an E-Type that is being driven as it should! To be honest, this looks JUST like my E-Type when I was young, and for that matter, the 2+2 downstairs too!
-
- Not sure exactly what this was – it didn’t look quite like overspray… Whatever it is, it’s easily remedied once the car is brought home. There does seem to be a little extra filler in the end of this sill, but the work looks solid. Now, why am I going so easy on this when I was tearing apart the E-Types at Gooding’s in the previous blog? – this car is not pretending to be something it’s not – and there’s not a sticker on the windshield saying it’s worth $425k!!!
-
- Oh, YES!!! A Thomas Cheetah! I thought these were ust about the greatest thing built in the 60’s when I was a kid!
-
- This is a replica that was very well done – modern drivetrain and suspension has been well-paired with a very true-to-form replica of the tube chassis, and the overall dimensions of the car are right. just looking at it, I can tell the body shell is taken from a mold pulled off an original car. Originally, these had a heavily tuned small-block Chevy and Muncie 4-speed, with NO driveshaft! The trandmission yoke was mated driectly to the differential yoke with one U-joint!
-
- ALL Business in the cockpit! The shifter is weird, but it is a stick, not an automatic (Thank God!) The car actually had a T-56 6-speed – pretty much THE transmission for something like this!
-
- I LOVE IT!!!
-
- Harry – how about this one?
-
- This replica utilized a mostly stock C4 Corvette front and rear suspension and brakes. PERFECT! In my mind, I was already tearing apart my ’85 Corvette and mocking up a similar chassis to use under my Devin body!
-
- Sorry for all the photos of this – I’ve just never seen one in person!
-
- The cars were INSANELY fast, but despite their essentially “mid-engine” design, they were too much of a handful on a road course, and were developed too late – by the time they hit the tracks in about ’64 I think, they were hopelessly outclassed by true mid and rear-engined sports-racers. the only Cheetah to campaign successfully was the “Cro-Sal Special”, which was also the only Cheetah roadster. Apparently, the cockpit heat was so stifling, the ONLY solution was to simply cut the top off! By the way, this car has gullwing doors…
-
- OK, back to the auction… This was a Shelby 500 KR (King of the Road), but I THINK it was “tribute”, and not actually a true KR…
-
- A respectable Series 3 E-Type V-12 2+2 – almost a completely different animal from the SWB OTS and FHC E-Types we typically restore here…
-
- Here is the first Series 1 OTS we have seen – the car looked quite good.
-
- …and already SOLD – for $165k.
-
- This would have been TOP money only a few short years ago…
-
- A well restored 1954 Corvette – SOLD for $99k.
-
- Mercedes-Benz 190SL
-
- A jaguar Mark II “street-rod” – not my cup of tea…
-
- Over to the next tent – with a quick pit stop between!
-
- These tents were just HUGE!
-
- And there were FIVE of them – FILLED!
-
- There were alot of “resto-mods” – which is an antique car that has been restored AND upgraded to modern running gear, etc. This treatment runs the full spectrum – from a very tasteful car like this, that is basically all stock on the outside but with a CTS-V late-model Cadillac engine – all the way to HEAVILY modified cars!
-
- This was the lowest sale price I saw at the show – and I actually DID like the car – ALOT!
-
- This is a ’61 Oldsmobile, that I think a family could have ALOT of “antique car fun” in for $9,000!
-
- It seemed like there was at least one of everything – here is the obligatory BMW Isetta.
-
- This is a ’58, ’59, or ’60 Ford Thunderbird. Thunderbirds were built in 3-year segments that all look the same, and I can tell you what group one is one, but can only distinguish the actual year for the “baby birds” – the original 2-seat cars of ’55, ’56, and ’57…
-
- If you’re going to build a hot-rod, don’t do it with a Mark II… just go all out and build something like this!
-
- Having this painted up there is probably not the best way to get THAT conversation going!
-
- These seats are made to resemble WW2 bomber seats – not exactly the cutting edge in comfort, but I can respect the craftsmanship!
-
- Now, talk about respecting craftsmanship! This is not really my style – ESPECIALLY the color, but OMG the work that must have gone into this!!! It’s no wonder this car did NOT make it’s reserve – I don’t think you’ll EVER get your time and money back out of something like this – it’s purely a labor of love!
-
- Sorry I don’t have a better picture of this car from the side, because strangely, this Mark IX was stretched 6 inches between the A and B-posts… Why?…
-
- OK – Normally I wouldn’t even TAKE this photo, let alone post it in the blog, but I just had to do both in this case… THIS is Barrett Jackson! That fenced-in area on the right is the Traxxis radio-controlled car display, where rather large cars were doing flips at least 10-12 feet high. I’m sure that is why the little boy and girl (dressed in vintage clothing…) were standing there originally. But, (like me…), the little boyt can’t help himself, and seems to have developed a bit of a “staring problem…” It was GREAT! Complete with a chocolate ice-cream cone – much of which was all over his face – and that hat – it could not have been more perfect! The girl was trying HARD not to laugh hysterically! She is, of course, 100% appropriately dressed for this event, and a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier!
-
- There were toys of all shapes and sizes…
-
- Here is a shot of the tunnel where the cars go into the auction – right next to Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar” & Grill… Right about this time, I was getting tired, and was feeling a bit lonely, to be honest. I called Steve, and we were not sure what the right play was, for me to come down to his house and rest up with a nice dinner out, or for him to come up here and rally for the night. We knew we would pretty much be here all day the next day either way… We tentatively agreed that I would just wander around a little longer and then come home and take it easy. As I described what I was seeing, he said he thought I might be missing alot of it somehow…
-
- I KNOW this is the same ’62 E-Type roadster that was in the Hershey car corral in October!
-
- The E-Type in the photo above, and this boat, were both inside of a GIANT building that I finally “discovered”… This was INSANE – vendors of EVERY kind, more cars, automobilia – the works! In a building that was the size of an aircraft carrier!
-
- Another neat toy – I’ll bet this would be fun up at the river – it’s amphibious!
-
- This is a restored Messerscmitt – Steve told me the next day that these were all over London in the 60’s (he’s British…)
-
- Now HERE’S something cool, that I was actually familiar with! This is a 1954 GM Concept car – the Pontiac “Bonneville” – built on the Corvette chassis. As I recall from the many Corvette books my friend Ned had as a kid, GM built a bunch of different Corvette-based concepts in the early 50’s…
-
- This was weird, and a bit gaudy I guess, but also very cool in it’s own right! This HAS to be worth a FORTUNE!
-
- The “Bonneville” concept car was basically the centerpiece of the cars being sold off for charity from the Ron Pratt collection. Ron Pratt is an avid collector of classic cars and airplanes from the Phoenix area, who is usually sen front and center at Barrett Jackson. Last year, he decided to sell off his entire car collection for reasons unknown… The bus behind the car is one of only three remaining GM special display buses built for the 1950 nationwide tour “Parade of Progress” – it is being auctioned off also, entirely for charity, and had quite a bit of buzz around it as to how high it might bid up to!
-
- A “Blastolene” – with a Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12!
-
- A Shelby Cobra from the Ron Pratt collection.
-
- I don’t even know what this was! I meant to check it out closer and I actually got side-tracked and never made it back to it! Maybe THAT will give you an idea how BIG this place is!
-
- A very nice Kaiser-Darrin sports car from about 1954 I think – the sliding doors are 100% original!
-
- Another Perana – I probably like them because of their resemblance to an E-Type…
-
- It just KEPT GOING! It was right about here when I finally came to my senses – “Wait a minute, this is it – your’e here! Don’t leave this place – get some coffee and let’s DO THIS – all night!” So I sent Steve a text – “Come on up – I will rally!”hat I got back on the phone with Steve and said,
-
- Look at the last photo, and then this one – they were both taken standing in the same place, and let me tell you, they don’t even come CLOSE to showing how far back this building goes in real life! It has to have ben AT LEAST 1/2-mile long!
-
- A 1954 Corvette in the staging lanes.
-
- …with the original “Blue Flame Six”
-
- And if your want a ’54 Vette but that one is not to your liking, here’s ANOTHER ONE right in front of it!
-
- And here is my favorite car of the weekend – and my heartbreak… This is a 1950 Woodill Wildfire – a very obscure early fiberglass car that was featured in several movies in the early 50’s – including “Johnny Dark” starring Tony Curtis.
-
- I used to kno alot more about things lke this when I was younger, but alot of that stuff has slipped away. As I recall, this is not much of a performance car, really, it’s speed and performance being based almost entirely on the fact that it is an average 1950 sedan, minus about 1,000 pounds…
-
- They made a handful of these- not sure how many, but THIS is THE CAR that was featured in the movie!
-
- I have to tell you – it’s ugly, but I dig it! Man, I would LOVE to have this!
-
- There’s really not much to it, but it was one of th cars that got the ball rolling with the fiberglass cars. Oh well, it is nice to see, but there is NO WAY this is going to sell for anything even CLOSE to what I can afford – I mean, it’s a movie car – TIMES THREE!
-
- It was close to the front of the line, and I was headed that way, so I went back inside and waited for it to come across. It was then that I met my new freinds – 4 40-something guys from Dallas having the time of their lives! It made me miss my friends, but I did blend right in with them when the Woodill Wildfire came across the block, and “Jeff” snapped this photo of me as it did.
-
- And then the unthinkable happened… The car sold for $16,000!!! And I was standing RIGHT THERE – WITHOUT a bidder’s pass!!! I don’t know if that was GOOD or BAD, because I SWEAR TO GOD that car would not have stopped at $16k if I had a bidder’s pass around my neck! The thing is, I think, this car was at the wrong auction – wrong crowd… And so there was really only ONE person there that wanted it. If there were TWO people there that wanted it (aka, me too…), then you don’t kno how high it would have gone before someone dropped out… Unreal… – I even have the money…
-
- Oh Well – on with the show! Here is a modern C-5 Corvette with retro bodywork.
-
- Pretty cool, and the kits were available at the show – but WHOAAA – they were $79k!!! You can buy a NEW Vette for that – with money to spare!
-
- I think this is a ’60 Corvette – tough to tell from this angle, but I think this tail, with no decklid chrome, and no split in the tail-lights means 1960. Of course, this is another “resto-mod”, so who knows!?!…
-
- I thought this was very slick! Forget about Nomads – this ’57 Buick wagon has more style, and although it is a 4-door, has no post, like a 4-door hardtop. I gotta tell you, this is SWEET! I have never seen another one…
-
- I forget the price for this pair, but it was LOW – I think it might have been $13k.
-
- A DeSoto Fireflite 2-door hardtop. Not sure what year, the fins look more ’57, but the dual headlights lean me toward ’58…
-
- As I recall, BOTH of these Corvettes sold for what seemed VERY reasonably to Steve and I.
-
- WHAT THE &@%$!?! This aluminum bodied Cobra replica, without a drivetrain, was a prop from the movie “Ironman” – crushed when he was thrown into it. It was sold for $20k, to a restoration shop that claimed they plan to restore it. It may be the first time a Cobra REPLICA has been RESTORED!
-
- A BIG 1960’s Lincoln!
-
- Nash.
-
- What the hell are those Things!?! Sorry, couldn’t resist…
-
- Neither Steve nor I could identify this – it turned out to a built Factory Five KTM Supercar – the use Corvette C5 engines and suspension, mated to a Porsche transaxle. My buddy Stan and I looked into these several years ago – I think the kit was about $25k…
-
- Like I said, one of everything! An Amphicar!
-
- A shot of the Woodill Wildfire back in its spot – I think it actually came WITH that crazy head!
-
- Unbelievable…
-
- This is a Shelby – I know NOTHING about this – apparently, it is the only 100% ground-up vehicle built by Carroll Shelby.
-
- Back in the automobilia and vendor area, this is a shot of a very famous photo of Steve McQueen on a Hollywood back lot in his 1957 Jaguar XKSS.
-
- This is ALSO a famous shot – of a very young Sophia Loren sneaking a peek at Jayne Mansfield!
-
- Back inside, this car was a prime example of a car that “stalled” while crossing the block – financially that is. When this happens, the auctioneers stop and give the whole place a lecture of how great the car is…
-
- This was a Rolls-Royce speedster – Merlin V-12 powered – with a wooden boat-tail.
-
- As the day progressed on Friday into the evening, the cars got better and better, and the prices went higher and higher – as evidenced here!
-
- This was a radical car – one of a kind! (as the auctioneer reminded us SEVERAL times!)
-
- Here comes that ’62 E-type OTS that I now KNOW was at Hershey – I checked the photos I took of it there. Also in this shot is one of the “female decorations” that adorn the auction block all day and night. I don’t know how else to refer to these girls – they just STAND THERE as the cars go across – it’s very weird actually! No one seems to notice them after a while, and I swear I could see this girl struggling to keep this bright smile going!
-
- Here’s a blurry shot as she whisked around… While this looks like a tacky prom dress, it’s quite tame for this venue, trust me! After a while, it’s pretty obvious what’s being conveyed… “Wish you had a date like this for your prom 40 years ago? Well, it’s not too late – all you have to do is BUY THIS CAR!!!”
-
- Here we go!
-
- She’s moving up quick! Actually, I should mention that these auctions are conducted at LIGHT SPEED!!! It is MUCH faster in real life than it seems on TV. AND – I’m SURE they are skipping cars on TV, because whereas on TV, they auction a few, then interview people, etc., when you’re there, they come across in VERY RAPID succession!
-
- Still going!
-
- This was about it – she was sold at $145k. Now that I’m back home, I looked at the hershey photos, and the car was for sale there for $139,500 – I’m sure it could have ben had for less – maybe around $125k… What you have to realize is that there is a 10% fee on both ends, so for this car at $145k, the buyer is paying $159,500 actuallu, and the seller is getting $130,500. Looks like this would have been a MUCH better deal for all involved three months ago in Hershey for $139,500 – Without the middle man getting $29,000!!!
-
- Here comes another almost identical L88 Corvette race car – and a change to a Brunette in the familiar orange dress (I pictured a “lounge” behind th stage with about a dozen of these girls with sore feet and 100 of these dresses! Also – it’s really just pandemonium up on the stage! Anyone with a bidder’s pass can go up there, and there dosn’t sem to be much in the way of “rules”… Actually, it’s amazing how smooth it goes, considering just about everyone is pretty well “tuned-in”!
-
- Same car, same price…
-
- This, and the last few photos, were all taken on Saturday afternoon. Steve and I checked out his storage unit, where several E-types I have sold him are in various stages of construction, visited his painter, went out to lunch, and finally, I met his pet tortoises – who were hibernating, but apparently they don’t do much more than that anyway… We are getting into the much higher-dollar cars now around 6:00 on Saturday night, and about to roll into the centerpiece auctions.
-
- Now I KNOW this shot was taken deep into Saturday night based on where I was standing. I stood here for hours with Dean (Shaun and Steve’s body man), and his wife Claire. they were great and I had alot of fun watching the prime auctions with them – fueld of course by complimentary G&T’s, thanks to Shaun’s bidding and guest passes! This is it – THIS is Barrett Jackson!
-
- Finally, the big moment came, with ALL of the fanfare! The 1954 Pontiac Bonneville concept car has just sold (for $3.2 million I think), the room is absolutely PACKED, and the 1950 GM Parade of Progress bus is rolling out! The marines are on stage, representing the group receiving the charity donation from the sale, to benefit servicemen with PTSD.
-
- It was funny when this bus pulled in from the opposite side of the stage – it peeked its nose out of that door behind it, and looked just like an animated character from the movie “Cars” – almost as if saying, “Hey guys, can I come in and play?”
-
- At approx. 7:30 – 9:30 Eastern time, the bus was auctioned off for $4 million dollars – all going to charity. The whole place was going WILD! You are cheering wildly at each bid and you really don’t even know why! It COULD be because the whole place is VERY well “oiled” by this time!
-
- Next came the one and only Shelby Cobra “Super Snake” – “The only one, folks! Buy it now or you’ll be sorry!”
-
- Finally, our whole group wandered away from the action (which was winding down anyway) to get some food! Here are all my new friends for the weekend – they were really quite friendly and I had a BALL with them – Thanks Guys! From left to right – No idea, No idea, Shaun Saunders and his girlfriend Lydia, Steve Hubble and his wife Kelly, and Dean and Claire – my “don’t have a bidders pass so you have to stand behind the rope” buddies from the past 3 hours.
-
- Steve grabbed the camera and took this shot of me eating Famous Dave’s ribs – and they were GOOD!
-
- Finally we all parted ways, haveing all showed up in seperate cars in different parking lots… I went back in and watched about 20 more minutes of auctions just because I didn’t want the fun to end, but it was over – the floor was almost deserted, there was trash everywhere, and the cars had dropped back down to the $50k level… I snapped this photo of a poster right before I walked out the door, and started the mile-long journey to my Hyundai rental car – my head swimming with the sights and sounds of one of the greatest spectacles I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if/when I’ll be back, but trust me – it’s WELL worth doing at least once – just be sure to take your best friends – the guys who know how to have the bst time – AND keep a secret! At this place, you’ll want BOTH qualities in your companions!
