The Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona is one of the biggest auto sales events of the entire year. For the last decade, it's been about what one man, Ron Pratte, would buy. But in 2015 he's selling every single car he owns at that auction, including a GM Futurliner. And he hasn't given a reason.
The notoriously private Pratte has a car collection with some of the most significant cars in the world. He got his start in 2003 when he bought 52 (that's not a typo) cars at the Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, and he's been coming back ever since. His collection includes the aforementioned Futurliner, one of two Shelby Super Snakes, and the first production Ford Thunderbird, among other crazily significant cars.
Pratte sold 15 of his cars last year, like a Tucker 48 and a 1947 Bentley Mark IV Franay. Pratte's collection has never been open to the public and few cameras have made it in, though Speed did do a special there right before the 2013 Barrett-Jackson auction.
Pratte's collection will cross the block in January. Look for it to make the man currently worth about $350 million a hell of a lot richer. And suddenly our interest in auctions is back.