Jalopnik special correspondent, David Brady, treked to the Barrett-Jackson auction in West Palm Beach this past weekend, where Howard Hughes's 1953 Buick Roadmaster sold for $1.6 million and the first 1968 Shelby GT500E went for $550,800. With such outrageous prices being paid for the most valuable specimens, these BJ events are starting to make Sotheby's art auctions look like the Fulton Fish Market. Still, as Brady found out, the superstars weren't the whole show — by a long shot.
The epicenter of Jalopnicity was, for the weekend, temporarily relocated to the South Florida Fairgrounds and Exposition Center outside West Palm Beach, Florida, site of the Barrett-Jackson 2005 Palm Beach Collector Car Auction. If you wanted to buy an unusual motorized conveyance this past weekend, it was the place to be.
There was something for everyone among the 436 lots in the no reserve auction. Contemporary to antique, stock production to limited production, foreign/domestic, classic custom to preposterous prototype - it is an automotive cornucopia of overwhelming variety. American muscle and classic style brought the highest prices.
1967 Fiat Dino Spider, $24,840, awaiting new owner
1929 Ford Roadster, Kamelion House of Kolor red-to-gold paint.
Chevrolet Avelate C5 conversion, 1953 style
1965 GTO: Tri-Power, 4 spd [Raarow - ed.]
1968 Jaguar XKE
(Warning: Following any of these links may be hazardous to personal finances and result in hours of planning for nest year s event.)
Related links:
· Inventory, featuring individual photographs of everything offered.
· Results, selling prices, by lot number, of everything sold. (With no reserve everything offered was sold.)
· More photos and detail shots.
Related:
Barrett-Jackson to Auction Celebrity Cars [internal]