An assemblage of desirable old cars and trucks, automobilia, vendors, celebrities and loads of other fun stuff, Barrett-Jackson is a state fair for car people. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)
This week, I’m doing what I do every January, prowling the sprawling grounds of the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in nearby Scottsdale. After a quarter century of watching Barrett-Jackson grow, I appreciate that it’s become a fabulously unique and fairly spectacular event loaded with surprises.
An assemblage of desirable old cars and trucks, automobilia, vendors, celebrities and loads of other fun stuff, Barrett-Jackson is a state fair for car people. It’s a wild and whacky collection of moving parts in which the auction of hundreds of collector cars remains the focus, but hardly the sole attraction.
Every January, the Phoenix/Scottsdale area becomes the center of the universe for collectors and enthusiasts of great old cars, and I count myself as one of them. There are no fewer than seven full-scale collector-car auctions held over a two-week period with a full range of offerings to suit every taste and price range, from multi-million-dollar classics and rare European sports cars to the Chevys, Fords and MGs that hobbyists love to tinker with.
The Barrett-Jackson auction lords over the others in numbers and crowd appeal. Some of them might have pricier cars on their dockets, but none can touch B-J for sheer entertainment. Every year, people fly in from all over to take in the auction events, including many heavyweight celebrities who have heard the siren song of collector cars. Or, who just want to make the scene.
You’re just as likely to spot Tim Allen, Randy Johnson, Reggie Jackson or Billy Gibbons as you are to run into one of your car buddies from Minnesota who you haven’t seen since, well, last year’s Barrett-Jackson. One of B-J’s biggest challenges in recent years has not been attracting more sellers, bidders and spectators, but handling the throngs of people who pack into the famous WestWorld auction site. About 285,000 bought tickets last year. And there were 3,600 who registered as bidders.
