I remember that couple trying to make money on the Cuda. They were gamblers like all who sell at BJ. I try not to have passion for a gambler that gets caught with his pants down, but I think about the sales pitch that BJ has to give these people to get them there. I am sure several of this super cars got recruited to be there and the owners are now crying.
Regarding "no reserve" policy of BJ I spoke to a couple of sellers when I was there two years ago. I asked them what would they do if they didn't get the price they wanted. Both replied that they would have to make a decision to "buy" the car back themselves or let it go at a loss. They would need to weigh the fees payable to BJ (8% seller fee + 8% buyer fee at that time) opposed the high bid. I watched the elderly couple with their one owner 57 Chevy and felt very sorry for them. Yes the car wasn't completely original, but a one owner 57 Bel Air convert with 16,000 miles is worth way more than they got. I hope at their age they weren't in a financial situation where they HAD to sell. Another strange event was the 58 Corvette that sold for 220,000 and right after a 59 Corvette brought only around 110,000. Prices are certainly down, but for the high end cars there are always people with money willing to pay the price. The people in the hobby that are most hurt are like most of us here with $10,000 to $30,000 cars. People who used to be able to afford cars in this price range are the ones most hurt by the economy. So we little guys are going to hurt the most because we are losing the buyers in this price range. Just my .02 rant this Saturday morning! :laugh: Harvey
I agree with you. We've been in this hobby long enough to realize that the markets cycles up and down. You only take a loss if you sell and now is a bad time. Most of us are in it for the long haul anyway As far as the elderly couple, they had to know what they were getting themselves into and the risks involved. Im sure they received some pretty good offfers on that car in the last few years. Why didnt they sell? Probably because they were holding out for more. Like all of us, they thought, "if its worth this much now, whats it going to be worth next year?" To Barrett Jacksons credit, they really did push that car pretty hard. It was the right type of car at the right venue. If you cant do well with a 57 Chevy convertible at B-J, you cant do well anywhere else. They got all the money they were going to get. Its only worht what the market will bear.
The car sales seem down in price somewhat this year. The company my wife works for, Swiss America Trading had a booth set up in the tent again this year. Last year sales of gold coins were so-so. This year they've done $400,000 insales and that was as of Friday afternoon.
From what "I" understand, this was not a frame off car! Not bad money if that's the case. Stub up restoration from what I was told. Patrick
I wish that were the case. There are other fees such as the daily tent storage fee, the registration fee, and in some cases the county and city taxes, the transportation costs for the car (about $1500), your own airline tickets, hotel fee, and food and drinks. I assume BJ charged him extra to store his in the main tent and I assume he may have had to pay to get his car on the block in prime time. I would be interested if he can verify the prime time fee.
glen, have you ever regretted selling such a nice looking X? __________________ JOHN LENZINI 1970 QQ GSX STAGE1 GSX HISTORIC SOCIETY #2 John, Yes there are times when I regret selling it but the truth is, I was not comfortable driving it as much as the value increased. It got to be a trailer queen instead of a driver. I bought the car while in high school in 1977. I drove it to school everyday and parked it in student lot. We cruised it on weekends and street raced any takers. I drove it down to Bowling Green several times in the 80's. I enjoyed driving the car then. After the restoration it was no longer a driver. The car was restored by Dave Kleiner but it was not a frame off, just a front stub as Brad pointed out. I replaced the complete interior, added new rims and Polyglas tires and detailed it for show. Jimmy saw the car at Flint in 2003 and kept offering to buy it. In 2005 he added enough 0's to the offer and I accepted. I hope it's going to a good home and not some flipper.
Ramchargers Hemi Cuda original car , seller brought the whole surviving team members to AZ. Car was supposed to be 1million +. The car was on the block for 2 min and 11 sec. Very quick hammer drop. When the seller went to complain he was told that they do not guarantee the mnost money or the time on the blockl. Could have been a shill bidder for someone (special). Maybe thats all this car would bring but a bidder was at the resolution tent complaining he was trying to bid 350K and was ignored. Seller felt he was being screwed and at 300K for one of the most famous Hemi Cuda drag cars I say he was IMHO. Also IMHO I would never take a car to a no reserve auction. If you do you take a chance. At BJ it seems that it's seller beware!
If I hadn't drank so much last nite I might be posting this a bit earlier...:beers2: Cabby'd it up to the local watering hole last nite to watch the action (auction) on a 52" wide screen HD TV...after convincing a table full of Trekkies they COULD NOT change the channel to 'Star Trek: Voyageur' we settled in for a pretty anticlimatic nite...I CAN"T BELIEVE THOSE JERKS WENT TO A FRIGGIN' COMMERCIAL when that 'X was on deck! :af: Ruined my whole nite...I didn't find out what it brought 'till I hit the boards today; but it seems respectable in light of what some of the other A bodies are selling for. However, I wouldn't think you'd buy an 'X of this quality & desireability on the open market for that kind of cash. I'll be real interested in seeing an update on when or if the fee paid on this car for 'prime time' coverage is refunded...uzzled: Re: the '8 & 8 %' buyer & seller fees; thought I heard the announcer say on thursday this had been RAISED to 10 & 12! Anyone else catch this? One thing that's driving me crazy about this auction...how many times has a car crossed the block & NOT been bid to a level whoever (?) feels is acceptable; has the auctioneer simply STOPPED the 'auctioneering' to spend 30 seconds re-describing the car, or mildly chastising the audience for not throwing enuff money at him? This drives me crazy! I can't see this being fair to majority of the buyers & sellers, & it's terrible 'optics'... Anyway, do enjoy the show FWIW, (which I'll be watching at home tonite, BTW) & it has raised the the profile of the hobby & given it a mainstream audience...got to find a few positives in it somewhere...:Comp:
For the seller: "Fees are determined by day and time of your Lot entry and includes tent space. " Absentee buyer pays 12% Present buyer pays 10%
Now you may be right that it has gone up. It was around 8% when I last attended. I cannot find an exact % on their site for the seller's commission just the buyer's.
$450K for a General Lee car. Good gosh, fools and their money. I think it's hard to say prices are going down. Maybe for the originality cars but the silly things seem to be fetching as much or more than ever. How about the Beverly Hillbillies truck that went for $125K.
I think some of these guys have several type's of business and if they buy a car for 500k one year and sell it for 250k the next...or they lose that kind of money over the 20 or so cars a year they deal.....that loss is a tax write off against the profits they are making somewhere else...........:Brow: Peace WildBill
