Phoenix Automotive Press Association members and others fill Singer Hall at the Phoenix Art Museum for the fourth annual PAPA Arizona Auction Week Preview. ?
Story by Cathy Luebke. Photos by Randall Bohl.
The classic car business is booming as Barrett-Jackson expects to set records and Gooding & Co. is coming off a year of 44 percent growth.
Five of the six major auctions here this week will have 2,223 cars crossing the block, according to Rick Carey, who has been writing about classic cars since 1991 and was among panelists at the Phoenix Automotive Press Association?s fourth annual auction preview.
What many people don?t know, however, is that about 600 of those vehicles have been up for auction before, he said. He did not have information to include Silver Auctions in his tally.
For example, Carey said, a 1932 Alfa Romeo Gran Sport is expected to fetch between $1.5 and $2.2 million at Gooding & Co.?s auction. Looking back, a lot of bidders probably wish they?d made a winning bid in 2002 when the car failed to sell at $290,000, Carey said. It subsequently sold for $1.54 million ? twice.
Barrett-Jackson alone has nearly 1,400 cars up for sale, all but a few carrying no minimum prices, making it the largest auction in the Scottsdale company?s 42-year history.
Over at Gooding, one of the highlights is a 1933 Duesenberg featuring a disappearing convertible top, said spokesman Garth Hammers. The auction house logged more than $190 million in sales last year ? a 44 percent increase over 2011, he said.
The RM group posted $360 million in sales for 2012, including 49 $1 million-plus sales, Alain Squindo told the crowd. And even though RM has shifted to a one-day sale at the Arizona Biltmore rather than the previous two-day format, the forecast is very positive, he said.
A highlight for sure is the 1960 Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione. Squindo estimated the hammer could drop in the $8 million range.
The more informal and affordable side of auction week can be found at Fort McDowell with Silver Auctions. ?We do things a little bit differently,? admits founder Mitch Silver.
Still, nearly all of the 360 auction slots have been spoken for, he said. That includes cars from the 1920s on up, even some ?grocery-getters,? he said. Plus, both Friday and Saturday sales will kick off with quick action memorabilia sales.
As for prospective bidders looking for bargains at the other auctions, a panel of experts at the PAPA event advised them to come early and stay late.
Panelists (from left) Rick Carey, classic car journalist; Mel Martin, owner of the Martin Auto Museum, and Leslie Kendall, curator at the Petersen Automotive Museum. ?
Mel Martin of Martin Auto Museum in North Phoenix says: ?Be there when the rest of the people aren?t there.? He bought two of the first three cars up for sale at Barrett-Jackson?s Sunday auction one year.
But he urges caution and research for anyone jumping into classic car buying for the first time.
Carey, on the other hand, advises newbies to buy the first car that appeals to them. ?You will learn so much making mistakes on that car,? he said.
The third panelist, Leslie Kendall, curator of the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles, said ?I always advise people to buy what they like.? But he also says buyers should be armed with lots of knowledge about that car.
As for the next trend in classic cars, the panel said it?s a bit of a puzzle.
?Most of us like cars from our high school years,? Kendall said.
But for those who grew up in the 1970s and ?80s faced a wasteland in terms of great cars, Carey added.
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