I think we need more government control at these auctions. Everything is getting out of hand ...


Ed

Tony, I'm pretty sure that when Ron Pratt sold the Super Snake it brought "only" $4.5M so he took a $1M hit in the couple years he owned it. Of course, being "for charity" I'd imagine that there were some major tax advantages.
I regret that I was never able to lay eyes on Ron Pratt's collection before he liquidated it all. I think I heard that he'd gotten into airplanes. He would have probably been in the mix for that $3.6M 1st 2023 Corvette, since he'd had many #1s in his collection.

Ed, "I think we need more government control at these auctions. Everything is getting out of hand ..."

Facetious, I'm hoping.:eek:

It is Karl, just trying to stir things up a bit :)

Ed

Attaboy!!!

You can never stir the chili enough! I think that was a quote from Carrol! :rolleyes:

Nobody needs more government unless you rely on them for your lifestyle. :eek:

But wait, here's another....
Here is the replica to beat all replicas, $1,000,000 "buy it now" listed as a Deal Tank Item.... What?
CSX3063, It's not even in registry anymore.... and was considered a replica when in registry and still it bid $425,000? :eek:

https://www.pcarmarket.com/auction/d...5-shelby-cobra

Have fun with this one....

CSX3063 deserves its own thread. I am new to this, but this is a real controversial car.

Check out "Aggressor"s car. It's a driver.

Ok,
 

but that is over on the Unique site, David... isn't it?

I've had the pleasure of driving in that car, quite docile on the street until the go pedal is pushed far enough towards the front of the car.


Bill S.

Does anybody think that a lecture from Craig himself is worth $600000 plus, Something is always fishy on this practice. It has happened before and usually a story about the drama comes out later. BJ has always been a high end circus.

DC Cobra I have been thinking exactly what you said for years. If the bidding stalls Craig or Steve will tell the bidders how much under the money it is and the bidding will pick up. Amazing! I always wondered if that was not a signal for some shill bidding to start. Something is up with the lecture.

They do try to pump cars but take my word for it it doesn't always work. I speak from personal experience.

Shill bidding would get them shut down immediately. And if it happens at BJ then it happens everywhere. And everyone thinks they know someone who heard from someone that someone placed false bids. But noone has ever admitted it. And it it happens at BJ then it happens at Mecum and all the others. File that under old wives tales.

Furthermore, real shill bidding requires at least two shills. Lets say the shills are B and C.

A is the last bid before it stalls.

Shills come into action.

B bids. If there is only one shill, A might bid again, and might not. If so B gets it (car or whatever). That's a losing proposition with some probability. Not worth it since B didn't want it anyway since he's just an actor.

So B and C bid with each other to reach the threshold. A may or may not be have reached his actual limit so with a 1/3 chance, A's last bid is trumped by B (and maybe C). Let's say he is which means that at any time B or C ends up with it.

Shill bidding has too many downsides to be a factor.

That's not to say that the seller might not inject a bidder whose sole intent is to place a top bid below a "threshold" or seller imposed reserve. BJ and Mecum make it very clear that they know how to spot those and the seller almost always loses since he has to pay BOTH seller and buyer commissions. Again, not feasible unless the bids are 30+% off the mark.

Do "bad actor" events happen? Sure, but the payoff probabilities are so low as to make a steady profit are unlikely.

Bad bids do happen. I was at the BJ auction in the sky box when they auctioned the Bugatti Veyron. It went for alot less than it was supposed to. The auction stalled and the hammer went down. Someone got a really good price, everyone thought. Then about 10 minutes later after the next car or two passed over the block Craig came on with an announcement that the bidder that won the car was an unqualified bidder (didn't have the money) and that he was banned from ever attending BJ again. Craig re-opened the bidding at the previous bidder's amount who by that time had either left or didn't want it, and Craig bought the car for the false bidder's price. The car still sports a "Barrett Jackson" logo and is a "company car".

You have to read the fine print of the auction terms and conditions, usually within, they (the auction house) house reserves the right to bid on an item up to the reserve. This is not just about automotive auctions, but most specialty auctions around the world.

Bill S.

On one of Wayne Carini shows he admitted that the auctioneer run the car up to just under the reserve, he said sell it and they didn't have any bids. I still have trouble believing that after Craig's lecture the car almost always goes up. Just my thought not facts.

I was at this auction and the prices were absolutely ridiculous. I've been to three or four of the BJ auctions but never seen prices like this. There are usually good deals at the beginning of the week, but this year everything was high. I don't know if it's people having more disposable income, covid side affects, or what. You can tell that if people hadn't bought anything by Thursday, they were getting desperate. A great thing for BJ, but you know there was a lot of buyers remorse.

How does that go? Buy in haste, repent in leisure! Not that I have ever done that, mind You! Cheers, Dennis