Cars January 28, 2011, 9:00PM EST

Barrett-Jackson Auction: Dude, There's My Car!

Auto buffs trek to Scottsdale for the year's largest car auction, where bling, babes, and big blocks reign supreme

http://images.businessweek.com/mz/11/06/600/1106_mz_71etcopener1.jpg

Misha Gravenor

By Paul M. Barrett

Browse Issues

Browse the BusinessWeek Archive

Story Tools

After getting his teeth cleaned one evening in 1976, Elvis Presley told his dentist he had a surprise. The King took Lester Hofman, D.D.S., to the parking lot, pointed to a silver Cadillac Seville with a burgundy vinyl roof and announced that the car was a gift—a token of appreciation for maintaining the trademark Elvis smile. On Jan. 22 the Presley Cadillac—complete with papers in Elvis' name—changed hands again, this time for $35,200, as one of the highlights of the largest and gaudiest annual car auction in the U.S.

Every January, thousands of collectors gather in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Barrett-Jackson auction, the main stop on the winter auto circuit. The family-run affair melds the gasoline-fume intoxication of the Daytona 500 with the daffy hedonism of a Las Vegas floor show, decorated with a sprinkling of nouveau riche glitter. As Barrett-Jackson Chief Executive Officer Craig Jackson said, reclining in his customized RV, "This is capitalism at its best."

The Arizona crowd is far removed from the popped-collar elite who gather in August for the more refined Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on California's Monterey Peninsula. Compulsive car collector Jay Leno once noted that the typical Pebble Beach customer is clad in Ralph Lauren (RL), while the Barrett-Jackson attendee is a "John Deere tractor distributor with the gold chain and the 28-year-old wife with the big boobs." Or, put another way: "We're an aspiration-lifestyle destination event for a much wider audience, especially people getting started in collecting, or who just want to come look at the cool cars," said Steve Davis, Barrett-Jackson's president, who wears wraparound sunglasses indoors and fist-bumps at every opportunity.

Regardless, the cars sell. This year the six-day sale moved more than 1,200 autos, boats, and tractors for a total of $70 million, up 3 percent from 2010. Among them was the 1963 Pontiac Bonneville ambulance that purportedly transported John F. Kennedy's casket from Air Force One to the Bethesda Naval Hospital, and later to the U.S. Capitol. The battleship-gray ambulance sold for a cool $132,000. (The vehicle's provenance is in dispute, but Barrett-Jackson claims to have paperwork and other evidence showing it's legit.) Of less historical significance—but still the focus of intense collector fascination—was Sylvester Stallone's black 1956 Ford F-100 pickup, which commanded an identical $132,000. It may be the only star of The Expendables that came out looking good.

Although privately brokered deals account for the vast majority of transactions—including many of the most expensive—public auctions like Barrett-Jackson are the most visible barometers of the collectible car industry's health. Barrett-Jackson (no relation to this reporter) takes in about $150 million a year in corporate revenue, according to Vice-President Gary Bennett, a former architect from Tulsa whose long graying hair tumbles down his back. The company sells sponsorships to carmakers such as Ford Motor (F) and General Motors (GM), licenses its brand for clothing (short-sleeve shirt: $50), and charges admission ($15 to $55 at the door) to its events.

Barrett-Jackson, which is privately held, runs three auctions in addition to Scottsdale: Palm Beach, Fla., in April; Orange County, Calif., in June; and Las Vegas in September. The January event, however, remains the company's flagship. "If you love anything with an engine, as I do, this is the place in January," said Bennett's wife, Muffy.