Going once, going twice...SOLD!

What a day we had! We headed to Barrett Jackson today and it was quite the experience. When we pulled up I really had no idea what to expect considering the little exposure I have had of the auction is what I have seen broadcasted on TV. When you pull up to the grounds there is tent after tent and tons of semis and storage trucks that have come in with various items to make this huge event possible.

Walking into the main tent was quite the experience. It was crowded with thousands of people and hundreds of vendors trying to sell you their great product and the craziest thing is only about 1/3 of them are car related. The other vendors are selling autographed memorabilia, art, clothing, jewelry, you name it they probably had it there.

We eventually got through all of the vendors and made our way into the back of the tent where the auction takes place. Believe it or not, it is a lot more disorganized than it looks on TV. The auction itself seems pretty organized, but there are truly people all over the place in the tent which on TV it seems as if they have it pretty under control. It is a wonder that the auctioneers and such can keep their attention on the coralled people that are the actual bidders.

It was pretty amazing to see the cars come in from outside as they lined up to get auctioned off. We watched several Corvettes, a Studabaker, a Shelby Mustang and many more classics get auctioned off. Believe it or not we even saw a Batmobile replica go through, it was seriously ridiculous! The most amazing part of it was that it sold for $150,000. None of us could believe it that some of the beautiful vintage cars were going for less than the Batmobile...what?!

I have to admit that the day did get somewhat overwhelming, so the girls ended up taking off and doing some shopping while Dad and Mike stayed back to watch Gary Holub's cars get auctioned off. It sounds as if it was quite the disappointment for Gary considering one of his cars appraised at over $1M last year and it sold for just over $250,000. That is quite the loss. It is pretty amazing that Barrett Jackson can get these owners to agree to sell their cars without a reserve to make sure they at least get a set amount out of them. But I suppose you know what you are getting into before you sign up for it. Below is a picture of one of the Yenko edition cars that Gary put up for auction.

All in all it was a great day and a great experience! I know that Mike truly enjoyed being there around all the amazing cars. I of course was able to find a little something for the baby while shopping today, which was fun! Mike and I snuck away tonight to have dinner, just the two of us which was very nice and now we are off to bed. We need to decide whether or not we are going to go to the NFC Championship game tomorrow...to be continued!