Las Vegas Weekly

October 12, 2009 · 6 AM

Photo Gallery: Barrett-Jackson Auction surpasses $20 million

By Robin Leach

John Schneider at the 2009 Barrett-Jackson Auction at Mandalay Bay.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

This was no “cash for clunkers” stimulus program. This was the last word in top dollar for some of the most prized collective cars in history. In three days of selling just over 400 cars, the auctioneers at the 2nd Annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction at Mandalay Bay hauled in a staggering $20 million plus! On Saturday alone, it was nearly $10 million, with polished and restored collectibles selling at a rate of about $100,000 every three minutes!

Action movie superstar Sylvester Stallone phoned in a winning bid of $80,000 for a fire engine red Corvette. Talk show host and comedian Jay Leno sold one of his 84 prized motorcycles, a 200 horse power Yamaha Star V-Max for $120,000, and gave the entire proceeds to the Bailey Cafe Charity arts project for troubled school kids in New York. The Dukes of Hazard star John Schneider helped sell the famous General Lee, a 1969 Dodge Charger, for a whopping $258,500.

John even got atop the car to sing its praises with the show’s theme song -- literally! He pointed out that the Hazard stars had all autographed the inside of the hood, that it was the last remaining General Lee and that he had helped rebuild it for the movie starring Sean William Scott, Johnny Knoxville and Jessica Simpson.

The Old Yaller 1961 Jaguar, one of only nine ever built and featured in Elvis Presley’s 1964 film Viva Las Vegas, went for $180,000, and our hometown hero Carroll Shelby sold his 2007 Shelby GT 500, with dinner and drag racing thrown in as a bonus, for $275,000. Just when you think the bids can’t go any higher, a rare real-deal 1965 Shelby Cobra Roadster sold for $440,000! And a 1967 Shelby GT 500 Snake Fastback netted $300,000!

Action hero Bruce Willis and Miami Vice star Don Johnson had their collector cars up for auction during the event: Bruce sold his 1967 Chevrolet Corvette, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird 400 and a 1988 Lincoln limousine he used during Moonlighting and Die Hard filming. The legendary Lee Iacocca threw in a dinner party he’ll host as an incentive to the bidders for his silver 45th anniversary Ford Mustang, the fifth of only 45 built. The hammer cracked down at $320,000 for the prized, limited-edition vehicle.

Barrett-Jackson President Steve Jackson, who confirmed that the auction will return to Mandalay Bay for the third time next October, said: “The prices here this weekend are better than our first outing here last year. They are now more in line with 2007 collectible figures before the fiscal collapse.”

Our contributing photographers Tom Donoghue and Erik Kabik were right on the auction block itself at the heart of the bidding excitement. Speed TV also covered 19 hours of broadcasting in HD over the three days, giving extraordinary exposure of Las Vegas across North America as Sin City transformed itself into Motor City.

Erik commented: “The blue steel car is the 1965 Shelby Cobra Roadster and was easily one of the biggest stars of the auction: a top seller at $440,000. Even Jay leno came on the block just to check it out. Max Balchowsky watched the sale of his Viva Las Vegas car, and Carroll Shelby in his traditional black shirt and suspenders and mussed-up white hair had the ultimate street legal dragster with Don Prudhomme’s 800 horse power super-snake. Carroll waved his black cowboy hat as the hammer went down at $302,000.”

More than 50,000 high-roller, high-spending car enthusiasts came to Las Vegas from all across America and Canada for the auction. The Barrett-Jackson folks had reconfigured this year’s auction so that all the cars, corporate displays and sales booths were in the same area. Outdoor in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center parking area, there was a Porsche ride and drive track and a Ford Motor Co. demonstration track for its drifting team.

Steve summed up: “There’s something for everybody here. It has been a super success, and we now know that the event will be an annual fixture on the Vegas calendar for many years to come. It’s the one that closes our auction year on the highest note.”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground. .

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