I'm not sure about the used car salesman thing, but take a look at Steve at about the 4:00 mark with his garuantee.
this is off-topic, but I found it interesting and amusing to see Gary Bennett, VP of Consignments for B-J, strolling around the recent Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Chicago. His mid-back length hair flowing as he rocked his Chuck Taylors. On his arm was a GORGEOUS and leggy hottie that was a good six inches taller than he, but with her heels, she was almost a foot taller. And quite a bit younger. Most interesting was the third wheel...Dana Mecum.
Yes.......I misspoke and I stand corrected. Ms. Driscoll has in fact filed a restraining order against Kurt Busch, but has not filed any kind of lawsuit. Facts and reputations are important things and I do stand corrected.
If you read above .... " He sold his development company to Pulte homes at the peak of the housing boom in Arizona. His move was at a great timing and he was able to cash out before the housing market crashed. " Last 18 months I have seen a decline in the demand for cars to be taken to the Long Beach Port - I attribute that to the increase in foreign tariff & tax on luxury goods being imported into other countries - foreign economies are in decline. That has increased the supply of available cars - particularly muscle cars - and raised domestic prices for most old iron in general. I have been busy transporting to the Pacific Northwest in the last 9 months, which is unusual & it is not for Canadian buyers. Now oil is falling - things are going to be worse for foreign countries. Domestically - we are overdue for a commercial real estate market crash which will start in the 3rd quarter of this year - if not sooner. For various reasons - Mr. Pratte is getting out while the getting is good. Jim
This guy is a magician. On the NCRS site there is a thread on how he was able to get $170,000 for a 1967 435 HP Corvette with a color change and a reproduction trim tag!
I have always been suspicious of those guys manipulating prices with their big dollar purchases. It might be magic at all, just one hand washing the other.
We went to BJ on Wednesday. This year, it was overwhelming, with the Pratt Collection displayed together in one area. What is striking is the diversity of the group.....corvettes, isetas, scooters.... a really varied collection that defies logic. It appears he bought whatever struck his fancy at the time. Not many prewar hot rods in the collection that are really cool in the HAMB sense. Quite a few Model T and Model A units. For the rest of the event, the neatest stuff were the big classics....Rolls, Auburn, Dusenberg, etc. Those cars are BIG. One car is neat to look at but seeing a row of them is a fantastic sight. Too much to see in one day. Parking was free (wow) and our chicken sandwich was only $6. The organization of the event was darned good; had to cost $millions$ to put that circus on.
A 1930 Model A pickup,hot rod with a caddy engine went for 98,000 last night. Rons stuff seems to be bringing high dollar amounts. Sat. should be very interesting. Chezoom will be on the block and many other notable cars.
I was there Sunday for my 1st visit ever. totally impressed, every gearhead should have it on his bucket list. prices were high but I wouldn't have missed it. my fav car was the grey primer 55 Chev from 2-Lane Blacktop, 1 of 3 documented used in the movie. its cool to watch the auction on tv & say I remember that car.
I think there's some changes to the tax laws coming in 2015 that may have had some influence on this.
Did anyone note what the 1908 model T sold for from the Pratt Collection? The red Touring, not the fenderless cross country racer. Bob
I heard somewhere he has an eye problem.....something about light bothering him or some kind of eye disease.......my dad used to say, if a man can't take his sunglasses off and look you eye to eye....don't trust him........................I sometimes forget to take my glasses off....guess that makes me untrustable too...lol
$121,000 with the buyer fee. noticed that the futurliner that he paid around 4 million for is being sold no reserve and all the proceeds is going to charity off of it.
The car club I belong to got to view the collection the day before it was going to be moved for the auction. The door was opened for us and we got to wander around in there for a couple of hours alone! What a sight! Not only the cars but all the other signs, gas globes, toys, overwhelming! My own favorite was the Future liner with the Pontiac "Bonneville" prototype that it hauled during the GM shows! A once in a lifetime opportunity, never to be forgotten! jerry
While I can understand a guy thinning the herd a little, it is hard to understand why he suddenly decided to simply dump every piece and every car he collected. I wonder if a health issue isn't prompting this decision ? I sincerely hope not, he seems like a generous, nice man, but for him to take such a radical leap here is very odd. They also said he was never one to grant interviews, but that has changed too, I guess. One thing for sure , the guy spent some serious money on his hobby over the years ! WOW ! He bought million dollar cars like we buy $500 dollar cars ! Don
I'm not there and can't watch it this year either just wondering has anyone seen Ron there? is he bidding on any cars at all? If he doesn't, I can see the prices drop on those nicer cars and just think all the money he gave bidding on charity cars every year and sometimes donating the car right back seconds later but that worked in his favor if he was just going to donate anyways. Today is the day for his nicer high end cars, wish I could watch it live.
My understanding is he is starting to collect vintage aircraft. If you think he spent money on cars vintage aircraft will make his car purchases look like peanuts.
It seems strange that a man would spend so much time and money to collect and display the cars and everything else only to auction it all off. Maybe he was trying to create a museum and sell it but couldn't find a buyer. Selling them all at the same time seems like it would flood the market and drop prices. You get a behind the scenes look at these auctions on Chasing Classic Cars. I have also been to many car auctions and there are often phantom bids when the auction company pretends to have bids that aren't really there to try to get to the reserve price. I've bid vehicles up to the limit I pre-set and, according to the auctioneer, someone bid it higher so I stop bidding. They will keep coming back to me trying to get me to go one more bid but I won't do it. After the auction I often find that the vehicles I bid on didn't sell. They will represent having bids they don't have to raise the sale price. They are rather sleazy. Charities these days are also suspect. Many of them pay six figure salaries or more to someone who heads up the charity and very little money actually goes to those they are purporting to help. All charities have to have their financial report available to the public so you can see what they do. There are so many new charities because you can't find out anything about them until they submit an annual report. Often, charities become a way out of paying taxes on income and getting the money to a spouse or relative. It is interesting to see that the Armed Forces Foundation gets almost all of it's money from government grants.
Well it looks like the Futurliner sold for 4 mill,broke even on that one,makes the car hauler we put together look a little better.
That's what I've heard, although I heard it was vintage helicopters he wants to start collecting. Either way aircraft or helicopters its going to make collecting Hemi Cudas look like childs play in terms of $$.
Hendrix bought it. He was a couple seats from Pratt and when he bid $4 million, Pratt leaned over and told him he "saved" him.
are you sure? Yes, he was bidding on it and was top bidder on it for a while and sat there but I thought it finally sold for $4 million to a telephone bidder at the end and Pratte told him that saved him(the telephone bidder saved Hendrix)? Maybe I understood it wrong but I thought he was high at 3.8 million when it just sat there and was relieved when someone bid 4 on the phone? I was thinking to myself wondering if it was Jay Leno or who else it could be on the phone.
I was watching the live stream and thought that's what he said to Hendricks, unless I missed the "he" but thought he said "you" EDIT: The caption on this picture from AZCENTRAL.com say's: "Race driver Jeff Gordon jokes with Rick Hendrick, Owner of Hendrick Motorsports after Hendrick bought the General Motors Futurliner for four million dollars Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015 at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz" Edit again: Road and Track site and couple of others say Hendrick was outbid by a phone bidder. Final Edit: Just watched Video. It does appear Hendrix bid 3.5M and was then out bid. Video here (Saturday at about 10.15:00 mark): http://new.livestream.com/accounts/6833132/events/3716591
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