January is traditionally a cool month when automotive happenings are in hibernation, that is all except for some hot car auctions such as the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction held in the desert town of West World, just outside of Scottsdale Arizona.

Lasting an entire week with live coverage on Speed Channel during most of this time, it has become what B/J CEO Craig Jackson calls "The worlds greatest collector car event". This all 'No Reserve' auction attracts many of the finest vehicles on earth as well as cars that could be termed down-right affordable so you wouldn't necessarily need cavernous pockets to be a player. But if you did happen to have a favorable financial standing and had a soft spot for fine cars you were likely to be in attendance. Many of the hobbies high rollers were spotted such as the Lewenthals, the Pratts, the Joneses and the Witworths. Another high profile collector, Reggie Jackson let his original '69 Z-L1 Camaro go for a whopping $800,000. A high price but relatively low compared with some of the other sales of the week. Taking the cake for the highest price ever paid for a vehicle at this auction was a 'one-of-a kind' '66 Shelby Cobra Super Snake built specifically for Carrol Shelby. Producing 800 horsepower this Paxton supercharged treasure fetched over $5,000,000.

But like a mirage in the desert the incredibly high prices previously seen at this event seem to have evaporated. Many hot rods in particular that were once garnering the highest bids were uncharacteristically going for much less than what it would cost to build them. Factory concept cars that were once the bidders favorites were going for lower than expected prices. It seems as though the 'flavor of the month' exists in the collector car auction world as well.

I happen to catch CNN's coverage of the B/J auction, naturally focusing on their own 'Warrier One' Hummer being sold at the auction.

As expected Saturday was the 'main event' for this auction with cars typically exhibiting low production numbers, possessing very low miles, being an unrestored original or having some other special notoriety. Corvettes made up a large percentage of this event. Two '63 corvettes were sold as a pair for a total of $525,000. Hemi cars were also popular with the crowd. Every variation from a '71 Hemi Cuda with less that 100 original miles on it to a '67 Hemi Coronet 4 door sedan went under the gavel. Each went for $500,000. In comparison a '70 Hemi Cuda clone was a steal at $72,000.

By the time the last vehicle was purchased Sunday evening 1271 vehicles had been sold generating over $100,000,000. in sales. If this event is a barometer on the condition of our hobby we can feel safe in the fact interest remains high for our dream machines.

The 1512 Registry gets a banner start for the new year as our promotions director Matt wilson and friend Wade Linger, owner of Wade's Garage and also a member of our registry were fortunate enough to attend this event and had several observations to relay to our amazingmusclecars.com viewers.

Having never flown before, Matt was thrilled to have traveled by air from his home in Pennsylvania to the auction in Arizona, attending basically as a consultant regarding the auctioning of a '69 Rambler SC/Rambler B car. During his 4 day stay from Monday to Thursday he had the opportunity to meet with Barrett-Jackson CEO Craig Jackson who autographed one of the '1512' AMC.com official posters. What an honor. He was then interviewed by Speed Channel's Mike Joy who used the info Matt supplied to elaborate on the SC/Rambler when it rolled across the auction block Tuesday afternoon. If you viewed this car being auctioned on TV you would have seen a close -up of the '1512' AMC.com poster. (The SC/Rambler sold for $49,500. incidentally).

Wade also there to take in the experience for future reference as he plans to do a complete documented restoration on his A scheme Scrambler at his state of the art facility that was recently featured in The Charleston Gazette in WV. Wade plans to prepare his A scheme Scrambler for the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction with in the next year, seeing this B car here was an ideal opportunity for the preparation of his car when the time comes.

Other observations both Matt and Wade picked up on were that even though this is primarily an auction for high-end collector cars, vehicles that the average person could afford were also on the block. Like wise you'd expect to find the people attending this function would be of the snobbish variety but this was not the case as the general buyer/seller was made up of nice, friendly folk. Food and drinks were reasonably priced as well. More than just an auction it is also a car show where all the vehicles there are kept on site all week long, even if it sold on Tuesday.

Though Matt didn't purchase any of these cars he did spot a particularly stunning '62 Super Duty 421 Pontiac. Trucks also had a big following. The going prices were not too high considering what some of these cars have traditionally sold for. All in all Matt agreed this event and the beautiful clear Arizona landscape was definitely one worth taking in.