Barrett-Jackson auction coming to Orange County

Barrett-Jackson Auction Co., operator of one of the flashiest classic car auctions in the country, has brought the hammer down on a deal to hold a sale next year at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Barrett-Jackson, best known for its gigantic annual auction in its hometown of Scottsdale, Ariz., will stage the O.C. event either June 25-27 or July 1-3.

The O.C. auction continues the company’s move to hold more auctions outside Arizona. It has expanded to Palm Beach, Fla., and to Las Vegas, where it is currently staging an auction that runs through Saturday.

The Vegas show, which features 400 classic and collectible cars, is expected to draw 50,000 people.

-- Martin Zimmerman

Photo: 1949 MG TC that was Carroll Shelby's first road race car and was the top seller at last year's Barrett-Jackson auction in Las Vegas. It went for $313,500.

Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auction Co.

2010 Audi R8 V10 nets big bucks for charity

The chance to own the first 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro delivered to the U.S. brought a top bid of $500,000 at a charity auction in Florida last Saturday.

According to Audi, the car was auctioned at the 3rd annual Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance auction and the money went to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County. Audi boasted that its entry easily topped the $350,000 winning bid to own one of the first 2010 Ferrari Californias.

Audi hasn't released pricing on the 2010 R8 V10 yet, but the auction folks put the retail value of the car on the block in the neighborhood of $180,000.

Admittedly, Florida is a long way from the Up to Speed command center, but we couldn't resist the opportunity to run a picture of this car.

-- Martin Zimmerman

Photo: Audi R8 V10 5.2 FSI quattro. Credit: Audi

A million dollars in the barn

The market for collectible cars may be going soft, but a vehicle with the right pedigree can still command a premium price.

Witness the $4.4-million sale last weekend of a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante in Paris by Bonhams, the London auction house.

The winning bid fell short of some pre-auction estimates — which ran as high as $5 million — but was seen by some in the auto-collecting world as evidence that the market is holding up fairly well, given the dire state of the global economy and the stock markets.

“The sale attracted unprecedented exposure, we had a packed sale room of over 1,500 people and I am very pleased with the results,” said James Knight, international head of Bonhams' motoring department. “I felt the Type 57S Atalante made a market-correct price.”

Knight had earlier referred to the Bugatti as “one of the last great barn discoveries” — a reference to its excellent condition (barely 26,000 miles on the odometer), colorful past and the fact that it was put up for auction after sitting dusty and unused in a garage for almost 50 years.

“I have known of this Bugatti for a number of years and, like a select group of others, hadn't dared divulge its whereabouts to anyone,” Knight said.

Such million-dollar “barn finds” are legendary among car collectors. They have become increasingly rare as EBay, “Antiques Roadshow” and other venues have made folks much more savvy about the potential value of the old T-Bird that Granddad kept out back or that squiggly-looking painting in Aunt Ethel’s attic.

“They’re getting rarer, but we still see them,” said Terry Lobzun of RM Auctions in Canada. “We recently had a Shelby Cobra that came out of a barn that we sold privately with the dirt still on it. That was a half-million car." ...