I cant believe this. Just saw this on Velocity. His collection is the best of the best with the most iconic cars ever built. Barrett Jackson is auctioning off his cars, planes, neon signs, and toys, Over 1400 pieces He is done collecting cars and moving on. I am sad to hear this news.
Watching the special about the sale on Velocity now. Beautiful collection. Curious to see what the Shelby Super Snake goes for.
Some amazing cars Just a car guy : In the coming weeks, the publicity machine is going to be running full tilt to boost the Ron Pratte collection auction (120 cars) , (Jan 2015 Scottsdale) here are a couple cars he's parting with
I am curious to see what these cars sell for on a car by car basis. Ron had more money then any of the other collectors and when he wanted a car he would bid it up till he got it. Now that he wont be bidding, these cars may be going for lower then he bought them, still its a multi-million dollar collection that comes along once in a lifetime.
B/J is probably not charging Ron anything. Just the opportunity to sell that much high priced stuff will guarantee that B/J has a net profit in the millions. Not sure about the infomercial costs, but B/J probably did that too. Think about it, that infomercial is touting the sale and the sponsors pay to have it on the air so B/J is probably making money on the infomercial. Don't ya just love how money makes money.... As noted above Ron has the best of the best, but he also often paid top dollar for it. I would also suspect that an awful lot will go for less than he paid for it. At the same time blue chip collectables are at a peak, so if he wants to get the max out of his collection now is a good time to sell. Remember also that keeping that collection has got to cost an awful lot, and cars aren't like artwork, they continuously deteriorate. The longer he keeps the stuff the more he has to pay to keep it up.
He needs to open the museum for tours prior to the auction. The host needs to ditch the sunglasses....
Believe it or not, Ron Prattte has never opened the doors to his car collection to the public. He has the best of the best but does not want to show them once he buys them. It might seem odd but after seeing the interview with him the other night I can see why. He seems like an dull guy with no personality at all. The host is Steve Davis, VP of Barrett-Jackson. Supposedly Steve suffers from some sort of eye disease and lights affect his vision. Between his dark glasses and his fist pumps, he is a little much to take at times
No way he is paying a dime of the sellers fee...... I wouldn't be surprised if he paid very little buyer premium to BJ on the way in.
Something tells me There will be disappointment here as he was the one that sent CRAZY money after these cars in the first place...Trying to set benchmarks , I believe he failed. He did help light the industry on fire ...but He was so far ahead of the curve , that I believe the Market has not even caught up to his spot on that curve..Yet. I also doubt he is selling everything..just some selected " Not such good investment cars " This will be a 3 bag of Popcorn Event!
Facts... 1. At the conclusion of the auction he will still own all the cars he wishes to own at this time 2. He will come out ahead $ 2. BJ will come out ahead $
i don't think much of his collection has gone up that much.... last i saw - the muscle market was not that hot... not like he bought a ton of long nose 911s... what did he pay for that futureliner ?
The Futureliner auction was a big mess. There was confusion during the auction and in the end I think it was offered to Ron for 3M. They talked about the Furureliner on the show the other night but conveinently didnt talk about the auction and how BJ messed up the whole thing.
I don't think he'll be that far ahead, if at all. I remember he paid stupid money for some stuff. He also bought a bunch of the first and last cars of a model. He'll still be better off than if he was still in the residential construction business.
To have a successful auction you need two people who want something really badly. When Ron was buying a lot of these cars he was one of those two. In order to be successful now you need two more people who want something in a "price is no object" kind of way. I fear that there aren't two folks who will want each item that badly and prices on some of this stuff will fall off. A lot. While the Super Snake and some others are pretty rare and collectable, others were bought for silly money. Ron isn't going to be poor, ever, but I'm thinking that if you count what he put into the entire collection, the cost of the building and the cost of maintaining this stuff over the years, he hasn't got a prayer of getting more than 75% of what he put into it back out. I'm just thinking that he's gotten over the "collecting" bug and now wants to go back to flying and enjoying himself. He sees that the costs to maintain the collection are constant and will increase over time and it's time to cut his losses and step back. Since he is probably retired now the cash flow isn't there and it's time to move on.
Also dont forget, some of the "stupid money" he paid for many vehicles were for charity, so he got some huge tax write offs each year on the amount paid over sticker for these cars. I'm sure there are certain vehicles he already knows he will not get back what he paid for them.
I still don't understand why a guy like this would suddenly sell his entire collection. Maybe he really needs the money? J
Just in case anyone is interested, here is the schedule for Ron's cars Image Unavailable, Please Login
Anyone know the results? Did he loose or profit a significant amount on the sales? I'd be interested to know. I searched online myself but couldnt find anything. However, I did stumble across something else. He owns a huge portion of a private neighborhood with large homes on one side of the airstrip and massive hangers on the other side. His property is just dirt, but it is on the west side with the homes. I wonder if he's developing it (he's supposed to be retired, I thought) or building a massive home. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, the same size lot fits at least 10 large homes, maybe more.