SIZE MATTERS
US auctioneer breaks the record for no-reserve classic sales – and it reflects market trends also being encountered by buyers on this side of the Atlantic
‘This is the largest publicly consigned no reserve docket in auction history, with 2000 cars’
The world’s largest classic auction, featuring 2000 vehicles, gets underway this week – and all the cars being sold are no-reserve.
Barrett-Jackson said that its latest sale in Scottsdale, Arizona, was the largest in its history, and that it was hoping to ‘make history’ with the most ever cars sold at a single classic auction. The nine-day sale includes nine different classic collections being brought to market for the first time, with UK experts saying that its sale is a reflection of the increasing number of classic owners turning to auctions to sell their cars, offering buyers a greater choice of potential deals. The auction house said that younger buyers are driving the increase in sales, and that it expects a greater number of registered bidders than the 5300 who took part in 2019’s sale.
CEO, Craig Jackson, said: ‘With the largest publicly consigned no reserve docket in auction history and nearly 2000 vehicles crossing the auction block, we’re giving guests something they can’t find anywhere else.’
The trend for ever-larger auctions in the US parallels similar increases in the number of cars being auctioned in the UK, which is reflected in an increasing focus on no-reserve cars.
Last week, CCW reported on how the number of cars being sold at UK auctions has increased since 2015, with sub-£20k cars representing the biggest area of growth, and market experts believe that this trend is being reflected in the US.
CCW’s auction expert, Richard Hudson-Evans, said: ‘The size of the Barrett-Jackson sale is a reflection of how more people are using auctions to buy and sell classics, and that’s the case not just here in the UK, but in the world’s biggest market for older cars.
‘There’s always a huge hullabaloo about this sale – they have rows of lots three or four across, it goes on for day after day, and most of the lots are driven in front of the rostrum.’