AUTOMOTIVE - AUTOS: Saturday Barrett-Jackson Blog

Editor?s Note: Welcome to the Barrett-Jackson Orange County Collector Car Event. This blog will be updated throughout the day and evening, so check back often.

Noon: Just watching some of these stout prices for old garage signs and other arcane bits of automobilia. Whew-ee. Should have saved that old Castrol sign. Who knew?

The OC fairgrounds are looking pretty crowded already, with the Barrett-Jackson collector-car auction start still about an hour away.

A drop-dead gorgeous 1956 torquise-and-white Chevy Bel Air hardtop is among the superb collector cars selling out of the Dave's Garage collection. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson) Cars to look for today: A quartet of Ferraris, featuring a 1973 Daytona GTB/4 that?s the star car of the OC auction: Check out: Ferrari Daytona at Auction. The supremo Dave Parker collection, with 30 pristine beauties ranging from desirable muscle cars and customs to a Nash Metropolitan and a heavily accessorized VW beetle. See: Dave?s Garage Collection.

And who might Dave Parker be, you ask? He?s the guy made wealthy by inventing and developing the ubiquitous Penguin tool and gadget boxes.

Another VW to watch for is the 23-window Samba microbus, impressively restored. These bread boxes on wheels have been drawing huge bids in recent sales. Watch for this one.

Also, a whole bunch of super-fine Corvettes. For our story about them, see: Orange County Vettes.

12:45 pm: Just heard that the main collector auction might be starting a bit later than 1 p.m. (Pacific time; 4 pm ET) as planned, while they finish selling off the scads of automobilia. Watch for live coverage on SPEED starting at 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET)

1:10 pm: Sure enough, they're still up there selling old gas pumps.

The big pink 1959 Lincoln Continental waits in the staging area before going up on stage. (Photo: Bob Golfen) 2:30 pm: The car auction started up just before 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET), starting off with a pretty sweet 1999 Mercedes SL500 with low mileage that sold for just $16,500, including fee. That's a nice deal for a great moonlight cruiser.

Another early car that caught my eye was a mighty 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible in shiny pink. Ahoy, Ahab, the great pink whale! That sold for just $20,900, a great price, pound for pound. Less than sirloin.

Earlier, I happened to catch the tail end of the automobilia auction where a neon OK Used Cars sign hit $20,000.

Two nice, bright-white Thunderbirds, a '56 two seater and a '58 square Bird, both with continental kits, that hit $35,000 and $41,000 on the block, respectively.

A 1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger from the Dave's Garage Collection was bid up to $196,000, plus 10 percent bidder fee, the highest sale of the auction. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson) 2:50 pm: The first six-figure sail for Saturday, and the first non-charity sale to hit 100 grand, went to a great-looking purple 1935 Ford five-window coupe street rod, which sold for $110,000, including bidder fee.

3:50 pm: The Dave's Garage cars are looking great and selling for serious money. Just saw the '61 Impala bubble top go off for $100,000.

4:03 pm: FYI: That wildly creative 1929 Fiat Gipsy Historic Racer sold for a steep $60,500, with fee. Art works cost money, even when they are on four wheels.

A truly great 1940 Pontiac custom convertible reached a disappointed $135,000 on the auction block. (Photo: Bob Golfen) 4:50 pm: We have a new top seller for the auction, the 1970 Dodge Hemi challenger from the Dave's Garage Collection, which soared on the block to $196,000. Immediately followed by the sale of a 2005 Ford GT for $150,000 and a 1957 Cadillac convertible for $157,000, both also from Dave's Garage.

5:35 pm: Though it may not sound like it to those of us in the working world, $135,000 for the amazing 1940 Pontiac custom convertible was quite a steal. Really. It's that good.

6 pm: On No! The biggest dog of the Orange Country auction, the 1973 Ferrari Daytona 365/4, did not make reserve despite reaching $325,000 on the block. The auction guys said they were going to see if the consigner will lift his reserve, but we have no way of knowing how far off it is. Stay tuned.

6:44 pm: Another groovy VW microbus hits some heavy numbers, with a 1965 21-window Samba rockin up to $82,500. There's another microbus coming up soon that could go for more because it has 23 windows. Hey, do the math.

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. SPEED.com fans can email Bob Golfen at

Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-saturday-barrett-jackson-blog1/

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