Challenger No. 1 SOLD for...

[ResumeSpeed]

$400,000.00

[LiveWire]

Glad it went to charity because otherwise that's ridiculous.

[mreiminger@hotmail.com]

Does anyone else think that BJ and "Speed" really screwed up the sale of the Challenger??? I heard nothing they were saying about the car and they never opened the hood. At the last, the camera wasn't even showing any bidding, it looked like no one was bidding on the car so Craig Jackson had to buy it. If BJ would have placed the car any later in the sale we wouldn't have even got to see it sell. Do you think Ford had anything todo with that ???

[Jimbo]

Funny, Detroit Iron still sells if it excites. After the bland crap shoved down our throats during the 80s and 90s, we are finally back to some exciting cars!

Challenger #001 proved the excitement by going for $400,000.

A one-of-a-kind Mustang Shelby KR 500 went for $550,000.

And Corvette ZR1 #001 went for a cool $1,000,000!

FWIW, there is is no coincidence that the more rare and powerful the car, the better it sold. That 650 HP in the Vette spoke volumes, while the relativley tame and plentiful Challengers kept the price down on Challenger #001.

I know people will poo-poo these prices because all proceeds went to charities, but you still didn't see a Nissan GT-R at Barrett-Jackson. You don't see new Mercedes or BMWs at Barrett-Jackson, selling for charities.

The fact is, the car culture is still strong and car nuts are still devoted and loyal to good-looking, exciting cars. Many people also poo-poo the "retro" trend, but the cars that are well done are sales hits and potential collectibles.

We may be seeing the last golden era of the conventional automobile, right now. With all cars required to average 35 mpg in 12 years, the horsepower wars are likely to come to a very abrupt end. Look for Detroit to continue to build limited numbers of potent cars for insane prices, because they simply can't afford let powerful cars drag down that impossible-to-meet 35 mpg standard, and the further they are from meeting that goal, the more they will be fined.

Thank goodness for the Mustang, 2008 Challenger and 2010 Camaro. Last of a dying breed, once again.

At least all of us have one last chance to get in before the final bell. After 2020, I'm sure cars will still have ample horsepower, but it will be nothing like today unless some magic technology comes along.

Good for Detroit! Challenger 001, Corvette ZR1 001 and that Shelby Mustang KR500 show that the American car culture is still alive and well for now.

[Rallye72]

I was at the auction today. From past years the attendance appeared to be lower. It may have something to do with the gate price of 55 bucks (up from 35 two years ago). I was told by one of the guys "in the know" that overall auction prices were down significantly this year. From what I saw if it was a Hemi "something" (and there were a lot of them) it went for around 125k or so. I'm sure some sellers were disappointed. I also think the market is now over saturated with hemi "somethings" but that's just me.

The museum had a very nice original 24k mile T/A Challenger and a purple 71 R/T on display. Behind them, in a closed off area, was the viewing room for the 08 SRT bidders to see pics etc of the actual production car so they could get a better idea of what they would be bidding on. It wasn't open to the general public.

It was fun and BJ is doing a much better job with the floor layout. I got a chance to finally see the concept car up close and the "concept" Cuda (not impressed, didn't like it) was parked next to it. The 66 Batmobile (don't know if it was the original) was behind them both which I thought was really cool. Lots of great looking cars and women.

[Cuda340]

I nailed it! I guessed that he Challenger would sell for $400,000! Lucky guess.

As we all know, the bidding was on the 1st production Challenger- not the concept car. Yet, one of the Barrett-Jackson commentators admired the neon-style tailights and stated that a 6.3 Hemi and an aluminum engine are on the way. Where do they get such misinformation?

Also on most cars, they took shots of the engine bay. Why didn't they do this on the Challenger?

[Cuda340]

Watching Barret-Jackson last night, I was just thinking how great it would be to have enough money to bid hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars as a hobby. Where do all of these millionaires come from? America is a great country, isn't it?

What you think the combined net worth of the bidders was under that tent??

Did you see Jay Leno, who has more cars than Chrysler and GM, drooling over the Corvette ZR-1. I'll bet he buys one next year!

[n17987]

Originally Posted by mreiminger@hotmail.com

Does anyone else think that BJ and "Speed" really screwed up the sale of the Challenger??? I heard nothing they were saying about the car and they never opened the hood. At the last, the camera wasn't even showing any bidding, it looked like no one was bidding on the car so Craig Jackson had to buy it. If BJ would have placed the car any later in the sale we wouldn't have even got to see it sell. Do you think Ford had anything todo with that ???

Go to the Tape boys, did you notice that there were two in the car as it was pushed off? Yes, one was steering, but a closer look showed the passenger with a, "what's this", --an electric motor remote control in his hand. Thus, with demand being down to see electric motors in $400K cars, the hood stayed down. And think, for $50K, you get the real thing!

[RRHemi]

Originally Posted by Cuda340

Watching Barret-Jackson last night, I was just thinking how great it would be to have enough money to bid hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars as a hobby. Where do all of these millionaires come from? America is a great country, isn't it?

What you think the combined net worth of the bidders was under that tent??

Did you see Jay Leno, who has more cars than Chrysler and GM, drooling over the Corvette ZR-1. I'll bet he buys one next year!

I was at Leno's garage in 2006. What a collection! His 70 Hemi Challenger is an orange beauty. He also has a 66 Hemi Coronet. I'll bet they give him one and let him promote it. Money well spent.

[Rallye72]

The concept car was parked in an area where any spectator could go look at it. They had the hood up for view several times while I was milling about. The car was not drawing the crowd that you would have thought it would have. Yes, there were people interested but there was no major crowd around it to fight thru to get to see it. Folks were more interested in John Schneider and the General Lee car behind the Challenger.

Ford sponsored this year. They had a huge display as you entered the tent. They also had two Mustangs up on a platform with dyno like rollers under the rear tires. People were being selected to come up and "race" the cars and the perf stats were displayed on some large screens to one side of the stage.

The Ford guys also had Mustangs and other new product stacked up on "shelves" and on the floor. I think they did a good job. GM also had a big display area but no new Camaro.

I had expected to see the Challenger up on some sort of turntable or something but it was simply back in one of the areas with all the other cars either sold or waiting stage time.

Again, the crowd density was off this year from my perspective. We arrived at the exit ramp around 11:30 and there was no traffic. In past years traffic was backed up for 30-40 minutes. More people started showing up around 1 p.m. but it was still off in my opinion.

I think the BJ guys were doing their best to move cars but for the most part the excitement was not present in the bidding area I'd seen previously. There were some highs but overall I think the car sales reflect the housing slump and poor stock market performance these last couple of weeks.

In some ways these new cars couldn't be arriving at a worse time. If things don't pick up economically the enthusiasts will burn thru the early 09 sales and the rest of the production may fizzle out especially if the new car isn't priced competetively with the Mustang across the board.