Jackson sees strong future for collector cars

Bob Golfen
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 15, 2007 01:30 PM


Craig Jackson grew up in the collector-car business, the younger son of Russ Jackson who started the Barrett-Jackson auction in 1971 in downtown Scottsdale with classic-car enthusiast Tom Barrett.

Since taking over the auction in 1996 after the untimely death of his brother, Brian, Craig Jackson, 47, has built the auction and the Barrett-Jackson brand into one of the world's leading automotive auctions, social occasions and lifestyle destinations.

The auction also has become a hit show on cable TV's Speed Channel, the publisher of its own car-collecting magazine and a major fund-raiser for charity.

With auction President Steve Davis, Jackson and his staff hand pick the multitude of cars that go over the auction stage, every one at no reserve, meaning there is no minimum price to buy.

The no-reserve policy is unique among collector car auctions, and Jackson maintains that it shows his consigners' faith in Barrett-Jackson.

Here are some of Jackson's thoughts about the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction, car-collecting today and what the future might hold:

Question: What does Barrett-Jackson represent to car hobbyists and collectors?

Jackson: What we've been able to accomplish is to take a niche sort of hobby into the mainstream. A lot of people now realize that Barrett-Jackson has changed this whole industry.

I've tried to make this all encompassing for everybody. It's not elitist. I want it to be for everybody who loves cars, and even if you're not a car person, the atmosphere that we create here is hard to replicate anywhere else in the world.

Q: How big is this thing?

Jackson: We have 600,000 square feet of tent in here. I'm buying carpet by the acre.

I think I was blessed growing up doing logistics, though at the time, I hated my father for making me do it.

Q: How do you pick out the cars for auction?

Jackson: To get a great collection of cars, you turn away a lot of cars. That's the nice thing when we have 5,000 to 6,000 cars apply. And we turned off the spigot in October.

We're in a job where Steve Davis and I need to manage people's expectations (of quality and value). There are so many things to know when you're consigning these cars: the provenance, history, quality of craftsmanship, the awards. To really look and see which cars we're going to pick out.

You've got to have diversity. As Steve likes to say, we have everything from Happy Meals to filet mignon. You can't serve filet mignon to everybody.

Over there's a fully restored Volkswagen Thing, and there are people who like those. That's a Happy Meal.

Q: The muscle-car market has been hot for the past few years, but some people say that it's a bubble that's about to burst. What do you see happening?

Jackson: They called it a bubble four years ago. I had the luxury of growing up watching the WWII generation buying and selling the great classics. Duesenbergs went from $5,000 to a million dollars.

I said in the late '80s that great muscle cars are going to do the same with this generation. It's just that now it's happening. It's Americana. It's what we grew up with.

What you don't have happening is people buying and selling and flipping cars. If you look at our core customers, they're all end users.

We get criticized because we have too much of this, too little of that. The market's the market. We just follow what we see happening in trends.

Q: What cars do you see today that will be tomorrow's collector's items?

[b]Jackson: You're going to see over the next few years, the (modern) muscle cars are going to ramp up, with the (Chevrolet) Camaro and (Dodge) Challenger. Now there's a 600 horsepower (Dodge) Viper.

At some point, we're going to hit the top of the crescendo, and those

 

I'm afraid he's correct about the last part. I believe that environmental regulations are what is going to kill it this time, if not one of the major players dropping out from bankruptcy (Ford).

 

I believe that too and it is very sad.

 

Look at it this way. If we didn't have the late 70s come in and ruin our cars, we wouldn't appreciate it when really nice cars came out like the Challenger. Car trends go in cycles like everything in life. Eventually there will be a third muscle car era. I wonder what that will be like. (I wonder if the Intrepid will ever be retroed)

 

Well, if the VW bug can be turned into money who's to say that maybe the Neon will be one day as well.[sm=jawdrop.gif]

 

That is also a possibility. Wouldn't be a bad car to retro either in say 20 years.