Reno’s Hot August Nights — a 10 day homage to cars, especially vintage and classic — will be televised on the SPEED channel, for those of you who get lots of TV channels. Featured will be the 3 nights of the Auction. Check it out.
This first part was sent in an email to various folks… I repeat that here and add stuff from the auction. Good times. According to the RGJ, “…about 5600 cars were registered for the week-long celebration… Already, 3400 vehicles have been registered for next year’s event.”
Meanwhile, Carol and I, Brian and Natasza went to some events at the Nugget last (Wednesday) evening. Here are a few pictures:
Brian and Natasza and a Dodge built before either of them.
Show n Shine… there were hundreds of cars at the Nugget alone.
What in the world just walked into my picture???Drag Races… pay 75 bucks entry and go up against guys like you. Not only that, collect $100 for the best time of the night.
On Friday, we went to the Barrett Jackson Auction, first visiting the cars to be auctioned on the floor at the Reno/Sparks Convention Center.
Quite a line to the bag check before entering the Showroom… but plenty of room inside.EVERYTHING is for sale.Ford and Chevy are two of the Hot August Night sponsors, so they get to show off their wares, as well.Speaking of Fords, here’s a sweet ’41 Convertible… maybe my favorite car on the floor.… or maybe this ’54 Mercury is my favorite… so many choices.Manny, Moe, me and Jack are ready to go into the auction.Place was packed. We found seats in the sixth row of the bleachers behind the floor where the registered buyers are located. This is a ’55 T-Bird that went for ONLY $32,500. Surprising, because the ’55 was the first T-Bird made.’55 Chevy Bel Air went for $40 grand.
A ’40 Ford Convertible brought almost 40 grand.
A sea-mist green 1940 Ford 2-door was our first family car, purchased in 1948 when I was 10 years old.
Red Chevy Impala, 1963 brought $29,000This was the most expensive car we saw auctioned at 50K, a gold 1966 GTO.
The most expensive cars went on the block on Saturday.
And finally, here’s Brian’s dream car, a 1966 Ford Fairlane ragtop. It went for $34,000. Brian’s first car was a 1966 Ford Galaxy convertible, about 3 feet longer and not exactly auction quality.
That 1940 Ford shown was actually a ’42 Ford and was probably the most beautiful car we saw sold. Most cars were going for about twice what they were when I first attended this auction in 2010. The auction is under new mgmt as of this year; now by Barrett-Jackson, who specialize in classic car auctions whereas before it was run by Silver State, which is a general auction house. As such, it seemed like there was a higher bar set when it came to which cars were entered into the auction – or they were just snazzier and shinier for some other reason. Either way, if the classic car market is a good indicator of the economy overall, things may be looking up.
RectorSite 
That 1940 Ford shown was actually a ’42 Ford and was probably the most beautiful car we saw sold. Most cars were going for about twice what they were when I first attended this auction in 2010. The auction is under new mgmt as of this year; now by Barrett-Jackson, who specialize in classic car auctions whereas before it was run by Silver State, which is a general auction house. As such, it seemed like there was a higher bar set when it came to which cars were entered into the auction – or they were just snazzier and shinier for some other reason. Either way, if the classic car market is a good indicator of the economy overall, things may be looking up.
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Nice pictures Marc.
So, which one did you bid on? Barrett does a big auction in Phoenix but I am afraid to go. I might end up with something I shoudn’t have.
Jerry
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