The 2008 Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottsdale is on the horizon.

Every January, I always look forward to the Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottsdale on SPEED, its always exciting to see a large group of bidders and car enthusiasts under one roof and see who’s willing to put up the money for there dream car, let along it’s a giant car show of some of the most exclusive cars including one of my favorites, Shelby Mustangs.

When you look back at last year’s auction and consider what record amounts were hammered down last year, its amazing just seeing one vehicle go for so much, who really would pay anything over a half million dollars for a collector car, but when you consider the record from last year’s auction which was Carroll Shelby’s personal 1966 SHELBY COBRA 427 "SUPER SNAKE" with a 427 Supercharged engine attached to a 3-speed Automatic Transmission that puts down 800 horsepower that hammered down at 5 million dollars, that’s huge, of course, anything from Carroll Shelby is always a big seller. (Read Last year's highlights)

Keeping with the Shelby theme, a 2007 Shelby GT (Ford Mustang) Serial #001 that was black with two racing strips went across the block and equaled last years record set by a 2007 Shelby GT500 at $600,000. Concept cars went for a pretty penny last year as well, can you say 1 Million dollars for each of these concepts, the 1954 Dodge Firearrow II Convertible Concept Car and a 1954 Dodge Firearrow IV Convertible Concept Car.

With every years successes, you come across that one story that just says what is this? and following last year’s auction, a story did in fact break that was entitled the Ramcharger (a 1970 Plymouth Hemi-Cuda) owner vs. Barrett-Jackson that ended up in court battle, personally, what was even more interesting was that during one of SPEED Channels live on the block shows, they had Barrett-Jackson comment on this story. What an aftermath.

Earlier today, the story broke that reads… (From Barrett-Jackson press release - “In the settlement, the judge (name removed by me) exonerated the Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. of all allegations of wrongdoing in relation to a situation that occurred at the company's Scottsdale (Ariz.) event in January 2007,”) Read More. Personally, I’m leaving this story were it belongs, done and over with.

So what could be hammed down at this year’s auction, let’s start with the Detroit’s big three auctioning off huge vehicles for charity… a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, a Shelby (Ford Mustang) GT500KR that should surpass $600,000 from the last two year’s of Shelby’s and a Dodge Challenger SRT8, hopefully all should bring big money for charity.


The the ESCALADE ESV “Tailgater” (Credit: Barrett-Jackson Website)

One of my favorite discovery shows "Monster Garage", are auctioning off what looks to be almost the entire fleet of vehicle created on the show including the Corvette “Mud Bogger”, the ESCALADE ESV “Tailgater”, the F-150 “Nut-shaker” and of course the PT “Wood Chipper” Cruiser, what a cruiser for car shows, who knows when you need a wood chipper. Personally, the tail-gator would be the heavy-hitter, its perfect for NFL or NASCAR fans for tailgating in the parking lot including huge flip-down plasma in rear, this would be perfect for Tony Stewart.


Carroll Shelby's personal 1969 Shelby GT500 Convertible (Credit: Barrett-Jackson Website)

The one to watch, that would have to be the 1969 Shelby GT500 Convertible that just so happens to be Carroll Shelby’s personal car, this one might just hit the $3 Million dollar mark, that would be cool to see.


John Schneider's 1969 Dodge Charger HEMI Coupe "Bo's General Lee (Image from ebay auction page.)

You just have to wonder, will we see another 5 million dollar record? It could happen, like I said, Carroll Shelby’s personal GT500 convertible could go for over 3 million dollars, the personal one for me out of them all including the Shelby GT500 Convertible would have to be John Schneider's 1969 Dodge Charger HEMI couple “Bo’s General Lee” (pictured above), I have all of the dvd’s of the Dukes of Hazzard and I wonder if this was the one that originally was auctioned off on ebay and was to go for $9.9 million dollars, that’s perfect. We will see starting on the 15th.

- Racedriven