Signs inform potential bidders...
Signs inform potential bidders about each car. When this yellow '68 GT500KR convertible rolled across the Russo and Steele auction block, the gavel dropped at $216,700.
While waiting for the auction to begin, we toured the assortment of cars with Jim on our way to see the other two Shelbys. We had to check out the '69 Boss 429. The driver's door was opened, and we recognized KK-1220, a black Boss 429 we recently photographed at Rick Parker's Boss Cars in Columbus, Ohio.
We figured Parker was somewhere on the grounds, but we discovered he had already sold the Boss 429, and the new owner took the car to Russo and Steele, obviously hunting the big auction money.
For the record, later that evening the Boss 429 sold for $308,000, which included the 10 percent buyer's commission. At Russo and Steele, the buyer pays a flat 10 percent fee. The seller pays an entry fee of $800 and a 10 percent commission if he retains a reserve. If he enters the car at no reserve, the fee is 5 percent, and the entry fee is $500.
This blue '66 GT350 brought...
This blue '66 GT350 brought $220,000 at Russo and Steele.
Auction position is another key to getting a good price for a vehicle. Auctions start as early as 10 a.m. and run late into the night. Friday or Saturday afternoons are the times collectors favor. Friday evening is prime, too, before people get tired and start heading back to their resort rooms.
We spent Friday at Russo and Steele before going to Barrett-Jackson on Saturday. Before the bidding began, the auctions located just a few miles apart seemed like car shows. Unlike private deals between individuals, auctions are public and broadcast over a loudspeaker.
On Saturday afternoon at Barrett-Jackson,...
On Saturday afternoon at Barrett-Jackson, the crowds were shoulder-to-shoulder outside on the midways.
When a '65 Mustang GT350 came across the block Friday evening at Russo and Steele, we recognized it as 041, an early production '65. We had checked it out earlier with Jim under one of the two white tents. This one was rumored to be the '65 Shelby with the longest-running owner. The car looked perfect inside and out and underneath.
You have full access to inspect the cars at the auction. Of course, Russo and Steele is not televised, but TV cameras go over the car and broadcast images to the giant screen above as the bidding begins. Bleachers rise high so spectators can easily see the car on the black-and-white-checkered tile floor.
Mustang Monthly's Jan. '06...
Mustang Monthly's Jan. '06 cover car, the first GT350SR 40th Anniversary Shelby, sold for $307,800.
Bidding stalled at $200,000, then advanced to a quarter of a million for the '65 GT350. The auctioneer yelled his familiar "Going once, going twice ... Sold!" for the top bid of $267,000. Later, we read $297,000 off the final results, which includes the 10-percent flat-fee buyer's commission, the second highest Mustang price behind the Boss 429 at Russo and Steele.
Such megaprices seem unreal to 30-year veterans like Jim. You see a gleam in their eyes and sometimes a smile of vindication that they knew all these years just how important these cars were, even when the selling prices were $2,500 in the Bill Sledge days.
One of the three cars Jim was associated with sold. That afternoon we talked with Jeff Yergovich, who had partnered with Bob Gaines on the blue '66 GT350. "Gaines purchased the car and I did the restoration. We built the car to sell. It's a very unusual color, a very late car, with an all-steel hood. We've literally taken the car to the bare metal and counted every spot weld on it and made sure everything was correct and rust-free."