Craig Jackson of Barrett-Jackson Auctions probably won't be happy when he hears me refer to his Scottsdale extravaganza as the Wal-Mart of classic car auctions. He may even ban me from the premises, as he did with Keith Martin, one of America's leading vehicle appraisers and editor of Sports Car Market magazine. Apparently Jackson was angered when Martin stated his opinion, publicly, that Barrett-Jackson was pushing the prices of muscle cars beyond their real value. Martin was allegedly asked to leave the stage, where he was to act as a commentator for Speed TV, and had his media passes taken away.
A couple of years back Craig Jackson put a hammer-hold on our sometime contributor Nigel Matthews, a concours judge and internationally-respected appraiser. Again, it was something someone said, in this case Nigel, that annoyed Craig. I took this photo from the safety of a skybox, far from the stage wars.
I feel I was a victim of this auction myself. When I read the article By Keith Martin, I saw my experience exactley in the paragraph describing the Judges story.
March 1, 2007 @ 2:37 pm