R&L's C6

I'm going to sound like a bleeding heart liberal (which I'm not) but with all the hunger, pain and suffering around the world, it's rather appalling IMO.

LowRyter

jump in, the water's fine.

ONEBADZ

They raised over $6.2 million dollars for charity.

BlindSpot

Too bad you find it so appalling. You must not have watched the Saturday night auction of the the Corvette that sold for $1.4M, the entire amount including commissions, went to charity. Here is a quote from the article:

The car sold for $1.4 million. All of the proceeds will go toward the George W. Bush Presidential Center's Military Service Initiative, which helps post-9/11 veterans re-adapt to civilian life.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ns/1051480001/

This was one of several charity auctions held over the week.

As much as I am impressed with these millionaires wielding large sums of money around, I am also impressed with ANYONE who would pay $1.4M for a Corvette he easily could have purchased for less than a tenth of that in any Chevy dealership. But he paid that much for the charitable cause.

R&L's C6

I didn't watch(no cable for me) that's great to hear. As you stated, I couldn't understand why anyone would pay 10 times more for something that could be bought at the dealership.

RonNSoCal

There are many successful people who donate large sums to worthy charities out of generosity and the desire to give back, recognizing they have been fortunate. And there are wealthy charlatans who will donate when it serves their interests, like the guy who donated millions to prostate cancer research after being diagnosed with it.

You do not have to be a bleeding heart liberal to see a problem today with the distribution of wealth. For those of us willing to do a little research, it is clear that we are becoming more and more a country of the "haves" and "have nots", with the top controlling an unprecedented portion of the wealth of our nation. And this is why we now see a few spend what seems to be insane money on rare cars. As a car buff who is retired and with no mortgage and an adequate income, there was a time not long ago when I could have easily been able to buy a vintage Corvette but this is not so easy in today's economy. It is what it is.

09Z06pj

The good thing about America is that in most cases, the "have nots" can become "haves" with some hard work and desire.

windyC6

Well not to feed a political frenzy.....but Bravo and well said Ron, and very accurate. But be careful or we are gonna have to listen to all the "Haves" start preaching that all the "Have nots" think the "Haves" should feel guilty and start giving all their hard earned (in some cases) money away. You are spot on with your charity assessment with some being quite thoughtful, and others just looking out for themselves, or maybe a tax break. I got no problems with the rich, it's just when the rich feel the need to get richer and richer at the cost of others.....

ONEBADZ

In the history of Barrett Jackson they have raised $102 million for charities. Everyone there gets excited when they have a sale for charity. And a lot of times the rich people buying turn around and tell them to sell the car again. Happened 3 times on the log car that sold Thursday. BJ takes no commissions on charity sales. Like I've been saying in this thread it's a great event and experience. And so is Mecum.

bothred

My favorite part of the auction was when the sold sticker was put on the windshield.

LowRyter

certainly Barrett jackson has left a bad taste for many car collectors and more would be car collectors. They've pretty much priced the hobbyists out. And when the car are worthless, when the rich guys die off, no one will be around to buy them.

Z0SIS

Agreed...why did they not do a profile on this woman?? The 'sticker girl'.

Landru

Butt they did, using best profile possible.

VETFEVER

Same observation from here. Go to Mecum in Florida where they have twice the number of cars, just as nice, and at better prices

z06clif

planned obsolecence. Those cars were only built to last 3 years because evertone got new pnes after 2-3 years. I had a couple and they were bad compared to todays cars. Thank the Japanese for forcing that issue.

Clif

acesx4

coffin's don't come with pockets s if you have it spend it!!!

windyC6

Yea....I know what you're trying to say. But to be honest, maybe we could/should blame the Americans that got the ball rolling by buying the Japanese cars......

z06clif

Well this is a little off topic but to give the Devil his due, there really wasnt a market for what the Japanese were selling. We were hooked on our land yachts and fast in a straight line muscle cars. When the American Auto makers seen what was happening
They rushed to build some of the worst cars in history. Also the oil embargo caught us flat footed

Clif

Welker1

I didn't go to Scottsdale this year; but a good friend of mine who does custom builds did. They got $357K for the custom '62 they auctioned; so if you were a seller, this was a pretty good year

windyC6

WOOOA there. Are we suggesting that when gas went from 35 cents a gallon to somewhere around $1.50 a gallon that there was no market for what the Japanese were selling ??.....