I was lucky enough to be there on Saturday and up on stage when the car crossed the block. Here are some of my thoughts:
Between the hype built for the car by the magazines and newspapers, Sony (at SEMA,) and probably most of all, Barrett-Jackson, it was hard for them not to have high hopes for the car at the auction. I too had high hopes I think, but I kept reminding myself that anything can happen in an auction. It seemed that what they were really hoping to do was to validate the $427K asking price for the Super Coupes and to gauge interest in them and the planned Phase III project.
I think that the auction was still pretty good for them at the end of the day because some of the most notable Baldwin Motion collectors were present. Not necessarily to bid on the car, but to meet with Rosen and Schorr and to discuss the cars, both past and present. I know many were interested in the car and some interested in ordering one built their way.
Where the auction hurt them is in the car only bringing $450K, which isn't to much more than the asking price. In my opinion, justifying their price would have meant selling it for $550K+ since BJ prices are typically considerably higher than what the cars real value is...or is it just me? Ultimately the car sold for almost half a million dollars which is a lot of money.
On the bright side (if it can be called that) the Motion Camaro was not the only car to fall victim to a low sale price this year. The Six Shooter Cuda, and several other cars went for a lot less than they should have based on the past few years at BJ.
I think what we might expect from Motion is some rethinking of the Super Coupe program, whether it be pricing or if the program will continue. I am pretty sure they'll be doing the Phase III's, but in my opinion, I think they need to be competitive with the Unique/Foose Camaro and not as focused on being ultra high-end collector's pieces. As a newly relaunched brand name, I think they may need to take baby steps, despite the status of their original cars. Take this all with a grain of salt, as most of my info is kind of an educated guess, but I think I had a pretty good read on their feelings both before and after the auction.
Okay, there's my 2 cents! I have to say that hanging out with the guys from Motion was really great. All of them are very kind and generous people and Joel Rosen and Marty Schorr are two of the nicest people I've met in the business, not to mention, legends in the industry.
Kris
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