New wrinkle at B-J Options

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Barrett Jackson, The Truth... Tom P (Login tomposthuma)
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I recieved this...

" Barrett Jackson fraud claimed


>This was forwarded to me by a buddy in the business. Not sure of the
>validity, but it definitely makes you wonder....
>
> January 27th, 2007 by fourwheeldrift
>As a collector car journalist, I have been watching the Barrett-Jackson
>auction for years. For the last five or so years, it has been very
>apparent that the Scottsdale auction is at best a bastion of greed and
>manipulation...and at worse, all-out fraud.
>
>I've discussed B-J with collectors, dealers and enthusiasts, many of
>whom would be considered "insiders," meaning they've bought and sold
>cars at B-J and other auctions, or are well-known in the collector car
>hobby. For some reason, it is this year that people are all finally
>grumbling and passing rumors in unison.
>
>The bottom line is that Craig Jackson and the B-J company have really
>screwed themselves this year. Their contracts specifically promise
>every car three minutes on the stand. Due to ego and greed, they
>expanded the Scottsdale '07 auction to the point they could not provide
>this, plus they had the audacity to do it on live television.
>
>A well-known former head judge in the Ford Thunderbird circles was one
>of the sellers who had his car short-timed. He has already filed a law
>suit against B-J, and this is already headed towards class-action status.
>According to this judge and other sources, it appears Barrett-Jackson
>was operating a bit on the same level as an evangelical healing show.
>They had assistants milling around asking what specific sellers thought
>their cars would bring. Armed with this information at the control
>desk, if a lot passed the value at which a seller indicated he'd be
>happy, the car would be rushed off and the gav el would fall - even if
>bidding was still very much alive.
>
>Because the event was televised on live television via the Speed TV
>network, the plaintiff(s) now have video/audio proof that buyers were
>signaling increased bids before the three-minute marks, but were denied
>by a too-fast last call and hammer.
>
>While this all might cause Barrett-Jackson to have to pay money to
>sellers in the form of a judgment or settlement, it is something else
>that might land Craig Jackson in jail.
>
>It is no secret that Barrett-Jackson owns many cars that are run
>through the auction - it was something I suspected many, many years
>ago. This was proven when they started maintaining a showroom of cars in
Arizona .
>This is not illegal, but stay with me.
>
>I've always suspected that the cars owned by Craig Jackson and the B-J
>company were often driven up by shill bidders w orking for the company.
>Essentially, the strategy works in the sense that ever since the
>auction focus moved from classics like Packards and Duesenbergs to
>muscle cars, B-J has been able to shill, say a Hemi Cuda or mid-year
>Corvette 427 they own, which causes the value of the 10 other identical
>cars to increase. They wind up "buying" their own car back, but the
>others go on to regular buyers, who now are paying higher because of
>the perception the market has moved up.
>
>This suspicion has been validated by auction attendees this year that
>witnessed cars sold at auction headed in trailers back to B-J's
>warehouse. The lawsuit allegedly points out that these cars also spent
>significantly more time on the block than others.
>
>If this isn't all interesting enough, during this year's auction,
>fellow collector car journalist, Keith Martin of Sports Car Market, was
>boot ed from the Westworld premises and his media credentials revoked
>for voicing loud, specific concern regarding the event while sitting in
>the media room. Barrett-Jackson accused Keith Martin of "holding court"
>and attempting to send VIPs and journalists to the competing RM and
>Russo and Steele auction events. Among the alleged opinions included
>that the cars at B-J were of inferior quality (and had quality
>misrepresented,) as well as that the bidders were significantly
>over-bidding cars, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has
>witnessed people paying six figures for cars they could have bought for
>under $50,000 any other day of the year!!!
>This is somewhat of an interesting twist. Keith Martin's publication
>has marketed the B-J events and has helped fuel its popularity. Keith
>is definitely one of the great "insiders" of the hobby, and has been a
>friend to Craig Jackson . In past years, Keith nor his publication have
>been critical of the goings-on and rumors, while other collector car
>journalists have been outwardly screaming that something stunk.
>
>It makes sense, since Sports Car Market really only tracks the value of
>vehicles and other items sold at auction, rather than via private sales
>(which really has skewed SCM's values for years!) So without
>kissing-ass to B-J, Keith would have missed insider info on the largest
>events covered by his mag. So we can only guess that Keith and Craig
>had a falling out of some type.
>
>I applaud Keith for turning the corner on his view of B-J, but I'm with
>others I've talked to about this: I hate to say this about a colleague,
>but I felt his behavior was a bit unprofessional. As journalists, it is
>our responsibility to write what we think, but going to the show for
>years, then promoting RM and Russo +Steele while at Westworld is
>somewhat unprofessional. I agree that Keith, a true hobbyist who
>started out by writing an Alfa Romeo newsletter, was for a long time
>too much a part of the "circus" about which he finally rejected, and
>that SCM has to a significant degree helped to fuel misinformation and
>a house of cards regarding specific auction prices and bidding
>behavior. Keith, by all accounts, is a really good guy -- an
>enthusiast, who maybe just needed to take a step back and a big breath
>and reacquaint himself with those outside of the very insulated
>collector car "in crowd" -- and spend time with some car people who are
>not trying to exploit the collectors. There are plenty of guys who have
>dug themselves too deep into this little crowd, and are no longer fun
>to deal with, because they've put personal greed well ahead of the cars
>and the collectors. Keith will rebound -- h e has a great internal staff
>of really fantastic people, who hopefully will help him return to his
roots.
>
>That being said... While I've never met him, the buzz among those in
>the hobby -- both collectors and journalists, is that Craig Jackson is
>quite arrogant, so don't expect many to come to his rescue. He
>inherited his father's company, and has fueled B-J's growth with a
>combination of intelligence, drive, ego, and greed. While there is
>nothing wrong with that combination, when it results in unethical and
>possibly illegal activities, that's inexcusable.
>
>Like many surrounding the hobby, I will be watching the events unfold.
>Will the Westworld tents come down like a house of cards, or will
>everything just go away with an exchange of a little money? It's hard
>to predict. Craig Jackson has become a very powerful man, and his
>company has pumped billions of dollars in to the Arizona economy over the
years.
>This all being said, there's no doubt that Barrett-Jackson "jumped the
>shark" this year. Unlike when Fonzi did it, Craig Jackson drove his
>allegedly shill-bid Hemicudas over the tank and down a ramp that could
>lead to six years in a minimum security prison-issued orange jumpsuit.
>If that's the case, maybe he can get Sports Car Market in the slammer
>to keep-up on Russo and Steele, RM and Kruse auction results. "



So do you think he'll be stamping collector car license plates in the future?

[KaptKaos]

I really love watching B-J, especially when they tell me that a particular car was the only one in that color, with that interior. That made me laugh.