Sold! GM heritage cars

[DainBramaged]

GM heritage sold! Anyone with a paddle could have bid on a small piece of General Motors heritage last week at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. More than 200 cars from GM’s Heritage Fleet went on the block in what GM called normal housekeeping.

Note that’s the Heritage Fleet, which is different from the Heritage Collection. The latter has about 350 cars.

“The Heritage Collection is sacred, a critical part of the history of GM,” said Brian Baker, collection manager and design historian.

The fleet, on the other hand, is made up of about 1,000 cars and trucks from throughout GM’s history that the company has on hand for one reason or another at any given time. And every now and then, they have to clean out a few cars. Since 2004, the Fleet has been cleaned out at Barrett-Jackson. A committee representing every GM department from design and marketing to powertrain and engineering has a say in what gets sold. If anyone objects to a sale, it is not hauled out to Scottsdale.

“This has been a natural part of our process since 2004,” Baker said.

There were some terrific cars on the block. The 2000 Buick Custom Blackhawk went for $475,000. A large number of Corvettes, ranging from the first-built 2006 ZO6 to the first-built 1992 ZR-1 coupe, all crossed the block at more than $100,000. Proceeds from the sale of the first retail production 2010 Camaro benefited the American Heart Association. There was a Reggie Jackson 1969 Camaro, the ’67 Pontiac GTO used in the Vin Diesel movie XXX, and even a 1904 Oldsmobile Touring Runabout.

There were also race cars, like a pair of Pennzoil-liveried IRL cars, a 1998 Chevy S-10 drag truck, an Olds Aurora Exxon GTS car and a Chevy S-10 stadium race truck.

The only clunkers were a pair of Azteks, a pair of Geo Trackers and something called the Geo Zonker two-door Coupe.

Ford also sold a few cars at B-J: a Mustang Cobra Jet drag car and the first production versions of the GT500 Mustang and the Raptor F-150. Proceeds from those three went to charity, while the majority of the proceeds from the GM cars went to GM. Did they need the money?

“All companies are always looking for money,” said a GM rep.

Both Ford and GM again featured consumer displays of current production cars at Barrett-Jackson to woo buyers at the auction. GM had space adjacent to the main auction tent while Ford commandeered the main entrance, through which virtually everyone who entered the auction had to walk.

“It gives them a chance to experience the brand,” said Ford’s Robert Parker.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090118/FREE/901189993