Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2015 Shine’s All In!

This year’s Barrett-Jackson Auction brought a whole new meaning to the word “suspense” for me, our loyal friends, families and crew at the SO-CAL Speed Shop. Why? Well, because senior SO-CAL fabricator Jimmy Shine ran his iconic ’34 pickup truck across the Scottsdale block on Saturday at the seminal event and invariably hit a homerun, but not without the unimaginable stress of a first-time seller. Allow me to explain.

Jimmy started talking about selling his pickup, but I never took him seriously until mid-2013. He was looking at a new project, and as it goes for most guys in our hobby, one project finances the next. This wonderful Turning Point hot rod was going to be hard to give up because it not only served Jimmy well but the entire collector car hobby in general! In fact, what started as Jimmy’s dream 18 years ago instantly became the bridge between the old guard and new wave hot rodders worldwide. Jimmy and I discussed the various ways to sell the car, and with sound reasoning from good friend and automotive entrepreneur Kirk White the decision was made: talk to Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale.

Now we’ve done a lot of business with the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company (BJAC) throughout the last 20 years, mostly event retail, but we never took anything across the block. We figured the best place to start the journey was with VP of Consignment, Gary Bennett. We had a lot of questions: who, what, when, how, marketing and please explain “no reserve.” We immediately settled a lot over the phone and we were mostly way behind the curve for 2013. In April of 2014, Jimmy and I made a trip to Scottsdale, and met with Gary who explained that BJAC has a carefully planned marketing strategy in place for its “centerpiece” clients. The plan must be given the time (at least 10 months) to mature or face the possibility of failure due to the no-reserve policy of the company. With careful consideration, Shine was “all in” for 2015 Scottsdale.

Jimmy and his wife Nikki brought the truck to Reno, Nevada and did the BJAC meet-and-greet at Hot August Nights (and under the watchful eye of BJAC’s Jeff Catlin) as well as the Las Vegas Auction, promoting their hot rod as much as possible all the way up to Scottsdale Auction Week, and finally to 12:55 p.m., January 17, 2015, when Shine’s hot rod, Lot#5004, was front and center on the auction block.

With “no reserve” hanging in the room like the grim reaper (and for all others, I might add) and Jimmy well supported on stage by wife Nikki, his mom and dad, Michael Anthony, Gene Winfield, Brad Fanshaw, rousing support from BJAC CEO Craig Jackson, President Steve Davis and VP Gary Bennett, the bidding began. My wife Carol and I were home watching the live stream, and after what took only minutes but seemed liked hours, “Spanky’s” gavel hit the podium on the final bid at $215K. OMG! Shine did it, and suddenly a new home for the little Orange County-bred pickup truck was found with the Chris McPhie family out of Akron, Ohio. The stress! I don’t know how the people who do auctions for a living can handle it, but my hat’s off to you all, and thanks to everyone at Barrett-Jackson.

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