One thing you can say about a night at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction
is the fact you never know what is going to happen. And this year was no different.
For years Arizona car collector Ron Pratte spent the biggest money on first of Fords and Shelbys among other cars, and this year sold his entire collection at the Scottsdale event. It was expected we’d have fireworks and surprises and that we did.
The star of the show was the 1966 Shelby COBRA 427 Super Snake which originally sold here at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale on a landmark night for $5,000,000 at the height of the economic boom in 2007.
CSX 3015 is literally the rarest COBRA that exists, being one of only two Super Snakes built and the only one surviving. It has nearly 1,000 horsepower from its twin supercharged 427 V8.
The car was immortalized in Bill Cosby’s comedy album 200 MPH, because he owned the other one. Add to it the fact this particular car was Carroll Shelby’s personal driver and that makes it gold.
In the heated environment of the auction block the car had to be pushed hard to get pricing up close to where it had been back in the day. It stalled at $4,700,000 for a very long time before it rolled off the stage as a no sale.
The air seemed to leave the room as it had not met reserve. The news went out the car was a no sale. It wasn’t until morning we got news it had indeed sold for $5,115,000 including buyers commission. They made the deal happen.
It just goes to show you never can tell what goes on at this place. Never forget that at the end of the day, they’re car salesman and nobody gets out alive.
