Great Cars Available…Get It Before It's Gone. Check the date of the post. If it is a few weeks old, it is probably too late.

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Saturday at Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach

The day began poorly. We waited a frustrating hour inching along the highway just to park the car. At least our Media credentials were in order and we finally made it in the tents to check out what sold and what was to go on the block that day. We watched the auction action on TV Thursday so it was interesting to see the cars we saw on TV in person. desotoSome cars were even more beautiful and some were not. So when a car sells for low money and you scream from your Barcolounger that you would have paid that, you might not know the entire story. Yes, there were cars we would have loved to have or at least feature on Mint. 152063_Front_3-4_WebbusSome with spectacular restorations. But we saw some “nice” cars that I am sure attracted attention that were not totally done properly. For example, there were 2, 280SLs that looked pretty darn good but with closer inspection, we could see the unique details that the car were originally built with were gone. They are called “headlight notches” and they all seem to go by the wayside when a quick paint job is done. If they are gone, what else has been left at the curb? Not every Austin-Healey 3000 is a Kurt Tanner restoration or done by another fine restoration shop. There were 3, stunning Healeys parked in the tent next to each other. Two were really well done, the other tried hard but missed with unbelievable poor gaps. Someone with less knowledge might assume all 3 were spectacular.

The star for us was a VW Samba 23-window sunroof that sold for $115,000. An over the top Dodge Royal Lancer with cool details sold for $50,000 and that was a great deal. And finally, a Chrysler Town & Country Roadster Woodie – a custom but authentic creation sold for $119,000.

So we’ll sit the next Barrett-Jackson out even though it was great fun. The crowds are huge and enthusiastic so the collector car hobby is on solid footing.