Barrett Jackson auto auction - No credentials, I get up on stage as a phone proxy bidder (talking to no one)

Indirect follow to my Corvettes postings that I have been in the past few days...

I had decided that I wanted to go to one of these Barrett Jackson auto auctions. You can certainly find enough of them on television nowadays, but I wanted to see it all in person. There are also copycats and variants like the Mecum auto auction and some others as well. Barrett Jackson is the king that made it popular on TV though. They started with just having the one location in Scottsdale, Arizona at Westworld and now appear in other cities like West Palm Beach, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada, just to name a few.

From the shot above, it gives you some perspective of where I was on stage in the top left corner where the arrow is. I can then be seen in the other 3 cubes wearing sunglasses and holding a cell phone to my ear. I am also wearing a Corvette polo shirt for the Corvette people out there who notice a C5 logo. A bunch of people are on the phone on stage as proxy bidders for people who aren't there but are watching live on TV. You can see the people on stage have lanyards and security credential as a bidder. You will also see that I do not have one.

It was a good trip. I was there for weekend and saw some amazing cars. I was able to see the "behind the scenes" things that go on to get a car up on to the auction block. I also got to mingle with some amazingly wealthy people, for which I am not, but they didn't know that. I suppose people would assume that if I was there alone, I must have some money or am connected to someone who does. I do not. I just know how to get backstage or into places where I don't always have credentials to do so. I've met Eric Clapton this way and Lionel Richie, among many other less famous people. I've told the Lionel Richie story here on Steemit. Eric Claptop is a different post to make. :)

You'd be surprised how many cars go unsold or how few actual bidders there are at times. There are bargains to be had, and you really need to put a weekend into it solidly to find the hidden gems. The broadcast isn't on the air all of the time which helps, and some time frames are just low turn out times to be there in person. Sellers pay a fee to be in certain timeslots or groupings to be get more exposure, others just try their luck and that is where the gems are because they get some nice cars in some really lousy timeslots.

I didn't buy anything but I do dream of a day where I could go to one of these auctions and just pick out a car or two as many of these people do.

My other indirectly car related posts this past 7 days:

1. https://steemit.com/blog/@inspire1/corvette-days-are-gone-but-not-forgotten-for-me-due-to-divorce-crypto-was-one-of-my-ideas-to-help-rescue-my-financial-demise
2. https://steemit.com/life/@inspire1/more-pocono-raceway-corvette-days-gone-but-not-forgotten-photos-and-memories
3. https://steemit.com/life/@inspire1/just-one-more-corvette-gone-but-not-forgotten-post-theme-is-places-your-normally-can-t-go-ocean-city-nj

Post # 3 loosely ties to this one, because you don't get to drive your Corvette on the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk unless you are part of the car show in that post.