Starting on Tuesday and running through Sunday in Scottsdale, AZ, one of the largest privately-held car collection will be going up for auction. The Ron Pratte Collection has been added to The 44th annual Barrett-Jackson collector car auction. They added a few more days to the auction and another 130 page catalog in order to sell the collection!
Who is Ron Pratte?
Simple put, he is an american success story. An entrepreneur who started making money right after high school by pouring foundations and framing up new houses. His company grew and, at one point he had more than 4,000 employees, who were building as many as 60 houses a day during the building boom in the Phoenix area and in Las Vegas. Than at the height of the market he sold it all to Pulte Homes and retired.
Over 140 meticulously restored and stored classic automobiles and 1500 pieces of automobilia collection will be sold this week.
Miss Debbie and myself were there on Saturday to see the collection. It was an amazing experience. Along with all the usual antique and collector cars that are sold at Barrett-Jackson, this collection just added another layer to the “WOW” factor. To say that Ron Pratte has an eclectic taste bud would be an understatement. He bought everything. From Carroll Shelby’s personal 427 Super Snake Cobra (he bought that here in Las Vegas). he also purchased the 1949 MG TC that was the first car Shelby ever drove in a race. from sports cars to things like the gigantic GM Futurliner. One of only nine out of the 12 built known to exist. (all proceeds from its sale will go he Armed Forces Foundation)
There was not a car era that he did not touch. if it caught his fancy at an auction, it went into his airplane hanger collection.
Now he built it up, so its time to sell and move on to other hobbies and collections! The collection could bring in $50 million dollars from the sales of the vehicles and memorabilia. We will watch and see. Anyway it ends, it will be the end of an era and an amazing thing to see happen.
- This year, Barrett -Jackson teamed up with Discovery and Velocity channels to air the large parts of the collection as its going to auction, starting on Tuesday. So set your DVR’s! (click here for details and times)
- Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction will return to Las Vegas in September at The Mandalay Bay Events Center.
- Keep up with auction progress on cars and prices by checking TourTalk.TV’s facebook page.