Barrett Jackson Houston 2021 Report

 Barrett Jackson Houston 2021 Report

Catching up on my auction reports, this one will be brief. Barrett Jackson came to Houston for the first time last year, and I was very excited about it. The timing, unfortunately, wasn't great as I had to leave town midway through the event. Because of this, I was skeptical that I would buy something, and in fact I didn't. I still enjoyed the set up and I hope they come back.

I was comparing BJ to Mecum the whole time, as Mecum holds their Houston auction in this very same venue every year. One thing I noticed was that BJ is a little nicer and more "event focused". They carpeted the walkways and spread all the cars out in more of a show-like setup. There were also a lot more vendors and non-auction things to do. This was fine since they had the space. There weren't as many cars as Mecum usually has, which wasn't surprising as 1st time locations sometimes struggle for inventory.

The auction mechanics were fine. I'm not sure if I prefer one to the other. I don't like the way BJ stages their cars because you can't walk up to them once they're in that area - no last minute walkarounds. BJ also moves a lot slower than Mecum. Mecum moves cars at a pretty good rate. BJ takes their time. One thing I didn't like about BJ was the way they placed the cars in the arena. Mecum lines them up by day and in order of their lot numbers. Not so with BJ. They seemed to just be sporadically placed all over, which was very frustrating to someone like me who likes to walk the lanes to inspect everything. 

One thing that I absolutely LOVED about BJ though is that they have a preview day on Wednesday before the Thursday start of the auction. I have wished that Mecum would do that for years! It gives you a chance, if you so choose, to walk around and inspect the cars carefully without trying to cram 1000 cars into the two hours Thursday morning before the auction starts. 

Even though I wasn't too serious about buying due to the logistical issues with getting my purchase home, etc., since I was leaving the country for three weeks before the auction ended, I still did bid on a few things, albeit unsuccessfully. 

1989 Chevy Camaro IROC-Z

I've really been after an IROC lately. This car was in phenomenal condition and had only 30K miles (although it was actually 47,000 kilometers - must have been a Canadian import). I got into a bidding battle with one other guy on this. I though I had it at $18,500, but he came back right before the hammer dropped and ultimately I gave up at $22,000. 

1981 Mercedes 300D

This Merc had been restored and looked great! It was one of the first cars to go through the auction but I was a little late getting there and it was already in the staging area when I did so I didn't get a chance to check some things before bidding. I chickened out and didn't pull the trigger. It sold impossibly cheap and I had a plan for it even....I just froze. I was bummed the rest of the day.

1969 Pontiac Firebird 350 Convertible

I don't usually pay much attention to Firebirds, but I liked this one for some reason. I bid up to $40K on it but gave up there. 

1966 Oldsmobile F-85 Holiday Coupe

There wasn't anything particularly special about this Olds, but I liked the way it sat. It was a neat car but went for a lot more than an F-85 should. 

1985 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ62

The FJ62 is my preferred Land Cruiser, and there were a few of them here. This is the one I liked the most, but I was already gone when it went through. 

I really hope Barrett Jackson comes back to Houston, and I hope they run a lot more cars when they do. Houston is a great auction market, and I enjoyed the event. It's not on their calendar yet, but my fingers are crossed.

  

Europe 2021: Zafra

Europe 2021:

Zafra

Much like our stop in Crato, this one was more about the accommodations than the location. There is a 'Parador' in Zafra that is a four-star modernized castle dating back to 1437. We just stayed here for one night on our way to Cordoba, but enjoyed perfect weather and a neat little town. We booked a room in one of the towers, and it was really cool.

The room was large but oddly shaped - the result of making the bedroom part of the round tower. The bed was awful - like sleeping on cardboard with sandpaper sheets - and the ac was barely functional. When structures that are hundreds of years old are repurposed, you have to expect some oddities - it's part of the charm (there's no reason the bed couldn't have been comfortable though). Our room had a huge jacuzzi tub in the bathroom as well. It was basically a shallow hot tub. We usually don't bother with those things, but we did decide to jump in this one for some reason.

That's the door to our room across the way behind Nel. We were in one of the four tower rooms they have to offer. 

Our room aside, the rest of the place was great. We had dinner and breakfast at the courtyard in the hotel and thought it was charming, and tasted pretty good too. 

Parking was easy as well - not always the case at European hotels....rarely the case actually.

We had lunch in town. It was a great location on a large square where lots of kids and families were running around and playing. We spent a couple hours eating and watching the town of Zafra go by. 

I can't say that Zafra is a can't miss destination on a tour of Spain, but it was a fun and relaxing stop on our journey. If you stop here, definitely stay at the Parador de Zafra! 

There wasn't much in the way of nightlife while we were there. I found a soccer game on the TV for my evenings entertainment.