TURNING HEADS: The 2015 Salon Collection

December 30, 2014
Posted by Barrett-Jackson

This 1927 Isotta Fraschini LeBaron 8A S Dual Cowl (Lot #5081), part of the impressive Salon Collection at the 2015 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction.

The incredible world of the Salon Collection — a realm where old-world craftsmanship still lives on in the smell of leather, the handmade bodies, the incredible details of days gone by. Larger-than-life gleaming chrome grilles. Exquisite woodworking. Beautiful, colorful engines. Hand-trimmed caramel-colored leather seats. Extravagant, artistic hood ornaments. This is a world worth exploring.

The Barrett-Jackson Salon Collection was unveiled in January 2012 as a new, elite collection available only at the Scottsdale auction. It showcases some of the world’s most rare, valuable, collectible and coveted vehicles and harkens back to the beginning of the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company.

In the early 1960s, within a month of each other, Russ Jackson and Tom Barrett moved their families from the Midwest to what was then the burgeoning frontier town of Scottsdale, Ariz. Both passionate about cars, the two men serendipitously crossed paths when Barrett, who had started collecting cars as a teenager, placed an advertisement to sell a 1933 16 cylinder Cadillac town car. Jackson, who had a distinct love for old Cadillacs with big engines, responded to the ad, and the two formed a fast, car-based friendship that eventually led to them staging the Fiesta de los Autos Elegantes, a car show and parade held to raise money to benefit the Scottsdale Art Collection Committee.

The annual Fiesta evolved into a full-blown collector car auction in 1971, featuring many of those prewar beauties like the ’33 Caddy that originally brought Barrett and Jackson together. Pierce-Arrows, Mercedes-Benz phaetons, Duesenbergs, Delahayes, Rolls-Royces, Packards and the like were capturing the attention of ever-increasing crowds.

As the years went by, Barrett-Jackson auctions moved with the times and became known for offering a wide range of not only classics, but also exotics, muscle cars, Hot Rods, Resto-Mods and even contemporary collectibles.

While every car that crosses the block at Barrett-Jackson is special, the Salon Collection was launched to pay tribute to an extraordinary range of prewar, sports and bespoke cars. Barrett-Jackson Chairman and CEO Craig Jackson knew the Salon Collection would provide auction participants with the perfect marriage of the world’s most precious collector cars and the diversity, excitement and prestige associated with a Barrett-Jackson event. “Our elite collectors have been part of the Barrett-Jackson family for generations,” Jackson said when the new collection launched. “They’re thrilled with this new, marquee designation for vehicles of this caliber.”

Since its inception in 2012, the Salon Collection has begun at 5 p.m. on Saturday, and the 30-some cars are all given 5000 series Lot numbers. Not all are prewar; the main prerequisites of a Salon car are that it is rare, unique in some way and authentic. The first Salon car to cross the block was a striking silver bullet-style 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, one of the lowest-mileage in existence, and its sale surpassed everyone’s expectations. “It rocked the world,” recalls Don Williams, a member of Barrett-Jackson’s exclusive team of renowned and credible automotive experts and highly regarded for his classic car knowledge. “It took just minutes and it sold for $2.2 million — it was the first gullwing in the world to ever sell for more than $2 million.”

Call it superstition, but to encourage that sort of success going forward, every Salon Collection since the first has started off with a silver gullwing, and the tradition will continue with the fourth Salon Collection at the Scottsdale 2015 auction (pictured above: Lot #5075, 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing). That by no means is the only star of this elite gathering of vehicles. There’s a stunning 1949 Talbot-Lago T-26 Grand Sport coupe (pictured below, Lot #5087), one of only two in the world. A fully restored 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS (pictured at left, Lot #5083), with a special handmade body dating back to the 1930s. A beautiful 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 Roadster CSX 3169 (Lot #5090). An unbelievable 1927 Isotta Fraschini LeBaron Dual Cowl phaeton (Lot #5081). You’ll also find a smattering of Ferraris, a few Rolls-Royces, a dazzling Duesenberg, a couple of Cadillacs … 30 memorable vehicles in all.

So as you journey through the auction, stop to study the handcrafted details these cars of days gone by have to offer. Smell that leather and admire that shining chrome. Imagine yourself living in Europe in the 1940s or ’50s, when you’d pack your belongings in the specially made luggage that fits in the back of your Talbot-Lago. Visualize climbing into the meticulously made leather seats, and heading off for an adventure on some of the most beautiful driving roads in the world.

You might just fall in love with automobiles all over again, for entirely different reasons.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2014 issue of the Barrett-Jackson Experience magazine, available for purchase online at www.eventbooks.net or at the Barrett-Jackson Collection Showroom in Scottsdale, Ariz.