VIEW FROM THE BLOCK: Craig Jackson on Barrett-Jackson’s new Northeast Auction at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut

June 20, 2016
Posted by Barrett-Jackson

Barrett-Jackson Chairman and CEO Craig Jackson

With Craig Jackson at the helm, Barrett-Jackson is celebrating 45 successful years in the collector car hobby. Craig is an avid car collector, award-winning restorer and racing enthusiast.

The launch of a new auction is always an exciting time at Barrett-Jackson. I’m very much looking forward to our inaugural Northeast Auction in June; it’s been one our customers have been asking us to consider for quite some time. Mohegan Sun in Connecticut is a great venue that can be easily reached from all over the Northeast and eastern Canada, where we also have a sizeable fan base. The resort fits in well with our luxury automotive lifestyle event, providing top-of-the-line accommodation, nightlife, shopping and dining.

Since we’ve announced this new auction, I’ve had many people ask me about the best way to get there. There are plenty of choices. Two major international airports are within an hour’s drive, and you can also fly into New York City. The resort is just over two hours from the Big Apple by car. You can even let someone else do the driving by using a limousine service from Manhattan, some of which even throw in a complimentary bottle of champagne!

Mohegan Sun in Connecticut is easily accessible from all over the Northeast.

You can travel to New London, Connecticut – only 20 minutes from Mohegan Sun – by Amtrak from many major Northeast cities. There’s a high-speed ferry that takes you from Long Island to New London in just 45 minutes. BLADE helicopter service from Manhattan and the Hamptons can also fly you right to Mohegan Sun. If you’re in the city or at your beach house, you can just hop on a helicopter. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

The dense population of collector car enthusiasts in the area ensures this inaugural auction will generate a lot of excitement. With its many successful Concours d’Elegance events and historic racetracks, the Northeast region is made-to-order for one of our auctions.

One of the prized cars in my personal collection is an AMC Javelin driven by Ron Grable in the SCCA Trans-Am Series at Lime Rock, Connecticut, and Bridgehampton, New York, back in 1969. Although the Bridgehampton racetrack in the Hamptons is a golf course now, plenty of fans still flock to nearby tracks like Watkins Glen, Pocono Raceway and Lime Rock. With our close ties to the auto racing world, this new auction is a natural fit for the region.

Ron Grable in the #3 Javelin, racing in the 1969 Bridgehampton Trans Am race. (Photo credit: Jeffrey B. Payne/RacingSportsCars.com)

Each of our auctions develops its own personality, and we are looking forward to finding out what vehicles will be the stars of this new show. We’ll be drawing from places like Long Island, where there is a decided love of muscle cars, and New England, where you tend to see more European sports cars. We’re going to provide a great mix of vehicles that will appeal to the wide cross-section of attendees coming from Canada and many major Northeast cities, including Boston, Philadelphia and New York City. Contrary to popular belief, living in Manhattan doesn’t preclude you from having a specialty car. I know many a successful New York business person who has dreamed of owning a collector car – and now that dream is within easy reach.

Although millions of people have been to a Barrett-Jackson auction, we’re undoubtedly going to get a lot of first-time visitors to this new event. What can they expect? Exactly what Barrett-Jackson has become known for over the past 45 years: a world-class automotive lifestyle event like no other.