Barrett-Jackson: A Record-Setting Sale
The talk of the auction — actually, the nation — is a 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 concept car. This record-breaker sold for an astounding $3,240,000. The lucky buyer is the Gateway Colorado Auto Museum in Gateway, Colorado. The museum, still under construction, is scheduled to open in the fall. The F-88 will be part of the Hendricks Car Collection.
Museum Curator John S. Hendricks is also founder and chairman of Discovery Communication and created the Discovery Channel. He fondly calls the car “our own Mona Lisa.” Hendricks personally attended the Barrett-Jackson auction, as the bidding war continued past the $1 million mark and had the crowd jumping and cheering with amazement.
The current location of the dream car is being kept under wraps. We know it did leave Arizona but it won’t be making its way to Colorado until a few weeks before the museum’s grand opening.
The gold-toned F-88 debuted at the 1954 GM Motorama car show. Designed by GM’s legendary auto designer, Harley J. Earl, the tepid sales of the newly released 1954 Corvette led GM to nix production orders on the F-88 and four other concept cars.
This didn’t stop Earl, however. As history states, the F-88 project was either given or sold piece by piece to E.L. Cord (of Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg) in 1955 to be reassembled, having survived its earlier fate of destruction.
Harley Earl’s grandson, Richard Earl, and two members of GM’s design team from the ‘60s were on stage at the auction to witness this incredible event.
Source: PR Newswire
