Auction Hero Auto Auctions
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Written by Steve R. Lowry
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Wednesday, 21 January 2009 |
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WHETHER BUYING OR SELLING RARE WHEELS, AUTO "PURISTS" FLOCK TO DAVID GOODING & CO.
BIGGER ISN'T always better when it comes to car auctions. Barrett-Jackson's annual Phoenix and Palm Beach sales, for example, have become lifestyle extravaganzas with fashion shows, galas, and live TV coverage. Add 1,200 or so cars being sold, and you have quite a circus. "I'm the opposite of Pebble Beach," says CEO Craig Jackson. "I'm focusing on postwar muscle and modified cars. The purist crowd doesn't think that's appropriate."
Those "purists" have instead been flocking to a relatively new boutique house, L.A.'s Gooding & Co. Founded four years ago by David Gooding, a Christie's and RM Auctions veteran, the company has quickly become known for personal attention and unparalleled industry knowledge. (It's the only official auction house of the Pebble Beach show.) "David's one of the rare guys who knows obscure history about a wide range of cars," says Rick Carey, an independent expert and auctions editor for several well-known magazines and websites. "He knows what's real and not real-and in the rare instances where he doesn't, he knows how to dig through the woodpile." Driving DNA runs in the family: Gooding's father was the curator of the famous Harrah Collection (the MOMA of autos), so he grew up surrounded by Pierce-Arrows and Stutzes. Today, at just 40, Gooding has already racked up some impressive numbers of his own: He is responsible for no fewer than ten of the top 20 sales over the past ten years, including the current record for a single-collection sale, $36 million for Otis Chandler's stockpile.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 January 2009 )
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