Photos courtesy Barrett-Jackson.
Following its third annual Reno auction earlier this month, Barrett-Jackson claimed a record for attendance and a spike in automobilia sales but still made the decision not to return to the Biggest Little City for Hot August Nights 2016.
Without citing a reason for the withdrawal, Barrett-Jackson released a statement confirming the decision late Wednesday, less than three weeks after the three-day auction. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, the company had until the end of the month to let local officials know whether it would or would not hold another auction in conjunction with Hot August Nights.
Shortly after the end of the auction, Barrett-Jackson noted that it had set a Reno record of more than 40,000 total attendees (in part due to the switch to a daytime schedule and to the rains that came through Reno during the event) and that it had sold more than $560,000 in automobilia, an increase of about 36 percent over last year’s totals. Yet the total sales of automobilia and vehicles amounted to about $9.5 million, a 13.6 percent decrease over 2014’s total of $11 million – or about 15.6 percent not counting automobilia. The total drop in sales from the inaugural Reno auction to this year amounts to 33.1 percent.
Since its inception, Reno has occupied the lowest rung on Barrett-Jackson’s event ladder, hauling in an average of $11.6 million in total sales over its three years. Meanwhile, Barrett-Jackson’s other events – all standalone auctions not associated with existing events – have far outsold Reno over the last three years: Palm Beach with an average of $22.7 million in total sales, Las Vegas with an average of $29.4 million, and Scottsdale with an average of $117.3 million. In addition, each of the other three events has shown overall increases in sales over the last three years. Even the company’s Orange County auction, which it discontinued in 2012 just before it took on the Reno auction, averaged $14.3 million in total sales over its three years.
Vehicle consignments to the Reno auction also tailed off this year, dropping from nearly 350 in 2013 and 2014 to 232 this year.
Mike Whan, executive director for Hot August Nights, told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the show has “options for other auction companies” as Hot August Nights officials make plans for the 30th anniversary event next year. The fate of the Barrett-Jackson Cup, which draws top street rod builders to Hot August Nights to compete for a $30,000 top prize, also remains up in the air.
Barrett-Jackson announced its Hot August Nights auction in January 2013, claiming it had outgrown its Orange County facilities and calling the event “the next evolution in its series of collector car auctions.” The announcement came less than a year after Silver Auctions got the boot from Reno following the 2011 edition of Hot August Nights.
In addition to Silver, Hot August Nights has also worked with B&T Specialty Car Auctions in the past.
Spokespeople for Barrett-Jackson have not returned calls to elaborate on the withdrawal.
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