The Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach event has folded up its tent as the crews begin preparation for their cross-country trip to the other coast. Next up on the Barrett- Jackson schedule is a new venue, the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California.
Shelby Distribution and Superformance will once again have a large display of classic '60s Cars in Orange County, highlighting a range that includes the MKIII, Roadster, GT40 and Corvette Grand Sport.
The cars displayed in Palm Beach attracted big crowds, drawn to their classic lines and awesome performance capabilities. Alongside the Roush trailer and a wide selection of Roush motors, Superformance displayed a beautiful red MKIII with a Roush 4.6 Modular engine. Supercharged to more than 600 horsepower, it still ran as smooth as a new car. This modular engine is a great choice for a daily driver because of its combination of power and streetability.
Beside the red roadster was a silver MKIII with a more nostalgic Roush 427IR. The twist here was the paddle-shifted, 4-speed Bowler automatic transmission. This is one seriously fast car that is also exceptionally easy to drive thanks to the Bowler 4 Speed Auto transmission making the power extremely controllable. Silver with light silver stripes, it is a real head turner.
Superformance also showed one of their new GT40 R track cars with a Roush Yates 630 HP racing engine. This very car had run just a few weeks earlier at Sebring. Done up in the special heritage color scheme, it looked like it was ready to take on the world at LeMans circa 1968/9. Words can’t adequately describe the performance and looks of this amazing GT40.
The auction itself generated a few big numbers. The first 2011 Corvette Z06 Carbon sold for $297,000 while a 2005 Ford Mustang GT Platt and Payne signature edition raised $190,000 for the Darrell Gwynn Foundation. A new 2011 Shelby GT350 brought $137,500 and had Carroll Shelby tweeting, "Looks like people love our new car!" Another special Mustang, the 2010 Roush Barrett-Jackson signature edition, hammered down for $110,000.
Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach also featured eight development vehicles from the official Shelby American corporate museum. The cars were a mix of concept vehicles, test mules and development units. They included an ’06 Shelby GT-H coupe prototype ($78,100), Shelby SR prototype ($80,300), Ken Miles edition MKII GT40 Rolling Chassis #GT40P/2001 ($88,000), Shelby Turbo prototype ($70,400), 2007 Shelby GT Show Car ($39,600), ’88 Shelby CSX-T ($23,100) and ’99 Shelby Series 1 ($92,400).
The next stop for Barrett-Jackson, Superformance and Shelby Distribution is the inaugural auction in Orange County, a homecoming of sorts for Shelby Distribution and Superformance, whose headquarters are in nearby Irvine.