January is high-profile auction month, and the Scottsdale Barrett-Jackson ended this past weekend.
The Scottsdale auction is a big event, and it left some big impressions about the current car hobby market.
Jerry Sutherland
The Ford spike.
Ford has traditionally come in third at most big auctions, because high-profile GM and Mopar muscle cars take the spotlight—and the big money.
High-end Mustangs and specialty late 60s Torinos do well, but they typically fall short of the mega-numbers. That changed in Scottsdale because a ‘69 Boss 429 sold for $517,000 and the average price was nearly 300K for the other Boss 429s.
Custom Mustangs also soared in price at this auction because an Eleanor Wide-Body 25th Anniversary custom sold for $726,000. A few other examples of Eleanors sold for over 500K at Scottsdale.
There was a custom ’65 Mustang “427 GT” at this auction and it sold for $770,000—this was a 20,000-hour resto-mod and the custom roof was a big hit.
One final note. The lower-end Mustangs didn’t set the world on fire, but the high-end customs and rare pony cars put Ford on the map.
Torinos rarely hit six figures, but a ’69 Torino GT Sportsroof sold for $110,000.
That’s a good number because those cars rarely crack 100K.
The other big spike came from custom 60s era Lincolns.
A 1966 Lincoln convertible sold for 1.1 million—that’s a number you’d never see five years ago.
Other examples of custom Lincoln convertibles easily topped 500K and a custom sedan sold for $200,200.
That’s big money for a Lincoln sedan.
The Chevy SUVs.
Chevy SUVs made a big impact at the 2026 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction.
A resto-mod 1972 Blazer K-5 resto-mod sold for an amazing $495,000—that underlines how popular these trucks are 54 years after they left the factory.
The other end of the spectrum is found in the Square-body Chevy SUVs.
A 1974 Chevy Blazer custom sold for 170,500 at this auction—the Square-bodies are clearly the wave of the future.
Vettes.
One thing is clear from this event—the ’63 split-window Vette is the gold standard of Corvettes.
This fuelie Vette sold for an amazing 1.1 million at the auction. It was a “big tank or tanker” (for endurance racing) car and restored to a world-class level, so a 7-figure sales price was inevitable.
Custom C-1 Vettes also rocketed at Scottsdale.
This ’58 Vette sold for 396,000—that’s uncharted territory for Gen 1 Vettes.
Mopars
A ’69 Daytona sold for 550,000 at the auction.
That’s a big number for a 440 car, but the Superbird prices flattened around 150K at Scottsdale. That could be because every guy who wanted to own a Plymouth wing car has already bought one.
Oddly enough, the big number went to a 1970 Cuda convertible at $308,000.
The ’71 Cuda has always been the high-water mark for E-body Mopars but this ’70 was a mint and rare 440 six-barrel example.
Odd custom trucks.
Trucks are hotter than Arizona in July, but the $184,400 dollar selling price for this Cummins-powered custom 1958 Ford 5-150 was a shock.
So was the $220,000 selling price for this ’51 Chevy 5700 COE.
It was Cummins-powered; it was a COE; it was a ramp truck–so maybe it wasn’t a surprise. Old farm trucks are turning into gold.
This was another snapshot look at the car hobby, but it exposed current trends—you have to be happy if you’re a Mustang or truck guy.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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