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Thread: BJ / SCM Squabble

  1. #1
    Jared Rundell - Registered User JCR's Avatar
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    BJ / SCM Squabble

    For all you Barrett-Jackson fans... fresh from today's autoextremist.com:

    From the "Revenge of the Twerps" File, or is it the "A**holes R Us" File? Barrett-Jackson pulled collector car expert Keith Martin's media credential before the auction for a series of alleged transgressions, according to a report by Bob Gritzinger, in AutoWeek. B-J operatives took Martin's credential for allegedly telling people in the auction company media center to leave Barrett-Jackson and attend one of the competing auctions in the area. "I never said a negative word about Barrett-Jackson," said Martin to Autoweek. "He can come and view the auction any time he wants," said Barrett-Jackson president and CEO Craig Jackson (aka Gordon Gekko, the King of the Muscle Car Boom), in a post-auction week interview with AutoWeek. "But he can't sit in our media center and badmouth us while he's eating our food." Jackson said Martin's comments were heard by half a dozen people in the media center - including his company's director of public relations, Jennifer Ziegler. Ziegler did not return AutoWeek's calls seeking comment. According to Jackson's clearly delusional thinking, Martin had a "vendetta" against Barrett-Jackson because he had been fired two weeks earlier from his role as a commentator on Speed Channel's live coverage of Barrett-Jackson. Jackson said Martin was dropped from Speed for inaccuracies in his commentary during the broadcasts, specifically in comments on muscle cars, and because of columns published in Martin's magazine, Sports Car Market, suggesting that the muscle car boom was losing steam and warning readers of questionable bidding practices at auctions. (Which from where we sit, immediately imbues Martin with even more credibility than he already had.) Rick Miner, a Speed Channel senior vice president, told AutoWeek that Martin was dropped from the Barrett-Jackson lineup because his knowledge of sports cars was becoming less "germane" in the muscle car-dominated auction setting, and because of the columns. (In other words, Speed Channel had thoroughly abandoned any shred of the objectivity they had left and marched to the cadence of Crag Jackson's dictation.) Martin, who was attending the auction in his role as publisher of Sports Car Market and as a correspondent for the New York Times, told AutoWeek that none of the allegations were true. He said no one ever complained about the accuracy of his auction commentaries "in 10 years of working for them." Martin said only two or three people were in the media center at any one time when he was there, and that he never badmouthed Barrett-Jackson or told attendees to go elsewhere. Others who were with Martin at the auction backed up the writer's story to AutoWeek. "It didn't happen while I was there, and I was with him virtually the entire day," said one attendee who asked not to be identified. If this incident doesn't encapsulate the B-J mindset perfectly, we don't know what will. Craig Jackson will stop at nothing to hype his Greed-fest, and he won't let anyone or anything stand in the way of his rampant orchestration of the sky-high prices there - especially the muscle car prices. It is an accepted fact now that in collector car circles there are two price points: The B-J price, which is inflated anywhere from 20 to 100 percent, and the "real" price - one that hasn't been boosted to high heaven by Jackson's Greed Posse. The Muscle Car Bubble? It's already here, folks.

    Our Autoextremist Quote of the Week goes to Keith Martin, the only guy in the collector car hobby (other than us) who deigns to call out the B-J for hyping the collector muscle car prices to extremes. "They can fire me (from Speed) for not liking what I write, but they are accusing me of things that are simply untrue," said Martin to AutoWeek. "It's the accusations that are simply not true that I take issue with." Right on, Keith - and you're our Honorary Autoextremist of the Week too.
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    Jared
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  2. #2
    Great post. An enjoyable read.

    Sports Car Market is a pretty good rag - I'm a subscriber - and I think the auction coverage is pretty decent.

    I like it when "scandals" like this come to the surface and expose to the general public the seedy underbelly of our hobby that is fostered by lots of dollars and very little sense.
    -Marco
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  3. #3

    losing commentators, losing audience

    Its been 2 years, (I think?) when they lost Alan de Cadenet (sp?), now Keith Martin. ALOT of credibility of the commentators has been lost.

    I have watched Alan on ESPN Classic, RM Auctions at Monterey. Keith has his own show on SpeedTV, Appraise My Car. Both will continue upward, B-J will only go down.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Ray Crawford
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  4. #4
    statements like 'Craig Jackson will stop at nothing to hype his greed-fest' and 'aka Gordon Gekko' don't lend to anyone's credibility, particularly the writer's.

    i agree the auctions are pure sillyness but it is a free market. and being such it will certainly run it's course. there will eventually be no 'next guy' to pay a higher price and all will cease.
    Erik

    Early S # 1107

    All my german equipment is either busted or sold...sigh....in the market for a decent non-sunroof tub!!!!!!! Help me get back to autocrossing!!!

  5. #5
    you know the more i read that 'article' the more i find it extremely distasteful. restating Autoweek's work and inserting childish jabs in such a manner that the reader is left with the implication that Autoweek supports the writer comes off as sleazy and second rate.


    BJ is lame stuff but this guy is a clown as well.
    Erik

    Early S # 1107

    All my german equipment is either busted or sold...sigh....in the market for a decent non-sunroof tub!!!!!!! Help me get back to autocrossing!!!

  6. #6
    With the amount of dollars at stake this is really no surprise. B-J knows that their ego buyers could care less about about the loss of commentator known for his affection of 1300cc Alfa Romeo's. I've always been amused by Martin's pandering to the Muscle market in his magazine. I know he personally could really care less about those cars.
    Tom F.

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  7. #7
    Senior Member hgarazo's Avatar
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    I really used to enjoy watching BJ. They had a decent variety of cars, and I learned alot about cars I may not otherwise have much interest in (1930's cars, old trucks, Tuckers, Bonneville speed cars, old drag cars, Pre-war vehicles, etc.). DeCadenet's knowledge and delivery is outstanding, IMHO. Just watch any of the "Victory by Design" series. Great stuff!

    Now it's more about the circus. This year was pretty bad. Let's face it, BJ is there to make money....LOTS of it. I realize they are not there to present a minidocumentary on each vehicle - but, boy do I miss that! I really enjoy learning the conception,history, and development of the vehicle, not that those hose clamps were not used until the following year!
    Henry Garazo
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  8. #8
    Senior Member t6dpilot's Avatar
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    ++1 Henry! I agree.
    Scott H.
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  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by sithot
    1% of the population makes 20% of the income. Figure it out. The whores have.

    Tom
    That quote is sooooo funny..but you left out the pole dancers

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by scargo70
    That quote is sooooo funny..but you left out the pole dancers

    If my pickup truck is not hauling dirt at the moment is it not still a pickup truck?
    Erik

    Early S # 1107

    All my german equipment is either busted or sold...sigh....in the market for a decent non-sunroof tub!!!!!!! Help me get back to autocrossing!!!

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