Whether you like or loathe them, Barrett-Jackson has made a huge impact on the automotive landscape, and within the circles of that auction house, the name Ron Pratte stands out above the rest. Pratte, a native of Chandler, Arizona, has been in the front row of every Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction since 2003, where he bought 52 vehicles on his first go-round. Since then Pratte has become famous for some of the highest-number wins hammered out on that stage: The GM Futureliner bus (2006, $4.1 million), the Shelby SuperSnake (2007, $5.5 million), the 1954 Pontiac Bonneville concept car (2006, $3.04 million) and the last C2 Sting Ray Corvette (2007, $660,000). Over the years he has amassed a large collection of cars, that is known. What isn’t known is why he has decided to put the vehicles up for auction, how many vehicles there actually are in the collection, or even an inventory list. Barrett-Jackson hasn’t released any information either, but will handle the sale of the whole collection at Scottsdale during the 2015 auction.
This video is the closest all but a very select few will get to seeing the collection inside Pratte’s museum, and while the high-dollar cars are certainly the ultimate features, there are others that are eye-catching for different reasons. One is the Shelby Prudhomme, a collaboration between Carroll Shelby and Don Prudhomme that turned a late-model Shelby GT500 into a 750hp street stomper. Several Boyd Coddington creations are in the collection, including the CheZoom ’57 Chevy and the AlumaTub. Howard Hughes’ personal Buick Roadmaster, a Motion Camaro, a Yenko Chevelle, the movie giveaway “Christine” 1958 Fury and just about any muscle car you could want is in here. Take a look at the video below, ignore the B-J grandstanding, and see the cars for what they are. This will be a Barrett-Jackson auction to watch.
Ron Pratte Preview Video-Scottsdale 2015 from barrettjackson on Vimeo.
Though there is no “hard fact” as to why Mr. Pratte is selling his entire collection (150 cars and 1500 pieces of Automobillia) It is rumored Mr. Pratte wants to do something with property he’s bought in the N. Idaho area around Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Auction experts speculate the cars will bring over $50 million with another $5 million for the Automobillia.
Oh . . . BTW . . . Barrett-Jackson set a record for their Scottsdale 2014 auction: $113 million. Obviously with the Pratte collection, that could go to as high as $180 million.
I wonder what he’ll start collecting now. Stamps? rare coins?
From everything I have read about Ron Pratte, he has no interest in either stamps or coins.
But, Pratte has turned his attention to building an off-road, sand-buggy playground in the dunes near Yuma, in southwestern Arizona, And the afore mentioned land in N. Idaho.
The dragster is a replica of Darryl Gwynn’s dragster obviously before his near fatal crash. The proceeds from the sale of that car are going to the Darryl Gwynn foundation. Mr Pratt has bought and sold this car a couple times, each time donating the proceeds to Darryl. Pretty cool stuff, and an honorable man