Rob Kinnan
Brand Manager, Mustang Monthly
February 1, 2019
Photos By: Kristina Richards

There are a ton of automotive auctions around the country every year, but the undisputed king of them all is Barrett-Jackson’s first of the year, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The location is actually in Westworld, a small city erected just for the Barrett-Jackson complex, and this year’s auction featured 1,800 vehicles of all types, plus room full of memorabilia and even a life-size automotive-themed carrousel!

Mustang-360.com attended this year to check out all the Mustangs and Fords that were set to go across the auction block, including the first 2020 GT500, VIN 001. The highly anticipated auction of that car went down at 8:30PM Friday night. The company’s CEO Craig Jackson is a big Shelby collector and had the famous Green Hornet on display in his private collection tent just outside the main tent and said, “I’m a lifelong Shelby enthusiast and enjoyed a long friendship with Carroll Shelby. Over the years I’ve collected several rare Shelby Mustangs, including the ‘Green Hornet,’ and more recently the experimental Shelby, ‘Little Red.’ The 2020 GT500 VIN 001 is a descendant of those vehicles, and I’m honored to have it as a part of my collection. More importantly, the money from the sale of this rare Mustang will be donated to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Type 1 diabetes is a terrible disease, and [wife] Carolyn and I are grateful to be a part of helping JDRF find a cure.” When the gavel fell, Craig Jackson himself was the top bidder at $1.1 million!

A local charity was also supported when a 2018 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet, donated by Sanderson Ford, hammered for $200,000 with 100 percent of the sale price benefitting Fighter Country Foundation at Luke Force Air Force Base, which supports the men, woman, and their families stationed there. U.S. Air Force veteran and Top Gun Pilot Col. Richard Toliver took center stage for this historic sale. Col. Toliver is one of the first five African American F-4 Phantom II pilots to serve under the famed Tuskegee Airman Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James, flying 446 missions over two tours in Vietnam.

Check out all the Mustangs and Fords we saw in Scottsdale in the gallery below.

The biggest news of the weekend for the Mustang crowd was the charity auction of 2020 Shelby GT500 VIN 001. The car shown is not VIN 001 like many thought, but rather a prototype to run across the auction block. The winning bidder (which turned out to be Craig Jackson himself) will then order a GT500 built to his specifications and it will be assigned VIN 001.

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Photography by Kristina Richards