Putting 2020 into the rear-view mirror (where it belongs)

Editor’s note: As each year ends, the ClassicCars.com Journal takes a look back at the previous 12 months, usually sharing the highlights from concours and car shows, auctions and adventures. But there has been little that might be described as typical during covid-ruined 2020. Nonetheless, with this introduction, we launch our annual 11-day recap of the top stories of the year. 

Year in Review: Intro

Well, that year sucked!

Or did it? Sure, overall 2020 was a year most of us would be eager to forget, a year when the coronavirus pandemic not only brought the collector car to all but a full stop, but claimed the health and even the lives of some of us and of our friends and relatives. 

In the next few days, the staff of the CollectorCars.com Journal will share what we consider to be the top-10 stories of 2020 from the perspective of the hobby. 

In retrospect, it’s interesting to look back and recognize how optimistic everyone was when the year began, especially after the big sales in January at Kissimmee and in Arizona. But then people started getting sick and as the Amelia Island concours concluded, things were being shut down from coast to coast and around the world. 

And even though things seem to be improving, the impact continues into 2021, what with Arizona Auction Week already falling apart. 

Our series will review the year the was, and even will point out some highlights that happened. But before we launch into the top-10 list tomorrow, we need to note today some of the stories that didn’t make the cut, yet still deserve mention. Those stories include:

• The launch of “continuation cars,” brand new vehicles being produced by their original automakers or those with rights to original designs, using original drawings and vintage tooling and even new-old stock or accurate reproduction parts. Jaguar, AC Cars, Aston Martin, Vanwall, Allard, Bentley, Riley Technologies, Superformance, and the Original Venice Crew from Shelby American are among those producing such vehicles. 

• The so-called Elkhart auction. RM Sotheby’s announced back in January that it would stage in May what it was calling the “Elkhart” auction, around 230 cars from a single collection based in Elkhart, Indiana. The bad news was that car collector Najeeb Khan and his Interlogic Outsourcing Inc. had been accused of fraud and his cars would be sold to pay his debts. Although the auction was delayed until October, the quality of the cars and pent-up demand for a live auction resulted in $44 million in sales, making it one of the largest single-consignor auctions in collector car history.

• Mecum plows ahead. While sidelined by covid-mandated health restrictions, the crew at Mecum Auctions plotted its comeback, which began in mid-June with the company’s Gone Farmin’ division back in business and posting a 95 percent sell-through rate in Davenport, Iowa. A succession of masked and socially distanced — and successful — collector car sales followed with collector car sales in North Carolina, Indianapolis, Dallas, Florida, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Iowa and Houston. 

• Barrett-Jackson’s fall festival. After canceling scheduled sales in Connecticut, Florida and Nevada, Barrett-Jackson returned to action with an autumn auction in its hometown. Though admission was limited and only a few hundred vehicles were on the docket, the sale posted nearly $25 million in transactions.

It appeared momentum was building toward the new year and Arizona Auction Week 2021. But then the virus raised its ugly head and Arizona Auction Week has been sidelined, with some auction companies opting to hold their January auctions online, two planning  smaller sales, one cancelling altogether and the main event, Barrett-Jackson, postponing its Scottsdale auction to March.