The big Mustang sale of the night at the 2012 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Collector Car Auction was Lot 3043, the 2013 SVT Ford Shelby GT-500 24- hour prototype car.
Sold as a car donated by Ford Motor Company and with the proceeds going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the bidding started off slow at first but gradually picked up pace.
As the car shed its engineering mule presence on the stage with JDRF sign holding children surrounding, Ford’s Mark Fields and Jost Capito both spoke to the car’s history as an engineering test car.
It was originally built in 2009 as a Ford in house engineering car and was used by SVT for several years, updated to new specs each time a model year change was coming. The car is now wearing 2013 Shelby GT-500 front and rear fascias and sporting a 650hp supercharged 5.8 liter engine.
As the car began to roll off stage, the bidding seemed stalled at $150,000-$160,000. Then the action began as it jumped to $200,000 then eventually hit $300,000! As the crowd in the tent cheered the auctioneer finally yelled “Sold it! Sold it! Sold it! $300,000”.
And the buyer of this one of a kind Ford Mustang is now legendary Chandler, AZ collector, Ron Pratte. The man has been a strong force for both Ford and Barrett-Jackson in the past several years offering up the top money for these particular cars.
Ron also himself is selling some of his collection this year but found the room in his collection for this very special car. And while special, a museum it will live in as it can never be titled for the street. Most test cars as Ford’s Jost Capito said, “End up crashed”, and many end up crushed.
Now if Mr. Pratte would only make his fantasic collection open to the public someday.
Images courtesy of Barrett-Jackson/SpeedTV
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