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Barrett-Jackson made its name in Scottsdale, but its first swing through the Midwest just proved the formula travels well beyond Arizona. The inaugural Barrett-Jackson Columbus Auction ran June 25-27 at the Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds, and by the final gavel the young event had generated $38.1 million across cars, charity vehicles, and automobilia, according to the auction house's own post-sale figures.
The gross is a strong showing for a first-year sale, but the number underneath it matters more. Every one of the roughly 550 vehicles on the docket found a buyer, a full sell-through that Barrett-Jackson has now repeated in more than one new market. Its charity-focused Palm Beach sale posted the same 100 percent clearance earlier this year, and pulling it off twice suggests the pattern is becoming a house specialty rather than a lucky debut.
A Hybrid Hypercar Led the Way
Top honors went to a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder, Lot #736, which hammered at $2,695,000. The 918 paired a 4.6-liter V8 with two electric motors across a production run of 918 units, and results like this one confirm that clean, low-mileage examples are now trading as appreciating collector assets rather than depreciating exotics, in line with what another 918 Spyder consignment has shown at auction this year. Anyone insuring one of these should make sure their agreed-value coverage reflects current numbers.
The Boss 429 Sets a New Bar
The story Barrett-Jackson clearly wanted to tell, though, was about American muscle. A numbers-matching 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429, Lot #743, sold for $1,045,000, which the auction house is calling a new world auction record for the model. That context is worth sitting with: the Boss 429 was never built as a street brawler. Ford needed to homologate its semi-hemi 429 "shotgun" engine for NASCAR, so roughly 1,300 cars had the motor shoehorned in by outside contractor Kar Kraft, which had to widen the Mustang's shock towers just to make the big-block fit. That awkward, purpose-built origin is exactly why surviving examples now command seven figures, and why even modified, non-numbers-matching cars have been climbing steadily in value.
Ford GTs and Restomods Filled Out the Top Ten
Behind the 918 and the Boss 429, a 2021 Ford GT '66 Heritage Edition brought $1,100,000, a 2022 Ford GT sold for $913,000, and a 2021 Ford GT Studio Collection added $863,500. Three separate licensed "Eleanor" Mustang builds also cracked the leaderboard, proof that restomods with screen pedigree can pull six-figure money on nostalgia and branding alone, the same draw behind the 25th-anniversary Eleanor tribute that's been drawing bidders at auctions this year. Buyers chasing a "safer" original fastback should factor that competition in before assuming patina beats a movie license.
Charity Cars and a Six-Figure Gas Pump
Two charity vehicles combined for $240,000: a Joe Burrow-collaboration 2022 Ford Bronco brought $90,000 for the Joe Burrow Foundation, and an Anduril Industries-designed 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 added $150,000 for the Call of Duty Endowment, pushing Barrett-Jackson's lifetime charity total past $172 million. The 255 no-reserve automobilia lots weren't an afterthought either, clearing $1.1 million and topped by a 1920s Fry "Mae West" gas pump at $138,000.
What Columbus Means for the Market
The bigger takeaway is that the collector market's center of gravity keeps spreading beyond the coasts and the January circus in Arizona. A full sell-through in a brand-new city says demand still outruns quality supply well outside the usual auction towns, echoing the momentum behind Barrett-Jackson's own record-setting Scottsdale sale earlier this year. If you're insuring a 918, a late-model Ford GT, or a genuine Boss 429, it's worth getting the values reappraised, because this sale just reset the comps. Barrett-Jackson says it will return to Columbus in 2027, with its next stop set for Las Vegas, September 10-12.
