Barrett-Jackson 2009: Hurst Viper good as gold, sells for $275,000

Autoblog was the first media outlet that was granted access to the matte gold-colored Hurst 50th Anniversary Dodge Viper.

Unfortunately, our pockets aren't nearly deep enough to actually purchase one for ourselves. We did, however, manage to witness the sale of the very first model down the assembly line to one very lucky bidder here in Scottsdale, AZ, at the 2009 Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction. Included in the deal were an adjustable Motion Sport Suspension with Eibach springs, a custom Corsa exhaust system and a fresh set of Hurst black chrome wheels sized 19-inches up front and 20-inches in the rear. Oh, and a custom dash-mounted plaque with the buyer's name engraved on it for all to see. How cool is that? Wondering what sum of money it took to secure rights to the first Hurst Anniversary Viper of 50? Exactly $275,000 after auction fees. In what has been a very charitable night, Woodhouse Dodge vowed to donate the profits from the sale to Victory Junction who runs a camping facility for chronically ill children.
More Photos

Carroll Shelby catches a cold, first 2010 GT500 rescheduled for Palm Beach auction

If you were watching the Barrett-Jackson auction on SPEED on Saturday evening, you might have noticed that a fairly important car wasn't shown crossing the block - the first retail production 2010 Shelby GT500. Did they auction the car off during a commercial? Nope, in fact the car wasn't auctioned at all.

We, among many others, were disappointed not to see the car sell, especially with the first Camaro selling earlier in the evening. We asked around, and the official word from Barrett-Jackson is that Carroll Shelby caught a cold in the last few days and was unable to make it to Scottsdale. Since both Ford and Shelby wanted Carroll to be there when the car was auctioned off, the sale was rescheduled for the Palm Beach event in April. By that time production GT500s should be rolling off the assembly line, so instead of the winning bidder buying the rights to the first car, Carroll Shelby will pick out the options and colors and sell the actual vehicle. Will it be the same Grabber Blue with Red stripes like the car we saw in Detroit? Something tells us it will be something more conventional. Until then, get well Carroll!
More Photos