BEHIND THE SHADES: Steve Davis Reflects on Celebrating talent and Vision
December 20, 2021
Posted by Barrett-Jackson
Barrett-Jackson President Steve Davis.
Steve Davis’ dark glasses protect his eyes from A light sensitivity condition – but that doesn’t hinder his vision of the collector car market.
As we move into our much-anticipated 50th anniversary celebration, following the issues with COVID and all the struggles everybody went through, we have a lot to celebrate. A half-century of Barrett-Jackson auctions has delivered plenty of high points, and we’ve only just begun. One of the initiatives we’re hugely excited about is the relaunch of the Barrett-Jackson Cup, which we brought back last year and presented before a massive in-person, TV and online audience.
The Barrett-Jackson Cup presented by eBay Motors is our way of celebrating the sheer talent and vision of today’s custom car and truck builders, the driving force behind the Resto-Mod movement. The builders of these customs and incredibly modified cars are the coachbuilders of our world today. They are truly craftsmen. They’re truly talented artists. To have them showcased on the Barrett-Jackson stage is so appropriate because we’ve really created the awareness of this market segment at Barrett-Jackson and broadened that audience tremendously thanks to the reach of our live television presence and our social media footprint.
2021 The Barrett-Jackson Cup Trophies
The Barrett-Jackson stage and the influence that comes with it also brings new people into the hobby to celebrate all things automotive, particularly cars that have been modified and dialed-in to such a level as our Cup contenders.
This year we’re proud to announce that for the Ultimate Best in Show trophy we’re bringing back renowned builder Bobby Alloway as a judge, and we’ve got Troy Trepanier coming in as well. Troy built the car that won the first Barrett-Jackson Cup in 2013, an amazing Torino constructed for George Poteet, who has owned some of the finest customs, street rods and hot rods on the planet. In addition to the Ultimate Best in Show, the People’s Choice Award will be voted on by Barrett-Jackson fans via social media. The field is limited to 50 entries, and you can be assured they will represent the cream of the crop of custom builds.
Why do we celebrate these Resto-Mods and customs? So many people look at a car as a utilitarian device that takes them from point A to point B. But these cars are much more than that. These cars are statements, absolute pieces of art. What the best cars have in common are truly passionate designers and builders who appreciate the old, anticipate the new and marry the two together in the form of a show-stopping car or truck.
The car becomes a blank canvas, and the builder and the designer together come up with something totally unique. But the key element is the execution and innovation of that design. You look at the top cars, the fit, the finish, the amount of work that goes into them, and it’s just magic. You might see an inch taken out here or an inch added there, and at first glance you can’t identify what exactly has been done to it. They look like something that was designed from the factory, but there’s just a little something about them that’s really not obvious when you walk up to it. You have to study these cars, and the more you look at them the better they look. I think that’s the sign of a true champion. It just flows and comes together so seamlessly it looks like it was born that way.
2021 Barrett-Jackson Cup Top 5 Finalist: Engine of the 1932 Ford Tudor Hot Rod
Most of these custom cars you look at today, particularly the Resto-Mods, feature cutting-edge technology in a classic wrapper. Technology has advanced to where you have options available that didn’t exist back in the day. As technology advances, the sophistication of these builds advances as well. When you have a car that was best of the best in the past, it becomes historical. It’s always going to be valuable. It’s always going to be desirable. But it’s not going to be the same car as one somebody creates 10 years from now, because technology evolves; components evolve.
And technology is on the verge of taking another leap. The electric vehicle era is coming of age. That’s going to be a topic of conversation for customizers. They’re already doing it, in fact. At some future Barrett-Jackson auction, I’m sure we’ll be seeing “Electro-Mods” sharing the stage with Resto-Mods.
Our goal is to raise interest in these cars and expose this incredible talent of the builders and the cars to a much larger growing market that only Barrett-Jackson can reach. Our social media footprint, live television broadcasts, corporate relationships and partnerships, allow us to get these cars and builders and the excitement they represent out to the world. We want to expand the audience to view and appreciate these incredible cars.
The “Ultimate Best in Show” winner in the 2013 Barrett-Jackson Cup Competition: 1969 Ford Torino Custom
Along with raising interest, we hope to educate people about what goes into building the type of customs that compete for the Barrett-Jackson Cup. These cars are incredibly labor-intensive. That value they represent does not come inexpensively –not just in dollars and cents, but also the amount of time invested. Thousands of hours go into creating these works of art. But money is never really the motive for a lot of these people who are passionate about the cars. They want a particular car, it’s their dream car, they’ve always wanted it. They get one of these talented builders to build it just the way they want it, they enjoy it for a while, then sell it – allowing somebody to buy it and enjoy as well.
Barrett-Jackson’s 50th anniversary is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the cars, celebrate the heritage and celebrate the hobby we all love and enjoy – and, more importantly, keep it alive as we move forward into the next generation. These visionary custom cars that will compete for the Barrett-Jackson Cup are taking the lead in expanding the boundaries of the possible and blazing a trail for the future.