Don Williams, an esteemed professional and collector who co-founded the Blackhawk Collection within the northern California hamlet of Danville, has handed away.
While in his early twenties, Williams labored at Old Time Cars in Los Angeles. His expertise and keenness led to him operating his personal traditional automobile dealership, which then led to the public sale facet of the enterprise, the place he produced California’s first collector automobile public sale. Then, in 1979, he moved to Arizona the place he met Tom Barrett and Russ Jackson and have become a part of the Barrett-Jackson household.
But then alternative knocked once more when actual property tycoon Ken Behring requested Williams’ help in constructing the best traditional automobile assortment attainable. Their affiliation led to the 1981 creation of the Blackhawk Collection to accumulate and promote traditional automobiles. Behring informed the Los Angeles Times that their modus operandi was “large highly effective automobiles with plenty of aptitude, plenty of design … and due to that we’re fairly heavy with European creations, the Hispanos, the Delahayes, the Bugattis, the Bentleys,” contrasting with the Bill Harrahs, Briggs Cunninghams and Jack Nethercutts of the time. These had been the automobiles that Williams knew and liked. Their seek for the perfect wasn’t restricted to that straight and slender, nonetheless, as in addition they sought “items of artwork, sculptured automobiles … and that’s a lot of the French and Italian automobiles, the Delages, Buccialis and Ferraris, plus Rolls-Royce and Mercedeses.”
Within three years, Williams grew to become the primary particular person ever to promote a automobile for greater than $1 million, a 1931 Figoni-bodied boattail Duesenberg. Williams grew to become a pacesetter in brokering traditional automobiles, particularly coach-built pre-war automobiles. Yet, by this thrilling time, Williams remained near the Barrett-Jackson household, serving to create the Barrett-Jackson Salon Collection in 2012.
“I spent many a day restoring automobiles for Don, in addition to for Tom Barrett and my father,” Craig Jackson reminisces. “I thought-about Don a valued useful resource and trusted advisor, and never a day will go by that I gained’t miss his affect and friendship.”
The Blackhawk Museum, the umbrella group that housed Blackhawk’s Classic Car Collection in addition to that includes collections on Chinese historical past, wild nature, African artwork, Old West artifacts and extra, opened in 1988.
In 2021, Williams celebrated 50 years at Pebble Beach — an unprecedented exhibiting for an unprecedented present.
Craig Jackson posted on Facebook, “All of us at Barrett-Jackson are saddened to study of the passing of Don Williams, an absolute legend within the collector automobile world and a cherished member of our founding household. We lengthen our heartfelt sympathy to his family members at this tough time. Don’s affect on the collector automobile interest and on our firm will all the time be celebrated.”
