It is with nice disappointment that Barrett-Jackson has realized of the passing of Don Williams. Williams was a key a part of the staff that based Barrett-Jackson and a much-loved member of the Barrett-Jackson household.
Williams had all the time been keen about vehicles. He was solely 21 when he started working at Old Time Cars on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, the most important basic automotive retailer west of the Mississippi, and one of many only a few in the whole nation. His rising information and fervour for prewar vehicles finally led him to start out his personal basic automotive dealership, and he received concerned within the auto public sale enterprise when he produced the very first collector automotive public sale in California.
In 1979, Williams moved to Arizona, the place he joined forces with Tom Barrett and Russ Jackson and have become intrinsically concerned with the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auctions. A number of years later, alternative got here knocking, and Williams moved to Northern California to simply accept the thrilling problem of assembling one of many best basic and postwar automotive collections on the request of millionaire land developer Ken Behring. This partnership finally culminated within the Blackhawk Museum, which opened in 1988 to showcase the gathering.
As he labored to assemble the gathering, Williams began the Blackhawk Collection, Inc., which specialised within the acquisition and sale of one-of-a-kind basic cars and sports activities and race vehicles. Three years after its founding in 1981, Williams turned the primary particular person ever to promote a basic automotive for greater than $1 million along with his 1931 Figoni-bodied boattail Duesenberg. Williams’ firm turned one of many world’s main basic automotive brokerage corporations, shopping for, promoting and assembling total collections. It allowed him to take pleasure in his ardour for searching for out the rarest of all classics, one-of-a-kind or limited-production fashions from the pre-World War II “golden period” of vehicles. At one level, Williams had extra basic Bugattis in his possession than some other collector.
Despite his new enterprise again in California, Williams, extremely regarded for his basic automotive information and dedication in searching for out the finest-quality and most original automobiles accessible, remained an important a part of the Barrett-Jackson world over time. It was in his position as a key member of the corporate’s unique staff of famend and credible automotive specialists that he and Barrett-Jackson Chairman and CEO Craig Jackson put their heads collectively to create the Barrett-Jackson Salon Collection providing on the Scottsdale Auction in January 2012.
The Salon Collection offered public sale individuals with the proper marriage of the world’s most valuable collector vehicles and the range, pleasure and status related to a Barrett-Jackson occasion. This new, elite assortment was a centerpiece at Barrett-Jackson’s flagship Scottsdale Auction and featured a number of the world’s most uncommon, priceless, collectible and coveted automobiles.
The first Salon automotive to cross the block was Williams’ personal silver bullet-style 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, one of many lowest-mileage in existence. The automotive set a brand new public sale world document when it offered for $2.2 million— making it the primary Gullwing on the planet to ever promote for greater than $2 million.
“I spent many a day restoring vehicles for Don, in addition to for Tom Barrett and my father,” remembers Craig Jackson. “I thought-about Don a valued useful resource and trusted advisor, and never a day will go by that I received’t miss his affect and friendship.”
Don was a beacon on the Barrett-Jackson occasions over time, and he’ll actually be missed. Craig Jackson and the whole staff at Barrett-Jackson and the Collector Car Network prolong their deepest condolences to the whole Williams household.
