Shelby tops Iacocca at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas

It looks like the top-shelf, one-off 550-hp engine upgrade for that new Iacocca Mustang is worth about $362,000, at least to one buyer. The fifth of just 45 2009 1/2 Iacocca 45th Anniversary Edition Ford Mustangs to be made crossed the block on Saturday at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Las Vegas with a winning bid of $320,000. After fees, the car's final selling price was a whopping $352,000. That's well above the $89,950 MSRP of the other 44 limited-edition, coachbuilt specials. We just wrote about the Iacocca 'Stang and said that the car's exclusive dealer, Galpin Motors of California, would offer engine upgrades for an undisclosed premium. We seriously doubt that the actual surcharge will come anywhere close to the premium secured on the Barrett-Jackson car.

So what made this particular Iacocca attractive enough to bring such a lofty price? Well, for one, it had that upgraded, supercharged 550-horsepower engine. Another reason this one sold for a price nearly four times higher than the base model was that it was sold at auction, with the bidders getting whipped into a typical Barrett-Jackson feeding frenzy. Finally, it was in Las Vegas, a city where fiscal responsibility takes a backseat to, well, pretty much everything. While we love the custom composite coachwork on this special fastback Mustang, and acknowledge that this one is unique with its supercharged engine, that price just seems completely insane. The Iacocca topped many impressive other rides that were up for grabs; follow the jump to read more results. Apparently, everything that happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas.

Photos copyright ©2009 Drew Phillips/Weblogs, Inc.


To put the Iacocca Mustang's selling price in perspective, it surpassed all but an original 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 in this year's auction. The Cobra brought a healthy $440,000, but the Iacocca price was just plain shocking. While the Cobra smoked the Iacocca for top sales price, the tribute Mustang still bested several other notable lots, including a pair of other Shelby specials -- the 780-horsepower 1967 GT500 SE Super Snake continuation Mustang ($330,000) and an 800-horse 2007 GT500 Super Snake Prudhomme Edition ($302,500), 1 of 100 built.

Other top sellers included:

• "Bo's General Lee," the 1969 Charger that John Schneider built for the Dukes of Hazzard reunion movie. That Charger was powered by 511 HEMI with 725hp and 610 ft/lbs of torque and sold for $258,500.
• The second full-production 2005 Ford GT off the assembly line brought $253,000.
• The 1967 Corvette Convertible owned by Bruce Willis sold for $165,000
• Ol' Yaller VIII, a 1961 Jaguar built by Max Balchowsky brought $198,000
• An original Buick GNX scored $132,000 on the bidometer
• A genuine continuation 427 Cobra went for a song at $128,700
• And a faithful recreation of the 1966 Batmobile based on a 1974 Lincoln and its 460 cubic-inch engine hammered out at $126,500.