Today is the start of the Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottsdale, AZ.  If you've never heard of it, that probably means that you don't collect classic cars, watch much SPEEDtv, or you're not a member of the Nelson Family.  And really, that's a pretty wide audience.

I attended the auction the first year that Marty and I were dating.  Of course, I didn't even know it was happening when we went there.  When Marty's dad asked us if we wanted to go, I had no idea that it was all about.  It's several days long, people are everywhere, and cool cars go for big bucks.  Since that first year, I've learned a lot about cars.  For the past few years, I've worked on my father-in-law's car site.  I still don't know what "posi" means, I don't know if "347" is good, but I can tell you that if you have the original anything from the car it will make the car a lot more valuable.  Save the window sticker?  Never drive it and keep it hermetically sealed?  All good ideas if you're buying a suped-up car destined to be a classic.  Here are three Martins in front of a super fast Corvette (see all of the technical lingo I've used here):


Over the past two months we've been busy updating the site, placing ads in trade publications, and running ads in the Phoenix newspaper.  Today I spent a little time placing more ads, and ran across a photo of a car that caught my eye.


It's not that the car or the guy are particularly hot, but seriously, who wouldn't want their own fake cop and "previously owned" and "mysteriously sold" cop car on hand.  It would be like having your own life-sized action figure set.

So this weekend we'll spend a little time watching SPEEDtv, gawking at the people and the cars, hoping to catch a glimpse of my father-in-law in the crowd.  If we're lucky, we'll see him in the crowd and watch him answer his phone as we call to tell him that his hat is a little crooked.