Competing car auctions tied to Hot August Nights
By Frank X. Mullen Jr., Reno Gazette-Journal
There are now two separate classic car auctions scheduled in August in conjunction with the Hot August Nights event.
Silver Auctions, which has handled the event’s auction for 21 years, will hold an auction the first week of August in the Truckee Meadows, when Hot August Nights is scheduled to open in Long Beach, Calif. It is no longer the event’s official auction and the venue hasn’t been announced.
On Wednesday, Bruce Walter, chief executive officer of Hot August Nights announced “the official and exclusive 2011 Hot August Nights Classic Car Auction” will be produced and conducted by B & T Custom Rod & Restoration and Specialty Auto Auction and Sales. That auction is scheduled for Aug. 11-14, the week of the Reno event, at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
The Hot August Nights auction is a major part of the 25-year-old event, participants have said, with the hammer often dropping on cars worth $100,000 or more.
Walter said having two auctions scheduled so close together isn’t a problem. “We had two auctions in the same month last year, one at South Lake Tahoe and one in Reno,” he said. “The South Lake Tahoe (auction) immediately preceded the Reno auction.”
