Barrett-Jackson President Steve Davis

The past year has been a reflective one for Steve Davis: looking back on his 20 years with Barrett-Jackson, celebrating the 45th anniversary of the company – as well as the 45th anniversary of marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Janie.

“In those 20 years,” Steve says, “we’ve evolved as a company, and we’ve evolved as an auction seen by millions of people on television – and our lives and families also have evolved. I now have grandchildren. Some people we knew and loved are no longer with us – Nellie Jackson, for instance, or great customers like Gordon Apker and Greg Mouzy. What the auction represents and what makes the auction so different than almost any other business foundation is the lives it touches. The people I’ve met through Barrett-Jackson and the collector car hobby have become my extended family – and that family has grown quite a bit in the last 20 years.”

Steve Davis, his father-in-law Willie and son-in-law Dean McLaren at work on Steve’s 1967 Shelby GT350.

Like CEO Craig Jackson, Vice President of Consignment Gary Bennett and so many others at Barrett-Jackson, Steve Davis is a car guy. “The very thing that motivated us to get into this business and have this evolution take place around us is our love and passion for these cars and the culture they represent,” says Steve. “We are died-in-the-wool hobbyists ourselves, and that’s really what has driven the success of Barrett-Jackson.”

For him, that passion and the ability of collector cars to bring family and friends together is best exemplified by a vehicle he first laid eyes on some 40 years ago: a Brittany Blue 1967 Shelby GT350. He was in his home town of Visalia, California, and the year was 1977. Steve was going about his business when he noticed a red ’67 Shelby GT500 towing that GT350 on an open trailer down the highway. Not something you see every day, and a vision of loveliness to a Mustang guy like Steve. He did a double-take, chased the vision down, but lost them.

Later that evening, a couple of buddies told him they saw the car at the local Ford dealership. Steve became obsessed, visiting the dealership and peering in the window every night just so he could gaze upon the GT350. “It was my dream car,” he says. “I always loved Shelbys, but they were always unattainable for me. And this one was in Brittany Blue – my all-time favorite color.”

The restoration began with the GT350 stripped down to the metal.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Eventually a deal was put together that would allow Steve to own that very special car – but it didn’t come without sacrifice. “I went home to Janie and said, ‘I need to buy this car, but the only way humanly possible is to put a second mortgage on the house,’” he recalls. “She was all in, and we did it.”

Steve was now the proud owner of a 1967 Shelby GT350 that is factory-supercharged, making it one of the rarest Shelbys. As with many collector cars, however, knowing the provenance of a vehicle beginning with the first owner, and having original documentation, makes it all the more special. While Steve got the car listed in the Shelby Registry, despite all his connections (including a close relationship with Carroll Shelby himself) and after years of trying, he wasn’t able to track down the original owner of the car. Until 2005, that is.

In 2005, Steve got a call from a man who said he was the original owner of his GT350. “I didn’t believe him,” says Steve. “I asked him what the Shelby VIN of the car was. Any Shelby guy knows that just like you’d know the birthdate of your child.” There was a rustling of papers on the other end, and the man came back with “1692.” Steve was dumbfounded. He was the original owner, had tracked Steve down, and while cleaning out a closet found an old shoebox containing all the original documentation on what was now Steve’s Shelby. “It was divine intervention,” Steve insists.

Steve with Carroll Shelby and the surprise trophy.

It got better. The original owner still had many original parts from the car, including the supercharger and the blower bonnet – and the invoice from Holman Moody Ford for the factory-supercharged engine. The man and his son wanted to come to Barrett-Jackson to see the car, so Steve made it happen, getting the GT350 transported to Scottsdale and even arranging for Carroll Shelby to be there for the reunion. When the original owner arrived, he hid something very special in the trunk of the car without Steve knowing: a trophy he had received when he raced the car at the IHRA Nationals in 1969, winning first place in the Pure Stock class – something he had originally said he didn’t want to part with.

Not long afterward, Steve got a call from one of his friends in Visalia, who said he ran into a woman at the local car show who had a Shelby for sale. Turned out that car was the very same red GT500 that pulled Steve’s GT350 into town back in 1977 – it was the daughter of the man who had transported the car from Indiana, and she even had a photo of the two cars taken on the same day Steve witnessed the sight. She gave Steve that photo, and he heard the GT500 was purchased by a man in Southern California, but he doesn’t know where that car is now.

Four generations: Steve’s father-in-law Willie with grandsons Connor and Blake, daughter Misty and wife Janie.

“Through Barrett-Jackson, through these cars – that is how these amazing, magical things happen,” says Steve, who is now in the process of restoring his treasured GT350. “It’s a project that’s incredibly close to my heart,” he says. “The special family ties and relationships Barrett-Jackson represents have all been manifested in this car, being restored by a true car guy with his family – with grandkids who didn’t even exist 20 years ago.”

The restoration, which began several years ago and is now nearing completion, has been a family affair right from the start, spearheaded by Steve’s son-in-law, Dean McLaren, known for his world-class automobilia restorations. Steve’s grandchildren, Blake and Connor, helped with sanding. His father-in-law, Willie, who has been by Steve’s side at all the auctions since 1979, has been involved every step of the way. Steve’s brother-in-law Terry, who was his “car buddy” in high school, rebuilt the engine. Even Janie’s late Uncle Murray – another regular at the auctions – offered assistance.

“That Shelby is a part of my legacy,” says Steve. “It’s something that embodies my life as a car guy, my hobby, my love, my passion. It’s become part of the family. It’s a very profound thing, especially considering the encounters with people who surfaced to tie up all those historical loose ends. My family’s spirit will always live on in that car; it’s part of our heritage and our time together.”