Written by Barbara Toombs

At any given Barrett-Jackson event, attendees are sure to spot the giant Meguiar’s rig on-site, where not only are the company’s tried and tested car care products available for purchase, but also where experts share a host of information on how to get that perfect show-car shine on any vehicle.

Just as Barrett-Jackson grew from a simple car show back in the 1960s into The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions and unique automotive lifestyle event, Meguiar’s evolved from a simple garage-based furniture polish laboratory and plant into an international car care brand. Both companies have a solid foundation of family, ethics and, of course, a love of cars.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Meguiar’s President/CEO Barry Meguiar – whose grandfather started the company as a furniture polish business back in 1901 before breaking into the horseless carriage market and, after World War II, the automotive industry – allied his company with Barrett-Jackson early on. “We go far back, when the event was at the Safari Hotel, around 1973,” he recalls. “The cars, the tents, the displays – it was exciting and cutting-edge, and it was the beginning of what we see now.”

Meguiar has described his company as “car guys who happen to be in the car wax business,” so the collaboration with Barrett-Jackson was a marriage made in heaven. “Our whole thing of working with car guys really caught fire at Barrett-Jackson, because our passion for creating a perfect finish was matched by the people there,” says Meguiar. “This was fertile ground; these are our kind of guys. Barrett-Jackson is the greatest show on Earth for car guys – there’s nothing else like it.”

Meguiar’s partnership with Barrett-Jackson also evolved through the medium of television. With a passion for promoting and growing the collector car hobby, in 2000 Barry Meguiar created “Car Crazy,” a television show for auto enthusiasts. The show debuted on Fox’s SPEED channel and ran for 18 years, with some of the most memorable moments happening at Barrett-Jackson. “We actually did the show right in the middle of the auction hall,” Meguiar remembers. “Craig (Jackson) allowed us to set up a broadcast table right in the middle of all the bidding, in the arena. We couldn’t hear one another; we had to read each other’s lips because of all the noise. But it was great TV!”

Meguiar’s President/CEO Barry Meguiar and his wife Karen.

Meguiar’s has remained steadfastly at Barrett-Jackson’s side since those early days, even during the uncertain times in the mid-1990s, when both Barrett-Jackson co-founder Russ Jackson and his son, Brian, succumbed to colon cancer and Craig Jackson took the reins of the company. “Craig had shared his dreams with me,” says Meguiar. “I could see his vision and went back to our team and said, ‘He’s going to pull this off, and I want to be a part of it. We’re going to be there for him.’”

And be there he has. Meguiar’s is Barrett-Jackson’s longest-running sponsor, and it’s hard to imagine an event without the company’s presence there. “Words can’t express how grateful I am to Barry for aligning his company’s vision with ours for so many years,” says Barrett-Jackson Chairman and CEO Craig Jackson. “They are an integral part of our auctions, and Barry has been an incredible source of encouragement and support for both me personally and also for Barrett-Jackson over the years.”

In yet another show of support of Jackson and the auction company – and in alignment with the companies’ mutual desire to attract even more people to the collector car hobby – Meguiar’s eagerly signed on as the presenting sponsor of the Future Collector Car Show (FCCS) that will take place on the Polo Field at WestWorld on Sunday, January 22, during the 2023 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction. Be sure to check out the Meguiar’s rig on-site at the auction and visit them on the Polo Field at the FCCS!