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Here’s Your Chance to Buy the First Two-Door Bronco...NFT

Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions
Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions
  • Barrett-Jackson is set to sell the digital rights to four cars that have already sold in the physical space.

  • These NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are for digital packages of exclusive video, illustrations, and still images.

  • Some believe that soon every collector car will have an NFT attached to it.


On June 17 to 19, the Arizona-based Barrett-Jackson will auction four non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for cars it sold for charity in March—all with 001 VIN numbers. The cars are the first 2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1, 2021 Ram 1500 TRX Launch Edition, 2021 Ford Bronco two-door, and 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1.

And, no, you won’t be bidding on the vehicles themselves (which sold for big money)—but on the digital rights to the sales. The winning bidder will receive, according to Barrett-Jackson, “the digital packaging of an exclusive video, an illustration, and three still images—it’s a digital piece of automobilia of sorts commemorating the sale of a spectacular VIN 001 vehicle.”

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“The future of NFTs within the automotive collectors’ market is very bright, there is a lot of potential here,” Nick Cardinale, executive vice president/general manager at Barrett-Jackson, told Autoweek. “The marketplace for memorabilia as well as the cars themselves is already huge, not just in North America, but globally.”

Barrett-Jackson will include automated usage tracking and license management for the NFT buyer, but that doesn’t mean the lucky winners can license the material for public use—just protect it against being copied and distributed by someone else. “As seen with NFTs in other markets, the IP rights of the footage or content itself is not included or transferred,” Cardinale said.

Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions
Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions

Cameron Chell is the founder and chairman of CurrencyWorks, founded in 2016, whose MotoClub digital collectibles marketplace for cars is partnered with Barrett-Jackson on the NFT sales. He told Autoweek that he expects the VIN number NFTs to perhaps sell for a few thousand dollars. And he envisions a time, only about five years from now, when every collector car will have an NFT attached to it—with security one of the considerations. “The NFT is attached to a blockchain, and it can’t be copied, shared or altered,” Chell said. Future clients of MotoClub could include museums, collectors, clubs, raceways, and others, he added.

Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions
Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions

The NFT videos may be exclusive but, for instance, there’s a highlight reel of the Mach 1 auction (it went for $500,000) on YouTube for all to see. To actually have value, the auto NFTs will have to include unseen content with unquestionable collector value. If that reality has you scratching your head, welcome to the wonderful world of NFTs, where “is it real?” sales are commonplace—including in the automotive space.

  • A Lykan HyperSport that was used as a stunt car—flying between skyscrapers in Abu Dhabi—in Fast & Furious 7 was auctioned via RubiX Network along with its NFT in May. The fact that the original drivetrain had been replaced by a Porsche flat-six didn’t deter bidding, and the NFT was an added bonus. The Lykan sold for the equivalent of $525,000 in “stablecoin,” said Géraldine Monchau, chief business officer of the RubiX Network.

Photo credit: W Motors
Photo credit: W Motors
  • Back in 2019, an anonymous buyer paid $110,000 for the NFT that represents the first digital Formula One car made for the blockchain-related game F1 Delta Time. In a podcast for Blockchain Gaming World, the buyer, “Metakovan,” commented, “I could’ve bought a real car for this. And that’s what makes good stories, actually, at the end of the day.” It is a good story, but is it a good investment?

  • And then there’s CarCoin by WCC, a project announced in April from car customizer and fabricator Ryan Friedlinghaus of the as-seen-on-TV West Coast Customs. The offering is a tiered membership program called FastLane, offering NFTs for auto-related artwork and “experiences with A-list, celebrity car enthusiasts.” One FastLane customer will get an NFT that unlocks an actual crypto-themed car, which will come with NFT proof of ownership and other digital artwork.

Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions
Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions

We will probably have to get used to NFT sales, because experts predict they could become widespread in the auto world. Andreas Park, a professor at the University of Toronto with a specialty in blockchain technology, said that they could, for instance be used to quantify a shared interest in a self-driving car.

It seems a certainty that more automotive NFTs will be offered, and that they will find buyers. Some, however, remain skeptical. Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst for e-mobility at Guidehouse Insights, is unconvinced about their value as investments. “NFTs are the latest incarnation of the greater fool theory,” Abuelsamid said. “You’re not actually getting anything tangible and usually will have nothing that can’t be replicated.”

Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions
Photo credit: Barrett-Jackson Auctions

Abuelsamid adds, “The only part of this that isn’t fungible is the digital token that indicates you spent some amount of money for access or rights to something that may or may not exist. And there are undoubtedly some fools out there that will buy these tokens with the expectation that they will then find another fool that will pay them more for it before the whole house of cards collapses.”

It’s easy to laugh at NFT sales like the $69 million paid at Christie’s in March for a digital artwork created by Mike Winkelmann (a/k/a Beeple), who until recently had been selling prints for $100. The auto-related NFTs seem more down to earth—at least so far.

NFTs are expanding across all fields, but how do you think they'll do in the car world? Are you skeptical or excited by their prospects? Share your thoughts in the comments below.