Page 166 - Experience Magazine Winter 2023
P. 166
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 (shown
at left with his wife Karen) – whose grandfather
started with the 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
S hining Star there,” says Meguiar. “This was fertile ground;
Shining Star
these are our kind of guys. Barrett-Jackson is
the greatest show on Earth for car guys – there’s
BARRETT-JACKSON SALUTES nothing else like it.”
Meguiar’s partnership with Barrett-Jackson
MEGUIAR’S DECADES also evolved through the medium of
television. With a passion for promoting and
OF DEDICATION 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)
166 BARRETT-JACKSON EXPERIENCE WINTER 2023
