All interested,
Besides my e-mail yesterday, one of the JFK researchers who has also been working on this, David Lifton, sent an e-mail this morning to Steve Davis of Barrett-Jackson. David's e-mail was much more strongly worded than mine, including comments about violating Federal law and FBI investigations. Boy did he get their attention.
Here is the response he received from Steve Davis (forwarded by Linda Strazzara of B-J on Davis' behalf), in it's entirety (my comments in a subsequent post):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------ Forwarded Message
From: Linda Strazzara <LStrazzara@barrett-jackson.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:11:14 -0700
To: <dlifton@earthlink.net>
Cc: Steve Davis <sdavis@barrett-jackson.com>
Conversation: Response from Barrett-Jackson
Subject: Response from Barrett-Jackson
Mr. Lifton – Steve Davis is here onsite at the auction, but reviewed your email correspondence and has asked me to provide you with his response below. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Linda Strazzara
Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. LLC
**
Mr. Lifton,
Thank you for contacting us about the "JFK Ambulance" consigned to the Barrett-Jackson auction this week. As you are no doubt aware, there has been a great deal of discussion surrounding this vehicle by members of various collector car enthusiast groups as well as Kennedy researchers such as yourself.
We have attempted to conduct as much independent research as possible in the context of offering this vehicle for sale at our auction, and our efforts have included both a detailed physical inspection as well as the review of all documentation available to us. We do not hold ourselves out to be historians, and certainly not experts in the particular area of history surrounding the unfortunate events of November 1963 and the Kennedy assassination. Nevertheless, we have been immersed in reviewing and responding to inquiries such as yours for the past two weeks.
We take great pride in is our reputation in the collector car auction business, and I can assure you that we have no intention of presenting any misinformation about any vehicle we sell across our auction block. We work with each of our consignors, including the owner of this vehicle, to review the information provided and clarify or correct any representations as necessary. These efforts are ongoing up to the time a vehicle crosses the block and is announced to interested bidders in attendance, and this is certainly true in the context of this particular vehicle.
As of today’s date, we are planning a media briefing here at the event site on Friday morning. At this time, we will present an overview of the results of our own investigation and physical inspection as well as a summary of the documentation that we have reviewed in connection with this vehicle. We are planning to post video from this media briefing on our website with the description of the vehicle (which is in our sale as Lot #1277 on the auction list).
It's important to understand that Barrett-Jackson is not affirmatively making any representations as to the history or particular provenance of this car, and we will be clear about all of these facts with the bidders who register at auction to participate in the sale of this vehicle. What we are trying to do is uphold the high standard we've set for ourselves in following up on legitimate inquiries and questions related to a vehicle as important as the Kennedy ambulance. We are certain we will hear many other questions in the next several days as we prepare for the auction sale, and we will consider all of them in due course and will continue to use our best professional judgment in resolving any issues we deem to be material to the representation of the car.
Thank you for contacting us, and thank you for taking an interest in the collector car hobby.
Steve Davis
President
Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. LLC
From: Steve Davis [mailto:sdavis@barrett-jackson.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 9:44 AM
Steve Davis
President
Barrett-Jackson Auction Company, L.L.C.
7400 E. Monte Cristo
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
P. 480.421.6694
F. 480.421.6697
sdavis@barrett-Jackson.com
www.barrett-jackson.com <http://www.barrett-jackson.com>