Buick Blackhawk goes for $475,000 at auction

The one-of-a-kind Buick Blackhawk took in $475,000 at the Barrett Jackson collector car auction held over the course of last week. Taking place annually in Scottsdale, Arizona, this year's batch of cars included over 250 from the General Motors Heritage Fleet.

Aside from the Blackhawk, other cars from GM's collection brought in big money. The first production 2006 Corvette Z06 garnered $100,000, and a '69 Camaro once owned by Hall of Fame baseball player Reggie Jackson went for a top bid of $319,000.

One GM manager told Automotive News, "The Heritage Collection is sacred, a critical part of the history of GM."

Other vehicles made prominent sales as well. The first T-Bird ever to roll off the production line, a 1955 Ford Thunderbird, sold for $600,000. Also, a NASCAR Superbird inspired 1970 Plymouth, built with a 750 hp NASCAR engine, brought bids as high as $501,000.

Sales from GM's heritage fleet will go back into the company's coffers at a time when loose cash is desperately needed by the automaker. But not every one of GM's sales are for profit.

The first production unit of the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro sold for $348,000, all of which will go to the American Heart Association.

A rare 1929 Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor airplane that received bullet holes from Japanese aircraft at Pearl Harbor took the top prize overall. The restored airplane sold for $1.1 million.