The second Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in Orange County starts this Friday and, for one thing, it will be interesting to see what impact, if any, the return of reserve bids has on the proceedings. Given the success of last year’s OC event, this one has been expanded to three days and part of the Scottsdale text has been brought in to expand the venue.

The 2nd Annual Orange County Auction, June 24-26 at the OC Fair & Event Center. Portions of the event will be covered live on Speed TV. For additional information, check out the event web site.

Friday Faves: The first days of a multi-day auction are normally reserved for clearing out the… how best to put this… the cars with lots of development potential, shall we say? A look through the Mustang offerings coming up on Friday, however, is revealing some pretty interesting cars.

Both classic and contemporary Mustangs are well represented, so if you’re looking for a 1970 BOSS 302, a 1969 Mach I 428 SCJ or one of a number of Shelby cars, this is certainly the place to be. There are both generations of the Hertz Shelby GT350H rental cars and a 5,000-mile 2000 SVT Cobra R to be had.

Here are a couple of cars that we’ll be watching and the reasons why. They might not be quite what you expect.

Lot 34 is a 1999 Mustang GT Convertible with 12,000 original miles. This is a 35th Anniversary edition which saw some unique parts added, later reused in the 2001 Bullitt Mustang. Equipped with the 4.6-liter engine and manual transmission, this is a good example of the breed at that time.

More to the point, however, is that this car is finished in Electric Green which was one of two green shades offered that year. Of the two shades, Electric Green turned out to be the least endearing to the public at large. So, what we have here is a low mileage, special edition, contemporary Mustang that is at least somewhat rare because of its color.

So here the questions. Is the market ready to accept SN95 Mustangs as collectible cars at this time? Certainly something like the Cobra R is because of its limited production and SVT blessing. But, is a green 11-year old convertible? We’ll know sometime on Friday.

Friday lists no Fox-body cars except for an extreme custom. Cars like that are too individual to judge market movement on, so we’ll keep watching on that front.

One of the more modern special edition cars coming on the block is Lot 342, a 2007 Saleen Parnelli Jones Edition. This one is from a private collection and holds the rank of number 11 of 500. Signed by both Steve Saleen and Parnelli Jones, the car apparently shows 949 miles on the odometer.

Past auction sales of this model proved less than inspiring despite the obvious heritage connection and long list of Saleen modifications, including the 302cui, 3-valve modular motor. So, will the market acknowledge the uniqueness of this Saleen, particularly as Saleen shutters the doors on production any moment now. Or is the very collectibility of this car holding its value back, as all collectors hold on to them? We’ll get an indication soon enough.

Lot 47 is a custom 1967 Mustang Fastback being sold to benefit the Special Olympics of Southern California. With less than 1,500 miles on it since a frame off restoration, this classic pony is now fitted with a 514 hp ROUSH crate engine and Tremec TKO 600 5-speed transmission

Although we said earlier that custom cars don’t reflect the current market well, this car may be an indicator of the current economic trends. When times are bad, charitable support suffers and when the good times return, so does our philanthropy. Being one of the most sought-after Mustang body styles ever, the 1967 Fastback is a head turner wherever it goes and this one bears more than a passing resemblance to the car from the movie Bullitt.

Will someone dig deep for a good cause? Let’s hope so. We’ve seen other signs from within the enthusiast community that things are getting better and it would be nice to find out that this custom fastback sold for a bundle. We can’t wait to see what’s coming up on Saturday!