Million dollar Corvette ZR1 and car-crushing Robosaurus at Barrett-Jackson 2008

This year’s Barrett-Jackson auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona, had one of the most varied lineups in the event’s history, with several yet-to-be released models, a car-crushing robot dinosaur, and the usual assortment of ultra-rare muscle cars all going under the hammer. One of the biggest shocks over the weekend was the 2009 Corvette ZR1, which one crazed bidder picked up for a cool $1 million. Another bidder paid a grand total of $400,000 for the right to own the first Dodge Challenger SRT8 in production.

This all makes the $575,000 paid for the car-crushing Robosaurus seem like a bargain, considering the buyer also got a truckload of spares to maintain it over the years. Did we mention it stands more than 40ft tall and shoots 20ft flames out of its nostrils.

Some of the other highlights were the Pininfarina designed Chevrolet Corvette Rondine Concept, which went for $1.76 million, and the General Lee Dodge Charger, which sold for $450,000.

If you are as shocked as we are at the amount of cash changing hands for some of these vehicles, just remember that the proceeds of some of the sales are actually headed for charities and a lot of that is fully tax deductible for bidders.