Too late. I moved to Bandera. Austin was still OK when I got here but they are doing San Francisco better than San Francisco. I experienced that once already. City has its foot flat down on the stupid pedal. Moved to the country.
If they get past you two headed west, I am here to stop them in Arizona! If they come from the west I will do my best to slow em down!
I have two guys I grew up with in Iowa that are in Austin and I don’t get there often but next time lunch with you and Rifledriver somewhere by him….
Isn't that essentially a "shill bid"? I thought that not long ago, the Cars and Bids platform was faulted for something similar?
A shill bid, ghost bid etc is the seller or seller related parties colluding to push to, or beyond, a reserve to close a sale. It also happens when a seller will bid up solely so they don’t have to let a no reserve car go at too low a price. There are many ways an auction is manipulated. I bid on a bunch of cars. Any bid I make I’m ready and able to buy at the level I’m playing at. I’ve not done this but here is another example…let’s say you have a Ferrari for sale. There is no reserve…you think it’s worth $260k….bidding stalls at $180….you or a related party can push bidding to $250….win the auction….pay the $7,500 BaT fee and not close the transaction. Then you have set a public floor. Better to run it up to $250 and eat the $7500 then let the car stall out at $180. It’s a slimy world out there….guys bidding big boy money without PPI’s should know what they are getting into or have cubic yardage of money and just don’t worry about the financial levels they are playing at.
Additionally, I should have directly answered about Cars & Bids… yup that Maranello had the seller bid up his own car using a different handle then the one he was using to sell the car. Anyone that doesn’t think that happens frequently has been blessed to not run into shady characters or been taken advantage of. That auction was super slimy.
I knew some of the big players in the auctions in the 90s when the cars were all going crazy. Theyd bid on each others cars to help each other. My boss got stuck with a Benz 500K doing that. At least I had a chance to experience one. The whole high end car auction scene is still pretty questionable.
With 19 seconds left today I was outbid by $250 on the Bentley Turbo R. that was a fight I was prepared to have with my wife…..I don’t know where the heck I would have stored it…… Love those old Bentley’s. My kids would have destroyed it….
Yeah…she would have been really angry. I just cannot let go of any of the cars in my small collection I’m so attached. I rented one a lifetime ago and it was just so “stately” and delightful. It is funny how I could more easily justify spending $80k on a 2016 Mulsanne than $20k on a 2004 Turbo-R. How gross would it be to own this one owned/commissioned by Larry Flint? https://www.opusmotorcars.com/bentley-for-sale I want that in my life but couldn’t have my employees see me driving it.
That Turbo R is definitely tempting... I'm holding back the trigger button on something like this - similar levels of stupidity. If I de-badged it I could easily drive it to work, because it just looks like a depreciated S-Class... not all that different from my current depreciated Lexus LS460. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2007-mercedes-benz-s65-amg-94/
make sure u r fully vaccinated before sitting in it I am always amazed how much Bentleys depreciate, this one is definitely a lot of car that still looks current. I’ve been watching a lot of the Porsche auctions, where depreciation is nonexistent. My local dealer has a 2016 cayman asking the same price as I bought mine in 2016!
This 550 auction, hosted by 1600 Veloce, has been pretty quiet... https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1997-ferrari-550-maranello-35/#comments-anchor
I don’t know what it is with the British marques, seems rapid depreciation is just baked in somehow. I’d love a new Vantage, one of the only cars I’ve driven without a stick lately that I connected with, perhaps oddly. If they produce the Carrera T fighter with a manual I’d have to take a hard look, but how stupid it is to buy one new. I don’t care how much bread you have, it’s just a terrible proposition. …but then the used market is a delicious playground…
Totally agree. I’ve always wondered what motivates someone to buy a Bentley/aston/maserati new. Maybe they are mostly company leases/tax write offs. Or just people with stupid money
The current gen Ferrari's are seeing epic depreciation. There is a thread on Pistonheads with eye watering numbers being thrown around. 9 week old SF90 Spyder at a dealer for £550k(!) with the best trade bid on it at £375k.
For a '97 with no options that needs a dashboard - and sight-unseen - there are clearly some bright spots in this market...
True, and didn’t mean to imply Ferrari are immune. I have near zero interest in modern Ferraris anyway, but I wouldn’t touch one for that reason alone.
All the requisite, “Great deal!” “I wouldn’t have sold for that” comments. Spare me. Apologies if that’s anyone here, but…this seller did damn well.
