I was surprised at the outcome of this auction. If I had to guess which E3, Don's or
mine that I sold last year, would bring the higher hammer price there would be no doubt in my mind that Don's would have been my guess. After seeing the unexpected result on Don's beautiful E3 today, I had to step back to see if I could make some sense out of it. Below is my analysis of the factors that may have been involved in Don's car not bidding to the kind of number I was anticipating.
1.
Not a Bavaria I don't think a big part of the potential buyer pool for E3's in the US is familiar with ANY E3 outside of the Bavaria. They haven't heard of or know anything about a 3.0s. It's a Bavaria that they know of, have seen, and lust after. Maybe somewhat like a potential German E3 buyer coming across a Bavaria for sale and not being at all interested in it.
Here's a nice 3.0si for sale near me. $18,800. Seems low to me even with the big bumpers and automatic. I wonder if it would be higher if it was a Bavaria.
2.
No AC AC has almost become a requirement for a collector car. Collector car activities (shows, cruises, etc.) happen in the summer. It's not as much fun to enjoy your collector car when it is hot and humid and you don't have AC.
3.
Velour Interior I love the velour interior in Don't car and understand it is a sign of a high end, comfortable interior in Europe. Not everyone thinks the same, here however. I think that in the US, leather is the sign of a deluxe interior, more so than velour. The two tone of Don's may also be a little off putting to some. I think most buyers in the US would choose the blue leather interior in the 3.0si linked to above over a velour interior.
4.
The listing There is an old saying that "it's easy to buy a car...lots of work to sell one". I think this is absolutely true. It's the reason most people trade in their old car when buying a new one knowing that they are losing money by doing so. IMHO, BaT is by far the best place to sell a collector car. There is no other venue that will get more "eyes" on your collector car offering. With this said, it is still super important that every effort is made to market your car. Just listing it on BaT does not guarantee you top dollar. Everything has to be done carefully and completely to get the desired results. I'll list a few points here that I think could have been done differently that may have helped.
Pictures You need lots of GOOD pictures. 100 minimum, 150 preferred. Each one needs to be taken with care. I have waited days at times to have the light just right and within the right day, the time that flatters the car the most. Finding the best backdrops is also important. Not too busy or distracting. Good close ups of features and flaws. If you are not comfortable that you are taking high quality pictures, get a buddy that is or hire a pro. Cell phones are fine, but don't shoot overall pictures of the car at the default setting. The default is semi wide angle and distorts the car in the picture. Backup and crank in a little telephoto. Don't settle for good enough.
Video Three videos are mandatory. Cold start, drive, and walk around. If you aren't comfortable with iMovie or some other ap that will allow you to edit clips and stitch clips together find a friend that is. Cold start seems a little silly to me, but if it isn't there it will probably be asked for. The walk around should probably be done once with the car closed up and another with the car completely opened up. The videos need to be short enough to keep the viewers attention but long enough so that the viewer gets a good idea of the car overall. 1 1/2 minutes for the car opened up one, and 30-45 seconds for the car closed. No talking is necessary. The driving one is the most important. It's a great opportunity to market the car. Video from both inside and outside the car is mandatory. It's impossible to take a good driving video without a helper. For the in car portion, I put the helper in the middle of the back seat with the camera/phone with some wide angle cranked in. This gives a great view out the windshield and captures the driver, shifting, instruments, winding it up, etc. For outside the car video, capture the car in motion, around curves, accelerating, the exhaust note, etc.
During the auction It's important to control the pace and tone of the auction over the 7 days. Feed in new information, pictures and videos every day during the auction. Be sure to cover everything about the car that BaT leaves out in their cookie cutter write up. Completely answer questions. Give viewers reasons to continue to come back to the auction. Promote discussion.
I think most here will agree that Don's car did not do the number it should have. What other factors contributed to this?
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