Is anyone at Mecum in Phoenix this weekend?

[shelbymann1970]

At BJ in January I was watching a couple bid on a car. They bid up to 80k. Bid goes past them to 82k. Bidding assistant asks him ?85k, bidder clearly says NO, assistant puts up his hand and the car sells, to him at 85k in three seconds. He was furious!! Would love to know how that ended up.

did you look up the results of said car? Gary

[Stillakid54]

Excellent point, and no I unfortunately did not do that.
Was not a car I was particularly interested in and cannot call the car particulars enough at this point to check. Would be interesting to know.

[Royce Peterson]

I just watched a saved recording of that incident. It's fun to watch!

No way I would be a seller at a Mecum auction. Buyers at any auction have a real advantage on cars that are "No reserve". I have bought a couple that way and might again.

If anyone has a recording of Mecum Saturday they should watch Lot S142, 63 split window restomod - it's instructive. The Mecum handler is next to the consignor urging him to drop the reserve at $190k, which apparently the consignor agreed to if that number was reached. He refused, at which time Frank Mecum stepped in, saying we worked hard to get you real money at 190k, which we had an understating you would drop reserve if we hit that number. Consignor would not budge, Frank then asked him if the bidder in the audience was "his guy"? Frank figured it out, thru his arms in the air, stopped the auction in disgust.
Auction result says "bid goes on at 190k". You decide when a "bid" is a bid, whether shill bid from consignor and his buddy, whether the auction house is a shill bid, or does only real money constitute a real bid. IMHO only real bids represents what buyers are willing to pay, which ultimately represent value. Everything else is mispresentation.

[Shelby_r_b]

I don't personally have a vested interest in this discussion.  However, I have both bought and sold at Mecum before.  I can say that the key to any auction is knowledge - knowledge of how things work on both the selling and buying ends.  There are ins and outs that some people are not aware of which are not publicized.  However, there are nuances to all that takes place, and being educated ahead of time is best, as the 90 seconds it takes for your car (either buying or selling) to cross the block goes by in a heartbeat, and the pressure (whether auction or self-induced) is real.

I can't speak for other auctions, as Mecum is the only place I've used.  I would still use them, and it took me a while to understand the ins and outs / how to play the "game".  It is certainly possible for all parties involved (auction house, seller and buyer) to win.

Just my 2 cents...

[68ShelbyKR]

Obviously I stand corrected.  I was misled by believing it was unrestored, which apparently it isn't. And my own naivety from being new to the hobby.

Lesson learned.

[J_Speegle]

+1  I can't tell you how many times I have seen bids on TV at BJ where they were trying to get 10K more for a car with a supposed high bid of X price. When the sold drops it dropped back to 10K LESS than the X price. So were they bidding up a bidder with shill bids and when he stopped bidding it dropped back to his last bid? .....................

Seen this a fair number of times over the 30+ years I've gone to auctions. Bidder gets stretched out moving the bid forward and the single real money stalls. Often a worker will approach the last real bidder and tell them that some drunk, person waving to a friend, ....... whatever the excuse bid by mistake and if they were still in for the car.  Of course this is taking place at the same time another worker is attempting to get the seller to drop or lower their reserve since "they have a beautiful car but that is all the money in the room today".

Sometimes the "ghost" is an unknown bidder that a corner person is bidding for so that they are invisible - but this does not seem as typical as other situations. Different auctions and workers work things slightly different and change up the game depending on the "room"

[427heaven]

^^^^^ And the last thing you want is a fired up, over weight, sweaty, coffee- garlic breathed owner imposing his will on you, saying thats all the money we got for you... when its way off the money for what ever economic problem is occurring at the time. Just some things to consider when choosing the right venue to turn your baby loose.

[Tig65gs]

What's a nice 65 k code fastback worth in todays market? Restored 20 years ago but not driven much and stored right. Red w/black interior.

[SBCARGUY]

Whatever a seller will take and a buyer will pay....
No one can actually answer that question... 

What's a nice 65 k code fastback worth in todays market? Restored 20 years ago but not driven much and stored right. Red w/black interior.

[Tig65gs]

Well that's an obvious answer. That goes for anything even the shelbys late
y.

[SBCARGUY]

Since you didn't like my answer...

Let's try again.

If you are a buyer, make your best reasonable offer to the seller... If you are a seller... You know what you want for your car.

SIMPLE.

[oldcanuck]

What's a nice 65 k code fastback worth in todays market? Restored 20 years ago but not driven much and stored right. Red w/black interior.

Well... with all the information you have provided..... maybe $10k to $100k.   

[SBCARGUY]

Exactly 

[JWH]

Tig65gs - When trying to get an idea of the value of a certain car, I like using Hagerty's valuation guide. I can't give insight into what the virus has done to prices, but Hagerty is a very good starting point --

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/auto?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjoH0BRD6ARIsAEWO9DtaWSFVsD_GzvH7AZpXULbXNgMZmZPN7fy_hTbHsEv9Wnk3Ly_nrlUaAi_iEALw_wcB&ef_id=Cj0KCQjwjoH0BRD6ARIsAEWO9DtaWSFVsD_GzvH7AZpXULbXNgMZmZPN7fy_hTbHsEv9Wnk3Ly_nrlUaAi_iEALw_wcB:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!5126!3!283867041995!e!!g!!hagerty%20valuation%20tool&aff=g_us_hv_e

[Tig65gs]

Thanks JWH it's what I was looking for,forgot about hagerty. Tig