TCG Stories

In the collector car world, there’s an unusual divide that has formed between those who preserve cars in their original (if not slightly flawed) state and those that prefer to open the checkbook and finance a lengthy restoration. Like a true conundrum, there is no “right” answer, but both sides came to a head recently when architect and car collector Jonathan Segal was put on blast for stripping his barn-find 1956 Maserati A6G/54 to bare metal.

Segal bought one of the more memorable barn finds of the last decade when he purchased the A6G out of a somewhat notorious estate of Parisian entrepreneur Roger Baillon, who had amassed a large collection of desirable automobiles despite supposedly having significant financial liabilities. When the Maserati was found in a garage on the property, it was covered in newspapers but largely complete.

The car was supposedly very straight-forward to make operational again, with the drivetrain coming back to life with basic sorting. While Segal did show the car in its highly-patina’d state, it didn’t say that way for long and he soon commissioned a frame-off restoration. It’s worth noting he tried to sell the car in its as-found condition, found no buyers, and then decided that the most direct path to potential profits was to restore it to the highest standards possible.

He was quickly vilified by numerous members of the vintage and collector car communities, with criticisms hurled at him that included references to his restoration project being on the same level as “…sandblasting the colosseum.” He rebuffed these accusations and I don’t blame him for doing so. Here’s the thing: as much as well-preserved vehicles are undoubtedly special and often endearing, there are also compromises that go along with that, and some owners simply don’t care for compromises.

A restored version of Segal’s Maserati will likely outshine his striking 1956 Maserati AG6 Zagato, a vehicle that recently took first in class at Villa de Este. And there’s the point: he has a car that can be comfortably driven, shown, and toured with that only grows more valuable as more onlookers see it and gawk at its beauty, while simultaneously standing in shock that it can drive at highway speeds with relative comfort. A patina’d car could be put back to running condition with the roughshod exterior left in place, but that approach doesn’t win awards - and an award at the best show or shows is absolutely the goal of well-moneyed collectors who understand that winning at Pebble Beach is as much a gateway to more wealth and power as being named to the board of directors at Amazon.

Jonathan Segal doesn’t care what you think about his car’s restoration, and if you wanted to preserve its as-found condition, you should have stepped up to buy it when it was for sale. The Maserati will be stunning when finished, and hopefully, Mr. Segal will some day track his project updates here on TheCommonGear.com to ensure no one can question his level of commitment to the brand, or the investment he has made in these significant collector cars.

Recently, we noticed a batch of Japanese sports coupes taking home some surprising numbers on Bring A Trailer and Cars & Bids. In an era where there’s some modest cooling of the marketplace, seeing three decidedly commonplace vehicles each handily clear $20,000 was worthy of analysis.

We looked at the following cars: a 1997 Nissan 240SX that sold for $27,250; a SW20 chassis Toyota MR2 Turbo for $29,250; and the real kicker, a 1983 Datsun 280ZX Turbo for a heady $25,000. These are all very strong numbers, and while there’s been plenty said about some unusually high exchanges of money on BaT, these cars were not expensive enough to suggest a backdoor card game of the digital sort; no, these were just three pools of bidders who really, really wanted otherwise unremarkable cars.

Buyers of Japanese classics are their own breed. European car fanatics get caught up in provenance, maintenance history, and whether someone who once lived on the same street as Brian Redman owned the car in question. For purveyors of Japanese models, the scale is tilted far more towards how stock the car remains and whether the bidder owned the same car in their 20s. It’s not to say nostalgia doesn’t matter for European car shoppers; quite the opposite, in fact: have you ever listened to a man blubber about justifying paying $120,000 for an air-cooled 911?

But that same 911 buyer will have a strong bead on the likelihood they’ll make some money on their long-hood time machine. The guy dropping $30,000 on an S14 240SX is not thinking about ROI, just that he wrapped the same car around a tree in 11th grade (ah, memories - powerful stuff.) In a way, the buyers of those cars are transported back to high school, knowing full well they’d spend all of dad’s money if given the chance to pay full retail for their adolescent dream car.

How else do you justify dumping $25,000 on one of the most unremarkable Z cars ever made? Listen, I’ve made plenty of bad decisions when it comes to cars, but I couldn’t live the life some Japanese car enthusiasts do where they don’t even flinch at bidding the lights out if the car in question is the model they once almost owned, or previously lost to a tragedy or teenage hijinks.

All that is to say, don’t expect your dad’s old Z car to suddenly be an auction-worthy specimen, or a tired MR2 to be worth any more than the $10,000 or so they typically command. It takes the right buyer, the right car, and timing that is entirely dependent on the cosmic alignment of the universe. While we may find the high rollers on the European side of the house unsufferable on occasion, they are at least consistent.

This is not meant as a bragging post, but more a spotlight on what's possible when you have a deep digital records portfolio for your specialty vehicle. My 2011 BMW 328xi 6-speed wagon recently left for a new home after five years in my possession, and the presentation on The Common Gear - which included pages of records scanned and stored going back to the last owner - helped clinch a no haggle sale. 

I will freely admit there are some cars that even the most robust presentation doesn't make much of a difference on. My Audi V8 Quattro, which we'll discuss in a few days as it recently sold on Bring A Trailer, was a vehicle that was simply too obscure to benefit from an expansive overview. But it was also a car where it was inherently evident that I was not a long-term steward and was clearly looking to remove it quickly or mark it as a notch on my flipper belt (that didn't work out.) 

Buyers love long-term owners, and they especially love ones that have put in the time and money to properly care for a special car. My wagon was the last of the inline-six-powered, manual transmission-equipped wagons, so it was always going to have a following - but The Common Gear made it possible to drive a very fair sale price with no haggling and a largely seamless transaction with an out-of-state buyer. 

We can do it for you - and you can get started today by creating a free account. 

I don't often talk about the collector insurance car behemoth Hagerty outside of referencing its continued influence in the hobby car space. However, the company's largess was on full display as I raced to secure a modest loan from my credit union to buy a car over a recent weekend. 

Typically, I use JC Taylor for my hobby vehicles. They are very affordable and responsive over email. Hagerty has always been more expensive and also requires the annual premium be paid in full, which is kind of a drag. All that aside, the company thoroughly trounced JC Taylor in this most recent interaction.

Despite calling JC Taylor on a Wednesday and informing them I needed a policy written and the binder in hand showing the credit union as the loss payee before Saturday, when I was to pick up the car, they hadn't moved the policy to underwriting as of Thursday at noon. I was promised it was happening momentarily, but when I called back an hour later, the next phone representative I spoke with noted she could see the last representative still hadn't actually sent it to underwriting. 

The third representative I spoke with on Friday said there was no way she could guarantee I would have the binder in time for my trip to the credit union. By this point, I was feeling pretty frustrated, so I called Hagerty and within the 15 minutes I was on the phone with their specialist, I had an insurance binder sitting in my email. I fired it over to the credit union, and picked up the check an hour later. 

To Hagerty's credit, no explanation was needed regarding the urgency of the situation. The gentleman I spoke with acted as if he was the one buying the car. The four different representatives at JC Taylor not only seemed completely nonplussed by the urgency (a situation of their own making) but also raised doubts as to why I would want a collector policy on a "modern" vehicle like the E55. Hagerty raised no such concerns, which is also why they insure my Eurovan, which JC Taylor would not cover out of an unfounded suspicion I would use the van for risky adventure-seeking exploits. 

All in all, it's unacceptable that a company like JC Taylor could not move with the speed car enthusiasts need when it comes to snagging an elusive vehicle. As a long-time customer, I was bummed that they fell well short of expectations in this go-round, but grateful Hagerty was there to close the deal. 

A recent article on Hagerty.com entitled "Car people are lying to you about their budgets, and I have the receipts" took a lighthearted look at how often fellow car enthusiasts beat each other up over the asking price when a car is listed for sale. Recently, it even happened to car media personality David Freiburger when he listed his infamous "Disgustang" for sale. The peanut gallery on Facebook and other platforms barked at him that he didn't have the money invested to justify his asking price; the only problem was, no one really knew for sure whether he did or didn't. 

For instance, commenters said things like, "I could build the same thing in my garage for $15K." And while David Freiburger doesn't have to justify his $75,000 asking price with receipts, it reveals a behavior all of us have encountered wherein a potential buyer kicks rocks at the asking price because he or she has no idea what's been invested. And worst of all, sometimes the seller doesn't know, either. 

If Freiburger had tallied up his invoices and kept a digital portfolio of the work, his followers would have likely had far more appreciation for what the total restoration and improvement budget ended up being. They still may not been potential buyers but it likely would have cut down on some of the naysaying (which can quickly taint the potential buyer pool, as serious buyers may question if they're pondering a bad investment based on the bickering in the comments). 

When it comes to storing receipts, enthusiasts should do this not only to cut down on tire kickers but to also reinforce the fact that they've made a significant investment into the vehicle in question - and perhaps their asking price is spot-on, regardless of what some joker on Facebook Marketplace has to say. 

David Freiburger still sold his car, and I recently sold my 2011 BMW 328xi in about 14 hours, thanks in part to the huge digital portfolio of records I had for it stored here on TheCommonGear.com. There was no haggling and my asking price was certainly fair in the current marketplace. The best part is, anyone with a strong records portfolio can experience the same result - even David Freiburger. 

I spend a lot of time extolling the virtues of a well-prepared classifieds listing. Whether it’s on Bring A Trailer or your local craigslist page, there’s no denying that a car with deep documentation and a clear love of ownership is going to entice buyers out of the woodwork. But like most things in life, there are no guarantees - and, quite simply, the vehicle has to be the kind of car that stirs emotion and signals opportunity.

This recent auction on Bring A Trailer for a 2000 BMW 740i Sport resulted in a no-sale outcome for what looks like one of the best “Sport” trim E38s I’ve seen in a while. The seller had all the boxes checked, including excellent photos, extensive records, and of course, outstanding cosmetic condition. The short-wheelbase 7-Series is a terrific example of a sports sedan, and the seller was counting on a strong result given bidding wrapped up at $28K with the reserve unmet.

The E38 is certainly a respected car in the enthusiast world, with excellent road manners and chassis reflexes that seemingly belong to a much smaller and lither vehicle. Still, it’s safe to say the E38 is not a top 10 vehicle target among enthusiasts in terms of a “must own” list. It’s hardly a legend in the vintage vehicle world. And as far as future collectability goes, it will likely never be worth significantly more than it is now.

Which brings me to my point: for as much prep work as you do to make a car or truck more saleable, don’t forget about the most basic rule there is when it comes time to sell your pride and joy - the rules of attraction. When you are planning to buy a new hobby vehicle, be sure to weigh its desirability among the masses against your own before deciding to add it to your fleet.

“The canary in the coal mine” is one of my favorite expressions. It’s up there with the butterfly effect, which I broadly define as observing otherwise innocuous signals and considering their future implications. The collector car market is in an intriguing place at the moment, with key indicators simultaneously indicating investors are insulated from other market forces while also suggesting some of the results we’ve written about here are potentially inflated.

I don’t claim to be a financial wizard or anything close to an expert, but I do have a good bead on the collector car market, especially for so-called “youngtimer” classics that have heated up big time over the last few years. COVID wrecked many things, including any sense of normalcy in the modern collector car space. Prices for the same model over the course of mere weeks can ricochet to dizzying heights and back down to a disappointing floor, especially when an ambitious seller agrees to list with no reserve.

A startup I like an awful lot called Blue Tail Aero points to similar instability in the bizjet market, as a recent blog post cites industry expert Ascend’s senior appraiser and principal aviation analyst Syed Zaidi. According to Zaidi, “…the surge of new users into the business aircraft market had led to a “60 percent rise in midsize jet values from a year ago and approximately 45 percent higher for very light and super-midsize jets. Long-range jets values increased by 20 percent year-over-year.”

Keyword here: new users. I can’t recall a time where so many consumers were flush with cash and had no idea what they were doing. You see this with collector cars and apparently with private jets as well. When it’s just one sector, it’s easy to tell yourself there’s nothing to see here. But when a trusted source of expertise on the private aircraft market points to similar signs of instability, it’s time to ask yourself if the adults have left the room when it comes to collecting.

The question becomes this: how do you protect yourself and your investments? As Blue Tail explains and as we at The Common Gear have long believed, it comes down to maintenance and building the digital portfolio of the car or plane of choice. If you live in a storm-prone coastal region, investing in hurricane-proof windows is a smart move; if you acquire cars or planes in an uncertain market, investing in maintenance and securely storing your records of improvement can help protect your purchase in the long-run and potentially boost its value.

The Common Gear is the premier destination for securely digitizing your records. Create your free account here today.

For a while now, there’s been speculation that the math doesn’t add up on Bring A Trailer. Incredible sales results for cars that would seemingly struggle to hit those same numbers on the pages of craigslist or eBay have raised eyebrows to the point that the peanut gallery has begun lobbing accusations of money laundering and other primetime crime drama buzzwords.

The most recent display of the zaniness of online auctions has to do with three near-identical examples of the Jaguar Super V8 Portfolio sedan. First, there was the 18,000 miles example that sold for $156,000; it was followed and one-upped by a 2009 model with 24,000 miles for $175,000; and then, in the final act of the Super V8 Portfolio live on Broadway, a 2009 example with 18,000 miles shot back down to Earth and sold for still insane $90,000 (but at least we’re back down in to the five-figure range).

Let’s look at this: two cars, separated by 14 days, and both the same year with the same mileage sell with a swing of $66,000 between the two of them! And not only that, the example with the most miles between the three of them sells for more than either of the other two. This is where the BaT model simply incinerates on re-entry for me as there’s no rational explanation for such a variance between three low-mileage examples of the same model in effectively the same condition.

…..except, of course, that the second bidder was heavily influenced by the decision of the first bidder to exceed the last price for a low-mileage 2009 Super V8 Portfolio (21K miles, October ‘21) by a whopping $112,750! This is what I believe is the underlying reason for so many wonky sales results: bidders don’t bid on logic, but rather on the behaviors of other bidders. As we’ve discussed recently, the big timers can withstand a few losses, but for the medium- or little-guy who gets caught up in the bidding battle, they can find themselves on the losing end of a winning bid when they agree to a price that has no basis on reality; only the feeding frenzy of a competitive online auction.

At some point in the past two years, almost every car enthusiast has looked at a sale price on Bring A Trailer and said, “Wow - I never thought that car would sell for that much cash.” We’ve discussed it here on occasion, and I’ve taken the position that the 1 percent crowd can do as they please with money, even if that means spending more for a particular model than anyone else has in recorded history.

But for those of us of more ordinary means, the stakes are very different. You can’t repeatedly lose your shirt on a car. My friend Rudy Samsel runs an auction website called Guys With Rides that provides a dealer-free marketplace and strives to put a bit of fairness back into the collector vehicle acquisition process. He flagged a 1987 Porsche 944 Turbo as a prime example of the risks of buying an enthusiast vehicle without paying sufficient attention to market valuation and VIN decoding.

The reason he took notice of the car had to do with the fact that the seller was putting the 944 up for grabs himself - not on BaT - within eight months of acquiring it at a price that reflected a loss of over $12,000 when factoring in maintenance costs and the buyer’s premium that BaT charges.

The 944 was labeled as being an elusive Turbo model wearing “Silver Rose” paint when in fact it was a slightly more common Diamond Blue Metallic example. BaT didn’t do much to confirm or deny this, including not requiring the previous owner to include a photo of the trim tag that would quickly put to bed any concerns over whether this was, in fact, a desirable Silver Rose car. To some extent, this is the risk inherent in any sight-unseen purchase done over the internet, but when you factor in buying a car this way along with the tendency to overpay by virtue of the selling platform’s so-called reputation, it can create a perfect storm of unintended consequences for the future owner.

The playing field is not even, unfortunately, on platforms like BaT and numerous others. If you can afford to drop six-figures with the same recklessness as one might spend on great seats at a sporting event, overpaying on a 944 Turbo with unverified history won’t cause you to have a fire-sale a few months later on a car that isn’t what you thought it was. For Joe Six Pack and other “normal” collectors, you may indeed have to encourage a quick sale with a potential loss factored in to get out from under.

No matter your lot in life or how tempting it is to get wild in an internet auction with thousands of virtual cheerleaders, there’s no shame in being cautious and sitting one out when the information required to make an informed decision isn’t provided. The more of us who are only willing to punch the “bid” button with the right information in hand will drive auction sites to ensure data and authenticity drive higher bid prices rather than an internet mob that bears no responsibility when it comes time to sell for a market-correct price.

I remain fixated on the car storage market for a few reasons: one, it is a relatively new arena for the hobby with seemingly more room for competitors and future growth. Two, it is basically taking the standard storage unit model (where you chuck all the excess crap from your house) but applying it to the challenge of maintaining on-site storage for your project car fleet. The actual facility is a glorified warehouse with a shiny wrapper around it that seemingly justifies a premium price for access.

Hagerty has once again raced to the front of this burgeoning business model by claiming territory in a few key geographies (meaning well-capitalized car collectors live there). The newest club is in Miami and looks like a great time: beautiful location, outdoor patios, comfortable social gathering spaces, gearhead-focused décor, and of course, the tropical backdrop of south Florida.

The rate card lists $650/month as the price for car storage and access to the social calendar. For $125, you can leave your car at home and simply have access to the facility and the monthly events. If you look around at your average local car storage lot/facility (meaning, a storage unit at your local UHaul or UHaul-clone), the price is far lower. There’s also no real luxury attached to it and certainly no wine and cheese nights.

The question I struggle with is this: is Hagerty filling those spots easily, or is it a long, slow slog to max out capacity? The monthly fee is not cheap, so you’re certainly a customer of some means if you’re taking Hagerty up on the offer for a premium space with a variety of services on site you may never actually use (detailing, mechanical services, shipping and logistics.) The social component is a take-it-or-leave-it offer for me, as I’d much rather be driving than talking (and last I checked, most Cars & Coffee gatherings are still free to attend.)

However, like the six-figure W124 and Jaguar Super V8 we recently discussed, this is a meaningless amount of money for the super wealthy to consider spending each month for the convenience of a turnkey storage facility catering to other high-end clientele. Which serves as a reminder as to how much of this hobby is being built around the needs of the 1 percent club - and how the rest of us will need to either cough up the dough for a storage experience that is several rungs above the local self-storage facility or find our own way to mimic the Hagerty experience at a lower price point.