A follower on our Instagram account took note of the fact that we love featuring potential project cars, so he tipped me off to a pretty unusual spotting: a Maserati convertible sitting in the weeds on a vacant lot in a fairly high-income zip code. The car in question is a GranSport Spyder, and it has the extremely rare manual gearbox.
The GranSport was not a major hit when introduced, despite having a Ferrari-derived V8. The biggest flaw with these cars was the prevalence of the sequential automatic transmission, which was an unmitigated disaster. Most of these GranSports you find, in both hardtop and convertible form, have this two-pedal option, which has rendered the value of many of these cars to be that of a used Hyundai.
Now, this car is peculiar not only for being abandoned on vacant land but also because it has a V12 and Biturbo badge on the trunk lid. Maybe I'm an idiot, but there is literally nothing out there that suggests this model ever came with a 12-cylinder option. I'm inclined to believe this is just a case of someone playing fast and loose with badges, but who knows? The bigger mystery is why it's here in the first place in seemingly decent (cosmetic) condition with a sought-after gearbox and no license plates.
Today, the GranSport is one of the better-kept secrets on the exotic car marketplace, as you can find the coupe for sale for under $30,000 without trying too hard. Most will have the dreaded paddle-shift activated gearbox, so a manual-equipped convertible would quickly find a new owner if the current "caretaker" decides to set it free.
Recently, a TCG member reached out to me about finding a front bumper for his Suzuki Sidekick. I was surprised to hear he was having trouble finding one; after all, this was a mass-produced vehicle that was popular in regions like ours where it snowed. Turns out the member - who goes by "chuckster" - had a Sidekick Sport JLX, a model I vaguely remembered owing to its distinctive two-tone cladding.
The JLX actually had a specific nose design that included a bumper cover that flared out to meet the wider stance provided by the fender flares. Needless to say, that's a hard bumper cover to find. Once we got through that, I learned that not only was this a rare model, but his was exceptionally mint inside and out.
The Sidekick was actually used as an island truck on Prudence Island, which encompasses the town of Portsmouth, RI. It has just 54,000 miles on the odometer and features the preferred 5-speed manual gearbox. It never went out in the winter, left in the garage for the harsher New England months and only used as a summer vehicle.
It's quite a find. Not the most valuable truck out there, but likely unrepeatable with those miles and that specific JLX Sport spec.
I really don't think anything else needs to be said here, but riddle me this: a (historically) low-mileage Porsche 968 sits on the Hemmings classifieds for a few weeks at $75,000. No one buys it.
It goes onto Bring A Trailer, and sells for $164,000. For a 968. You know, the car no one wanted. A front-engine, water-cooled Porsche that is basically a 944 with a revised front end. A car you could have had for nearly $100,000 less if you just scrolled through the Hemmings classifieds. I'd love to know if the buyer actually did see it listed beforehand and somehow came to the conclusion it was a smarter / safer buy on BaT for $100,000 more.
But surely, no one is that stupid - right? And certainly not some titan of industry, who bought the 968 with zero photos of records or any documentation that established it as being the car it was represented to be. The words of the listing indicated a timing belt change was performed, but we don't get a shot of even a parts receipt? I'd welcome an explanation that isn't based in BaT marketing hyperbole as to why you'd pay more for less, which is exactly what buyers on BaT are getting in cases like these.
Of course, this is ignoring the fact that the 968, objectively, does not deliver $164,000 worth of driving pleasure. And even I said this publicly, someone would be right there shouting that "The market has spoken!" And that I should shut up and earn more.
OK - but what if the market is wrong? That's never happened, right?
One of our followers, a gent by the name of Thomas Smith, lives in a pretty cool place: Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts. Despite being reachable only by ferry, Tom made a very excellent find not too long ago in the form of a desirable project car: a BMW 325ix, of the E30 chassis family, in four-door form. This is the ultimate snow machine for a New Englander who doesn't want to buy into all that Quattro hype.
Tom found the E30 abandoned at a local mechanic's shop, where it had been sitting neglected for some time. Incredibly, it wasn't rusty underneath, or behind the IX-specific fender flares. In fact, it turned out to be a very solid car with loads of original paperwork inside going back to the original purchase order from a mainland dealership. Tom was pleased to find upon digging into the car that the engine had been previously rebuilt and upgraded with a Schrick performance camshaft!
To date, he has it running off an external fuel source with a new gas tank waiting to go in. The driveshaft has to come out to do this, however, so he's paused for now until there's time to drop the shaft and install the rust-free tank. Can't wait to see how this one turns out!
Today, Grassroots Motorsports announced that Hagerty purchased the rights to the Radwood car show. This is the latest in an increasingly long line of acquisitions Hagerty has made, and this is in the midst of the company deciding to go public. To say it's been a big year for what was once just an insurance company is an understatement.
There's a few things to unpack here: for one, Hagerty is certainly in an acquisition mode and clearly looking at its next-generation of customers. Second, the Radwood show has done an incredible job of assigning real monetary value to what amounts to a car show - albeit a fantastic one - but a car show nonetheless. This tells us that there's perceived value that goes way deeper than what we see on the show field. Third and final, the landscape of vendors and retailers in the automotive marketplace continues to tighten and grow smaller by the day, which is bad news for those of us who like to shop around for the best price or at least feel like there's a need for service providers to compete on price.
A company like Hagerty making numerous acquisitions indicates there is still plenty of value to be found in the enthusiast marketplace. The question is, what does it mean for the truly grassroots aspects of the hobby when even a car show can be put on the acquisition block?
As we all know by now, the new car market is a hot mess, with automakers facing legitimate shortages that are driving up prices to batshit levels. I don't know who needs to hear this, but that new minivan you're financing for $50,000 will never be worth that much after two months of driving with your kids trashing the interior.
I get it, though: for some buyers, there's no choice. You need a car, you need it today, end of story. Persoanlly, I hope to not have to buy a replacement car anytime soon. Not only because I love my wagon, but because it's incredibly hard to find anything that comes close to it for replacement purposes that will offer the same combination of fun-to-drive and versatility.
Still, if you have patience and time on your side, you can still find some very choice used vehicles with incredible reputations for durability that can be bought for reasonable money and will likely serve you faithfully for years to come. Here are some of my top choices from the current craigslist landscape:
Toyota Land Cruiser: as well know by now, the Land Cruiser holds onto its value ridiculously well. Any truck on craigslist made in the last five years still sells for near MSRP, so you can forget about finding one for less than $50K. However, if you're wiling to live with higher miles and also trust that the truck's reputation for long-term reliability is as good as they say, you can find a 2001 model like this one here on craigslist with lots of recent maintenance for $16,995.
VW Jetta SportWagon: The classifieds pages are littered with these things. The SportWagon got super cheap when the TDI scandal broke and VW had to sell these things for what seemed like pennies on the dollar. Still, I would skip over the TDI and find a gasoline model with the five-cylinder 2.5L mill, as nothing sounds like an I5 with an aftermarket exhaust. This one here on craigslist also looks to have some tasteful upgrades, like the OEM wheels.
Jeep Cherokee XJ: The final fling of the classic XJ Cherokee with its over-engineered inline-six is a desirable specimen, much like the Land Cruiser. It's far more affordable, however, at the expense of the two third-row jump seats the Toyota comes with. This example here on craigslist comes equipped with numerous factory options, including the desirable "Up Country" suspension kit that features a higher ride height and limited slip differential.
Mini Cooper Clubman S: The wagon-ized version of the classic Mini Cooper was not as much of a home-run as the first generation model with its snorty supercharged powertrain. The Clubman also didn't add a ton of usable space - it was more like a longer rear hatch floor with barn doors to make it easier to load about the same amount of cargo. Still, the classifieds pages are littered with them, and this example here on craigslist is listed for just $10,995 with a hair under 100,000 miles.
Volvo XC70: Full disclosure, I know nothing about Carvana, where this wagon is listed for sale. I've heard they are hemoraghing money and that they pay too much for used cars, but that could all be hearsay. The bottom line is, they have a lot of inventory when few dealers can say that. This 2010 Volvo XC70 has a meaty six-cylinder under the hood along with the rough-and-tough plastic body cladding that makes these waspy wagons a nice alternative to the Subaru Outback. It's listed here on craigslist with low miles for just $18,590.
If you're the kind of shopper that needs a new car every two years, there's not much I can offer for alternatives. But if you're OK with an older model that should be fairly cheap to own over the long-term, these craigslist finds are compelling options.
How High Could Gas Prices Go? Here's What Experts Fear Could Happen
Some experts fear that a ban on Russian oil imports could even lift averages over $5 per gallon
The price of regular gas broke $4 a gallon on Sunday for the first time in nearly 14 years and is now up nearly 50% from a year ago. Monday's national average of $4.104 per gallon broke a record for the all-time high, though that is not adjusted for inflation, according to GasBuddy.
The previous record was set in 2008, when prices averaged $4.103 per gallon. When adjusted for inflation, however, the record price would be equal to about $5.24.
Still, even that's a number some experts fear could be broken.
“Americans have never seen gasoline prices this high, nor have we seen the pace of increases so fast and furious. That combination makes this situation all the more remarkable and intense, with crippling sanctions on Russia curbing their flow of oil, leading to the massive spike in the price of all fuels: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and more,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a statement. “It’s a dire situation and won’t improve any time soon. The high prices are likely to stick around for not days or weeks, like they did in 2008, but months. GasBuddy now expects the yearly national average to rise to its highest ever recorded.”
Here's what we know so far and what you can expect:
How high could prices go?
De Haan said "forget the $4 per gallon mark," the nation is actually pushing closer to a national average of $4.50.
“We’ve never been in this situation before, with this level of uncertainty... Americans will be feeling the pain of the rise in prices for quite some time," he said.
According to GasBuddy, prices are expected to continue rising through the summer months, even more than usual. Some forecasts predict the national average could reach $4.25 per gallon by Memorial Day.
What does the US' ban on Russian oil imports mean for prices?
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. will ban all Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, but he acknowledged it will bring costs to Americans, particularly at the gas pump.
He warned that Americans will see rising prices, saying, “Defending freedom is going to cost.”
Biden said it was understandable that prices were rising, but cautioned the U.S. energy industry against “excessive price increases” and exploiting consumers.
“The United States economy can fully handle any of the challenges associated with higher oil prices,” Jason Furman, a Harvard professor and former top economic adviser to President Barack Obama. “But it will bring some challenges. We’re going to have higher prices at the pump, and there’s no way around that.”
A month ago, oil was selling for about $90 a barrel. Now, prices are surging around $130 a barrel as buyers shun Russian crude. Refiners had already feared being left with oil they couldn't resell if sanctions were imposed.
Energy analysts warn that prices could go as high to $160 or even $200 a barrel if buyers continue shunning Russian crude. That trend could send U.S. gasoline prices past $5 a gallon, a scenario that Biden and other political figures are desperate to avoid.
Where do things stand currently?
The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. hit a record $4.17 Tuesday, rising by 10 cents in one day, and up 55 cents since last week, according to auto club AAA.
As of Tuesday morning, the average price of gas in Illinois was $4.425, according to numbers from auto club AAA. That's up from $4.304 a day earlier.
While Illinois remains among the highest in the country, several West Coast states are seeing prices even higher. California saw totals of $5.444 and Nevada saw prices at $4.674
What's causing the spike in prices?
Prices at the pump were rising long before Russia invaded Ukraine and have spiraled faster since the start of the war. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline has soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week, according to AAA.
Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector.
Even before the U.S. ban many Western energy companies including ExxonMobil and BP moved to cut ties with the Russia and limit imports. Shell, which purchased a shipment of Russian oil this weekend, apologized for the move on Tuesday amid international criticism and pledged to halt further purchases of Russian energy supplies. Preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Department shows imports of Russian crude dropped to zero in the last week in February.
How much oil does the US get from Russia?
The United States is the world's largest oil producer — ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia — but it is also the biggest oil consumer, and it can't meet that staggering demand with domestic crude alone.
The U.S. imported 245 million barrels of oil from Russia last year — about 8% of all U.S. oil imports — up from 198 million barrels in 2020. That's less than the U.S. gets from Canada or Mexico but more than it imported last year from Saudi Arabia.
The increasingly violent Russian attack on Ukraine has increased calls to cut off Russia from the money it gets from oil and natural gas exports. Europe is heavily dependent on Russian gas.
Talk of a ban on Russian oil has led U.S. officials to consider other sources that are currently limited. In what was supposed to be a secret trip, senior U.S. officials traveled to Venezuela over the weekend to discuss the chance of easing oil sanctions on the major crude-exporting country.
In the summer of 2020, I decided that the '99 BMW M3 convertible I bought was in no way a sufficient replacement for the '95 M3 coupe I lost to headgasket failure and pending first-child arrival. The magic was gone; I knew I lost a special car two years earlier, and no amount of attempts at making up for lost time would replace what had since been built into someone's track toy.
So, in one of the easiest transactions ever, I sold the car in about 24 hours for a respectable amount over what I had into it. The guy who bought it was not my kind of person, and I didn't expect to ever see him again. Save for one time when I passed him in traffic, I haven't.
Well, John spotted the M3 on Facebook Marketplace tonight, and it's for sure my car. It made me realize there were a bunch of special parts on it I should have kept before selling it, but that's hindsight for you. What's curious is the guy selling it is asking double what I sold it for not even two years earlier. Frankly, more power to him, as I'd be amazed if he got that kind of dough out of what was at best a nice driver example of the drop-top M3 that most purists have little interest in owning.
Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a pang of regret at seeing all of the work put into that car and noticing the seller's listing didn't mention a damn thing about the cooling system refresh, the Eibach/H&R suspension, the new rear window in the (very tired and near-death) soft top, and the CD43 headunit. The good news is, however, I feel absolutely no desire to buy it back.
For years, I've resisted the need to own a Porsche. I just felt like it was too much fan-boyism, you have to own a 911 if you're a true enthusiast nonsense. Plus, they're just overpriced. Parts are expensive. Maintenance is expensive. Everything is expensive.
So, all of that works against my basic ethos of cheap cars being fun cars, and cheap cars that are cheap to maintain being even funner cars. A vintage car that not only needs frequent attention but also has extremely high parts costs is a total turn-off to someone like me, and to have the prices be elevated by the people who are comfortable paying too much for anything just makes it a non-starter.
But times are 'a changing, as they say. Specialist shops are getting harder to find, and so are vintage parts. Porsche is one of the few brands that seems committed to keeping its owners and shops stocked up with the needed resources, even if those parts and supplies are sold at staggering prices.
Those of us who are not already money managers need to find other ways to scare up fun money, and vintage cars are a way to do that (takes some work, but it's possible). Porsches hold their values incredibly well, outpacing most of its nearest competitors from the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
All that is to say, if you want to own a marque that will be supported by the long-term and is likely to appreciate over time, a Porsche is hard to fault. A 911 is out of the question for me, but a 968 isn't. It's slightly more special than a 944, and it's got some 928 magic courtesy of the flip-up headlights. My goal now is to sell the Saab and Peugeot to scare up the cash needed to buy a decent 968, and then it's off to the Porsche store for my track jacket.
Oil changes. Oil type. Oil weight. Hocus-pocus. Every single auto forum has questions from users about oil; the questions are all over the place and are usually flame-fights between people that have no idea what oil does, and fan-boys/girls of a specific brand or philosophy.
Regardless of where you stand on the oil argument, check out this YouTube short-- If you subscribe to the reasoning that you don't need to change your modern, long-life, high detergent oil, you may want to reconsider that thought!
At some point, you just can't help people. I know I crow about sellers of enthusiast vehicles being unfairly forced into selling at no reserve, but that's really not much different than believing a fat person was forced to get all their nutrition from Dairy Queen.
You have the right to say no; it's just that you're impatient, or otherwise under the impression that you need to sell your vehicle as quickly as possible, damning the consequences that it may involve in the process. That's the strangest thing about people who complain about the results of their no reserve auction: you literally don't have to sell your car that way.
There's an odd sense of compulsion that develops among some sellers whereby they decide to roll the dice on a car they absolutely know to be worth more than what the auction house is telling them. I sold my 1995 Audi S6 over the summer for what was probably a very good price, but I still feel content I got a fair deal - especially when you consider how little time I spent actually selling it. I left maybe $1,200 on the table, but it sold in a little over 12 hours. So, let's assume that the addition $1,200 would have required another five days of live selling, talking with buyers, dealing with tire kickers, etc., etc., and you multiple 120 additional hours times my professional hourly rate - well, you're talking about way more than $1,200.
Yes, there's a definite value to selling something quickly, but I also know based on how the Audi presented (bad paint) I would have gotten raked over the coals by the armchair quarterbacks on an internet auction versus a guy showing up and seeing how solid the car was mechanically. At the end of the day, I still managed the transaction myself, on my terms, and likely made more money than a glitzy internet auction would have.
There's a combination of issues happening: sellers assume that managing the sale themselves will require more time than they think, and they believe the auction houses will get a better price, and faster, than if they did it themselves. There are no guarantees for either of those conditions.
Put simply, they are being lazy. You don't want to be this guy who got absolutely FLEECED on Hemmings because, I guess, he wanted the car gone before winter. But in looking at the video, he's got quite a bit of space and the Chrysler could have absolutely stayed there a few weeks while he dealt with some in-person meetings. Multiple commenters posted that they would have been interested if they knew the car was for sale. Even if just one of those was legit, he could have likely gotten a better price for his car than agreeing to the Hemmings terms, which again - and I can't state this enough - no one is forcing you to sell your car this way.
Our platform allows you to be as detailed or as brief as you want, but the smart play is to upload your records or photos documenting maintenance work to drive higher buyer confidence, and justify a higher asking price. Craigslist is gone, Marketplace is a dumpster fire, and The Common Gear is here to help you sell your enthusiast vehicle on your own terms.
First of all, this is not a Bring a Trailer "hate post." Not at all. What it is serves more as a reminder that the bigger an entity gets, the greater the distance becomes between its intended mission and the people it claims to serve. Pierre Hedary, a noted Mercedes-Benz expert and shop owner, has politely pointed out recently that he's received an influx of customer cars bought on BaT with significant, undisclosed mechanical issues, and for that, he's been called out by the internet flash mob.
You should watch his latest video here; as usual, Pierre is extremely measured in his response, and does very little (if anything) to fan inflammatory flames. The most hilarious feedback he's received since his original video questioning the BaT effect (Why Bring A Trailer Cars are a Terrible Idea) is that he's some sort of closeted liberal, which of course, is the knee-jerk response by anyone who feels personally attacked that their open checkbook lifestyle is risky at best ("Oooh, you dare question my purchasing power, you must be a poor liberal schmuck - please), but beyond that, it's incredible how insecure folks get when someone dares question whether BaT has any integrity whatsoever about the vehicles they sell.
Listen: buying vintage cars and trucks is inherently risky behavior. Things can go wrong in a big way and you can be upside down in a hurry. That's the roll of the dice we all live with. The problem that Pierre points to is a very simple disconnect between the BaT brand and the buying experience that many real-world folks are having. BaT has, intentionally or otherwise, built a reputation that indicates they have the ability to connect buyers with the best cars and most professional sellers. If you buy on BaT, you avoid the supposed refuse that haws their wares on craigslist and Marketplace.
The reality is, this simply isn't true. Are there good cars on BaT? Yes. Are there good cars on craigslist? Yes. Are their total shitboxes in both places? Yes to that as well - but if you say it about BaT, be prepared for the pitchforks.
Many of the loyalists to BaT are the same kinds of folks who would chastise people of a certain political stripe for ardently following an elected official without asking enough questions. The irony is they don't practice what they preach as it relates to buying and selling cars, so many of them are hypocritical at best. To date, I have sold three cars on BaT and have never bought a single one of the eight vehicles I own on their platform. With few exceptions, I have been pleasantly surprised by every vehicle I own, but that's because I'm buying the seller, not the car - and that is a dynamic that's near impossible to create on BaT, where both the seller and the company leadership refuse to stand behind their products once the hammer is down and the wire transfer is complete.
Hey everyone - we're excited to share with you the first in a series of instructional videos on how to use The Common Gear to store digitized records of the maintenance and improvements you're making to your collector and vintage-grade cars and trucks.
One of our primary test users, Lars, has a 1988 BMW 325is he's been logging updates of since he bought the car last summer. From road trips to oil changes, he captures vital details about his car's history that will be useful for his own tracking purposes, or if he decides to sell the car later on.
Check out the video below for quick overview of how he uses The Common Gear for his own maintenance tracking, and watch this space for more quick instructional videos on how to put The Common Gear to work for you.
YouTube personality Tyler Hoover has been a breath of fresh air in talking candidly about his automotive purchases - the good, the bad, and the ugly. While his platform already had plenty of fame from his rapid-fire purchasing tendencies, he gained perhaps even more notoriety by being one of the first automotive celebrities to talk about a horrific experience buying an expensive restomod on BaT, and having it all go horribly wrong.
If any of you follow this world, Hoover purchased a restomod version of the iconic wing car, the Plymouth Superbird. He also produced a widely shared YouTube video wherein he discusses the numerous undisclosed flaws with the car, including a suspension so poorly tuned that the car was virtually undrivable. It led to a dust-up of sorts that prompted BaT to refund the buyer's fee. There's just one problem: it happened again.
This time, the stakes were lower: a $19,000 Citroen ID19, purchased from BaT. The car arrived with non-functioning rear brakes, several undisclosed leaks, and suspension in generally poor order. Are these repairs out of the question for an older vehicle (and a French one, no less?) No, not necessarily. But the listing shows a video of the car running and driving with relative ease, which seemingly glosses over the fact that it doesn't stop. The seller provides no details on the car's mechanical health and the listing includes zero service records. This should have been a red flag for the buyer, but he also likely thought he was buying a good car with $20,000 fewer dollars in his bank account.
Against my better judgment, we created a short video with zero editing (straight raw, as the cool kids say....maybe?) that explains what the mission of The Common Gear is.
Simply put, we built this site to securely store digitized records for our vintage and collector cars. We wanted to never again wonder where that invoice or window sticker went, or have anyone question the level of sweat equity put into a car project.
Store your records with The Common Gear. Log your project updates. Create a portal whereby you can share a secure URL with potential buyers who may want to buy your car / motorcycle / boat / etc., and plug it into auction sites should you choose to go that way. We'll bet you'll see your desired bottom dollar, if not a few more bucks.
Reach out to jeff@thecommongear.com with questions, and thanks for checking us out.
So yeah, there is an E9 in my garage that is pretty sweet. And, I have to remember not to take for granted the things I am fortunate enough to have, so I'm not going to do that. HOWEVER, I have this thing for E24 M6 hotness, especially the euro-delivery sleds, with the M88, slim bumpers, and sexiness that is the little sister to the beautiful E9 that lives in my garage.
