This week - for the first time ever - I had three vehicles up for sale. My 1991 Saab 900 Turbo SE convertible; my 1990 Audi V8 Quattro; and a 1988 Alfa Romeo Milano Verde, a non-running project car. Long and short of it? Two sales and one no-sale. Here's what went down:
Saab 900 SE: With three minutes left, it was sitting at $9,000. Over the course of three minutes, it went slightly nuts and bidding ended at $23,750. The winning bidder, a woman from Massachusetts, won the car and quickly fell apart over several phone calls. She wanted the car but clearly was surprised at what it took to win it. I never heard from her in the hours after the auction, a very, very bad sign for any seller, and my phone call that night did nothing to inspire further confidence. She cried. She cried some more. She asked for more time. She refused to send a deposit of any sustenance. She wanted me to bring the car to her. The whole thing reeked. Thankfully, the runner-up bidder contacted me the next morning expressing his interest should the first bidder flake out. Within three hours, the winning bidder had conceded she didn't have the means to store the car (which is something you should know before you enter a single, Goddamn bid) and the second bidder had wired funds within two hours of my confirming with him the car was his for the taking. A win, but one that was hard-fought.
Audi Quattro V8: This one stung a bit. There was seemingly a good amount of interest in this obscure luxury sedan early on, easily outpacing where my Euro-spec E21 was a few years back. However, the mad rush of bidding at the end never happened and the auction stalled out at $7,400. In some respects, I wish this car had sold, as it was the perfect car for Bring A Trailer: a real-deal survivor with very little in the way of flaws and in completely original condition. That's the audience for a car like that, and it will be a slightly harder sell (I think, who knows) without an educated audience that knows how few of these Autobahn cruisers are left in this sort of condition. I am in conversations with the high bidder and if we can land on a compromise number, I will likely sell it just to have the space back in the garage.
Alfa Romeo Milano Verde: This was the surprise of the week, as the Milano was a non-running project that hadn't run in at least two to three years. The sale was very quick, with a deposit received within 48 hours of listing it here on The Common Gear. The car was a good one, as it was completely stock and still had its original Recaro interior in very good condition. I sold it with a fairly generous assortment of spare parts, but that not only helped to seal the deal but also gave me some much-needed space back in the garage and got rid of parts I will no longer need. I will miss this car as I really wanted to own an Alfa with that gorgeous Busso V6 under the hood but I will need to find one that doesn't need nearly as much love given I have limited local resources for Italian car restoration. Perhaps I will buy this one back down the road when it is a runner once again.
So, there you have it. Bring A Trailer still works well when it does work, but it's by no means a guarantee of a sale. They do very little to support you in your goal of closing the transaction out successfully, which does strip away some of the magic that many of us seem to assume is part of the BaT equation. However, with the resources that The Common Gear brings to bear, I feel far more comfortable losing an auction these days knowing that my work and time invested in a given car will still be easy for the next owner to find, understand, and appreciate. I'm confident we'll find a new owner for the gorgeous Audi V8 soon.