384: How To Become A Car Specialist With RM Sotheby's President Gord Duff

384: How To Become A Car Specialist With RM Sotheby's President Gord Duff The Collector Car Podcast · Sep 11, 2025

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RM Sotheby's is the world's largest collector car auction house by total sales.

They are the preeminent market maker of high quality collector cars and collections, regardless

of size or complexity.

By working in partnership with the Sotheby's team and its network of 80 offices in 40 countries,

RM Sotheby's has established the largest client network of any collector car auction

house in the world.

Join the RM Sotheby's family by connecting with one of their car specialists at RMSotheby's.com

or contact me directly at gstanly at RMSotheby's.com.

Welcome to the Clutch of Car podcast.

I'm excited about this episode because there's a question I get from a lot of you that I honestly

can't answer.

It's, how do I become a car specialist?

Now a reason I can't answer that is because I have a very unique career path to RM Sotheby's

which I will cover at the end of this podcast.

So stay tuned if you would like to hear my wacky career path.

But I thought, you know what, who's the best person to answer this question?

So I'd like to welcome Gord Duff, president of RM Sotheby's to the podcast.

Gord, how are you doing, buddy?

Good, good.

Thanks for having me.

Well, I appreciate you being on the podcast to talk about this because, you know, everybody

thinks it's the dream job.

Obviously there's some really cool stuff about the job, but it is a much harder job than

I ever thought it would be.

And you know, it's an interesting job because nobody knows, like, what are the

skill sets?

You know, there's not a college degree and being a car specialist and you and

I both come from abnormal career paths to end up where we are today.

But from an RM perspective, like, if you had advice to give someone who's at 12 or 13-year-old

car enthusiast who would love to join the ranks of RM one day, like, what kind of advice

would you give them?

Like, what's a great, you know, avenue experience, education that you really look

for when you're interviewing candidates?

You know, let's even say a 25-year-old or a 35-year-old, but, you know, the most

important thing or kind of the first thing is the passion for the cars and, you

know, it being something you really enjoy and you're not coming into it as you

think you can make a lot of money doing it or you see others that appear to be,

you know, super successful at it.

But one, it's kind of having the passion for the cars.

Two, definitely knowledge and the ability to learn, you know, quickly and, you know,

being able to have a really good memory.

I think that's a super important part, whether it's the history of a car,

certain years that certain models were built, knowing what a car sold for five

years ago or what the market was on a car before, what it is now, what it might

be in the future, being able to connect dots on who used to own what,

who's looking for what.

You know, that's a big piece to our businesses.

You know, we visit clients throughout the year and, you know, you're always

getting pieces of information of, you know, I might want to sell that in six

months or I'm looking for one of these if you ever find one and, and, you

know, the ability to be able to retain that information and be able to connect

dots, whether it's a week later, six months later, two months, two years

later, that's the crucial piece.

And, and, you know, the people that are out there, colleagues of mine,

friends of mine, just in the industry, like the ones that are super successful,

that's one of the main ingredients, I think, is having that, that really good

memory and being, being able to connect dots.

That makes a lot of sense because as I'm doing this in a full-time capacity

now, you know, you think about, well, you know, there's a, whatever, an

E-type for sale are available privately and you got to remember, wait, I

had a client, you know, six months ago that said he'd like to have an

E-type or whatever the car might be, I did, you know, that is something I

wanted to have necessarily thought as being super important, but you're

right, it's something that you really need to remember who is looking for

what, who has what, who might move on, you know, it's part of a larger

world, I guess, that you need to keep track of, right?

And being able to understand, you know, the, the, the type of car that

that, you know, each client is into a different either type of car or

quality of car, some like more driver quality.

They like doing rallies or they just like a great old car where

others are like, I want to go to concourse, so I want perfect

stuff and don't call me if it isn't a perfect car or an original

color or et cetera, et cetera.

So there's also, you know, that calibration through it all as well

as to somebody that wants a, you know, an F40 with miles on it

versus the guy that's only buying delivery mileage stuff or, you

know, Shelby Mustang or a Cobra and they like doing their show car

person, not a, you know, car tour driver type person.

So it's understanding that so that, you know, when you're either

trying to consign or sell cars, you're, you know, you build good

relationships with these people and then you're coming to them

with cars that are actually fit within their collection or that

they're looking for and not just throwing any E type as you

would say at them, you're, you're putting one in front of

them that's like, hey, this would be good for your collection

because of XYZ or, you know, when you're trying to sell stuff

for them, I guess, works both ways.

Yeah, the other thing I was really surprised by is, you

know, you join RM, it's not like, hey, here's your client

list, here's the book, here's, you know, you got to find

your clients, right? You got a network, you got to meet

people, you got to understand who's out there who's

looking, who's selling, who's buying and so much of it is

building these long lasting relationships, right, in which

they trust you, they trust your opinion. It's not like you

show up and hey, here you go, right? I mean, you kind of

have to build your own relationship network.

I always tell people if they're interested in coming to work

for us or just in general, they're younger and they're

like, hey, someday I'd like to get into this is, you

know, getting into its one thing, getting good at

it and great at it is just takes time. You know, I

tell a brand new specialist three to five years until

you one, get comfortable to get a decent client base and

you start, you know, being able to consign good cars and

sell good cars and kind of get a, you know, your own

client base together that trusts you and it's about

being honest and being long term, right, making sure

that when you're selling a car to somebody, we sell

cars to people over the phone all the time that never

see them and they're going based off me telling

them this is a good car for you and, you know, a lot of

time they're like, okay, like they trust me because I've

built a relationship with them over a long time, you

know, that they'll buy cars site unseen. But it's, it

takes a lot of, you know, sacrifice as well. You

got to be on the road a lot. You got to be willing

to go to all these car shows and that's where it

comes back to, you know, you got to love doing

this and, you know, kind of you work hard enough

you're going to be successful in this, but some

people it comes quicker to than others, but, you

know, three to five years is to just kind of start

to get comfortable and then in, you know, 10 years

you can see it, 15 years you can really start

seeing it. It's definitely a long term play, but

you got to give up lots of, you know, weekends

away with friends and away from your girlfriend

or your family or, you know, those kind of

things to sacrifice in order to, if you

really want to be great at this job. Yeah,

agreed. Now, can you speak a little bit to the

Dare to Dream collection? Because if I remember

correctly, that was a long-term relationship that

you build up personally and help them source

the cars for that. Is that correct? Yeah, there

was me and actually a few, you know, friends

of mine in the industry that, you know, had

sold him most of his cars, but, you know,

I kind of met him just randomly on a weekend

while I was up in Toronto and it, you know,

went from, you know, a collection where he had

20 or 30 cars that were 50 to 100 grand a piece

to I'll never buy a car for a million dollars

and within two or three years it kind of,

he switched, right? He just kind of started

getting into the bigger stuff and, yeah, we

were, we're still great friends. I go

hang out with him in the summer now

with his family at his cottage and whatnot,

but, you know, that was 15 years of

kind of, you know, doing the right thing,

selling him the right cars, telling him no

when he wanted a car and it wasn't good

enough for him or, you know, he was looking

to me and, you know, other people in the

industry to steer him right and, you

know, we did. You know, we made sure

that he bought the right cars and stayed

away from, you know, the ones that

weren't up to snuff of what he wanted,

but, you know, that's what our business

of 40 years is based on are these

relationships that, you know, Rob has had

and Shelby has had and, you know, lots of

us that, you know, have been here for

10, 15, 25, 30 years kind of thing.

Yeah, and, crazy if I'm wrong here,

but wasn't it the blue Daytona that

you made sure he went out and got

just the right one, which, yes, it

cost him more money at the time, but

then, you know, when it did

eventually sell it also, you know,

realized, I don't know that it was

a record, but a really strong price

because of the quality of the example.

Yeah, I'd say selling it was more luck.

I wouldn't have expected it to bring

that kind of price. I think it was like

a million dollars hammered his auction,

but when he wanted it, I was like,

it's the right car, but you're going

to pay World Record money for this

car and when you wake up in the

morning, you're going to read stuff

about it and people might say this

crazy guy came and bought this car

and, you know, other people might

tell you the right, the same thing,

but it is the best. It is a killer

car and if you want it, you're just

going to have to step up and he did

and, you know, surprisingly, I thought

it was worth about what he paid for it.

You know, this is 10 or 12 years later

and, you know, it got into a bidding

or between two people at the auction

and lo and behold, I think it hammered

at like a million dollars or a million

fifty, which if it's not a record,

I think it's the second highest

price ever paid for a Daytona Coupe.

So, you know, certain things

that he bought, buying the best of the

best, you'll always be, you know,

okay in the end with.

Right. Right. Yeah. Okay.

Well, I feel like I probably have some

listeners now that are excited because

they're like, okay, I've got the passion.

I'm ready to go on the road.

I'm ready to do this at any other,

but they're not necessarily equipped

whether that's from a knowledge basis

education training.

So, I know we've had some McPherson

college graduates.

I know myself included. I try to

judge cars at car shows because I want

to increase my knowledge base on certain

models, make some models.

What would you recommend has been

like maybe the most successful pass?

Is that like, hey, you know what?

I worked at a luxury dealership

that also had classic cars.

I know there's a lot of different

ways to kind of get to your knowledge

base. Right.

You know, if I look at people that

work for us that are, you know,

started when they were 25 years old

or started when they were 40 years

old, like, to be really successful,

you're either, you know, you come from

maybe a research side of things

where you're really knowledgeable on

cars so that, you know, coming to work

for an auction house, let's say, like,

you know, the clientele wants somebody

that knows what they're talking about.

And, you know, that's a good way for

some people. The other side is

you got to be a good talker.

Right. You need to, you need to be

honest and, you know, you need to

have a little bit of salesmanship in

you that you're not scared to go walk up

to a stranger or that you can be an easy

person to carry on a conversation with.

And, you know, the knowledge will come

in time. You know, I remember a friend

of mine when I first got into being

a specialist and, you know, I'm going

on the road visiting people and I'm

like, I'm going to walk in garages

and I won't know anything about the

kind of cars they have. And he was

kind of like, just remember the

people you're going to see will

always know more about their cars

than you were. You will, you know, the

histories and that kind of stuff. And

you just sit there and listen and soak up

as much as you can. And, you know, I

feel like over the years every car I've

consigned I really didn't know much

about. That was the car that, that

because I consigned it I learned a

ton about and then it just stuck

with me. So then times that by

whatever 20 plus years and, you know,

you end up knowing a lot. And I

think for younger people, you know,

if you can get your foot in the

door with auction houses are great

because we sell a little bit of

everything. So we sell cars from 1900

to, you know, a modern-day SP3. So

you get to learn a lot whereas if you

go into a restoration shop and they

only restore E-type Jags, you're just

going to get to know E-type Jags.

We're, you know, working for an

auction house, whether you're a

writer or your researcher. We've had

guys that started, you know, at

McPherson where they were working

summers for us or they would work

line-up at our auctions and, you know,

they were good with their hands or knew

how to drive things and they'd come in

and help us move cars around and drive

them across the block and, you know,

they get to know clientele. They get

to know a lot about, you know,

hundreds of different kind of cars

and how to drive them and, and then

they kind of, you know, figure out

their path from there. We've, we've

got some people that, you know,

are researchers and writers for us

and we got, you know, three McPherson

grads that, that are car specialists

for us now, but they started working

in line-up. They started pushing cars

around at an auction kind of just like

me. So it was like, they just, they came

at it maybe a humble way and, and learned

as they went. And I don't think any of

them thought maybe initially like

that's what I want to become when I

get older and it just kind of happened

or they, they started, their eyes

started opening up to, you know, all

the different possibilities in this

industry of like, you know, all the

different directions you can go. But,

you know, McPherson is a great one

writing for, you know, auction houses

or if you can get an internship at a

restoration shop just to get your

foot in the door. I think anywhere

is, is great to get going and then

you kind of just, you know, you can

make three, four, five different moves

as you grow in order to get into

whether you go work for a dealership

or you come work for an auction

house or something, but we're one

of the best places to learn the most

about cars since we touch so many

different kinds of cars throughout, you

know, a year. Yeah, that's a good point.

Like I'm not a pre-war guy, but I know

more now today than I ever have in my

life. Yeah. Still hesitant to drive on.

I do want to get that training class

one day. Okay, no, that's really,

really good information. What's the

best way for folks to learn more? I

know we have like a LinkedIn profile

that you can tab on to to see if

there's opportunities. Is that

correct? Yeah, I, you know, we're

always looking for great specialists.

It's nice if you come with, you know, a

bit of background and knowledge of the

industry or from, you know, like a

restoration shop or something like

that. We have trained lots of guys

from, you know, the ground up, but

you're going to start doing a lot of

different stuff before you become a

specialist. We're not going to hire

any, you know, 22-year-old and

you're going to become a specialist

right away. I think, you know, with the

team that we have, you know, in North

America, more so, they've come from

kind of humble beginnings of doing a

lot of other stuff and have just

grown over time and, you know, we got a

couple of them that are just

fantastic and it's nothing I could

have seen, you know, 10 years ago

of what they've become today. You

know, we had a McPherson grad and I

don't think he ever thought he was

going to sell the world's most expensive

F-50 ever and that happened, you know,

this summer forum and it's fantastic

and it was a relationship that he

built for, you know, several years

with the family and he was, you know,

finally able to secure the car and,

you know, worked for a company like

us with a great brand and, you know,

we were able to put a world record

price together for him, but it's

pretty cool from where he came from,

you know, 10 or 12 years ago to

today. So it's, you know, it's

possible for anybody if you want to

put in the time. Yeah, no, that's a great

way to put it. So I'll put links in the

description so folks that are listening

to this can check out, see what might

be available at RM Sotheby's, but before

I let you go, two things real quick.

Can you give me your thoughts on the

Monterey week because you just

referenced the F-50 record price,

quite a few record prices

happening over the weekend? Yeah, you

know, overall the

the market was really strong. I, we

had a better auction than I

honestly expected we would have. I, you

know, knew the F-50 would do a good

price and I knew the SP-3 would

be strong that we sold for charity, not

nearly what it brought, but

what was your number on that car?

You know, 12 to 15. Okay. You know,

that's what was kind of in my head. I

knew it was north of 10. I did not

believe it would be 20 plus.

Right. You know, amazing result,

amazing that we have such a great

relationship with Ferrari. But, you

know, across the board prices were

strong from a Yanco Camaro to a 512

TR to a 599 GTO to, you know, we

sold a great Duesenberg and a 500K

for really strong money for, you

know, pre-war classics. So, overall

I was, I was, you know,

happily surprised with our results

and, you know, when you looked

around, you know, with even all

our competitors, everybody had a

really good weekend. So, you know, if

it's good for all of us, it's good

for the market overall, it's good for

all of us going forward. So, no, it

was really happy and relieved. It's

over. It was, you know, a six-month

worth of work, you know, putting all

that stuff together, but super happy

for the success of, you know, the

team and our company and everything

and what we achieved a couple weeks

ago.

Yeah. Yeah. Really amazing work. Well,

before I let you go, I know I'll

cover my not-typical career path

after we're done, but could you just

give our listeners a little insight

into your not-typical career path

because I think it's really

fascinating one. What little I know

about it?

Yeah. So, started almost 27 years

ago, did an internship here, like

some of my other colleagues have done,

you know, since me, but did an

internship cleaning cars, started,

you know, working our auctions,

pushing cars, driving cars across

the auction block, got into

transporting cars for us. So, I

drove our transport truck all over

the place, like a reliable carrier's

truck really like that, did some

logistics for auctions, setting up

venues and whatnot, and then moved

into a specialist role and, you know,

just kind of wanted to go from

consigning five cars to 10 cars to

15 cars to my first million-dollar

car, and it, you know, took a lot

of time. It doesn't seem that long

in the moment, I guess, but like

looking back, I'm like, oh, I've

been doing this for 15 plus years

as a specialist and, you know,

everything I learned from the

driving the cars to transporting

cars, I got to learn the customers,

I got to learn the cars and how to

start them all and drive them and,

you know, good ones from bad ones

from all of that. So, that helped,

you know, bring me through to

understanding the cars in a

better way and, and, you know, all

the stuff I was learning of the

cars I was transporting, got me

into learning 34 Packards from

37 Espanos, from, you know, name

the car. It was all the things I

didn't realize I was learning at the

time. And, and, you know, it's

nothing that I would have ever

expected, like every thing that's

kind of happened to me over 27

years, none of it was, you know,

one day I want to be this or

that kind of thing. It just, I

don't know, the next little step

happened and then you look back

and it's like, oh, I've taken a

lot of steps in 27 years. So,

yeah, I like the kind of way it

came about for me, but it was

nothing that I would have ever

expected.

Yeah, and I have to say from my

food industry side, I started as a

cracker stacker, slinging Oreo

cookies part-time into grocery

stores. And, you know, I made my

way up to district manager and as

a manager and as you as the

president, in my mind, you have

so much more trust and

credibility when you started in

the trenches, you know, you're

not someone that just kind of came

over, you know, because you have

an ideally degree or something,

you know, like you've been here,

you've done everything, you've

seen everything, you've been a

part of everything. And I think

that really good for the troops,

I guess, is the best way to put it.

Yeah, I wanted to be at the top

of the pile for being a

specialist and, you know, consign

the most stuff and help sell the

most stuff. And that's where I

thought, you know, the top was

and didn't realize that, you know,

there was more to come after that.

I didn't expect to be running a

company or, you know, managing a

lot of people. It is, you know,

I like doing the car deals and

meeting the clients and that kind

of stuff, but it's great. I get

to do, you know, both now. So it's,

it's, yeah, I don't know how it

could get any better.

I was about to ask, is this it? You

topped out here? You're going to...

Who knows, right? Who knows, right?

Still got a long road ahead, so

we'll see what happens.

Well, Gore, thank you so much for

giving some insight as far as what

it takes to be a car specialist

in an auction world, especially

with ones such as Arm Sotheby's.

I appreciate you being on the

podcast.

Yeah, no, thanks for having me.

Okay, so you've heard from Gore

Duff on what it takes to become

a car specialist at Arm

Sotheby's. Now I will share with you

my non-traditional career path.

I get this question so much.

Originally, this was going to be

the podcast episode.

It was going to be how I became a

car specialist with Arm Sotheby's,

but then I realized that probably

won't help out most people because

it's such a weird career path.

So what happened was, is I've been

in the food industry for over 30

years, or around 30 years. I'm not

that old.

Anyways, started when I was like

17, 18. I was working for Nabisco

summers from college, ended up

quitting college after four years.

I did not graduate and I started

working for Nabisco full-time.

So long story short, I did the

corporate career path in the

consumer products goods category.

Now what this means for you is

if you are not in the car world,

it honestly doesn't matter if you

would like to explore a path

as a car specialist.

And so the reason I said that is

because I had it in my head, I would

love to be more involved in cars.

I just have such a passion for them.

As you can tell after almost 400

episodes of the Click to Car

podcast, I'm doing this for fun.

I'm not getting paid.

At least when I started it, I wasn't

getting paid anything. It's just a

passion project.

So fast forward to about, I don't

know, six years ago or so,

I was doing a podcast called Learn

from Others where I would share

the career journey of different

professions.

And the ideal scenario was, is that

it was teenagers were my listeners.

So I would share whether you're a

doctor, I had the director for

Hamilton on, I had the press writer

for Ronald Reagan,

all sorts of cool stuff.

Not a lot of cool people.

But I still kind of wanted to have

cars involved somehow in this

educational podcast for kids.

So you can still find it if you

go to Learn from Others.

It's on Apple iTunes, that kind

of stuff.

So at the end of every episode, I

would pick like what car would a

doctor have?

What car would the director for

Hamilton have?

And I would pick something fun,

interesting, could be a classic

car, could be a new car, whatever.

It was just a fun exercise for me

to intertwine

collector cars into my podcast.

So after a while it was the guy,

I cannot remember his name, but he

was the speech writer for Ronald

Reagan.

We were having a

conversation after the recording

and I forgot how he got on it.

But basically he said, if people

were to sum you up in three words

or less, what would they call you?

And I said, oh, that's easy.

They would call me the car guy.

And he said, well then you should

probably have a car podcast.

Now that sounds brilliant.

That sounds really, you know,

simple today.

But at the time I was like, you

know what, you're probably right.

Why am I kind of spinning my

wheels doing something that is

a passion, but it's not like the

overall driving passion of what I do.

And so I tried to do both podcasts

for a while.

I did learn from others and I did

the collector car podcast in tandem

for a while.

It was just too much.

Learn from others did not take off

like I hoped it would.

And so I ended up shutting that

down.

But like I said, I'm still paying

five bucks a month to keep it

active.

So you can listen to some of those

old episodes.

Now in the meantime, I was a huge

Mustang fan.

So back when I was 19 years old,

I joined the Mustang Club,

Mustang Club of America.

And then eventually when I became

of age where I could actually afford

a Mustang.

So let's call this mid 30s.

I decided I wanted to become a

Mustang judge because someone once

told me you never know what is

wrong with a car until you know

what is right with a car.

And they said you should become

a judge based on whatever car

you like in CRS for Corvettes,

you know, Pontiac.

I don't know what the name of

their club is.

But anyway, so I became a

Mustang Club of America judge.

And that is a really good way to

know what you're looking at.

And so for a little bit of

background in that world,

as well as in CRS,

you're focusing on like one or

two years, you know,

maybe in CRS as a generation,

I'm not sure you could focus on

C2 Corvettes.

But you're you literally know,

learn what is the right hose

clamp, what is the right nut,

the bolt,

you're underneath the undercarriage,

you're looking at the brake

calipers,

you're looking at the kind of

tires, the size of tires,

everything.

So that was a great learning

process for me.

So fast forward to,

you know,

six years ago or so,

I've got the Collector Car

podcast up and running.

I probably have maybe 60 or 70

interviews recorded.

And I just happened to see an

article or a job posting on

LinkedIn for a car specialist

with RM Sotheby's.

And I had never been to an

RM Sotheby's auction.

I had never,

I had been to Bear Jackson

auction in the early 90s

once with my sister,

but zero experience in the

collector car world,

zero experience in the auction

world.

And I just thought,

you know what,

probably cocky at the time.

I'm like, hey, I'll,

I'll apply and they'll offer me

this job where I get paid a

bunch of money and I get to

do fun stuff.

Right.

I was so wrong.

So I customized my resume

so that it appealed more

towards the car worlds.

I emphasized the Mustang

judging.

I emphasized the collector

car podcast.

And so I sent the resume in

and I didn't hear anything.

Is that like for months?

I didn't hear anything.

And so eventually RM Sotheby's

had a sale in Dayton, Ohio.

So I'm in Cincinnati.

If you're from Dayton,

they pronounce it Dayton.

Dayton.

They say you have to make it

sound like your tongues numb.

Dayton.

Anyways,

and they did the John Dixon

collection,

which he had passed away.

It was in a state sale.

A lot of porches,

a career of speech or

some cool stuff.

And so I thought,

you know what,

I've never been to an RM

Sotheby's auction.

Why don't I just

go in there and see what it's

all about.

So I show up

and the very first person

I see walking by

that I actually recognize

was Donnie Gold.

He was with RM Sotheby's

at the time.

And I had seen him on like,

I don't know,

chasing classic cars

or some TV show.

Him as the expert.

And so I said,

Hey, Donnie,

I submitted a resume

and I never heard back.

And he immediately pointed,

he kept walking.

He immediately pointed to

the president

of RM Sotheby's

at the time

and said,

go talk to that guy.

And so he kept walking.

Now if you ask him today,

he takes credit

for getting me a job

with RM Sotheby's.

Anyways,

so I talked to the president.

He said,

Hey, you know what?

The spam filters

probably kicked out your resume.

Here's my email address.

Send me your resume directly.

So I did that

and I didn't hear anything

for like three months.

And then finally,

I heard from him

and it was,

it wasn't a job offer.

It was,

Hey, we're not going to offer

you a job.

But we really like your podcast.

We like the connections you're making

and the people you're talking to.

So we would like to

pick up your podcast

as our official podcast

and we would offer you

a consulting gig

where I could get paid

as if I was a car specialist,

but I would just do it part time

or as I,

as I could.

Now at the time,

we also had our Auburn sale.

And so I was fortunate.

I got a cold call list

from Sotheby's

and I started calling around

and I met someone

who became a great friend

and he ended up selling

22 cars with me

over two years at Auburn.

And so as I'm doing this

consulting gig

and working my full time

food job,

it was,

and doing the podcast

at,

for a while doing both podcasts,

obviously I was working

a ton of hours.

It was just so, so much.

Well, in the meantime,

I was able to consign

the 330,

the Ferrari 330 LM

slash 250 GTO

that eventually sold for

all in at $51.7 million.

And so that gave me

a little nest egg

in which I could say,

you know what?

I really enjoy doing this.

I'm having success

as a part-time consultant

and I was able to get this

really amazing car

in front of our Sotheby's

that they ended up selling

for a world record price.

Why don't I try to do this

full time?

And so that's when I,

I called up Gord,

our now president

who you just heard from

and basically said,

Hey, I want to come on full

time.

Can you bring me on board?

And he graciously agreed to

do so.

And I've been doing it full

time for about a year.

So I'm not saying

you should start your own podcast.

I don't know the answer,

but I just thought

I would share with you

my non-typical career path

to end up at my dream job.

And it literally started

with a podcast.

And I cannot stress

your no,

you're not,

you're never too old

to try to get into this

business.

I mean, look at me.

I started trying to get

my foot into the door

when I was,

I don't know,

48, 49 years old.

I'm a little bit older than

that now.

Actually, probably 46.

Anyways,

so it's been a heck

of a ride.

I appreciate all of you

joining me for such a long time.

And if you're new to this

and you'd like to be on my

newsletter,

just shoot me a note

gstanley at rmsuthabees.com

or greg at thecollectivecarpodcast.com.

As always, thanks for watching.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for sharing.

And I will talk to all of you

next week.

About this episode

Gord Duff, president of RM Sotheby's, shares insights on becoming a car specialist in the collector car auction industry. He emphasizes the importance of passion, knowledge, and relationship-building in this unique career path. Duff discusses the skills needed, such as memory retention and understanding client preferences, and reflects on his own unconventional journey to success. The episode also touches on the recent Monterey auction results, highlighting record-breaking sales and the evolving market dynamics. Listeners gain valuable advice on how to enter and thrive in the automotive auction world.

Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Corvette Ferrari 250 GTO Ferrari F40 Ferrari F50 Ford Mustang Jaguar E-Type Shelby Cobra

Original notes

What does it really take to become a Car Specialist at the world's leading collector car auction house? In this episode, I sit down with Gord Duff, President of RM Sotheby's, to explore the skills, knowledge, and passion required to succeed in one of the most exciting careers in the automotive world.

Gord shares his personal journey, offers insider advice for aspiring specialists, and explains how RM Sotheby's evaluates and markets the rarest cars in the world. We also review the recent Monterey results, highlighting market trends, record-setting sales, and what they mean for collectors moving forward.

I also open up about my own not-so-typical career path — how I transitioned from the consumer packaged goods industry into the collector car world, and how launching The Collector Car Podcast ultimately played a key role in consigning the $51.7M Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO, the most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction.

🔑 Topics include:

The pathway to becoming a Car Specialist
The mix of passion, expertise, and client service needed to succeed
Lessons from RM Sotheby's Monterey auction results
My own unconventional journey from CPG to consigning the world's most valuable Ferrari
Key insights into where the collector car market is headed

#CollectorCars #RMSothebys #MontereyCarWeek #CarSpecialist

Listen to the "Octane FM: Shift, Rev, Repeat" album on Spotify!

Stay connected with The Collector Car Podcast—find us on our Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or reach out to Greg directly via email.

Join RM Sotheby's Car Specialist Greg Stanley as he brings over 25 years of experience and keen market analysis to the world of collector cars. Each week, Greg dives into market trends, interviews industry experts, and shares insights—with a little fun along the way. New episodes drop every Thursday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more at www.TheCollectorCarPodcast.com or email Greg at [email protected].
Interested in consigning a car at an RM Sotheby's auction? Contact Greg directly at [email protected].

The Collector Car Podcast

Greg Stanley

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