The Dodge Viper is an American sports car with a big V8 and a very bold, old-school feel. It’s a popular pick with car fans because it’s so distinctive.
The Toyota Supra is a famous sports car from Japan. “Mark IV” is just a specific generation of the Supra, from the early 1990s, that car fans really like.
“Porsche Turbo” usually means a Porsche 911 with a turbocharged engine. Fans associate it with strong power and high-speed performance, not just a styling package.
They call certain round-number auctions “milestone sales,” like when they reach a big lot number. It’s basically a celebration of how far the site has gone.
“Too heavy” means the car weighs more than people expect, which can make it feel slower or less agile. They’re describing the kind of criticism people had about that early listing.
Term
half-million-dollar car
They’re talking about a car that’s worth around $500,000. The point is that it was a very high price for their site at the time.
Term
temple auction
A “temple auction” sounds like a traditional auction-house style sale where the car is shown around and promoted to get attention from buyers. It’s usually more event-like than a purely online auction.
A “BAT auction” means an online auction run by Bring a Trailer. People bid on the car during the auction window, and the final price is set by the highest bidder.
“Short wheelbase” means the car’s front and rear wheels are closer together than on a longer version. That can make the car feel quicker to turn, but it can also feel less settled at speed.
An auction house is a company that helps sell cars by running a bidding event. They usually handle the listing, promotion, and the steps needed to get the car sold.
A guaranteed sale amount means the seller is promised a minimum price. If the bidding doesn’t reach that number, the guarantee is supposed to make up the difference.
“BAT fee structure” means how Bring a Trailer charges money when a car gets listed and sold. The point here is that their fees are set up so there’s still room to make the deal work even for very expensive cars.
It’s a saying that means there’s still some extra value left after you take care of the main costs. Here, it’s about whether the fees still leave room to make the process work.
The Datsun Z is a famous line of classic Nissan sports cars. Here, they’re talking about a specific Datsun Z that was sold for charity with no minimum price.
A “local partner” is someone in the area who helps with the listing and sale. They’re basically a trusted local helper rather than the main team doing everything themselves.
On Bring a Trailer, “watch count” is how many people clicked to follow a car listing. It’s a better sign of real interest than just how many people viewed it.
“View count” is how many times people looked at the car’s listing page. The hosts use it to show that expensive cars can get attention, but not necessarily lots of serious bids.
Car
22B STI
The Subaru 22B STI is a super rare Subaru rally car. People love it because it was built in tiny numbers and has a very distinctive look, so it’s highly collectible.
They’re talking about rules that decide when a car is allowed to be imported. When that changes, collectors suddenly can buy cars that were previously hard or impossible to bring in.
“White glove” is a service-level term meaning extra-care, high-touch handling—typically meticulous presentation, careful logistics, and premium customer experience. In car sales, it implies the seller is treating the transaction like a concierge service rather than a basic listing.
“Brokerage” here means helping people buy or sell cars without being the direct seller. The broker’s job is to connect the right car with the right buyer and handle the details.
The Datsun 280Z is a classic sports car coupe. The podcast is comparing it to other Z models from earlier and later years. People talk about it because it’s a well-liked car from the Z-car lineup.
ITBs means “individual throttle bodies.” It’s a setup where each part of the engine gets its own throttle control, which can make the car respond more sharply when you press the gas.
A restomod is an old car that’s been updated with modern parts. The goal is usually to keep the classic look and feel, but make it drive and perform better than it did originally.
The Porsche Cayenne Turbo is a fast, performance-focused version of Porsche’s SUV. The host is pointing out it has relatively low mileage, as part of the collector’s impressive lineup.
The Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG is a high-performance version of the Mercedes E-Class. The podcast is talking about using the E55’s engine in other cars as part of a custom build. That’s why it comes up in discussions about engine swaps.
A six-speed manual is a car where you change gears yourself with a clutch and a gear stick. It can make an older car feel more fun and more controllable to drive.
The Mercedes-Benz E55 is a performance V8 Mercedes. Here, someone is putting that V8 into an older Mercedes so the car feels faster and easier to drive, without changing how it looks.
Term
low pivot swing axle rear end
This is a type of rear suspension where the rear wheels can swing on a pivot. Some versions can make the car feel twitchy or unstable, especially when you’re driving hard, so swapping it out can improve handling.
Steel wheels are wheels made of steel instead of alloy. They often look more basic and classic, and in this case the host says they stand out even when the rest of the styling is toned down.
A livery is the car’s paint and graphics—like stripes, decals, and the overall look. The host means that without the graphics, the car would seem less special.
Hubcaps are the covers that go over the wheel’s center to make it look cleaner or more factory. They’re saying hubcaps can hide what’s different about the wheels.
A “project car” is a car you buy with the intention of fixing it up. People often try to find one with good-looking paint/bodywork so they don’t have to spend a ton of time and money on cosmetics.
“Cosmetic issues” are problems that affect how the car looks—like dents, bad paint, or rust. Fixing those can be expensive and take a lot of time, even if the car runs fine.
A “six-cylinder” engine is an engine with six combustion cylinders. The speaker is saying they might plan to remove that engine as part of the project, which affects how much work they’ll need to do.
“Period parts” means parts that fit the car’s original time period. People like using them because it keeps the build looking authentic to how the car would have been back then.
“M5” is BMW’s high-performance model line. Here, the speaker is saying the E9 build used a V8 that came from an M5, so the older car gets a much stronger engine. It’s like using a newer performance engine to upgrade an older body.
“E12” is a BMW 5 Series from an older generation. The host is mentioning it because someone did a custom build on one, showing how popular these older BMWs are for creative upgrades. It’s not just about the original car—it’s about what people build from it.
A “cross-generational upgrade” means upgrading an older car using parts from a newer (or different) generation. The host is saying some German brands make this easier because the car’s basic attachment points and layout don’t change as much. So the swap is less complicated than it would be on other cars.
Car
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is brought up as another German brand that tends to make upgrades easier across different years. The idea is that some of the car’s basic engineering stays consistent, so swapping parts is less of a fabrication project. That’s why people choose these brands for custom builds.
“Bolt positions for engine mounts” refers to the fixed locations where the engine attaches to the chassis via mounting points. If those mounting points stay consistent across multiple model years or generations, it becomes much easier to swap an engine into a different car with less custom fabrication. In this segment, the speaker uses it to explain why Porsche 911 swaps are relatively straightforward compared with cars that changed mounting layouts more often.
The BMW E21 is an older BMW 3 Series. People often modify them by swapping in a manual “five-speed” and sport parts like Recaro seats, and sometimes upgrading the rear differential for better traction.
A “five-speed” means the car has a manual gearbox with five forward gears. More gears can make it easier to keep the engine in the right power range while driving.
The rear differential controls how power goes to the two rear wheels. A limited-slip version helps when one wheel loses traction, so the car can still put power down instead of just spinning.
The Ford Falcon is an older Ford model that people often modified for performance. In this discussion, they’re saying a Falcon could be upgraded in a similar way—more power, a manual gearbox, and safety/handling add-ons.
A roll bar is a safety frame inside the car. It helps protect you if the car tips over, and it can also make the car feel more solid when driving hard.
A Shelby Mustang is a special, higher-performance version of the Ford Mustang. The podcast is talking about the idea of how a particular Shelby model might have been different if it used a different base car. People discuss it because Shelby Mustangs are well-known and collectible.
The Shelby GT350 is a famous high-performance car associated with Shelby. The host is basically saying the Falcon could have ended up with a similar “Shelby-like” performance vibe if it had been built that way.
“Concor” is shorthand for a car show/concours event. It’s the kind of place where people talk about and show off collector cars, including restored and modified ones.
Route 66 is a legendary road trip route in the U.S. People travel it to see classic roadside places like old diners and motels that used to be all along the highway.
They’re saying they don’t need air conditioning for the trip. What matters more to them is that the car starts reliably and doesn’t cause problems on the road.
Fuel injection is a newer way of getting gas into the engine. It usually makes the car start easier and run more consistently than older carburetors, which is why it’s popular for updated classic cars.
Carburetors are an older system that mixes fuel and air for the engine. “Single-barrel” and “four-barrel” describe different carb designs, and the point here is that fuel injection can replace them for easier, more reliable driving.
A fuel curve is basically the “recipe” for how much fuel the car should add in different situations. Tuning it helps the engine run smoothly instead of too rich or too lean.
Car
Randy's Chrysler downstairs, 300B
The Chrysler 300B is a classic 1960s Chrysler that’s famous for its big, old-school American style. Here it’s mentioned as a great choice for a long road trip because it feels like an “Americana” cruiser.
A two-speed transmission has only two forward gears. Even though it sounds simple, the car can still cruise fine if the gearing and engine power match the driving you want.
The Lincoln Continental is a big, comfortable luxury car made by Lincoln. It’s the kind of car people associate with classic American style, and it’s recognizable enough to be used in movies.
A headlight is the front light on a car that helps you see and be seen at night. If it’s “busted out,” the car likely has damage and may not be safe or legal to drive.
Route 66 is the famous American road people associate with classic road trips. Bringing up that it started in 1926 is a way to set up a 100-year theme for the discussion.
The Chevrolet Camaro is a muscle car from Chevrolet. The podcast is specifically calling out a 1976 Camaro, saying it didn’t feel as strong as people expect from the muscle-car name. That’s usually tied to how the car was tuned and equipped for emissions at the time.
A C4 Corvette is a specific generation of Chevrolet Corvette from the 1980s. People like it because it’s a classic Corvette era, and there are different versions to choose from.
The Morgan Plus 4 is a small sports car made in the UK. The podcast is talking about a specific year (like 1985) of the Plus 4. People bring it up because it’s a classic-style sports car.
Term
Little 4 plus 3
“4 plus 3” is a shorthand for how the car’s gearing is split into two parts. It’s basically a way to say the transmission has more gear combinations than you’d get from just one set of gears.
Term
crossfire objection
“Crossfire” here refers to a particular engine design. They’re saying some people don’t like it, likely because it changes how the engine feels or how it’s set up.
Term
21-speed transmissions
“21-speed” means the car has lots of gear ratios. That can help the engine stay in the right RPM range, but it doesn’t guarantee the car will be quicker.
A “Targa” is a Porsche roof type where you can remove part of the roof, but the car still has a strong frame for safety. It feels more open than a normal coupe, but it’s not a full convertible.
“Carrera 4S” is a Porsche 911 version. It’s the one with all-wheel drive, and it usually has nicer/more performance-focused equipment than the standard Carrera.
The Bentayga is Bentley’s luxury SUV. It’s a big, comfortable car, but it’s still styled and engineered to feel more performance-oriented than most SUVs.
A “platform” is the car’s basic build—its main structure and where key parts attach. Automakers reuse the same platform for different models so they can make cars faster and cheaper, while still changing the look and feel.
The Lamborghini Urus is Lamborghini’s SUV. It’s interesting because, underneath, it uses a lot of the same engineering as other big SUVs from the same corporate group, even though it looks and drives like a Lamborghini.
The Audi Q7 is Audi’s big luxury SUV. They’re saying it’s part of the same overall family of engineering ideas as the Urus and Cayenne, even though each brand makes it feel distinct.
The Aston Martin DBX is a luxury SUV from Aston Martin. Here, they’re using a DBX sale example (miles and price) to talk about how the car’s value changes after it’s been on the road.
A window sticker is the official manufacturer pricing/spec sheet (often called the Monroney label in the U.S.) that shows key details like MSRP and standard equipment. The host is advising that listings should include it immediately so buyers can see the car’s original configuration and price context.
In this context, VAT is the name of the place where cars get listed. They’re asking sellers to upload the car’s info right away so buyers can see it immediately.
A depreciation curve is just a chart-like idea of how a car’s value goes down after you buy it. They’re saying the drop happens fastest right after the car is new.
A “model page” is a page that collects auction results for a specific car model. It helps you see how those cars are selling, but it can get confusing when there are too many variations.
“Plotter graphs” are charts that visualize auction results over time. They can be a lot to take in, so the site may organize the data into smaller groups.
The Hummer EV SUV is an electric SUV. The podcast is basically saying that buying one can feel like a gamble because you don’t always know how things will turn out. It’s a unique EV that people watch closely.
The Hummer EV is General Motors’ electric off-road pickup/SUV family, known for high power and a very customizable configuration. The host notes that its model page can show a “huge gap” because buyers are trying to spec (configure) different versions, which creates more variation in results.
The Tesla Cybertruck is an electric pickup truck. The podcast is talking about problems and uncertainties that came up after it was introduced and what might happen next. It’s a popular topic because it’s a very visible new kind of truck.
They mean something that starts out as a niche purchase for people who really care about cars. Once it’s easier to get and the price comes down, it stops feeling like a special “enthusiast” item.
This is an off-road driving location where people can test cars on rougher terrain. The host went there to see how the vehicle handles in a more realistic off-road setting.
The Ford Bronco is a rugged SUV that’s meant to handle off-road driving. Here, the hosts are talking about the Bronco listings on Bring a Trailer and how the cars show up over time.
Here, “inventory” just means how many cars are available to buy/list at a given time. The hosts are saying the Bronco listing pattern follows how many cars show up, not just how popular they are.
The Sasquatch package is an add-on option for the Ford Bronco that makes it better for off-road driving. It’s the kind of option that can make the car more desirable and show up as its own category in listings.
The “Raptor” is a special off-road version of the Ford F-150 pickup. They’re talking about how the first ones (around 2023) can be priced much higher because people really want them right away.
LIVE
To bring a trailer podcast, I was somewhat tempted to force you guys into an impromptu
one-year garage game. It's been too long since we played one, but that's too cruel because
everyone needs to plan. You want no prep on a one-year garage?
It is fun to prep, though, because then you pick out some good things that you don't think
about off-hand, or do we also back feels a need to win.
So prep is my only angle that I have.
Oh, hold on. Maybe Alex and I have a chance.
I've never won. Nobody ever likes what I do because I'm true to myself, unlike Beck and Zack,
who need the approval of the masses of the crowds.
I took plenty of heat. Apparently the 1980 garage, I picked like $80,000 worth of cars.
I remember one time I made the mistake of picking all American. I thought like it was kind of a
cool theme and it immediately hurt me. I was picking Vipers, was just not going to compete
compared to what Zack picks. Yeah.
Zack's like, I like a Mark IV Supra. I like an NSX. I like a Porsche Turbo.
All the things that are appreciated. That's what's your Beck.
Yeah. Well, that's smart. It's a smart way to buy, too.
Yeah. It's interesting to go with American for, I assume, like early 90s, mid 90s, their Beck.
For that one, that one I did, I remember it was a Viper GTS. It was, I think, a Jeep Cherokee I did.
I just like that body style so much, and it was just shooting myself in the foot. It didn't work out.
Are we in the pod? We're in the pod.
We're in the pod. Welcome back, everybody.
In the pod.
Alex here, joined by Tyler and Beck, in case you couldn't tell.
Hello, everyone.
We're making it up as we go. Can we reveal that?
That's not dissimilar to how we always do it.
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, I was downstairs working as of 30 seconds ago when you told me we have to go do this.
We do. We're doing it as a favor to our producer, Chris Baxter, who we appreciate,
who wants to not edit one at the last minute and actually have one ready a little bit ahead
of time, which is fair enough.
We should start by talking about Lot 250,000 yesterday, which was a big deal for us, and
is our record sale. It didn't dawn on me until fairly late.
I think we talked about it a little bit on our last pod, Tyler, but it didn't dawn on me
till partway through that auction that, oh, man, our record sale is also going to be this
milestone sale, which we do milestone sales every once in a while. We did it a lot, 100,000.
In the early days, we would do them often. There was like Lot 2000, Lot 3000.
Each 1000 lots was a big deal, but none of them was ever a record sale until this one.
In fact, many of them were not even sales.
Fair enough.
Wait, that was the 36th Carrera?
That was my first day. It was Lot 10,000.
It was 36th Carrera. I want to say reserve was 600, something, something.
It wasn't embarrassing, right, though?
It wasn't too embarrassing. It was also, I remember even the feeling of when it went
live or while it was live, there was this general discussion of this car was too heavy
for what we were used to. This was a long shot.
Right. It was ambitious to even list it, which is so interesting when you think about listing
a half-million-dollar car. It was like, whoa, we have a half-million-dollar car.
And we've heard that from a few people. X car will never be on Bring a Trailer.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I've told that before, right?
And now we've listed 20 of those. I can just say it's a singer, a singer of 9-11.
So that's happened to us a couple of times, obviously, way less frequently.
I think that the goal with putting the lot number in the title for making the big deal of it is that
the interval of time is the same, right? Because the increase in volume of listings on the site
is such that if we were doing even every 100,000, it would feel too often now.
Yeah, we skipped 200,000 because it was kind of like, let's wait till it's a more...
I mean, I don't want to guarantee anything. We probably want to do another one. It's still
500,000. Yeah, I think that's pretty much already understood.
Yeah, the 288 is just one of those amazing halo cars that I think is a great representation of
what has been built here over the years. But it is kind of interesting that it's also not really
our typical vibe. I mean, it's really above what we are all kind of into. And even though there's
no shortage of Bugatti's and Lamborghini's and Ferraris at that kind of higher multi-million
price point, it's also not necessarily our ethos here either. It's just kind of interesting.
I was talking to Noah, our head of our community management team and long-term employee the other
day, and he's like, oh, man, what are we going to do to eclipse this? And I'm like, honestly,
so the 288 sold for 6.8 million. Once you're at this level, the sellers of these cars
expect a lot out of the platform that's auctioning them, right? If you did this through a temple
auction, they'd trot the car around. They'd spend a lot of money on promotion. Huge credit and
shout out to Anthony Serra, 600 Vloce, the seller of this car, who paid $99 to list it.
It's just like a standard BAT auction, right? If he was only $75. I was going to say,
we should also give a shout out to the buyer who paid $7,500. Totally. And a repeat seller. And I
think it was well-bought, well-bought, well-sold all around. But yeah, I would love to think
somebody would, and I think they could sell a 250-short wheelbase on BAT. But man, if you have
a 250-short wheelbase, what are you expecting out of the auction house in terms of guaranteed
promotion, maybe in terms of the auction house guaranteeing a sale amount and maybe throwing
in a few bids of their own? We don't do any of that stuff. And we're flirting with the level
of cars where that's expected. Well, we're in a territory. I think there's no surprise that this
288 was being offered by a local partner. Because in those situations, they can provide at least
that level of support that they might be expecting from a traditional auction house that bring a
trailer isn't doing because of our remote status, because we're web-based, because our fees are so
low. Now, the challenge with that is you're not wrong. Once you start getting into the
eight-figure world, and we've had those offers, discussions, we've discussed
reserves on cars that are north of this by a considerable amount. And the challenge there is
that there's a certain amount of risk when you are going to be advertising a car of that amount,
and the fee is considerably low. Having that local partner support, someone who can be verifying
things in person, working with that person closely. Now, granted, part of it is that they've got their
commission structure. And so there is a financial incentive for them to make sure this all works
out. Anthony Sarah does not want any chance of this to blow up in his face, because it's a big
deal. Now, granted, of course, he did the really smart thing of he bought the car himself. So
that way, he's not dealing on both sides parties. He doesn't have an owner that he has to manage.
And it's somebody who understands how to do BAT successfully.
Completely. Right. But that's what it takes, I think, at this level to get these kinds of cars
on BAT. And the BAT fee structure allows for so much meat left on the bone, if you will,
that you can find people who are, if they're really willing to work at it and understand the
marketplace and really have a true skill set, not just an entrenched sort of market space,
because they've just been around in the business for decades or whatever. They can penetrate a
level of this market that BAT kind of needs their help on, to a certain degree. That's right.
And that allows us to get into the space. And notably, there's now a poster of this car downstairs.
Oh, man. Maybe Chris can post that as the lead image for this, because this looks so sick.
It's a fantastic poster. And I think very notably, it is hanging above the 100,000th
listing, which was our own car, the Datsun Z, which was sold at no reserve for charity.
Now, there is an interesting disparity there of like it was us selling our car and now we're
putting a local partner out there on it. But I think it's also recognizing that I don't know,
it'd be curious to see if, how long it takes until someone's willing to bring in a car at
this level as a private party. Yeah. I don't know when that's going to be.
Well, I like a local partner offering it because it's a reflection of the way the
site has evolved over the last, that was three years ago that we had a lot, 100,000. And so,
it really shows the evolution of our professional class of sellers over the last three years.
Yeah. Our local partners are actually fantastic partners. We don't just use that term because
we couldn't think of something to call them. We actually do consider them partners. So,
when Anthony Sarah lists this 288, we're very much in this together. It's not a seller kind of
being on their own. And yeah, us having to figure out like, how do we market this thing?
What are we doing with it? He knows what he's doing and he can do it.
That's right. We have incredible faith in him. I was so stoked. It came through.
We were all watching, but we're hoping for it to happen. We're hoping for it to happen. And
yeah, it was a phenomenal result.
It was great. Repeat buyer. I think I already said that on the win, which is awesome.
Can we guess some of the metrics on this?
Oh yeah, huge engagement. So, I feel bad because I kind of implied that BAT can't promote a car.
This actually got tremendous exposure. It's one of our most popular auctions of all time.
And we are actually able to do a bunch of things to promote a car that are just a little different
than trotting it around to 12 of your tentpole auctions and all that kind of stuff.
Yeah. I mean, we're not advertising in Rob report, but we are reaching out to multiples of millions
of people. Yeah. There's a few people that saw this. So, when I last looked, it was getting
damn near a thousand comments. So, what's the comment?
So, it's scraping on there. I mean, maybe some BAT podcasters could push us over a thousand.
972. Oh man, it's close.
Very close. Watchers is high, but this disparity between view count and watch count is, by watch,
what I mean is people who've subscribed to notifications on it, is indicative of these
high dollar cars where there is a small buyer pool.
Not a lot of people with 7 million dollars of liquid assets in their pockets.
But obviously, it stokes the emotions. It gets people excited, people of all walks of life.
And so, watch count 7,500 or so, which is very high. That's still probably five to six,
maybe even seven times what a normal auction would get. But the view count is the extreme.
Is the trailer still the record? The Capistrano trailer, is that still the record?
I think we were still pretty far away from the Capistrano on this one.
And that was 350? 350.
Capistrano trailer, also importantly to keep in mind, is that came out during the,
kind of not the height of COVID, but a little bit later into that cycle when
view counts were sort of inflated everywhere. People were stuck at home. They couldn't be.
Yeah, August of 21.
So even more so, right? So pretty extreme opportunity to gather the largest views when
viewership on the site is extremely high, but inventory on the site wasn't very high.
And so you had to split up the view counts over a small inventory.
Everything got inflated quite a bit. Did you see what it was for Capistrano?
378.
Well, I'm looking at most popular results and the GTO is on the top line.
It's 323,000 views.
Oh, it did get that high.
So it's number four of all time. When I looked, it was like maybe 15th or 20th most popular.
So it is the fourth most.
Yeah, I want to say a lot of that came in after the auction because when I was watching
the close, I feel like it was at 150, 180, something like that.
They may have gotten 100 comments.
It finally eclipsed Wab's tank, the Sherman Grizzly.
Do you remember the Grizzly debacle?
That was back when my fingers still worked and it was, we called it a Sherman,
but it's a Grizzly, which is like the Canadian version.
Anyway, that was sitting on the top row forever and this finally eclipsed it.
So there's the top three.
Second place. You by bit, you edited this one.
That weird cruiser mobile home, the semi-truck green, like half RV has semi-trucks.
Yes.
That's number two.
The Camelot Cruiser.
And then our first, I think it was our first 22B also in 2021 benefiting from that same
phenomenon, our first 22B STI and Prezza, right when those were, I think, very first
legal to import that car is number three.
But this is number four.
And then you were going to mention another stat.
I mean, it's our most expensive car of all time by quite a bit.
1.5 million, yes.
What's amazing to me, did you see, we also sold a 2.7 RS lightweight and it's like
completely overshadowed.
Same day, same time, 1.2 million.
That was white glove.
That was it.
That's my guy.
That's Prancing Horse.
The username Prancing Horse has sold lots of stuff on the website now.
He's kind of in a second phase of his life doing some brokerage and some buying and selling.
He did the Datsun collection.
Oh, that guy.
Yeah.
2022.
I remember, huh?
I think we've talked about him on the pod before.
Probably.
I mean, if you're daddling in career RS lightweights, you might get mentioned in some circles.
He got to go down to his house, gosh, four years ago now to go help him produce that.
I brought in Corey Mater, one of our best photographers.
He does a lot of our collection sales and we photographed his six Datsun Zs, everything
from a first year 240 to a 280ZX, a 2 plus 2.
And that was kind of my favorite type of collection because it was such a literal cohesive tissue
between the cars.
It was almost like a study on the Z, if you will.
Ever since then, he's been dabbling with cars here or there.
Some brokerage, some stuff he's buying himself.
He bought that career RS not long ago.
He was at Meekam in August.
I bought it for one mil.
Oh, wow.
He did all right then.
He did all right.
He got some very crucial inspections done.
So he did some value add.
They weren't done when it was at Meekam.
They weren't done when they were on Meekam when they were up for auction.
That car had come up for auction several times.
So he got some of that work done.
He did a lot of good.
He did because there were some questions in the comments.
Some questions and comments from one to two particular people.
He did a lot of legwork on that one and brought it to BAT.
He got a great photo gallery.
He's a very, very passionate guy.
And he got 12 for it.
And you're not wrong.
We get pretty siloed sometimes in our different departments.
And I was personally running that auction.
And when he and I discussed a scheduling time,
I was looking at his schedule, my schedule, other cars.
And so we picked it.
It was the same day.
But I'm actually a big believer that it's a rising tides situation.
Of course it is.
There was literally people commenting on the lightweight auction saying,
Kane here for the GTO, this car is awesome.
Well, also, by the way, it's not the same buyer for both cars.
And this is proof of what we tell people all the time,
which I think people doubt us a fair amount,
which is like a good car with a good presentation.
It doesn't matter.
It just doesn't matter.
People will show up for it.
If someone is cross shopping those two cars
or even consider abandoning on both,
they have someone doing that for them.
We have a team of people.
But that was not nobody.
Have you guys looked at the winner of the 288 auction
to their past purchases?
They bought the David Lee car,
which I saw at the Toyota many years ago.
But they started in 24 and 25.
I say the David Lee car.
That's not very descriptive.
This is the David Lee built some years ago.
He had a Dino built with a V8.
So it was kind of a singerized, speaking of singer,
a singerized Dino black with a V8.
It's got ITBs on it.
And kind of everything dialed up
to make it a little bit more of a,
I mean, this is probably sacrilege.
It's like a Resto mod.
It's like a Dino Resto mod.
Probably done the idea of you're keeping the ethos of the car
somewhat in line with the manufacturer,
but you are sort of picking and pulling parts and bits
from the different generations
in order to make maybe like the best one
that is visually and mechanically.
Yeah. So this guy, 24, 25,
he's buying anniversary edition Corvettes and Mustangs
and a Harley.
And a 40,000 mile Cayenne turbo.
Yeah, right.
And then all of a sudden this $1.1 million Dino
followed by the $6.8 million GTO.
It's just, it's an interesting progression.
He's living life just fine.
He's doing all right.
Speaking of kind of Resto mod hot rods,
did you see the Pagoda that had the E55 engine swap in it?
It was kind of all over the internet recently.
So it looks kind of stock and period.
And this, shout out to my guy, Mike Perlman from Motoring Club.
He was explaining that this guy, this builder,
does these builds where he uses all Mercedes parts.
So it's a six speed manual out of like a CLK.
It's the NA E55 V8 out of like their first generation E55.
And they got rid of the low pivot swing axle rear end
that's in these cars.
And I think it's got CLK rear suspension,
like more modern rear suspension and probably rear end.
I feel like that'd be wide on that car unless it's modified.
I mean, it's all modified.
But anyway, car sold for 144 grand.
It's supposed to be great.
I think Jason Camisa drove.
It was kind of all over the place on the internet recently.
But another, Resto mod seems mean spirited for all these cars.
But it's a car where this is a trend that I really like,
where you're trying to take a period car and make it more modern
and have more performance and more drivability
for a contemporary rich guy driver,
but not in the art Morrison huge big wheels kind of way
that a lot of Resto mod muscle cars were done.
It's almost like the next evolution of that.
It's the balance that's very trendy and one that I appreciate,
which is you're trying to hold a restrained approach
towards the visual modification of the car.
Right.
I love modifications where your layman doesn't know what was changed.
They just know that one looks cooler.
I don't really know why.
But it's been lowered an inch and a half.
The right wheels are on it.
This Pagoda got steel wheels on it still, right?
It's like the steel is referring.
This Pagoda, I'm sorry, and to make this a little bit easier
on people, this is auction number 250437,
listed by OTS and Co.
If you were to take the livery off this car,
if it was just a red car, you saw the steelies on it,
you would think almost nothing about this.
Which is, by the way, exactly what I would do
when I put hubcaps back on.
Exactly.
Then have a sit back.
Without the steelies on it, you would see that car
and think something's different.
Yeah.
I don't know what it is, but it looks different.
And that's a very fine line.
It's very difficult.
It's obviously very much a reflection of modern tastes.
Because you're not wrong that if this had been
in the American car equivalent, and this was done 20 years ago,
it'd be big chrome wheels and big brakes that meant...
Cross-drill, bare brakes, and like, yeah, a mat.
Something would be mat.
And then it would have...
This is the one that's the worst for me.
You put the modern high-backed sports seats in like a vintage car.
It doesn't look right.
That's right.
Portious people do that all the time.
I know.
Or not even just high-backed, but ones that didn't have a headrest,
or a removable headrest, whatever.
The best part of this listing, by the way, we've overlooked,
this car was on the site before.
Oh, yeah, before mods.
We're pretty mods.
Yes, it's an alumni car.
Like as a wreck or as some kind of...
Just as like a regular...
It was a 230.
Okay.
Oh, it was listed as a project, but a very pretty, very clean project.
It's exactly what you'd want to buy, actually.
Like, cosmetically nice.
Yeah, you don't want to...
If you've ever bought a project car before and it had cosmetic issues,
you've learned that your next project car,
you want the least amount of cosmetic issues possibly.
Right, because mechanical stuff is money and time.
Cosmetics is like pain and blood and just...
Especially if your plan is to cut the six-cylinder out anyways.
Right.
But it sold for 38.5 in 2024.
That's actually a pretty decent turnaround on a project of this magnitude.
Basically, two years in change to go from that to 144 grand.
But granted, I don't know if they made the money back on this.
No idea, but what a cool idea.
I like the idea of using all the period parts.
Or like not period parts.
They're not period, but same manufacturer.
Same manufacturer.
It's fun for Mercedes.
I mean, that's something you see for Chevrolet.
You kind of like are used to it for a lot of the American manufacturers.
But to see it from Mercedes is kind of cool.
Like, I think we've seen some BMWs that have kind of gone that route.
I don't know if we talked about it on the pod,
but the E9 that was all based on a V8 M5.
Oh, that's the one I'm thinking of.
Yeah, okay.
Which was amazing.
That was a white glove car, wasn't it?
Yes.
We've had that one by Ray out of LA.
He's listed a few awesome, awesome builds.
An E12 build that he did as well.
The German brands in general, I think are European-wise that the...
Maybe I'm naive about this, but I feel like they're probably the best suited
for that sort of cross-generational upgrade.
Especially Porsche and Volkswagen, which is why they do it.
One of my friends used to call them Lego bricks.
You take the engine out of this 911, you put it in that 911, right?
I mean, if you have the same bolt positions for engine mounts for 30 plus years,
you can do a lot with that.
So that's really helpful.
BMW, maybe a little bit less so than Porsche and Volkswagen,
but still very encouraging.
I think a lot of it was that they upgraded components of cars in different times.
So you can take rear ends of other cars.
Speaking of seats, every E21 got gutted for its five-speed and its recaro.
So they could go and do a 2002.
Exactly.
That's it.
And limited slip rear diffs and all that stuff.
E21s are really just ugly O2s with big bumpers on them,
which granted that's what a 74-square tail is anyway, but still.
Yeah, I have worked out.
I know.
I can say that.
You can't say that.
I say controversial things and I wouldn't say that.
You mentioned Ford's.
Randy's Falcon was kind of like this too.
That was not a Resto mod, but it was a modified to upgraded period spec
kind of performance car, right?
It's very similar to this Pagoda, like bigger motor, five-speed,
sport seats, roll bar, but period roll bar.
Still a small block.
Yep.
And had the Shelby drop on the suspension on the front end.
That's right.
I kind of liked to theorize that that's what the Shelby GT350 would have been.
If it was a Falcon.
If it was a Falcon.
Yeah.
I liked playing that in my eye.
Oh, that's smart.
I never thought about that.
That's great.
That car sold in the site.
Sold twice.
Randy sold it through Wobb, local partner who we've mentioned.
Oh, that's how it was already.
And then it came back again.
And I think it sold for more.
There's a funny Randy comment on that auction, as I recall.
I know automotive restorations in Connecticut sold it a while ago too,
but I don't remember if it was in the site or not.
It was on the site when I first worked here 10 years ago,
long before Randy owned it and didn't sell, didn't meet reserve.
And then I think somebody else owned it in the interim and then he bought it.
I actually don't know the story of where he dug it up.
I loved that car, as you know.
All this RestoMod type stuff goes back to a conversation that we were having at the
Concor a couple of weekends ago, which was amazing, by the way.
Oh, we haven't talked about Hillsboro.
Yeah, about Hillsboro.
A lot of folks will be who are buying new Corvettes, new Ferraris,
and kind of bringing them to what you would expect to be like a vintage automotive gathering.
And all of a sudden, everyone's showing up in new cars.
A lot of it is people just like to get in something that's going to turn on,
and it's going to stop, and it's going to go, and they don't have to think about it too much.
And these kind of RestoMods, which is what got to be one of our least favorite words,
to here at BAT, it's kind of a fun way of doing it.
I completely understand.
Like we have this Route 66 event coming up, and I really want to drive.
I was watching David Freiberger, a former of Roadkill.
He posted this old trip he did from 20 years ago,
where he bought an old Dodge pickup truck and drove most of the old Route 66 route.
All the signs that he found, and a lot of those are gone now from old motels and cafes.
And I'm like, man, I want to do this.
And the old American car I have is the Corde, and admittedly, I'm a total coward.
But I'm like, man, I don't want to have that trip ruined by this car breaking down all the time.
So I'm kind of like what I need is a RestoMod.
I need something because I don't want to do it in a brand new car.
You want to do it in something cool and period, but you also want it to...
I don't need air conditioning, but I do want it to start every morning.
Right? And I want to enjoy the trip and not be worrying about the car the whole time.
Yeah. I mean, like one of my favorite things, it's...
I think it would still prevent you from being a RestoModder,
but I'm loving these fuel injection setups that replace four-barrel, single-barrel carburetors.
Oh, and they look like them, right? Doesn't it?
Yeah, like Kali, a couple other brands make them.
And it's like that's one of the hardest things about an old car is the carburetor.
And to have fuel injection on something that could be otherwise
totally correct 60s, let's say. I mean, that to me is kind of cool.
Yeah. There's a whole level, though, then of trying to get that tuned and serviced that
scares me a little bit, right? Once you start...
It's all computer.
It's all computer, but find a place that can do that. Maybe I'm just not...
You have to do it yourself.
Yeah, I think it just tunes itself on a little screen in your club box.
I think a lot of people do it themselves.
Yeah, I know. I know. Create your own fuel curve.
Yeah. That's more of a Tyler thing.
If you guys were going to do... First of all, either if you want to go to the
Route 66 thing, we can discuss it offline, but I would be sick if you did.
It's going to be in Flagstaff. What would you want to drive 66 in if you were going to do it?
Maybe not end to end, but let's say you were going to do 1,000 miles.
Just for sort of an easy answer, because I would love to just drive it in general,
would be Randy's Chrysler downstairs, 300B.
Yes, totally. That's the right call.
56 in red. Same year, I believe that model won NASCAR championships.
It's only a two-speed, but you don't really need that for that car, I guess.
No, it goes 130 miles an hour. It's fine.
I think you're looking for a comfortable cruiser,
but something that looks Americana and that pretty much is almost peak.
Yeah. I've got to go in a very similar direction.
I think I would go with a Lincoln Continental on California starring...
Do you remember this movie? Man, I'm trying to remember who was in it,
but it was where they drive a Continental across Route 66 to California.
This is a movie? What era?
Early 90s, I want to say.
Oh, wow. I don't know it.
It's God's.
Oh, I have not seen this movie, but I know what you're talking about.
It starts with a K.
Yeah, right. K for California.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn't that Brad Pitt?
Is it Brad Pitt? I know it's a big...
I think it's Brad Pitt, and I think it's...
Oh, gosh.
It's the Cogniz in it.
Oh, I love to go.
And that was what was messing me up, because he's obviously in Californication.
Yes, that's right.
So it's like, I'm thinking of driving a Raddy 964 that he's owned since New Caberle,
with the headlight all busted out.
I love that car so much.
I mean, Julia Lewis is in this. I mean, classic 90s.
I've never seen it. Heard of it, never seen it.
But anyway, they drive a Continental, they've got the top down,
the four of them are just in there hanging out.
There's like a couch in the back seat, and they're cruising.
I really want to do it in a hot rod.
It's Dominic Senna.
Oh, that's how you knew it.
Okay, Dominic Senna.
Connection to BAT pod.
Director of Gone In 60 Seconds.
This was an earlier film of his, I believe.
Yes, he did this in 93.
Didn't do too well.
He had seven years until his next project, which was Gone In 60.
Which we all did in this room, the three of us, not that long ago,
and had already forgotten.
That's why I didn't know this movie at all.
And I was like, why does that sound so familiar?
And the second I saw it, I was spelled with a K.
I had to go down it, and I just saw it, Dominic Senna's director.
Amazing.
It's a great American film.
Okay, I'm going to check it out.
Decov.
Decov.
Love Decov.
Cruising 66 is a dream of mine.
I really want to do it this year.
56 would be really good because it's also on the 10th.
You know, this is the 100th anniversary this year.
So Route 66 started in 1926.
Well, let's say you were to do a century run.
I was thinking something from 76 would be cool,
right halfway between the founding and today.
It's a dark era for American cars.
But you don't want to do it in a 76-core vet, obviously.
And 76 Mustang would be Mustang 2, right?
I think that's a Mustang 2 era.
76 Camaro, not great.
This is choking everything out.
You could still get a Bronco.
You get a 76 Bronco in the original body style.
Oh, that's good.
What about a Cosworth Vega?
Are those 76?
Yes.
That might be cool.
We sold a great one, a green one, Marc Chaliro.
Green, a non-black one.
How many are non-black?
Not very many.
I don't know.
This one was pretty ridiculous.
Another option is the year it was decommissioned.
Route 66.
Oh, what year was it decommissioned?
1985.
Opens up some options for early years.
C4 Corvette.
Yes.
I mean, we could all get C4 Corvettes.
I don't know.
Let's just go get them.
I mean, that's more exciting to me than 76.
Yeah, I actually love 85.
Little 4 plus 3, little crossfire objection.
Yeah, we've got our 21-speed transmissions.
Man, 85 is interesting.
That opens up all kinds.
See, we are playing one-year garage already.
I mean, we could take this guy's GTO.
Maybe he'll let us borrow it.
Maybe.
The GTO buyer.
Sure.
Not American, but pretty cool.
Have you guys ever driven chunks of it before?
Yeah, I've been on it.
Not intentionally.
Okay.
Yeah.
But you've driven like the 40 through Northern Arizona
or something, which is on it.
Kingman.
I've done little bits of it here and there,
but I would like to be more deliberative about it
and really try to hit all the parts of it.
And honestly, I'm sure there's books and guidebooks,
but try to actually stop at all the landmarks.
Do it slow enough that you can stop everywhere
and see all the remnants of the old things.
And a lot of that stuff ain't going to be here
in another 50 years, right?
Well, it's not here now.
I know.
I know.
It's not nearly as romantic as it looks.
Well, it goes through some pretty desolate parts of the country.
Cinematically beautiful, though.
I've done I-40, I-70, I-80 all the way across.
You've done all of those?
Where's the 70 again?
70 goes through St. Louis.
So it's like one step down.
Through Denver, up the mountains.
Where does it come into California?
Or does it dead end into something else?
It goes through Vegas.
I would actually, in that run, I would switch over to Route 50.
Oh, 50.
Oh, and you'd go through Ely and everything.
Yeah, okay.
Sick.
So 70 doesn't go all the way to the coast
because it doesn't come to California.
Okay.
Because at the bottom, I did, on my way back in the fray,
I did the 10, which is all the way at the bottom.
Mine was a mix of the 40 and the 70,
because I went down to New Orleans and then came back.
The 40 I did many times, which is awesome.
I did that in the GT3.
And when I lived in Northern Arizona, I'd do it a lot.
But I've never done the 80 past Reno.
And it kind of goes up north, I think.
And then there's one all the way at the top.
There's also not a lot on the past Reno.
It goes through Wendover.
Right, which I would love to do.
That's the Salt Flats.
You would still hit the Salt Flats.
So you hit the Salt Flats, you do the Utah thing.
And then after that, it's pretty much a straight shot
through Wyoming and then corn country.
But it must go over the Rockies somewhere, right?
To go through Wyoming, I believe.
Yeah, and over, you know, Sierras and Lake Tahoe and...
I've done that chunk of it, but only that little bit.
Never gone past Reno.
But I've done the 50 out of Reno, which was awesome.
I did 80 from Chicago to San Francisco and back several years,
just going to college out there.
And then I once did...
How many days?
What was your shortest transit?
Well, no, this is more impressive,
is I did from New Jersey to San Francisco
in two and a half days.
Whoa!
But Tyler does psychopath.
He does.
Would you buy yourself?
No, with a buddy of mine, Ian Collier, good friend.
Oh, shout out, Ian.
We love Ian.
Ian, he's with his ADSC.
Beck's not the host yet, Ian.
That's a little, that's a little inside joke.
He, we have...
You guys don't have to explain that one to me later.
He wants to fire me as the podcast host.
He was moving from...
Get in line.
He was the Southern trip that I did with him.
Along the Southern states was helping him move
with his wife back from Virginia, back to the Bay Area.
And his moving company, I hope I'm not, you know,
blown up the spot too much.
His moving company absconded.
Ian's moving company?
Oh my God.
Now I feel bad for making fun of him.
Shout out, Ian.
We love Ian.
They went out of business and stopped returning calls
and they didn't know where all their stuff was.
Like mid route.
Yeah, after they had taken it before they had delivered us.
And it turns out they found out that he got a hold of a TV station
that did an investigation, found that all of his stuff
was stuffed in a warehouse in New Jersey.
It was a Florida-based shipping company,
which apparently this is a thing,
because Florida doesn't like track their businesses
when it comes to cross-state shipping companies.
That's a freedom.
And so they just close up and nobody follows up with them.
And so when we found out where it was,
we found out that the warehouse was going to start getting rid
of the things because they stopped making payments.
And so we last minute booked two tickets to New Jersey one way,
rented a U-Haul truck, showed up at six o'clock in the morning,
got into this warehouse where I have no idea what's happened
in this place before, not all legal.
We basically took all of his stuff, shoved it into a U-Haul truck,
and then he and I both had...
You recovered most of it?
I think we estimated around 85% of the stuff we got back.
And we were just opening up pallets, cutting plastics,
grabbing the stuff, throwing the backs, dropping it down.
And then we both had a job.
Is it a security guard or anything?
Did they let you...
There was sort of a person there as a young guy.
But he knew people were trying to recover their goods.
That and...
Or do you grease?
Do you grease a palm?
You know when no palms were greased.
You know when you're with a buddy and they are so angry and driven
that like, no security is going to stop them?
Yeah, they're not going to step in his way.
It was like a 90s Mel Gibson movie.
It's just like, give me back my stuff.
Like it was that.
And so...
I will take...
Where's my child?
And so we took all of the stuff through it in the back of this U-Haul truck.
And we both had jobs to get to.
We both had gigs we had to get to.
And this is, I don't know, like a Friday morning.
We had to be at work on Monday.
And we just started driving.
And we did full day drives.
Our first stop was probably, I'm going to guess, like Western Pennsylvania.
Maybe we made it to Ohio.
Our second stop was in Salt Lake suburbs.
Holy moly.
We did that.
We got up before the sun rose.
We drove constantly.
We ate in the truck.
We got into Salt Lake at like, I don't know, 10, 11 o'clock at night.
I went to bed and woke up that morning.
I made it home for dinner.
He dropped me off because he had the big truck and he was actually going to Oakland at the time.
He dropped me off at a BART station in Oakland, West Oakland, BART.
And then I took the train back home.
Unbelievable.
Probably easier than maneuvering the U-Haul around the city.
Possibly.
Yeah.
Plus, I think he was trying to get home.
He was just sick of being around back with 85% of his stuff.
There have been roads.
I've done multiple roads with Ian.
And there's been a meme of shared of like,
we're lucky that we both made it because one of us may not have.
Was he stoked to get his stuff back?
Yeah.
I mean, granted, whenever your beloved stuff has been, you know,
manhandled by people who don't care about it, like not everything made it back.
It's tainted.
And it's also tainted.
You never can feel as good about it.
It's never quite your stuff.
Not about your stuff anymore.
Mainly what you want, though, is like the personal,
like the keepsakes and the photo albums and that kind of stuff.
Correct.
For sure.
That's a big one.
And at the time, they were both firefighters.
And so they had a bunch of like emotional, meaningful things from their time training in Virginia.
That was all part of that.
And that was all gone.
And so they were eager to get back.
I wore a body cam when we stole all his stuff.
I was a little afraid of like what might go down.
Yeah.
And I also, at the time, was a working photo journalist.
And I was like, this is a story.
And so when I helped them get in contact with the news crew,
and so I shared the video footage with them and it made it into the final clip.
And it was like an eye on your side or whatever it is,
like eyewitness news kind of thing.
And it showed the footage that I record while we're going.
Because there was a bunch of other people's stuff in there.
And what they do is, you know, they stack your stuff onto a palette.
They wrap it in plastics or things won't fall off, obviously.
And then they just stack those palettes up, up.
And so you might have like four or five of those going up tall.
And it was kind of like, which Indiana Jones is it then?
Oh, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Of like, when we're walking through this, it was all like stacked up palettes of all these people's things.
Was there John Williams music playing?
There's screams.
There was a screams.
And I remember like walking through these like columns of them just recording.
This is people's stuff.
They don't know where it is.
Man.
So lesson learned from that one.
I mean, we're totally off topic here.
But lesson learned from that.
And I have a buddy right now, another buddy who's moving across country right now.
And remember to advise him like, only like nationally known reputable companies do not
skimp out on shipping your stuff across country.
We could roll that into shipping your car.
Good.
Bring it back, Mr. Segway.
Just add a 9-11, 9-9-2, Targa 4S, sell on the site.
Seller just sent me photos of it getting picked up by the car shipper today.
He was a little like, a little sad to see it go, but he actually just bought a 2-9-6.
So I think he'll just be fine.
He's going to be okay.
He'll be all right.
That's like total natural progression.
Carrera 4S, 9-9-2 into 2-9-6.
Right.
That's, you hear about that exact progression a lot actually.
He's going to get it wherever the cushy McLaren is next, right?
Like that's the big step.
I have no idea.
Or is it a Bentayga?
What comes next?
You're like, enough sports cars.
It's a DB707.
Have you seen how those prices have fallen?
I don't even know what that is.
Oh, that's the Aston Martin SUV.
Sold for, we just sold one yesterday that had like 40,000 miles.
Hold it for 40 grand.
It's sold new for 200 grand.
How old?
Maybe I need to get one.
They're kind of sporty looking, aren't they?
Yeah.
I thought they were pretty good looking.
They're kind of low and swoopy.
I mean, they have the traditional Aston grille on them too.
It's just kind of cool.
They really look like an Aston.
But it's probably the platform is something else, right?
I presume.
I don't think it is.
It's its own thing.
Unless they're buying on what else it would be.
Okay.
Interesting.
Even the Porsches and the Lamborghinis are just outies, aren't they?
Volkswagen's, if you want to be really...
Is the Lamborghini that too?
I think so.
Yeah, pretty sure.
The Urus is the...
We were just talking about the...
Urus is the Cayenne is the Q7.
It's all the same.
Correct. However, it's like one of those things where especially for Porsche,
like they get a platform, they mess with it.
It's their own...
I mean, they drive...
McConn's drive freaking awesome.
So I'm not even trying to like run them down.
They're amazing.
What's it called?
Okay.
So it wasn't 40 grand.
But we did one for 70 grand.
The DB...
DBX.
Oh, there's a 7 of 7 version.
The DBX and it had 40,000 miles sold for 70 grand.
That is sticker new for...
It's in the...
I hate this.
When...
Hey, everybody, when you list your car on VAT, give us your window sticker on day one
and let us put it in the listing.
Don't add it later.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, stick with it.
Get the information out there up front.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Well, look at the depreciation curve on the model page because right when these are new,
they were like selling for sticker basically.
How many have we sold?
Have we sold that many of them?
Yes, 27.
27.
Okay.
I love our model pages.
I love our plotter graphs.
I know they can get a little bit overwhelming.
We have to keep working hard at sort of...
Breaking out the model pages.
...wintering the model pages into subsets.
I know it makes it a little bit annoying because it means sometimes you have to subscribe
to multiple model pages when you really are not trying to cross-shop.
You're just like, oh, I'm just interested in an early 9-11.
It may have been a T, but now it's billed out as an S,
but I got to subscribe to both E's and S, you know, it's the whole thing.
But the best thing about model pages is when there's just such a very clear line of what cars
are doing, and it's usually easiest with newer cars because there's less variables, right?
They've not been wrecked.
They've not been rest-o-moded, all that kind of stuff.
One of my favorite ones is actually the Bronco.
Anybody want to risk pulling up the Hummer EV page?
Oh, well, what happens with those is you'll have a huge gap.
Oh, because people are trying to spec.
Oh my God, dude, that's the best front I've ever seen.
Yes.
So it is something...
That was so fast, we were watching.
But that's because people are trying to speculate on them when they're new.
But this probably happens with almost any new...
People did well on them.
They were... Every single one was less than the one...
The first two people did well.
Yeah.
Well, that's a classic case of people who are the first ones,
what happened with the STs and the live-special,
Cybertruck, all that kind of stuff.
But what will happen?
Cybertruck went quickly, though.
The Hummer stayed high for a while.
So Cybertruck has what you're talking about.
Down, down, down, and then it just stops.
It just stops.
Because what happens is I think they start to flirt with the same price.
It's no longer special.
It's no longer an enthusiast thing.
The availability is easy on those now.
Yeah, or just buy a new one.
There's no wait list.
There's all the ones you can buy.
And so basically, until either you get some enthusiast who just really loves BAT
and wants to list on here or they stop making them.
Or at some point, there's going to be ones that have no miles
when they stop making them and people will want to sell those.
Wow, what's that model page you got up with all the dots on it?
This is the Bronco, new Bronco mops stage.
I recommend.
I love the X.
Tyler, I got to drive yours for a second.
It was awesome.
You liked it?
Heck yeah.
I can see why people like them.
It's just such a fun drive.
It feels like a class.
It's got character.
It's one of the only new cars that has a little bit of character when you drive.
You also get in it and feel confident.
You're like, oh, I can go places.
Which I haven't felt that in a long time.
I went up to the top of the mountain at the Hollister off-road facility
a few weeks ago.
Just modern SUVs feel like cars now.
So it's rare that you get in something that's new where you're like,
oh, this feels capable.
Yeah, it feels like a truck.
Yes, and it looks like it.
So this is the, yeah, we were saying the new Bronco model page.
That's a lot of dots.
It's a lot of dots.
It's 490 results.
But what I love about it is how clear and concise the focus is of the dots.
So you have like a main.
Okay. So we're, yeah, we're looking at two clusters,
which both follow the same profile.
Correct. So there's a main cluster that starts at around 2022
when the first ones came to BAT.
There's obviously some speculation.
There's some flirting with a hundred grand,
but they are not raptors or anything.
They're just first editions because that's just what's available.
And the trend is basically shallow dip over the years.
For sure.
Basically matching inventory.
Bronco is unique also because,
Tyler, do you know how many versions there are at the Bronco?
There's like five or six or something.
Well, if you include Sasquatch package, it goes to like 12.
Okay. There you go.
But there are like actually eight or nine of these versions.
Having that many variables obviously is going to give you a deep spread
on results that are still all very strong.
Some are more desirable than others.
Correct. Exactly.
And so you're not going to have like,
this isn't a huge disparity in the same car,
but like there's the top ones going for 90K and some lower ones hitting 40K
while they're still in speculation mode.
Because some were really cheap and some were obviously far more expensive.
And as time goes and inventory becomes more and more available,
not only does that line come down,
but also inventory tends to reduce as people consider alternatives,
ways to trade in their car versus trying to sell it at what they bought it for or whatever.
Then you get these little pockets of data points,
say in 2023, which is when the first Raptor comes out.
Okay. Yeah. Is that that second curve?
That's the first one.
And very notably that curve is way steeper.
Right.
Right.
There's a few people out there who are willing to pay a massive premium.
To have the first one.
Just to get the first one.
And that's similar to what we just saw with the EV Hummer EV,
where it's like a steep decline.
I think that's probably because there's a larger enthusiasm for it, right?
Like the Raptor captures the hearts and minds of enthusiasts
more so than the base model does necessarily.
So then over time, what happens is as inventory sort of drops out,
people who really preserved their car, better examples,
things that are actually now in better condition,
they're no longer really a used car,
you start getting this widened curve.
It really spreads out more and more.
And that'll only continue, right?
That'll get bigger and bigger as people modify them,
as people, cars get massive.
But there's a few people with a thousand mile
Bronco Raptor sitting in their garage unmodified.
And not Tyler, because his Bronco is getting you.
Yeah.
Oh, mine's already on its second windshield.
And then eventually you'll get to a point where that curve will stop going down.
Yeah.
On the Raptors, it looks like that's already kind of happened.
Tell me more about this curve and stopping to go.
Not talking about your truck, man.
One thing I love doing when you are looking at the Bronco page,
you got to do this a little bit.
If you're looking at the model page,
you'll see there's an opportunity to exclude certain words in your search.
Unfortunately, it's a little hidden.
So if you're looking at the search bar for the model page,
below that, there's a bunch of category sorting that you can do.
If you keep scrolling all the way to the right,
keep going until you can't do it anymore.
You'll get a dropdown for the option to exclude.
And this is actually the most powerful thing you can do to reduce
the sort of noise in your search results.
And that is to essentially type in certain words that you're seeing
on results that are extreme, whether they're really high or really low.
So you could type in Raptor and have it be excluded.
Exactly.
Or like for, let's say you're looking at a 67 Corvette model page,
just exclude 427.
Or exclude project.
That's a big one.
Like if you're just not looking for a project, if you want a regular driver,
that's, you're going to notice there's actually probably a lot of cars that are
populated in this like under 20k range.
And you're like, wait a minute, I can get a 427 for 20 grand.
That's amazing until you go hover over it.
But you almost can't really.
Project.
And so then, exactly, maybe not a 427 project.
But if it's 427 powered project, yes.
And so if you can't exclude the word project,
all of a sudden, your data points become clear and clear and clear.
And thus, that exclude function is the best way.
If you're doing research on bidding on a car or if you're about to sell a car
and you want to know what to go for, what would likely reserve a result should be,
you're going to want to look at the model page and sort of clean it up.
A lot of data points there.
And if you can exclude them down with things like project,
the tough one is you can't exclude on mileage.
I was wondering about that, yeah.
Transmission.
We talk about this all the time.
We fantasize over a checkbox.
So you can essentially see only manuals or only see only automatics.
I'm trying to, could you, there's no way that we have an exclude,
but we don't have an include.
Well, yes, you do that.
You type that in.
You can type in the five speed or 16.
Yeah, okay.
But you have to know what the transmission is in some cars.
There was multiple transmission manual operates.
So, but there's still some little tricks and tips here
that experts gather over time.
But if that's what you're looking for, that's the best way to thin out your results.
Basically, what you're exposing is we need to get better about all of our
searching tools, which we know and people tell us all the time.
I remember when these model pages came out was about 2018.
I remember because I was interviewing with you and Randy,
and I brought it up in my interview, was how much I loved the new model pages.
And at the time, there wasn't really much search for it.
And we later added more and more.
And we've essentially been just leapfrogged by the massive amount of data now.
We were ahead of it for a long time with the tools
and now the actual data itself has sort of-
There's so many results.
So does it.
Well, it kind of goes back to our conversation earlier of what happens
when you start doing 50,000 auctions a year.
Makes it harder to kind of go back and organize these things.
I'm sure there are a lot of great ways that we could come up with to do this.
But all of a sudden, the kind of volume curve just gets bigger and bigger.
And it's no longer kind of like trying to figure out 50,000 cars and how to organize them.
It's a big deal.
If we want to serve more customers, or do we want to make-
Yeah, or do we want to make-
We're serving a lot of non-customers too.
One of the things I hear all the time, I heard a shout out to the avance folks who asked me
to be on their panel along with cars and bids down at San Diego.
But everybody kept talking about and asking about the cars and bids.
Guys didn't say it, although I'm sure they do.
They look at our results for every the non-customers,
even competitors are using BAT results to judge how much they're going to offer for a reserve
or what they should, for dealers, what they should ask for a fixed price listing.
Like they're using BAT results, which are all free and public for all that stuff.
One of my favorites is going on Craigslist.
And the new I know what I have is one sold on BAT for this much money.
I remember how exciting it was when I first saw people copying our listing style on Craigslist.
Yes, they write it just like a BAT listing.
And now I see it everywhere in the Copycat websites,
even in some of the traditional pre-BAT places, they write their listings like ours.
I see inbound white glove inquiries where people have written their own little approach towards it.
Yeah.
I also did that for my job application.
Did you really?
You keep saying these things that I don't remember.
Wait a minute, you've hired people since me?
It was a long time ago, man.
A long time ago.
It wasn't part of my cover letter.
As part of my application, I wrote a listing for my own car,
which was the 911 actually at the time, so just in the motor on it.
Which I think was actually something we never asked for, but occasionally that happened.
People were submitting their resume with a mock listing.
Just sort of reading between the lines of like, how do I differentiate myself?
Because at the time, and still to this day, the amount of interest is a lot.
And so finding ways to differentiate how your application comes and arises is important.
And then doing a mock listing was a big one.
I'll give anyone a tip who's listening.
Fill it out correctly.
Do what they ask.
The first test, I think this is probably true of almost anywhere that hires people.
Your first test is can you follow the instructions on how to apply for a job?
Because guess what? When you're doing a job, you got to be able to follow the instructions.
One of my favorite tests in middle school was the first instruction was write your name,
don't do anything else, and bring the test up to the teacher and turn it in.
And sure enough, everybody did the test.
And then when they went to go fill their name, nobody read the instructions.
I think maybe like one person got up and then just left the classroom.
Yep. Yep. Hilarious.
Well, thanks for doing this, guys.
Did we talk about enough things?
I completed all the bullet points that I wrote prior to this podcast.
Wonderful.
You got a chance to write bullet points?
Oh, yeah, prepare.
How long did you know about this?
That's how I differentiate my excellence.
See, we've got to get you on an impromptu year game.
Yeah, that's right.
He gets all this time.
Ian's right. That's the next host.
No, we do need to do another one-year game.
I was just talking to somebody, speaking of 56 of Chrysler's,
I was talking to one of my buddies the other day we were talking about tri-fives,
because that's actually secretly what I would probably do.
66 in is a tri-five Chevy of some kind.
We were debating what's better, 55 or 57.
And my buddy Roddy was like, what about 56s?
The unloved 56 in the middle.
I was like, actually, we did a podcast about 1956.
Were you on that one?
I can't remember.
But we picked it specifically because 57,
so much interesting stuff came out.
And so we wanted to pick one year before,
but there's amazing stuff in 56.
To give a shout out to the late 50s and podcast fans,
we had a fan come up to us.
Late 50s and podcast fans, is there an overlap there?
Yeah, right, maybe.
But he came up to us at the Hillsborough Concourse
and loves the one-year game and would like to do.
Would like late 50s.
Yeah, we're contemplating 59.
You're ready for 59?
I've never done a 50s year.
I actually think 56 is the oldest we've gone.
Maybe we did one from the earlier 50s.
We're a little negligent.
Let's do 59.
Let's do that.
You guys down for that next week?
Yeah, 59 works.
All right.
Now I've promised it and it may not come through.
It was like we probably should just rewind this a little bit.
I promised it 60 seconds for a month
before we actually got to it.
Well, what is our next movie, too, by the way?
All right.
We're going to get off the mic.
We're going to go away.
And then I'm going to open my phone and we'll pick.
Off air.
Thanks, boys.
Thank you.
Thanks, Alex.
Thanks, everybody, for listening.
As always, we appreciate you feedback,
questions, concerns to podcast at bringitrailer.com.
Catch you next time.
About this episode
The hosts riff on their “one-year garage” game and how picking themes can either help or sabotage results, then pivot to a big BAT milestone: Lot 250,000, a record sale. They break down how the 288 GTO’s $6.8M win fits into BAT’s evolving seller ecosystem, especially the role of local partners when cars get into ultra-high price territory. They also discuss promotion and engagement metrics—views, watchers, comments—and compare the 288’s reach to prior record-setting trailers during high-COVID traffic.
This week Alex, Tyler, and Beck review our latest milestone sale, the gorgeous Ferrari 288 GTO that was BaT Auctions lot #250,000. They talk about whether there's a logical value cap on BaT; the different ways that our promotion hits vs. the traditional methods for very expensive cars, and the massive difference in audience size; why it doesn't matter if two amazing cars close at the same time; the modern trend of "reimagined" classics; and how old a car needs to be for a quality Route 66 trip.
The trio also express Duchov luv, have a very California discussion of cross-country routes, recount a Taken-style house move, marvel at the depreciation curves for modern high-dollar offerings, dive into BaT model pages, and make a promise they can't keep.
Follow along! Links for the listings discussed in this episode:
