Over the summer the Black Label Motoring crew was invited to assist in the preparation of several vintage exotic cars at major automotive auctions. First we took the entire crew down to Monterey, California in early August for the Motor Week events which include the iconic "Pebble Beach Concours" event. Specifically we prepped several vintage Porsche's for the "Werks Reunion" event put on by Porsche. Later that month we went north up to Tacoma and prepped a very special 1989 Porsche 930 Turbo Cabriolet for the Lemay Auction.
If you are a car nut, the Monterey Motor Week Festival is almost like a religous pilgrimage. I have never seen the depth and breadth of exotic and rare cars that I saw at that week long function. It was truly amazing. You would be driving to the showroom we worked at in town and La Ferrari's, Mclaren P1's and every other super exotic car you could think of would just drive by you. Amazing.
We prepped some 8 cars total, 5 for the Porsche Auction and three for other functions including 2 Ferrari's and a retro T-Bird.
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| Eva tapes off a beautiful Ferrari 550 Maranello |
It was about as good a week as a detail company could have (especially one run by a certified car nut like myself). It was all the better since we got paid to work on these dream cars and it essentially meant we got a paid vacation for the family out of the deal.
Just a week or two after we got back from California we were headed up north to Tacoma Washington to final prep a special Porsche for the annual Lemay Auction. We will go into what the Lemay family name means to the classic and vintage car world in a future blog, but for now all you need to know is that the Porsche we prepped at the show sold and was the highest achieving car at the auction. Bear in mind the owner had taken other Porsche's to this show before and never sold anything. I'm not going to take credit for this car selling (but it didn't hurt to have a team of detail experts fawning over that car and working the crowds into a frenzy.)
Some of the prices at this auction were surprising and it just goes to show you that when rich folks can't make money in the stock market, they got to put their money somewhere. I'm delighted that they put it into interesting cars. Although this beautiful 930 turbo was the highest priced sale at the event, there were other shocking numbers that highlighted just how crazy some classic car prices have become.
I've written before about the 1950 Mercedes 190 SL's and how much they have escalated in value in recent years. Little did I know they they are the fastest appreciating collector car on the planet right now with premium examples now topping the $200K mark. A derelict piece of junk 190SL which literally had to be pushed into the auction tent went for more than $50K. Despite needed new everything (which begs the question of whether it would be a restored or "reproduced" car when done) Doug Lemay of the Lemay Automotive Foundation that hosts the event said it was a "find."
My favorite car of the event, however, did not sell but was a truly stunning machine and one of my all time favorites. It was a fly yellow 1977 Ferrari 308 GTB presented by Cat's Exotics out of the Seattle area. As noted by the auctioneer, these V-8 Ferrari's were priced as low as $20-$25K just a few years ago, and now are running anywhere from $75 to $150K. This early carburated example was bid to over $50K, but failed to fetch the more than $70K the owner was looking to get, possibly due to the fact that it had been modified a bit with non-original polished rims from a 328, and had a few other cosmetic and apparent mechanical issues. This may not seem like much to a non-Ferrari expert, but replacing the 328 wheels with original spec wheels, fixing the damaged leather dash, and coordinated a proper tune on an old Ferrari engine could set the buyer back thousands of dollars.
If you have a classic or an exotic car that you are thinking of taking to auction, you may not have the resources to hire a detail company to go with you but there are some things you might consider doing that could promote your car heavily at the event and make it stand out from all the other specialty cars. Our team of course, wears company shirts and a uniform so it looked kind of cool when our client had a team of black shirted precision car detailing experts fawning all over his vehicles. It increased the amount of conversations that were started with potential buyers and sent a very clear message to all in attendance that the vehicles had been pampered.
You can replicate this to some extent. Take your family or some friends and have t-shirts made, perhaps with the name and stats on the car or a make logo or something--anything that gives you all a consistent look. Then, just fawn all over the car or cars like we did. It does wonders for your potential sale and final value and it's a lot of fun.
To learn more about detailing specialty cars or auction prep, go to our website at: http://www.blacklabelmotoring.net
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| 1989 Porsche 930 Turbo Cabriolet |
I've written before about the 1950 Mercedes 190 SL's and how much they have escalated in value in recent years. Little did I know they they are the fastest appreciating collector car on the planet right now with premium examples now topping the $200K mark. A derelict piece of junk 190SL which literally had to be pushed into the auction tent went for more than $50K. Despite needed new everything (which begs the question of whether it would be a restored or "reproduced" car when done) Doug Lemay of the Lemay Automotive Foundation that hosts the event said it was a "find."
My favorite car of the event, however, did not sell but was a truly stunning machine and one of my all time favorites. It was a fly yellow 1977 Ferrari 308 GTB presented by Cat's Exotics out of the Seattle area. As noted by the auctioneer, these V-8 Ferrari's were priced as low as $20-$25K just a few years ago, and now are running anywhere from $75 to $150K. This early carburated example was bid to over $50K, but failed to fetch the more than $70K the owner was looking to get, possibly due to the fact that it had been modified a bit with non-original polished rims from a 328, and had a few other cosmetic and apparent mechanical issues. This may not seem like much to a non-Ferrari expert, but replacing the 328 wheels with original spec wheels, fixing the damaged leather dash, and coordinated a proper tune on an old Ferrari engine could set the buyer back thousands of dollars.
If you have a classic or an exotic car that you are thinking of taking to auction, you may not have the resources to hire a detail company to go with you but there are some things you might consider doing that could promote your car heavily at the event and make it stand out from all the other specialty cars. Our team of course, wears company shirts and a uniform so it looked kind of cool when our client had a team of black shirted precision car detailing experts fawning all over his vehicles. It increased the amount of conversations that were started with potential buyers and sent a very clear message to all in attendance that the vehicles had been pampered.
You can replicate this to some extent. Take your family or some friends and have t-shirts made, perhaps with the name and stats on the car or a make logo or something--anything that gives you all a consistent look. Then, just fawn all over the car or cars like we did. It does wonders for your potential sale and final value and it's a lot of fun.
To learn more about detailing specialty cars or auction prep, go to our website at: http://www.blacklabelmotoring.net
