On being a Ba T ster *

For most Ba T sters,  arithmetic preceded interest in cars. Taking a journalist’s view, Math 101, herein is a modest introduction to a favored website, BringATrailer.com . The web identity tacitly implies that described vehicles may be ‘projects’, however that element applies to a minor %age.  The logo is hardly subtle.

bring-a-trailer

* Minimal background noise; the genesis, Jan2007, CA, ‘gearhead’ Randy Nonnenberg and  colleague, Gentry Underwood, via Texas, the UK, and now CA, shared a common interest in unusual vehicles offered for sale, foreign and domestic.  They began to share the addictive passion online, an itching Lyme Rock virus, slow growing.

Knowledgeable, self-assured, neither would ever order french toast in a German restaurant.

Nonnenberg ⬇,  Underwood ➘

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Noted writer, Rob Sass, seen in his 911, described Ba T in detail, Autoweek, Nov2015. ⬇ His must-read, best seller, “Ran When Parked”, will no doubt lead to a sequel, “Needs a Recharge”.

sass

Fast forward one decade, Ba T has morphed into a seismic game-changer for auctioning interesting, ‘cool’ collectible cars.

Of note, the past 30 days activity; ~late April-May 20, 2017

  • Rolling average # of daily offerings       50.31
  • total # lots offered,                                    337
  • total # sold                                                  253 (75.07% sellthru)
  • total # reserve not met                             84 (24.93%)
  • total $$, sales                              $6,545,401.00
  • average $ price/vehicle sold           $25,871.15

 

Marketing autos may be arbitrarily divided;

Tier 1   (high end auction venues)

RM Sotheby

Gooding & Co

Bonham

******************

Tier 2    (cattle calls)

Barrett Jackson

Leake

Mecum

Russo & Steele

Auction America (RMS subsidiary) 

Hey, you paid too much, but we’re on TV !

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****************

Tier 3     (low end)

eBay

Hemmings (refined pulp)

Craigslist

Autotrader (pulp)

Local daily newspaper classifieds

******************

Tier 4     (slim to zero, overdone glam rags)

DuPont Registry

Robb Report

Prior to Ba T, a vacuum existed between tier 2 and 3.  No longer applicable, as Ba T, by simple extrapolation (multiply the figures above x 12) is a threat to all four tier’s vulnerability;

  • unbiased descriptions
  • thorough commentary by the Ba T community

Fair warning: i.e., on occasion, clumsy, clever, clairvoyant, clueless, cliquish, classic, clarifying, clinical, often challenging both spelling and grammar, but always entertaining…..pure fun, free, at your own desk, functioning mute and delete keys at the ready.

    • no tent rental, glossy ads & catalogues, lanyards, gasbag auctioneers, frantic floormen waving hankies, biker dudes with white gloves pushing cars on/off stage, EtOH-infused bidders & bimbos, klieg lights, unbuttoned velocity channel ‘stars’, clad in Peter Pan bling.  557a08a7ebca2.image

“If I overbid, you get that tattoo I promised”

  • professional site management; realistic and reasonable fee structure, real time finish, zero snipe or shill bidding.

A well-written critique of the live auction experience can be viewed here, writer unknown. Lengthy, however it encompasses parallel results, voiced by many sellers.

                      Auctionmania Circus  ⬇

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;

Full disclosure: the author has no ownership and/or financial interest/currency in any business entity listed herein.  Any resemblance to person/persons, living or deceased, is not coincidental.

 

©insightout2017

Daisy II , the sequel

Subtitle : Black sedan, White knuckles, Crimson dawn, Brown………..

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Pre-dawn, final day of reckoning, the pink aura of the civil sunrise suggests the ancient mariner adage, “red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning”.  In a nearby industrial park, I await the arrival of the open air transporter assigned to deliver Daisy from Indiana to a San Diego container ship.DSCN9635.JPG

The driver, a no-nonsense, chain smoker on his 5th cup of robust Starbucks, refuses my offer to help load, ‘insurance regs, you understand, we’re not allowed to take chances with non-professionals‘.  After providing oral instruction on the old Benz’ Hydrak © shifting, I’m dismissed, ‘no prob, bucko, I’ve been doing this for 40 years’.

It has begun to rain.  After 20 minutes of failed attempts, Mr. Flying J, truck stop poster boy for 5 hour energy, decides I’m his new best friend. ‘Maybe you should do this, but back this puppy on, as I gotta drive it off and I can’t find reverse’.

Please ? 

Readers have encountered terrifying driving experiences, and for many, more mobile PTSD moments they might prefer to forget:

  • blizzard whiteout, dust storm, pea soup fog; take your pick
  • witnessing a head-on collision, collecting body parts off asphalt
  • hitting a deer after dark, at 60 mph, with the top down, after 4 beers
  • small plane landing on I-95 directly over your hood
  • doing a 180°, in traffic, on an icy road
  • driving in Rome

You may even have your own…..share if your pulse exceeds 140.

Mine is about to happen.  Approaching death road, I’m doing the arithmetic and realize that maybe death row is a better option. All I’ve committed to do is drive a 50 y/o car, weighing 3000 lbs., up 100 feet, on two rusty 12 inch wide planks, zero guardrails, 10 feet above the earth’s surface, at 2 mph, in the rain….backward.

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DSCN9639.JPGDSCN9637.JPG            While Ice Road trucker stood by casually sucking on a Marlboro menthol.

Was the first attempt successful ?  Yes.

Would I ever do it again ?  Never.

None of the makers of men’s undergarments; Hanes®, Jockey®, Under Armor®, have the dark brown option…briefs or boxers, except Duluth Trading®.

Did I have any regrets in kissing Daisy goodbye one last time, a nice old girl who loved the road and might never be driven again ?

Who spoke to me, trunk open, as if to say, "let's rumble"
                              Who spoke to me, trunk open, as if to say, “let’s rumble”

 

Only one.

 

Karl Baisch, 4 pc with keys
Karl Baisch, Autokofferfabrik, Stuttgart, 4 pc with keys

Room to pack Immodium, Kaopectate, and Charmin tissue, I wish I had kept her plaid, wool-lined, luggage with the yellow silk ribbons.

 

©insightout2017

 

Daisy, part I

Timeline: First day of spring 1994, South Bend, IN

Welcome the 180 chassis to its new home  ⬇

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Rewinding the clock to 1969, a Methodist minister in Fargo, ND, the Rev. Mueller, trades in his trusted 1958 Mercedes 220S sedan for a new Cadillac DeVille, thus verifying that belief in Christ may reap material benefits.

In nearby rural Northcote, MN, John Dunn, bend-in-the-road Texaco station owner, buys the Benz; $ 600 for the car + an extra $50 for the 4 piece fitted luggage in the trunk.

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Fast forward 25 years of everyday driving, Mr. Dunn passes away, the sedan is offered by the estate, and I’m driving it, cautiously, 300 miles home. In remarkably original condition, it has the standard color scheme; black exterior, lush red leather interior, and enough wood inside to fund a South American lumberyard.

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The car had one unusual and expensive option (~ 175 US$ in 1958 now = $1476 today ), a transmission in transition, operating without a clutch pedal, the segue of manual to automatic. M-Benz named it Hydrak ©, which found few supporters (burned out clutches) and became a handicap at the time of sale.  The operation, although flawless, proved too tricky for the average driver, took practice getting used to, a rare misstep in German engineering.

However, I loved it, as no one ever asked if they could take the wheel.

The car became our tribute to the similar 1955 Buick, Morgan Freeman transporting Jessica Tandy in the classic film, “Driving Miss Daisy”. Daisy became my daily driver for several summers, work, play, and the occasional wedding.

photo ⬇ courtesy, Barrett-Jackson LLC, all rights reserved 1998

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Wife, Lynn, practicing her Princess Di wave for the adoring masses, July 4th, 2004, parade, DeTour Village, MI. Note, steering wheel mounted, illegal necking knob off our tractor.

My bridge partner, a very close friend, once asked me to go to the local mausoleum, for a photographic favor.  A family dispute involving a distant, disenfranchised stepson living in Manhattan, who received no inheritance from his wealthy stepmother, felt her death was a hoax. He demanded evidence of the burial vault. A favorite photo resulted :

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Alas, Daisy became the victim of being # 9 in an eight car barn. The old ponton roundbody was sold on eBay to a shopping center magnate in Hong Kong. The Los Angeles agent for the new owner revealed that the Chinese government prohibits ‘vintage’ cars on the road, hence, Daisy was condemned to a suspended turntable in a mall atrium, an obscene display of Western imperialism, never to be driven.  Little different than a stationary pole dancer in an adult night club.

A political shame, until, perhaps, the next insurrection in Beijing….?…

Stay tuned,

“but I don’t want to go to Hong Kong”  ⬇DSCN9480.JPG

 

©insightout2017