72 Tii on BaT

[COOP]

5 minutes ago, COOP said:

I think it’s unfair to call it a “bad decision” when the owner fully understood the time & expense implications of what he was getting into. He had his own personal, sentimental reasons for proceeding with the project, and I think that’s admirable. Just because the economics of his decision-making may not align with our personal values, priorities, logic or budget doesn’t mean that we should disdainfully sneer. I actually think it’s a little ironic because we spend a lot of time and energy campaigning for cars to be “saved vs crushed.” The owner saved this one alright...and he had the means to do so on a grand scale with little concern for his resulting P&L balance sheet. I applaud his passion and commitment.

 

[wkohler]

I have a question that I didn’t feel was appropriate to ask in the listing because the answer is usually “it doesn’t matter why.”  This is obviously a different discussion.  This car had something like 900 miles on it since the project was completed with the majority of those during the weekend of the concours.  Lots of money tied up on a car with slim to no chance of recouping (extensive bodywork or not, just the reality of a project like this especially when you use the checkbook to do the work).  Why sell?  Especially if there’s an sentimental connection that spurred the project.  A project like this was obviously not taken on with the hopes of flipping the car or even mitigating the loss from the eBay purchase.  

 

I am no stranger to a complete tear down and rebuild and I know you can lose interest along the way or not have the level of enthusiasm at the end you did when you started or the car came out just too nice to drive it.  

 

I’d almost think you’re more likely to do better on a car with with 20k miles on a 10-year-old restoration since there are no questions about whether the car you see today is the car you’ll have in five years or even one year.  Not suggesting it’s going to be an issue on this car but there are so many essentially zero mile restorations that go up for sale and the new owner has a whole heap of things they get to fix or deal with.  Some people don’t want to be sorting a freshly restored car instead of enjoying one so they might have been less-likely to jump in regardless of who was involved in producing the car in the listing.  

[JerryC]

It takes all kinds to make a world. Why do we do what we do? Sometimes, oftentimes, we don't know ourselves but we just do it. There's no right answer to any of these kinds of questions.

 

It seems to me that BaT is perhaps not the best venue to sell a car like the subject vehicle. Perhaps a more useful intent is to advertise it to spread the word more rapidly that it is available for the right buyer. A lot of well-heeled car nuts now know about this particular car, and a deal can now be made outside the fishbowl of BaT.

 

One of Esty's older projects that she sold a few years ago just sold on BaT this morning for what I believe is a good result. That type of sale seems more appropriate for BaT, to me. Just sayin'...

[joebarthlow]

1 hour ago, wkohler said:

...Why sell?  ...

 

I would speculate the seller has buyer's remorse. 

Edited October 18, 2018 by joebarthlow

[TodB]

It only takes one Buyer with deep pockets willing to spend for whatever reason. We've seen it a bunch of times on BaT.

[Conserv]

10 hours ago, COOP said:

 

 

Indeed, COOP. I wish there were more such individuals willing and able to save important basket-case cars, rather than let them go for parts. A recent eBay “parts car” — a very rusty ‘72 Colorado sunroof tii — comes immediately to mind as does as a ‘63 black-with-red-leather Maserati 3500 — just aching for a $300K restoration. God...I wanted that pile of rust.... ?

 

And did I commission a mechanical overhaul and comprehensive re-paint of my ‘76 for any reason beyond sentiment? Maybe not...  Like I said, we are all irrational when it comes to cars.... ?

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited October 19, 2018 by Conserv

[tomphot]

1 hour ago, wkohler said:

Why sell?  

 

I have a friend who has 15 cars, 5 of which are in some sort of project.  He loves the process and when finished, usually moves on to something else, selling the finished car at a loss.  Luckily his 8 figure bank account can support his habit.