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Mid-Engined Maniac |
Joined: April 23, 2006, 8:26 pm Posts: 6410 Location: SoCal
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Short story: Midlana is sold Long story: This is best presented chronologically. Get yourself a cup, it's a read: The BringaTrailer ("BaT") auction went live on 22 June and ran for the usual seven days. There was a lot of positive interest, with the bidding rising fairly steadily to the low $20K range within the first few days, where it stalled, which is typical of auctions. At that point, it hadn't yet reached my reserve price.
The auction started on a Wednesday, and two parties asked to see the car in person, so this was arranged for that Saturday. They looked it over, and one wanted both a ride and to drive it. Both requests were denied because I didn't know his experience level, fearing that he might lose control of the car. Also, my wife said no to both requests, based upon female intuition.
As my wife and I drove home, we both felt the same, "I really hope that guy doesn't win." Reasons included him asking things that anyone buying a full-custom one-off should know, strongly implying a lack of knowledge. More worrisome was his demanding nature, which I worried could become a real problem if he won.
On the last day of the auction, interest took off, bidding blew past my reserve, and 2-3 bidders drove it all the way up to $55K, and it was won by... you guessed it, "that guy."
He and a couple buddies showed up the following Saturday to collect the car, and here's where things went sideways...
Before they arrived, I had backed the car out of the garage and smelled gas. That's not generally a problem, especially in warm weather. With a simple fuel system, air in the tank expands in warm temperatures, pushing fumes out of the vent line. Walking into the garage on a hot afternoon, I'm often greeted by a smell akin to that of a lawnmower. Anyway, this was a bit stronger, and being the morning, I shouldn't have smelled anything. Took off the engine cover and found that one of the AN fittings on the fuel line between the fuel rail to fuel pressure regulator was leaking. Well crap...
I was in the middle of trying to repair it when they arrived... double crap. At that point, the guy was still very excited, but as I continued my repair attempts (using new hose but the old fittings, I didn't have new ones), I saw one of his buddies take him aside, talking quietly. He came back and said that he was backing out of the deal. I asked why: "You had plenty of time to check over the car, missing this", and, "If this is wrong, who knows what else might be bad." I said, "It just failed, so nothing was missed, and as for other things possibly failing, that's true of any car ever built." Anyway, it was kept civil and they went on their way.
I immediately tried contacting BaT to get the email addresses of bidders #2-4, but being the weekend there was no reply. Not wanting to wait until Monday, I broke out my GoogleFo skillz and figured out their addresses. I contacted all three, explaining what happened, and asked if they were still interested. None were, which surprised me. Bidder #2 did have a good excuse though, saying that he was bidding on a Lotus track car, which he went on to win. Fair enough.
Monday, BaT got in touch and the decision was (reluctantly) made to rerun the auction. I asked what BaT planned to do about the previous "winner", and they said that he'd be blocked from bidding or commenting on my auction - okay. The relisting process took as long as listing it the first time, and it finally went live on 17 August.
The second time, interest was far less, no doubt due to the car being somewhat tainted by the first auction's failure, the cooling economy, and an annoying comment made early on about my disclosed statement about how sometimes at cold start, the timing chain briefly rattles. The comment was that this is a really big problem that must be corrected. I spoke to my engine builder about it, because I've occasionally heard it ever since the engine was brand new. He said it's because I have a dry sump oil system, which builds pressure slower than an OEM pump, and that it's not a concern.
I stated as much in the comments, but the guy persisted, saying that parts needed immediate replacement. I said that those parts are/were already new, and that they aren't the issue. Regardless, some damage was done (akin to being asked publicly, "have you stopped beating your wife yet?"). No matter how you answer, there's some lingering damage. As the last day of the auction approached, I was convinced that it wasn't going to sell. Interest was poor and it was well below the reserve price, and sitting at a much lower price than the first auction.
One feature of BaT is, if anyone bids within the last two minutes, the clock is reset to two minutes again. This avoids last second snipers from gaining an advantage. Related to this, the BaT website is slightly buggy in that the displayed countdown clock at the bidder's end does not always match the clock at BaT's end, and can be off by as much as 10 seconds or so. This means that if you plan to place a bid with your clock showing less than 10 seconds, it may actually have already sold.
As the auction entered the last two minutes, there was still little action and it hadn't yet reached the reserve. The clock kept counting down, and once it goes below 10-seconds, it can end at any time. It got all the way down to two seconds(!) when a bid came in. Apparently the car gods had smiled on me at the last second.
That bid bought me two minutes, and additional bids trickled in, finally pushing it over the reserve. It eventually reached $31K and sold. The first auction was great... and the second, not so much, a real slog as they say. The good news is that this winner is much more on the ball. No story would be complete without a twist or two. The first is that the winner the second time around was in fact Bidder #2 from the first auction. Based upon his bidding history, he seems to be in a position to buy whatever play cars he wants. I'll have to ask if he bought Midlana because the Lotus track car wasn't enough . Of course, it could also be that he saw a chance to get Midlana for roughly half what he bid the first time. The other twist was a snarky comment left after the bidding ended, "So that was a $22K fuel leak. Ouch." Yes - and no. My opinion - true or not - is that the first "winner" could have been a nightmare to deal with after the sale, asking endless questions about stuff he should already know and demanding that I take care of it. How much is not dealing with the above worth? Quite a bit, actually. $22K, even? Yes. And then there's what my wife and I both hoped for, so I guess we got our wish! Regarding online auctions, BaT is the big dog when it comes to selling cars, meaning that they have a wider interest base than just about any other auction site, so there are limited alternatives. I learned something about human nature, that there are people with both a lot of play money and what I call a "shiny penny" condition. If I was selling a 1967 Mustang, I totally understand trailing bidders changing their minds and losing interest; perhaps they want to wait for another one in better condition. But in the case of a fully-custom one-off, I'm at a loss to understand how someone can lose all interest the instant that the auction ends. Oh well, live and learn.
_________________ Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains Both available from https://www.lulu.com/
Last edited by KB58 on August 26, 2022, 3:55 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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