Auction Day: A Z3 Surprise Edition
The BMW Z3. In my mind this model is the only convertible of the late-90’s that made the 2nd gen MX-5 seem… a bit plain. Even with a near 10k premium when it was released, this car was quite a hot commodity for those willing to pay for the privelege.
But what if we could turn back time just a bit? What if right now I could get you a forest green 1997 BMW Z3 with the 1.9L four cylinder, all the options and only 21,000 miles on it? Would you be willing to pay.. say… $10,000+? Well guess what…
Someone did just that. Even though that was about two to three grand more than what Ed would have paid, I still think it was a reasonable proposition. A third of the price for 85+% of it’s lifecycle is the exact type of bargain I would usually seek if I were an owner instead of the dealer. .
Unfortunately the guy selling it will likely want at least 12 grand for it on Ebay. Throw in the auction fee and transport… and $10,500 will be the amount he has in it even before changing the four rotting tires and giving it a tune-up.
Today’s buys included the following…
2010 Toyota Prius 50k (Frame Damage) : $17,300
2009 Dodge Caliber SXT (92k, Auto, Alloy) $ 7,500
2003 Infiniti FX35 123k (Leather, 4WD): $12,300
1998 Lexus LS400 165k (White, Fleet) $ 6,600
1998 Volvo S70 (5-speed, Base, White) $1,515
1997 Lincoln Town Car 59k (INOP, Needs Paint) $ 700
I’ll leave it up to the Best & Brightest to figure out which one of these six I bought. I’ll give you a hint. It wasn’t a home run by any means. Given that there were 95 dealers looking at the exact same vehicles at the same time, the opportunity for a grand slam today just wasn’t there.
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S70 for sure, possibly a Lincoln.
Bimmer nailed it. I bought the Volvo. I have a very soft spot for Volvos from the mid to late 1990's. The pre-Ford Volvos along with Subarus and Saabs made up about a third of my sales when I started out. The Lincoln I got outbid by a good friend of mine. He has a 'machine' of four lots and about 20 people to support. Thankfully my obligations aren't nearly that much. We both happened to have spare engines for the Lincoln. It had sat for about 5 years although the interior was in fairly decent shape. Black on black with 1997 being the last year of that generation. I think he ended up with a better buy but that's how the business goes sometimes. I also ended up getting a 1996 Dodge Intrepid ES with 28k for $400. For some reason the 'auction' had a longer list of inops than usual and some were running before they got to the sale. The Intrepid will more than likely need a new engine. I'll find out by the end of the week.