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Millionaire Surplus Chases Story Shortage

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Today’s post comes from Wally, proprietor of Wally’s Intimida, home of the Sherpa S.U.V. – the world’s most massive car.

Hello buyers!

Today is a great day to add a Sherpa to your collection of things that took a bundle of money to own.  I say that knowing  we have just been through a few years  when spending was something that even people with too much cash simply did not do.

But there was great news coming out of California last week – someone spent 27.5 million dollars on a car! And I don’t mean a car company – I mean one single, individual car.

You have no idea how this cheered up people in my business who have spent countless hours haggling with stubborn cheapskates who balk at forking over an extra $300 for the paint treatment. Finally, a great feel-good story about gaudy excess. It’s about time!

The car in question, a Ferrari NART Spyder, is special, there’s no doubt. In fact, the auction house produced this beautiful, lump-in-the-throat video about it.

What a great story – a fondly remembered father’s well-loved prize benefiting charity and helping to soothe the pain of loss. This tugs on the heartstrings of exactly the type of millionaire who buys a collectible automobile. I wish I had something as sentimental to give the Sherpa buying public, but our commercials only show the Sherpa plowing through muddy fields and crushing things. Of course it can look as fetching in the misty early-morning light as a pricey, rare Ferrari, but being a plus-plus-plus-size automobile, the Sherpa has to conform to the limited expectations of a public that is not ready to accept that a package brimming with raw power can also be alluring  in a skimpy, sexy negligee.

But another thing that does wonders to sell a 27.5 million dollar car is the paralyzing fear that some other rich cat will swoop in and buy it before you can. And there was one quote in the story that spoke to this – from McKeel Hagerty, CEO of a company that insures collectible cars.

“The supply of millionaires is exceeding the number of available great cars. An awful lot of collectors are now clamoring for event-eligible models, and they’ve become a permissible splurge. The values are climbing.”

This is music to my ears – the very idea of too many millionaires chasing too few desirable cars spells opportunity for Intimida and the Sherpa, especially when there are signs that car lust in general is on the decline. All a great car really needs to break into the uber-million dollar category at auction is a great story, and while I’m sure potential buyers would like those stories to be true, it can account for a lot if they are, at the very least, good.

Some of the story lines I’m thinking about attaching to specific cars for future sales –

  • The Sherpa that drove Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to the top of Everest
  • The Sherpa the Von Trapp family took over the Matterhorn in The Sound of Music
  • The Sherpa that made the wheel-well slush chunk that grew into the Titanic iceberg
  • The Sherpa where Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address

There’s more to come as the automotive business transitions from being about transportation to being about nostalgia. But there’s still time left to buy a Sherpa of your own, so you can start making memories that will mean millions to your descendants, down the road. 

No pressure, honest.  Just think about it!

Your faithful car peddler,
Wally

What value-boosting story could you tell about your car?

58 thoughts on “Millionaire Surplus Chases Story Shortage”

  1. i just put new tires on my car . that about doubled the value. my honda is just about to turn 200,000 miles and the wheels still go around pretty good. the wheels are one of the best features. a dent here a paint scratch there, it is nice to have that stuff out of the way. i remember click nd clack talking about how when you get a new car you should just take a hammer to fender and put a dent in it to get that out of the way so you can stop worrying about it. my mechanic was over a while back to look at it and had his asistant guiding him on backing out another nearby vehicle and he backed into it. thecar is in such a state i just shrugged and said it asnt too big a deal.
    increase the value, pound the dents out and put on a coat of paint. same technique could be used on my house,

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    1. Congratulations on 200,000 miles! My girl has 243,000+ miles on her, if I’m remembering correctly. I was told that if I took good care of her, she’d last for 300,000. I think I’ll be testing that statement out. She’s got rust, two broken bumpers (neither one my fault, thank you), a cracked windshield and scratches, but as worn as she’s looking, I still love my little Honda Civic! The only thing I regret is not taking a picture of Kuro when she was bright shiny new in 1995, but that’s what a memory is for.

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  3. i have a volvo 1800. the sexy little two seater from thirty something made semi refamouse ten years ago or wheneverthat was its a cool car and i have i have always loved the design. my drummer back in my rock and roll days had a cute little mom and one day back in 1972 we were over visiting and his mom drove in in a brand new metallic baby blue volvo 1800. she was beaming form ear to ear. i told her. “conchita, you take good care of our car” she asked what i meant and i told her to drive and enjoy it and to call me when she was ready and i would buy it from her. she had her son my drummer call me about 25 years later and said she remembered and wondered if i really meant it and i said i did. it was another couple of years and then i got the cll that she was ready. i went over to take the dust cover off and wrote her a check and it has sat in my garage with little drive time since but man is it fun when i take it for a spin. it had 90,000 miles on it when i got it and it has 92000 on it now. 2000 very fun sunday drive miles.

    pretty car
    fun car to take for a spin

    https://www.google.com/search?q=volvo+p1800+for+sale&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=zFUTUpCfFMLftAbx04DoCA&ved=0CEQQsAQ&biw=1511&bih=756&sei=7lUTUvTtDcqGswa974DoCQ

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  4. RISE AND SHINE BABOONS!

    The 1999 Honda Accord sitting dead in my driveway may have any number of stories attached to it. On Saturday, August 10 it died by the side of the while Lou was driving to a music gig. He never got there. However, Superman HIMSELF happened by and towed it. Just the sight of SM hovering and straining slightly above terra firma to pull the thing to the Car ER, stopped traffic for miles. Sadly, despite the plethora of smart phone cameras now available, there are no pictures or videos available of this. But indeed, SM towed it to the Honda dealership in Hopkins where it was declared to either a) need $3K of needed repairs, approximately 3 times the value of the car or b) to be donated to a charity as a source of parts and food crumbs lying hidden under the seats.

    The fact that Superman towed this aged, venerable vehicle to the Dealership has magnified the value of this rather common car. But indeed, we are now considering all viable offers to purchase this landmark vehicle. We will also consider any offers to tow it to the nearest charitable organization accepting such donations.

    Towed by Superman. Really.

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    2. I got rid of one car that would cost too much to repair by driving it to junk yard before it failed to the point that it would no longer run. Another one that was beyond repair was traded in. I thought the dealer would take it to a junk yard, but he sold it. Later, I found out it had been sold when the new owner called me to ask me what I had to say about it. I told him to look out for problems. I probably should have told about the expensive repairs it needed. Somehow, I wasn’t up to giving him that sad information.

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    3. Many (at least some) of the charitable organizations will come and get non-running cars. I like the idea of donating to Newgate school because their students learn about car repair while getting the cars back to functional and then the cars are donated to single moms who need affordable transportation. Seems like a win-win-win. I have no affiliation with them, nor do I know how well they’re run, but it’s a great concept.

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  5. Good morning. Well I guess my 2002 Honda CRV has been customized, or I should say altered, during my ownership in ways that makes it one of a kind. However, I am not sure I have added to it’s value unless some one is seeking a sort of run down car that would let them fit in where expensive cars would standout. Perhaps a very wealthy person needs a car like this on some occasions and would pay me a little extra for my car.

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  6. i had a job at the mann france avenue drive in in high school and me welsch was the boss man. he was an odd guy who had the personality of a guy who was the head of a bunch of 16 year old zit faced wanna be cool kids who did what you do at the drive in. we picked up popcorn boxes, wrappers and beer bottles form the parking lot and the others sold the burgers and cigarettes and cokes at the concession stand. mer welsh watched over us with a distand eye of the overseer. he was a quiet and odd loittle man who never really seemed as if he had found his place in the world, until… he sat behind the wheel of his 1970 toyota landcruiser. it turned him from alan sherman to alan ladd, from wally cox to johnny weismueller it made him so happy to get behind the wheel of the jeep and become a man. i found one in the want ads in 1990 and the guy who sold it cried as i drove it away. i have it waiting for me to restore in my garage. the mechanic and the body man havebeen arranged so i need to follow through on this to get it up and running. you have to be careful and not let your love get int he way of your brain when it comes to costs on vehicles and so far i have kept this habit in line but i did tell myself it is ok to part with this stuff for the right price. i think 27 million would do it. maybe even a lesser amount. i’ll have to get serious. i did offer my volvo the toyota my jaguar and my motorcycle up at my garage sale a month bac and was very successful in not having any takers. money is only money., but cars…….

    this guy gets it.

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    2. So what’s the total on the number of vehicles that fit into that garage, tim? Sounds like the back of the cupboard in Narnia…

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    3. At first glance, I read the first sentence as “drive-in high school.” Too bad I read that wrong – a drive-in high school would be very funny.

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  8. Only that my original-cost-of-car divided by miles driven keeps creeping downward and must be approaching a modern day record-setting territory. Approx. $14,000/228,000 miles= $0.614/mile. Can the fancy-pants Ferrari touch that number???

    Chris in Owatonna

    PS- And the mileage keeps rising because, as the car rusts away, it becomes lighter and easier to propel. Still get 35 mpg on highway trips 🙂

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      1. Oops, dropped a zero. Thanks, Jim. Wow, now I’m even more impressed with good ol’ MIles. (Named the car Miles because we bought him right after Miles Davis died. Still think it’s a great name for a car.

        Our newer car, the 2002 Solara, is named Ella, after Ella Fitzgerald, who died shortly before we purchased the car.

        Fitting names for cars belonging to an old, broken-down jazz wannabe. 🙂

        Chris In Owatonna

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        3. I liked the woman who called “Car Talk” to swoon over her Jeep Liberty. She named the car Patrick Henry. “Give me liberty or give me death.”

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        7. As I’ve already mentioned a few times, my Civic is Kuro-auto-sama, which is an anime fan’s pun–the black cat that shows up in every episode of Trigun is known as “Kuro-neko-sama” (Lord Black Cat), so she’s Lady Black Car (even though the color is supposedly charcoal gray–the darkest charcoal gray I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure). I’m not sure anyone has gotten the joke in all these years.

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  9. I worked at a junk yard as a part time job for a few years. One of the owners of the junk yard was always setting aside car parts and occasionally cars that he thought had extra value. This drove the other owners crazy because those things that guy set aside usually were not sold and were nuisances that blocked traffic.

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  10. I saw her walking toward me through the shimmering desert, her caftan, richly embroidered with gold and purple threads, billowing out behind her. “I’ve left the orphans in the car with the peacock and the Dreamsicles,” she murmured softly as she held out the empty gas can.

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      1. It’s the beginning paragraph of my VBS (value-boosting story)…. working on more, but my pesky actual job keeps getting in the way!

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        1. That’s all you need to enter the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest vs. Yours may be too good an opening line, but it’s worth a shot.
          About the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
          Since 1982 the English Department at San Jose State University has sponsored the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.
          http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/lyttony.html

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  11. Years from now, I will regale classical music fans with the story of the green Toyota van that transported the leading diva at the Met and the principle clarinetist of the New York Phil to their lessons in Bismarck, along with their violin-playing lawyer and business manager.

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  12. Oh, how I wish we still had the Blue Dart – our navy 1953 Chevy that pulled our little trailer out to Colorado multiple times, moved us from one town to another, served as a hotel room on the way to Yellowstone. Would be worth… I wonder what it would be worth today.

    And who could forget my first VW van – the blue “Kombi” that crossed the country to New York from California, and back again a couple of years later. Outside looked like this, but all blue:
    http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VW-Bus-1972-rebuilt-2000cc-914-motor-dual-webers-desert-car-very-restorable-/321186554286?ViewItem=&item=321186554286&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466&forcev4exp=true

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      1. Pretty! My roommate would love that car. She doesn’t drive, but she grew up in Michigan and has warm fuzzies for the older models.

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  13. My late friend, Mike Mikkelsen, had a passion for cars. A 1941 Dodge D-19 Luxury Liner convertible was his first car, bought from an uncle when Mike was 17. It’s a long story, but Mike lost track of the car when he left Montana to join the armed forces. Thirty years on, and several marriages later, Mike began looking for the car and found it in a coulee on his uncle’s ranch in Montana. There it sat, deteriorating (or accumulating patina, depending on your point of view) until Mike towed it to Northfield where he lived at the time. Restoring the Dodge became a labor of love during the years when his Parkinson’s disease began to take a heavy toll. Mike was not a purist, he went for the gusto. Under the hood he installed a powerful engine from a Jaguar, and the seats were from an old Cadillac, if I remember correctly. He loved loud mufflers, and this car had one. I had the dubious pleasure of riding in the car with him numerous times and we always turned heads.

    Mike passed away on Valentine’s Day this year. A celebration of his life was held in June on what would have been his 80th birthday. Family and friends from all over the US converged on Bellingham, WA where the old Dodge was prominently displayed and incorporated into the celebration. None of MIke’s three children have an interest in this old car, I’m wondering what adventures lie ahead for it.
    http://annecuttermikkelsen.com/the-dodge-guts-glory-and-living-at-full-throttle/the-dodge-gallery/

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    3. wonderful post. nice looking car. i hope it finds a happy afterlife. that owuld be one htat would last a lifetime and then be passed on to enjoy at least one more. love the title of the gallery guts glory and living life at full throttle. you have some very interesting friends pj

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  14. There’s nothing so special about my car, a forest-green Outback from 2002. I would feel self-conscious about naming it, but in a very real sense that car is a soul mate for me. I had no money, so I spent five years researching the car market. The car I settled on and finally chose was THE most suitable car for me at the time, right down to the last detail, including color. That’s me, in car form. Now my health issues would point toward a different soul mate car, but at the time I could not have chosen better.

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  15. This sentence in Dale’s essay caught my attention: ““The supply of millionaires is exceeding the number of available great cars…” It seems the supply of millionaires is exceeding the supply of almost everything.

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    1. True, BiR, but I’ll bet my bottom dollar that the supply of folks who can’t afford everyday necessities is rising even faster.

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  16. Depending on your political persuasion, my 2009 Toyota Corolla sports the only license plates in all of Minnesota which read : GOBAMA. This should make it very valuable one day after the wing nuts die out and people come back to their senses?

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  17. I’ve never named any vehicles or tractors… but I call them all ‘sweetheart’. I finished baling straw the other day and everything worked perfect and when I got out I patted both the tractor and the baler and thanked them.

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