Lancia scorpion selling at auction

And the bid is at $2k right now. She needs some love but whomever gets her I hope doesn’t part her out.
Save a Lancia!!!
NJ, Glassboro East.
Mike
 
Hammered a few minutes ago at.......$4900 to a buyer in New Hampshire. Does Bob Brown have a new toy ??

Sure seemed to be a LOT to like on this Scorpion. Twin carbs, headers, really nice wheels, and some high zoot Recaro seats. If....it is anywhere near as nice as it appears in the few pics - then somebody got a smokin' deal.
 
Looks like the buy it now price is $7,900. But offers are accepted. Maybe previous high bid wasn't apprvoved?
 
Yeah...this is strange. Yes, looks like it actually did not sell on Tuesday, and is slated for auction again next week.

I did watch the auction live on Tuesday, and it DID hammer at $4900 to a New Hampshire bidder at $4900, after some spirited bidding from another bidder in Colorado. But....I recall the auction was in Copart's "on approval" format.

Best I can tell, Copart sells vehicles in three auction types:
Pure sale - highest bid gets it, no matter what.
On approval - seller has until 6pm the next day to decide whether to accept the highest bid or not. Kinda strange.
On reserve - there is a hidden reserve and car is sold if that reserve is met. Although it seems seller also has a day to decide to accept a bid that did not meet reserve.

I think...in either of the last two formats, there can be some back and forth counter-offers and counter- bids, between seller and highest bidder after the auction.

It would appear - in this case - the seller decided not to accept that $4900 offer. I would assume however that in that case the seller would still have to pay Copart their listing fees and auction fees. Which would probably be substantial $$. And decided to re-auction it again next week, but this time in a "on reserve" format, with a "buy it now" option of $7900 before next Tuesday. Guess we will see next week what happens.

Seems to me that Copart would not be the optimal venue to sell a car like this. Copart mostly sell damaged insurance wrecks. I would think BAT or Ebay would be a more suitable venue to achieve the highest $ result. But...both those would require a lot more work in listing. Not to mention the hassle of dealing with tire kickers, time wasters, and flaky buyers. Perhaps, the seller is the widow/ex-wife/creditor who just want a quick and easy way of selling. But in that case you would have thought they would have taken the $4900 and ran....
 
Hmmm....looks like it did not sell - again - on the auction 2 days ago. I did not see the live auction to see what the high bid was this time. Did anyone out there watch it and knows the high bid this time ??

It is set - again - for auction on Jan 8. Again with a reserve. But this time with a buy-it-now price of $6900.

All quite odd......it must have cost the seller a bunch of $$ already in listing/ auction/storage fees for the two failed attempts. Anyone out there know how much ? Gotta be a grand or so already ?

BTW....note the serial #....
 
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I looked into Copart a little over a year ago and concluded it wasn't worth it unless you bought/sold damaged cars on a regular basis. It seemed to me the organization is set to earn money even if you never buy a car. You were required to PAY a considerable sum to LOOK AT the car in the lot. They offered one time only and "3 or 5 peeks" in another package. Only with a "full membership" could you look every car you were interested in. I recall the full membership was several hundred dollars. I dropped out when I found out the full cost of looking/bidding was going to cost several hundred dollars for a "look" here in Las Vegas. If it was high end car the cost would have been OK. On principle I won't "pay to buy."
 
I looked into Copart a little over a year ago and concluded it wasn't worth it unless you bought/sold damaged cars on a regular basis. It seemed to me the organization is set to earn money even if you never buy a car. You were required to PAY a considerable sum to LOOK AT the car in the lot. They offered one time only and "3 or 5 peeks" in another package. Only with a "full membership" could you look every car you were interested in. I recall the full membership was several hundred dollars. I dropped out when I found out the full cost of looking/bidding was going to cost several hundred dollars for a "look" here in Las Vegas. If it was high end car the cost would have been OK. On principle I won't "pay to buy."
I've used Copart to buy several cars. It's not cheap, but depending on what you're looking for, you can find good deals. Remember you're competing with like minded folks from around the world for the best deals. Here in Illinois you must be a dealer, dismantler, or agent to buy from Copart. An agent will charge you between $200 and $400 to go through the motions to allow you to purchase a vehicle. In Iowa anyone can buy from Copart, no special status required. Then,in Illinois if the vehicle has a salvage title you have to pay the state to inspect it and get a special title once it's repaired. That costs more than the agent charges. (Thanks chop shops.:mad:)
The viewing policies are different at different locations. I'll bet the Vegas location had too many problems with people stealing parts off of cars to let them roam freely. It's expensive to have enough staff to monitor them, hence the charges to discourage it. I would most definitely NOT buy a car without an inspection. At minimum hire an inspector, there is just too much you need to know before you buy.
 
I really like what was done to this car. I think BAT would have been the best venue for this car that is relatively rare and by my standards had some tasteful mods.
 
Im pretty sure that was Ernestos Car. Not sure what the story is or how it got to the east coast since it was always in California. If anyone buys the car I would be interested in buying the wheels.
 
Well......the gavel fell again a few minutes ago at $6500 to a bidder in France, after some spirited bidding against a bidder from Poland.

Again...seems to have shown "sold on approval". Don't know if reserve was met.

And although auction was in NJ, the Scorpion was listed as having a SD title.

All rather strange.....
 
Interesting... Montecarlos in the U.K. and Europe are valued pretty strongly relative to Scorpions here in the U.S. I've seen asking prices firmly in the $20k USD range (I know asking prices don't always reflect selling prices, but these asks seem pretty common). Figure the buyer is in the car $10k USD by the time it arrives in France and that leaves a $10k buffer to bring it to the next level. Obviously, Montecarlos have the 2.0-liter engine, but that's no huge expense to add if this one wasn't already upgraded.
 
I've been watching the prices of Montes, and am hoping it's only a matter of time before Scorp values go up!
 
Yeah, trouble with raising prices is what good does it do? If Scorpions suddenly become $20k cars, who here would still buy one? Most of us would complain about being priced out of the market and pine for the "good old days" when they were just inexpensive, interesting sports cars. Much like the classic Porsche market.
 
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