When I grew up I was a picky child when it came to trying new things
at the dinner table. Every so often
though, I would try something and get a taste for it. I’m happy to report I have once more indulged
in visiting a car auction (again with a $100 spend limit set by spousal
imposition). I went with, Dan, the same
car buddy I went with last time. Only
now he was seriously looking to bid on a car.
I had contacted me earlier in the week saying he was going to go to
another auction on the coming weekend.
It was only a text message, but I could tell by the liberal use of
exclamation marks that there was an air of excitement about the whole thing. Another message came... he was going to bid
on a car!
The vehicle in question was a blue on tan 2010 Ford Flex with about
128,000km on the odometer and leather seats.
We had discussed on our last drive back from my first auction that Dan
was going to try and get some spousal support on the decision to purchase a new
vehicle for the family. Now he had the
green light to go get one and the Flex would be his first target.
We arrived at the auction on Saturday about 15 minutes before the
noon start time. Dan and I took a few mintues to examine the Flex. We were a
little crest fallen to learn that the vehicle had sustained some damage during
the high winds we had been experiencing in the previous weeks. Nothing too major, but it would still require
some work. The condition of the interior
seemed rather well loved as well. But
Dan was not deterred and looked at this with a bargain hunter’s eyes. If it needed some work, hopefully it would
discourage other bidding and lower the sale price of the Flex.
We took the rest of the time to look at the various treasures up for
grabs. Some highlights for me were a
1995 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon (moderately low mileage but needed some cosmetic
help, including a new front fender), a 2003 Infiniti G35 with 313,000km on it
and a Mercedes C320 Coupe (manual transmission and a $22K insurance claim). Another gem was a 4 generations old Chevy
Malibu with only about 43,000km on it.
It looked brand new!
The order of the bidding was established and the Flex was coming up
at the end. We figured it would be the
star of the show, anyway. However, there
was a surprise bidding war on a 2005ish Kia Rondo.
When we got around to the Flex it was a bit of a disappointment. The bidding jumped up way too fast and when
you take into account the closing costs of buying at an auction, the $8,000
winning bid was a little high for a Flex that needed that much work.
My heart also went out to that poor Volvo. I was $400 short of saving it from the
wreckers. Bummer.
If you want to see a few more pics of the auction, check out the official Automophiliac Facebook page!
On a sadder note, the car world lost a great movie star over the
weekend. Paul Walker was a passenger in
a Porsche that crashed and caught on fire on Saturday. He was best known for his work on the Fast
and the Furious series, which arguably brought about a renaissance in great car
film making. He will surely be be missed
by his many fans.
TTFN
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