The Daily Vroom

Good morning Vroomers,

Finally, a new auction platform has landed, and trust me, this one is not your run of the mill offering. It comes in hot with some seriously bold promises. Would love to get your two cents on it in our poll below.

Since we are on the topic of fresh energy in the auction space, I pulled three under the radar listings from the smaller platforms today that deserve a closer look

Let’s get into it and first look at what happened yesterday.

MARKET LEADERBOARD

💰 The figures shared below don’t count any other sales such as car seats, memorabilia etc… All online auction sites are analyzed to put this leaderboard together.

I only include websites that have sold 5+ vehicles in the chart below.

YESTERDAY’S TOP 5 SALES

Want to dive deeper into any of these listings? Just click on the car to take you directly to the listing.

duPont Registry Launch New Auction Platform

A new auction platform has entered the arena and it is aiming to reshape how luxury cars are bought and sold online. duPont Registry Live is officially here, launched with a clear message around transparency, security and community engagement. They are not trying to blend in. They are trying to stand out.

And to their credit, the approach is different, very different.

In a space where every platform looks and feels broadly the same, a new entrant has to bring something ‘different’. No one is asking for another BaT clone. If you want attention in 2025, you need a thesis and you need teeth. duPont has both.

Here are the three big differentiators they are leading with.

• 100 percent Sell Through - If it is listed on the site, it is being sold.

• 14 Day Return Policy - (you read that right)

• No Reserve Auctions - 100% sell-through guarantee

These came directly from Chad Cunningham (below), who is running the platform, and they are the boldest claims we have seen from any online auction platform.

The platform will begin with standard 7 day auctions, but they plan to test shorter flash style formats too. That could mean one day, a few hours or even less. And for all the new elements, the familiar building blocks are still in place. You still get anti sniping extensions, comment threads and a layout that will feel recognizable to anyone who has bought or sold on the major sites.

A Bold Direction With Real Questions

I have to give credit for ambition. It takes confidence to come out with a playbook this aggressive. But a few practical questions naturally come up.

The 14 Day Return Policy

This is the one that will get the most attention. It sounds great for buyers but it also raises a long list of operational questions.

There are no published terms yet, so it is hard to know how this works with titles, liens, transport, storage, inspections and returns. Any guarantee of this scale also depends on how the platform protects against misuse. There are plenty of bad actors out there. None of this is criticism. These are simply the mechanics any business would have to answer when offering something this generous.

The No Reserve Angle

Buyers will love this immediately, the chance to buy something under ‘market value’. Every listing guaranteed sold.

For sellers, it raises understandable questions. Are consignors truly agreeing to no reserve? Is duPont underwriting any gaps? How will that work on a brand new platform that is still building traffic and engagement?

Right now the first cars on the site are duPont’s own listings, which makes sense at launch. As more cars come online, the labeling around no reserve will have to become clearer, as at the moment it’s not clear.

Why Launch This When They Also Have SOMO

Interestingly I’ve had a number of emails on Monday from readers asking about SOMO. Readers were wondering why duPont would launch a new platform while also seemingly having involvement in SOMO?

The way I understand it is that SOMO’s ownership structure has evolved, with RM Sotheby’s now holding a significant majority position and duPont retaining a minority stake. With that shift, duPont is choosing to pursue a platform that fully reflects their own vision. Is that with RM’s blessing? You’d have to ask them…

My Take

duPont Registry Live is not another lookalike auction site. It is ambitious. It is different. It is entering the luxury space with guarantees that, if executed well, could genuinely shift expectations for both buyers and sellers.

The upside here is real. The questions are equally real.

I am rooting for them because innovation matters in this market. Fresh approaches keep the entire ecosystem moving forward. The real test now is execution. The guarantee mechanics, seller confidence, buyer protection, platform traffic and the day to day logistics behind these promises will determine whether this bold approach becomes the next breakthrough or more of an early experiment.

Auctions Under The Radar

Every once in a while you stumble onto a build that clearly burned through a small fortune and an even larger amount of patience. This 1939 Cadillac Series 75 is one of those cars. A full custom, all steel, no shortcuts coupe with a claimed 260K invested, and you feel every dollar of it the moment the listing loads.

Inferno Red Metallic over a completely reimagined saddle interior, a chopped roof that actually looks proportional, billet everything, a RamJet 502 under the hood, air suspension, Wilwood brakes, and a color matched chassis with removable panels. This is not a hot rod. This is a statement.

The seller even answers the first question everyone asks about these cars before it’s asked. Steel. Not fiberglass. Not bonded panels. Real metal worked the real way. And the video they pinned in the comments shows exactly what this thing is about. It’s loud, it’s polished, and it has presence. You buy this car for the theater of it.

What stands out most here is the execution. Plenty of cars get built to this level on paper and then fall apart in the details. This one doesn’t. The proportions are right. The interior is clean. The engine choice makes sense. The underbody looks like it belongs on a show stand. Someone built this to win trophies and turn crowds, not to flip.

The market for full customs is always tricky to predict because the pool of buyers is small and personal taste drives everything. But this is the sort of car that gets attention on any platform because it’s fully formed. Nothing is half done. Nothing is placeholder. Someone saw it through.

Is it for everyone? No. But if you want to roll up to a show in something that stops conversations in mid sentence, this Cadillac absolutely delivers the moment.

The 997 has become the Goldilocks generation of the 911. Analog feel, modern reliability, none of the bloat that came after. And this 2005 Carrera Cabriolet is exactly the spec people hunt for: manual, full Porsche dealer and specialist history and no drama.

Black on black, tidy paint, fresh roof refurb, and a cabin that looks far better than most 997s thanks to all-new switchgear in 2023. It presents like a car that has been loved, not squeezed.

The service record is the real headline. Main dealer stamps stretching from 2007 through 2019, specialists filling in after, regular brake fluid changes, belts, airbag checks, and a recent clutch at 57K miles. New front discs and pads at 51K, fresh Potenzas with 300 miles, and a seller who actually describes how the car drives instead of hiding behind clichés. Starts hot and cold, tracks straight, no shakes, no leaks. Exactly what you want to hear.

Yes, eight previous owners. But this is the kind of car that gets passed between people who maintain them. The history backs that up.

This is not a collector piece. It is a proper driver’s 997, the kind you buy because you want to hear a naturally aspirated flat six work through a six speed on an early Sunday morning. And for that job, this one looks spot on.

Some cars don’t need an introduction. This 1997 Mercedes E62 Lorinser wagon is one of them. It was built by Lorinser, registered to Lorinser, and shown at the Geneva Motor Show when new. This is not a tribute or a parts-bin project. This is the real one.

It started as an E420T before Lorinser threw the entire catalogue at it.
A proper MKB built 6.2 liter M119, almost 400 horsepower, huge torque, big brake kit, multi piece Lorinser wheels, full body kit, Sebring exhaust, birds eye maple, custom blue and black leather, xenons, the whole 90s tuner gospel.

And it has the presentation to match. Full repaint with meter readings. Dry ice blasted underside. New Michelin PS4s. Updated suspension. New plugs, coils, battery, A C recharge, fuel sender, shifter bushings, alignment. Head gaskets and major service already done by the previous owner. This is a sorted car, not a Euro import with mystery history.

The mileage is 162k km, which is nothing for an M119, especially one that has already had the big-ticket work sorted. The seller clearly knows the car, drives the car, and has put in the time to fix the stuff most people ignore.

Finding another genuine E62 wagon with documentation is basically impossible. Replicating it today? Good luck. You would burn through a small fortune before you sourced half the parts.

If you want the ultimate 90s tuner wagon, this is it. A real Lorinser build, real provenance, real presence, and already here in the US with a clean title. Everything about it lands exactly the way an E62 should.

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