The $376K Dino that stalled out, here’s why

PLUS: Your Take On Whether A New Online Auction Platform Can Still Break Through — And The Surprisingly Split Results

Author

Sam Gold
October 03, 2025

The Daily Vroom

Good Morning Vroomers,

A very solid $8.4M rolled across the virtual blocks yesterday, proof there’s still plenty of fuel in the tank even on an ordinary midweek day. Bring a Trailer carried most of the weight with another monster slate of sales, but there’s more going on than just raw numbers.

Today we’re digging into a 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS that stalled at $376K and why the easy “soft market” excuse doesn’t cut it.

We’ll also break down yesterday’s top five sales, crown a well-bought AMG GT S as our Sale of the Day, and share how you voted on whether a new auction platform can still break through.

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.

2020 Ferrari 488 Pista $619,000 (114 miles)

2006 Ford GT $395,000 (16k miles)

2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Coupe 3ZR ZTK 7-Speed $325,000 (1,200 miles)

2023 Bentley Continental GT Mulliner W12 Convertible $227,500 (9k miles)

1966 Jaguar XKE Series I 4.2 Roadster $225,000 (67k miles)

Nearly Sale of the Day

Every time a premium car stalls, the economy is flattening crowd comes running. Maybe sometimes (very rarely) that is true. This time? Not buying it for a single second. The market even ticked up yesterday.

Here are a multitude of reasons why this 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS stopped at $376,000 and did not meet reserve, aside from the simple fact that maybe the right two bidders just were not there when the clock ran out.

Color kills liquidity
Marrone Dino Metallizzato is gorgeous and rare, but it is a taste play. Enough buyers love it to talk about it. Not enough are ready to wire top tier Dino money for brown metallic. That alone narrows the pool.

Survivor is not no needs
This is an honest, lived in Dino. Lacquer checking, an over glossy targa panel, older tires, an untouched underside. Great if you want story and patina, not great if you want a car to show tomorrow. Buyers will pay for perfect. This is not perfect.

Too many unanswered questions
Paint originality turned into a guessing game. Hand built Ferraris vary, but thick readings plus past work on panels spooked some. Underneath, small mechanical details raised budget for sorting vibes. Add no Ferrari Classiche certification and it is another layer of risk.

Reserve felt like no needs money
Bidding landed where a cool, driver level Dino sits. I assume reserve was clearly closer to what fully sorted, turn key cars bring. That is where auctions stall: expectation outpacing the car in front of buyers.

There is nothing about this result screams soft market. It screams accurate. Survivor charm and great history are valuable, but buyers want either a flawless Dino or room in the price to finish the work. This one sat somewhere in between, and the market priced it right there.

Sale of the Day

Sometimes you just need to move a car on. I have seen it so many times. When sellers try to gloss over flaws or spin a story it usually ends badly. Yesterday’s 2016 Mercedes AMG GT S in Solarbeam Yellow was the opposite and it worked.

It sold on Cars & Bids for $60,750. For what this car is, AMG Dynamic Plus, Exclusive Interior, carbon ceramics, tasteful mods, solid maintenance, that is a very well bought GT S.

What really stood out was the seller’s honesty. They openly talked about the hail damage and repair, shared known flaws, walked through the service history, and even explained why they were selling. No games. No mystery. Just clear information for bidders.

At $60k this feels like a 60/40 win for the buyer. But it is also proof that transparency gets cars sold. A nine year old 59k mile AMG with a long owner list could scare people away. Here it built trust and kept the auction moving.

Kudos to this seller for keeping it real. This is how you get cars sold.

Your Feedback

In yesterdays’ newsletter we asked you ‘Can a brand-new online car auction platform still break through and compete with the big players?’ The results were a mixed bag and there are strong views on both ends. Below are the results of the poll and a selection of your comments.

It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how this ‘new’ player in the market will perform. More coming…

This can and does always happen. The right idea, team, capital and timing always prevail. The guys on top get complacent and opportunity and preparation happen.

The technology exists, but the emphasis is on high-dollar cars rather than volume, and this is where BaT is winning. You don't need to have a bunch of cars made of unobtainium to win at this game, just move more than your competition. None of these platforms or their principals seem to have real world used car sales experience. The value of any vehicle is what the market or a specific buyer will pay today, not the speculative value auction houses or 'experts' place on it.

In order to be successful in this space at this point, not only do you need huge capital, but you need tremendous know-how/knowledge specifically of online, realistic expectations (It will take tremendous energy and you will lose a lot of money initially). However, first and foremost, you need competency and trust. The original team that launched Auto Hunter with classiccars.com had the majority of these boxes checked. Although Barrett-Jackson/IMG has a lot of resources and a very significant reach, they very much lack the last two components and that's what's held them back.

Plenty of room for niche categories or smart website design. Bidder set a max price and not have to re-bid every five minutes?

For a newcomer it would be a long slow road to any success

Why would I put my car in and unknown auction site. The financial risk is too great.

What are they going to offer the others don't? Less delay in getting an auction started would help. How many others have moved sales to another venue after waiting weeks for BAT, C&B, or, especially, Hagerty to start their auction after submission.

Do you want a model on how a market like this works? Look at Wall St. The first mover always stays as the dominate player no matter how obscure their beginnings are. It can take decades for the other players in a new space to seriously challenge for the top spot. Only very rarely does the late comer end up on top ( see mySpace vs. Facebook). Amazon is the most notable example. Challengers with money have come and gone but no one is close to knocking them off.... I try to make time every morning to read your daily. It's always worth taking the time. Keep up the great work. Regards Howard

The online auction market is far too saturated and has been for quite some time. Even Barrett Jackson’s Autohunter was far too late to the party, and compounding the problem they don’t have the right people in place. Unless a company has the right leader and talent in top management roles who collectively understand the online sector and collector cars in general, the company will not succeed. Live car auction experience does not necessarily convey to online. Autohunter was launched by a business guy and a live auction guy (Steve Gregg), neither of whom comprehend the online industry or have experience buying and selling collectible cars or the collector car market as a whole.

One wonders how much more the online auction product can evolve….and if the functionality and product offering can only go so far, you’re left to rely on niche offering to differentiate. The big players have proven their mettle in the high end, the lower end, and all in between, so it feels a stretch that a new player can come in and really steal a crown from any of the behemoths…

Cars and Bids can barely scrape by, there’s no more room for another site. BaT is king and nothing (or no influencer) will change that.

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