The Daily Vroom

Good morning Vroomers,

A lot of you have been asking for the daily numbers again, who’s selling what and where things actually sit across the market. We’ve always tried to avoid turning this into just a scoreboard because that’s not really the point of The Daily Vroom, but when enough people ask for something it’s usually a sign it’s worth bringing back in some form. It won’t be every day, but it will be frequent enough to give a proper sense of what’s going on.

To put things into context, earlier this week we wrote about Cars & Bids running an 80% sell-through rate, which is strong but also very difficult to maintain consistently. Yesterday they came in at 60% with 24 cars sold, the day before 65% STR, which is completely fine as it’s the ying and the yang of the market. Overall this year they’ve had impressive growth.

Bring a Trailer yesterday, ran at roughly 75% sell-through and sold an incredible 152 vehicles, and that’s really where the gap in the market shows up right now. It’s not just about sell-through, it’s about the volume they’re able to push through on a daily basis, and even at that level there were still around 50 cars that didn’t sell, which suggests there’s still room for them to go higher over time.

At the same time, measuring the rest of the market directly against BaT misses the point. Not every platform needs to operate at that level of scale to be a very successful business, and in many cases trying to chase that comparison ends up being more of a distraction than anything else. There are a number of platforms that have built strong positions by focusing on their own lane, their own audience, and executing consistently rather than trying to replicate something that took years to build under very specific conditions.

The more interesting thing in the market right now isn’t who’s closest to BaT, it’s how each platform is actually defining what success looks like for them, and whether they’re building towards it in a sustainable way.Let’s be real, there’s more to the online car auction world than just C&B and BaT.

Here at TDV we try to cover all the platforms, and a new one that just popped up on our radar is buythecar.com. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the kind of cars they start bringing to market.

YESTERDAY’S TOP 3 SALES

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

Collectors Edition

Back in March we talked about the marketing Car & Classic put behind their collectors edition auction night, and they’re back at it again for June.

They haven’t released the cars yet, but the video they dropped is extremely well done, so I thought you’d enjoy it.

If you’re in the UK and have something special, it’s definitely one to submit.

Auctions Ending Today To Keep An Eye On

Collectors chase the roadster. Always have. The open two-seater is the poster, the icon, the Enzo quote. But the 2+2 is quietly the more usable car, longer wheelbase, actual headroom, same 4.2 XK six under that endless bonnet, and it trades at a discount because of the stigma.

This one above on Collecting Cars right now is worth your attention. 1968 Series 1, Opalescent Maroon over cream, family owned since 2004. The seller's late husband bought it, she's been custodian since 2024, and in that twenty-year stretch the family put real money into it. Engine rebuild, new floorpan, full rewire, stainless exhaust, diff and brakes done. Thirty pages of paperwork to back it up.

It's not a trailer queen. The listing is honest about front-end damage at some point, a 1997 restoration before they bought it, and mileage that can't be verified. Someone has clearly been maintaining it rather than sitting on it though.

If you're in the US and this is making you think, I ran it through the TDV import calculator and a 1968 car is about as friendly as it gets. 25-year exemption, 2.5% duty, none of the tariff ugliness hitting modern UK imports right now. Fees came out at 11% on top of whatever you pay at auction.

This 912 Targa project on PCarMarket is stupid cheap right now. And I mean that as a compliment.

It's a basket case. Fully stripped interior, drivetrain out, rust present, been sitting outdoors for years, rear paint stripped back to bare metal. The seller isn't dressing it up, the listing says exactly what it is and the photos back that up.

But here's the thing. It's a 1968 soft window Targa, one of around 2,500 built before Porsche switched to the fixed glass rear window in 1969. Zip-out plastic rear screen, stainless Targa bar, removable roof panel. It's the earliest form of the Targa concept and the rarest configuration. Restored examples carry a real premium.

You get the shell, all the original removed parts and trim, and a period correct 1.6 flat-four with a 5-speed transaxle. Not numbers matching but era correct.

Three bids at $1,250 with hours left and no reserve.

If you have a shop, a plan, and patience this is the kind of entry point that doesn't come up often on a car this specific. If you don't have all three, my advice is leave it alone.

The first year of the most important sports car ever built, feel free to disagree, but you’d be wrong :)

1965 was the first full production year of the 911. A 0-Series car, completed July 1965, one of 3,154 built that year. Champagne Yellow over black leatherette, which is exactly right for the period. Porsche Certificate of Authenticity included. Known history back to 1982.

The current owner spent $62k on a full engine and transaxle rebuild in 2017. Everything came apart, everything was inspected, worn parts replaced. Period correct 2.0 flat-six, 5-speed, Weber carbs. Since the rebuild the car has covered 550 miles.

That number will go higher. These 0-Series cars are genuinely rare and the ones with documented history and a fresh drivetrain are rarer still.

If you've ever wanted a first-year 911 this is the kind of listing you don't walk past twice.

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