The Daily Vroom

Good morning Vroomers,

Welcome to all our new readers. You’ve picked a good day to join.

Today’s roundup has a bit of everything—big money, hidden gems, and a reminder that the best stories in the car world don’t always follow a script.

And while we’re on the subject of surprises... remember that big Jaguar rebrand? The April sales numbers are in.

Just 49 vehicles sold across all of Europe!! Bring a Trailer does that before the first coffee break.

Let’s dive in to today’s issue…

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.

Sale of the Day

For almost a week this sat at three bids. Nothing happened. It looked like it might stall completely. Then the final hour hit and everything changed. More than 20 bids poured in and the price jumped from under 90 grand to over 250.

It’s easy to joke about a steam-powered fire engine but this one was no sideshow. This was a real piece of early American machinery with documented history going back to its 1903 delivery in Virginia. Later it served in Washington DC then spent decades in California under careful ownership. Fully restored in the nineties and kept in climate-controlled storage since. Not just a display piece either. The boiler spins. The mechanics work. This is the kind of object that usually disappears into institutional collections.

But the biggest story here was how it was presented. Wob didn’t just list it. He documented it. Every detail. Every angle. He answered questions before they were asked. There was clarity on provenance. Transparency on mechanical function. And the photos were better than what you see from most concours catalogs.

No fancy language. No nostalgia trip. Just the facts done right.

That’s how you get $255,500 for a fire engine in 2025.

Why It Pays To Watch All Auctions

We’ve talked before about what moves a sale. Presentation matters. Service history helps. Timing plays a role. And of course the car itself, spec mileage rarity all that. But there’s one piece the data will never show and it played out yesterday on a 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB that sold on Cars and Bids.

It went for 194K. Strong car clean spec low miles. But the real story was the seller.

After the hammer dropped he left a simple comment:
“I needed a room and I purchased another car”

That’s the part no spreadsheet will ever catch. Sometimes a sale isn’t about value it’s about circumstance. And when a seller is ready to let go the numbers don’t have to make sense.

This wasn’t a project car or a tough sell. It just needed to move and the buyer happened to be in the right place at the right time.

That’s why watching auctions matters even when they seem out of reach. Not every deal is obvious. Not every sale follows a pattern. And the best outcomes often show up when you're just paying attention.

Easier said than done of course. With the pace of auctions today it’s nearly impossible to track them all. But if you want to understand the market you can’t rely on comps alone. You’ve got to be in it.

Every now and then a seller tips their hand and if you’re watching you get the reward.

Don’t miss the Mercedes further down, seller needs to let it go and it might slip through for less than you'd think.

Auctions To Watch

If you’ve been reading The Daily Vroom for a while, you know I don’t usually write about Astons. Most of the time they just don’t hit for me. But this one changed my mind.

Mariana Blue over Deep Purple leather. A naturally aspirated V12. Three pedals. Rear-wheel drive. That’s not marketing speak, that’s a proper setup. It’s got carbon ceramics, real miles (16K), and a spec that’s somehow both ridiculous and just right.

I know the interior will divide people. That’s fine. Cars like this should divide people. There are only about 200 of these in the US and probably one or two in this exact combo. So if you want something nobody else will pull up next to at cars and coffee, this is it.

Honestly I didn’t expect to like it. Then I kept scrolling. And watching. And now I get it.

Some Astons still aren’t for me.
But this one is.

The 1992 Mercedes-Benz 500E currently live on Cars & Bids isn’t just another W124 with a branded title. It’s one of those listings where the context tells you more than the Carfax ever could.

Earlier in this newsletter we talked about that Ferrari 488 GTB that sold for $194K because the seller simply needed the space. This 500E might be another one of those quiet opportunities. Not because of what’s wrong with it but because of what’s going on around it.

The seller has five other cars in the garage (see pics of them in the comments) including a Polestar 2 a 911 Cabriolet and a Silver Spur. And he’s open about the fact that this one just isn’t getting used. Says he’s only washed it once since buying it because he was afraid to take it out. That’s the kind of owner you want behind the last 4000 miles.

Yes the car has a rebuilt title. But the damage happened in 1997 and the work appears to have been done right. The condition speaks for itself. Clean cosmetics solid service history recent maintenance and a level of honesty that most listings don’t offer.

It’s easy to overlook something like this. Easy to write it off as a parts car or a pass. But cars like this 500E are why it pays to stay close to the auctions. Because sometimes the data says one thing and the seller says something completely different.

Not the kind of listing we usually see on SOMO but that’s exactly why this one’s worth watching.

This 1981 Jeep CJ-5 is raw simple and refreshingly honest. No reserve no frills no inflated expectations. Just a tastefully built classic 4x4 with a small-block Chevy V8 and a manual gearbox sitting at $12,500 with days to go.

There’s a seller disclosure included which is always good to see and the recent work checks the right boxes. Fresh rebuild on the transmission and transfer case new cooling components and even a block heater. The hardtop and doors come with it and it’s sitting on new Falkens wrapped around Ion alloys.

This isn’t a trail-only bruiser or a concours queen. It’s the kind of thing you can drive and enjoy without thinking twice. Yes it’s in Canada yes it has some imperfections and no it’s not the cleanest CJ to ever hit the block. But it’s got the bones and it’s here to sell.

This seller included a seller disclosure document breaking down condition and recent work. Personally I think more information is always better. What do you think?

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