The Daily Vroom

Good morning Vroomers,

Big week. The kind where you can’t keep up unless you’re watching this stuff daily.

DuPont Registry Live saw a $3.6M Bugatti change hands, while Bring a Trailer kept doing what it does best, with a run of strong results including that wild ’66 Bill Thomas Cheetah Coupe hammering at $520k. Cars & Bids quietly put through some great wagons (you already know I’m biased there), and across the pond both Car & Classic and Collecting Cars had some seriously interesting sales flying under the radar. Plenty more happening across the platforms we track, but those were the standouts.

We also covered the sad news that SBX Cars will be shutting down. A lot of you had thoughts on that, and fairly strong ones. It’s a BIG shame, not just for the platform but for all the good people behind it. Worth remembering they still have cars live. Last week we talked about the Messi car, and today a 2021 Ferrari Monza SP2 is closing, the same car that RNM’d at $3.1M back in 2024. Different day, different market. Let’s see where it lands.

And in the middle of all that, we launched something new for you.

More on that below, plus a job opportunity for you!

Import Calculator Just Got Smarter

In case you missed it last week we launched the TDV Import Calculator, a free tool that tells you the real landed cost of importing any car from anywhere in the world. Duties, freight, compliance and live exchange rates all in one place. Try it at thedailyvroom.com/import-calculator

Big Import Calculator Update

A week in and you've already made it a LOT better.

The feedback has been genuinely excellent, from pre-war collectors, dealers managing cross-border shipments, and people running numbers on cars most tools don't even know exist. We've read every email and built accordingly.

Here's what's new:

Years now go back to 1885. If you're looking at an Edwardian, a veteran car, or something that predates most countries' road laws, the calculator now handles it. Pre-war makes are in too, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Duesenberg, Cord, and more.

Unknown/Other is now an option. Because not every car has a Wikipedia page. If your make or model isn't in the list, select Other and the calculator will still do its job.

Toggle any cost on or off. Several of you told us you handle brokerage yourselves, or that marine insurance isn't relevant on a short Canada run. Fair point. Now every line item is tappable, remove whatever doesn't apply to your situation and the total updates instantly. See it in action below.

Currency is now crystal clear. The moment you select an origin country, the input field shows the local currency code and symbol. No more guessing whether you're entering CAD or USD or anything else.

Antique vehicle flag added. For cars over 100 years old, the calculator now flags that HTSUS 9706, the antique classification may apply, which can materially change the duty picture versus standard vehicle classification. Your broker needs to know this argument exists.

You can now share a calculation. Run your numbers, hit Share Breakdown, and you get a clean link you can send straight to your broker, your partner, or whoever else needs to see the full breakdown. They open the link and see exactly what you saw, no inputs required with a little summary box at the top, try it out.

This is exactly how the product will keep evolving, built off how you’re actually using it. https://thedailyvroom.com/import-calculator

We're looking for a data engineer, and we're asking you first.

As we continue to build out the next phase of what we're doing here, we're looking for a data engineer to come on board.

Drop us an email at [email protected] with a bit about your background and we'll take it from there.

No Reserve Auctions To Keep An Eye On

There’s a difference between listing a car and positioning it, and this one knows exactly what it is.

This late-build Acura RSX Type-S isn’t being sold on nostalgia. It’s being sold on survival quality, which is what actually matters now. Anyone can find an RSX. Finding one that spent fifteen years in Pennsylvania and still presents underneath like this is a different conversation. That doesn’t happen by luck. That’s careful ownership over a long period of time.

What makes this one land is the balance. It wasn’t parked away, but it also wasn’t run into the ground. It was driven, maintained, and then properly sorted before sale. That’s exactly where you want to be. Too preserved and they feel fragile. Too used and you’re inheriting problems.

The K20Z1 is the other half of it. People think they remember these until they drive one again. It’s not about power numbers. It’s about how the car comes alive as you climb through the revs, how the gearbox works with it, and how little gets between you and the experience. That’s what modern cars lost.

And the seller did the part most get wrong. They didn’t just say it’s clean. They showed it. Full gallery, underside, paint meter, recent service, videos. No gaps, no guesswork.

Most RSX listings are about what these cars used to be. This one is about what it still is.

The Jaguar X-Type Estate is one of those cars people dismissed too quickly, and the estate version is exactly why that take hasn’t aged well.

The saloons never really landed. Too common, too easy to write off. But the wagon changes the whole conversation, especially in Sovereign trim with the 3.0-litre V6 and all-wheel drive. That’s the spec that gives this car real credibility, not just as a Jaguar, but as something you’d actually choose to live with.

This one works because it isn’t pretending to be anything it’s not. The service book is stamped to 78k miles, invoices carry it forward, and the MOT runs to June 2026 with the advisories reportedly sorted. It reads like a car that’s been used and kept on top of, which is exactly what you want here.

The bigger point is this: the best X-Types aren’t the cheapest ones or the lowest-mile ones. They’re the right ones. Estate, V6, AWD, proper history. When you find that combination, the whole model starts to make a lot more sense.

And once you see it that way, it’s hard to go back to dismissing them.

I love this spec.

The Porsche Boxster S in Lapis Blue is exactly how you want one of these. It’s not trying too hard, but it still stands out, and paired with the manual it just feels right. This is the kind of car you buy to actually drive, not overthink.

What really sells it for me is the work that’s already been done. The engine’s been replaced, rebuilt, resealed, and the IMS has been handled properly with the LN upgrade. That’s the headache with these, and it’s already behind you here. At this point, you’re just getting in and enjoying it instead of worrying about it.

And that’s why I think these are such a good entry into Porsche. You get the mid-engine balance, the manual, the analog feel, without needing to spend crazy money. Done right, they’re just fun in a way a lot of newer stuff isn’t.

The review by C&B Kennan is only going to bring more attention to it, so this probably doesn’t stay under the radar. But even with that, it still feels like one of those cars where you’re buying the experience more than anything else.

If you want something you can drive hard, enjoy, and not constantly second guess, this is exactly the type of 986 you go after.