Why did so few of Chris Evans's cars sell?

[DonkeyApple]

I must say that I've never fully comprehended the mechanism that means someone will pay more for an item because it once belonged to someone famous but I fully accept that it exists.

I don't think Evans is famous enough for that effect or evil enough. In reality, outside the UK he is an unknown for starters.

I do believe that the more that is public and proven about a car's history, provenance, the more valuable it is and I believe that it is this premium that can logically be applied to an Evans Ferrari.

The recent mention of Rolf Harris as being on the same level of evilness as someone with ginger hair has reminded me of Jimmy Savil's Range Rover Carawagon. Some schmuck paid a massive premium for a very knackered old Range Rover that had had a very weird old man sleeping in it. This article here is worth a skim over just to remind ourselves of the farce of celebrity worship and the application of premiums based on people who all control andanage their public persona: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086103/Ho...

[//j17]

DonkeyApple said:

I must say that I've never fully comprehended the mechanism that means someone will pay more for an item because it once belonged to someone famous but I fully accept that it exists.

The history just increases the number of potential bidders, with memorabilia collectors being added to the mix along side car collectors. More bidders generally means more competition in the auction hall and higher prices. With just their 'car collector' hats on few collectors would pay over market rate for Cadillac just because Elvis had once owned it. Elvis memorabilia collectors on the other hand would sell their internal organs to be highest bidder on the same lot.

[anonymous-user]

DonkeyApple said:

I must say that I've never fully comprehended the mechanism that means someone will pay more for an item because it once belonged to someone famous but I fully accept that it exists.

I don't think Evans is famous enough for that effect or evil enough. In reality, outside the UK he is an unknown for starters.

I do believe that the more that is public and proven about a car's history, provenance, the more valuable it is and I believe that it is this premium that can logically be applied to an Evans Ferrari.

The recent mention of Rolf Harris as being on the same level of evilness as someone with ginger hair has reminded me of Jimmy Savil's Range Rover Carawagon. Some schmuck paid a massive premium for a very knackered old Range Rover that had had a very weird old man sleeping in it. This article here is worth a skim over just to remind ourselves of the farce of celebrity worship and the application of premiums based on people who all control andanage their public persona: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086103/Ho...

The buyer of his Rolls took an even bigger hit...

http://news.sky.com/story/996611/buyer-of-jimmy-sa...

[DonkeyApple]

//j17 said:

DonkeyApple said:

I must say that I've never fully comprehended the mechanism that means someone will pay more for an item because it once belonged to someone famous but I fully accept that it exists.

The history just increases the number of potential bidders, with memorabilia collectors being added to the mix along side car collectors. More bidders generally means more competition in the auction hall and higher prices. With just their 'car collector' hats on few collectors would pay over market rate for Cadillac just because Elvis had once owned it. Elvis memorabilia collectors on the other hand would sell their internal organs to be highest bidder on the same lot.

I get that element , it's not comprehending why someone would want something that's been specifically owned by someone else of note that I've never appreciated.

[No Bend]

There was that SL55 floating around for a while that carkson owned once upon a time. No idea how many bums had been in the drivers seat since he graced it with his buttock sweat though.

And any search relating to that car did bring up it's unfortunate history of one its its abusers (drivers) totally killing the engine.

[jeremyc]

:rubshands: Now, who would like Colin McRae's last family car?

[Dand E Lion]

The market had realistically reached the top before he bought some of them, I reckon he was counting on a dead cat bounce, combined with his ownership adding 'provenance'

As for a saint, he should stop mucking about with decent pubs...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555538/Vi...

[Dr Interceptor]

Dand E Lion said:

As for a saint, he should stop mucking about with decent pubs...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555538/Vi...

The residents of 'Lickfold' should have shown more concern for their local pub by frequenting it, to help save it from closure.

Just because Evans is a millionaire doesn't mean he should plough funds into a loss making business, just to appease a few residents.

[MarshPhantom]

Dr Interceptor said:

Dand E Lion said:

As for a saint, he should stop mucking about with decent pubs...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555538/Vi...

Just because Evans is a millionaire doesn't mean he should plough funds into a loss making business, just to appease a few residents.

But Evans does a lotta good work for charidee. Think of it as creating jobs rather than appeasing a few residents.

Maybe this isn't high enough profile for Chris.

[jamiem555]

jeremyc said:

:rubshands: Now, who would like Colin McRae's last family car?

That is a nice Audi. I'm sure he didn't drive it hard at all!

[DonkeyApple]

MarshPhantom said:

Dr Interceptor said:

Dand E Lion said:

As for a saint, he should stop mucking about with decent pubs...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555538/Vi...

Just because Evans is a millionaire doesn't mean he should plough funds into a loss making business, just to appease a few residents.

But Evans does a lotta good work for charidee. Think of it as creating jobs rather than appeasing a few residents.

Maybe this isn't high enough profile for Chris.

Maybe in 6 weeks time he'll be shot of a failed asset that no one with any commercial savvy has wanted to buy off him and he's been stuck with for 3 years.

[thegreenhell]

DonkeyApple said:

MarshPhantom said:

Dr Interceptor said:

Dand E Lion said:

As for a saint, he should stop mucking about with decent pubs...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555538/Vi...

Just because Evans is a millionaire doesn't mean he should plough funds into a loss making business, just to appease a few residents.

But Evans does a lotta good work for charidee. Think of it as creating jobs rather than appeasing a few residents.

Maybe this isn't high enough profile for Chris.

Maybe in 6 weeks time he'll be shot of a failed asset that no one with any commercial savvy has wanted to buy off him and he's been stuck with for 3 years.

That's an old news story. The pub has apparently been open under new ownership for a few months now.

http://www.thelickfoldinn.co.uk

[nicanary]

More fodder for the Evans-haters. News item in the paper today about TGIF - apparently he failed to tell the BBC about his series with C4 when they arranged his contract for Top Gear. Naivety, with all his years of experience? Seems a bit odd to me - surely he's got an agent to keep an eye on this sort of thing?

[MarshPhantom]

nicanary said:

More fodder for the Evans-haters. News item in the paper today about TGIF - apparently he failed to tell the BBC about his series with C4 when they arranged his contract for Top Gear. Naivety, with all his years of experience? Seems a bit odd to me - surely he's got an agent to keep an eye on this sort of thing?

Seems fairly obvious he's more interested in trousering the £3m fee than putting his heart and soul into TG.

Just like when he decided to prioritize TGIF over the Radio 1 breakfast show.

[corporalsparrow]

I'm not sure provenance had anything to do with it. The market has been cooling for a while, since the end of August, with several auction houses having some shocks.

I think this is a hangover from that: The expectations of Bonham's and their vendors were considerably higher than those of their potential buyers'.
Which is understandable, given that this was such a high profile event.

It'll be interesting to see how the autumn sales pan out.

[Alfa numeric]

MarshPhantom said:

nicanary said:

More fodder for the Evans-haters. News item in the paper today about TGIF - apparently he failed to tell the BBC about his series with C4 when they arranged his contract for Top Gear. Naivety, with all his years of experience? Seems a bit odd to me - surely he's got an agent to keep an eye on this sort of thing?

Seems fairly obvious he's more interested in trousering the £3m fee than putting his heart and soul into TG.

Just like when he decided to prioritize TGIF over the Radio 1 breakfast show.

TFI's on in December. TG starts next May. I'll sure he'll be able to spare enough time to film both now he's not doing The One Show.

[DonkeyApple]

corporalsparrow said:

I'm not sure provenance had anything to do with it. The market has been cooling for a while, since the end of August, with several auction houses having some shocks.

I think this is a hangover from that: The expectations of Bonham's and their vendors were considerably higher than those of their potential buyers'.
Which is understandable, given that this was such a high profile event.

It'll be interesting to see how the autumn sales pan out.

The continued rout of the over inflated commodity bubble was joined in July by the start of this current equity bear market and the general acceptance that China lies about its economic data and now growth is clearly in decline it is probably more so than they are letting on. And of course, we spent the summer having ended US and UK QE expecting the first US rate rise in September.

With classic cars very much seen as investments now and their own asset class and with the number of expat tax schemes based around them as the asset, the number of specialist lenders with low LTVs, the number of investment funds/clubs and the number of heavily geared collectors then the market is catagorically at its least stable point since the up cycle began.

For now it is just taking a breather, some of the froth coming off and some sense coming in. And that is no bad thing and a natural part of the cycle but it is also when a bubble is at its most exposed to being burst by a singular event.

If the Saudis are selling assets to fund the shortfall in oil revenues then it goes without saying that most leveraged plays in that sector are struggling and selling assets to cover debt margin and costs. Already one collector in the oil industry is a known seller. Plus, UK property lenders are again raising margins on their more highly geared customers.

My personal view is that it'll be the forced deleveraging in another sector that will trigger an increase in supply of cars as the owners need to deleverage elsewhere to cover core obligations that is the strongest liklihood for triggering a rout.

[LotusOmega375D]

Pardon?

[SrMoreno]

LotusOmega375D said:

Pardon?

I read that as "some people are looking a bit short of cash, and will need to sell their cars". I may have missed the nuance, though.

[Richie Slow]

SrMoreno said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Pardon?

I read that as "some people are looking a bit short of cash, and will need to sell their cars". I may have missed the nuance, though.

Stick around. Always good to have a translator to summarize when someone goes into waffle-buzzword mode.