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

[Mr_B]

MarshPhantom said:

Dr Interceptor said:

Mr_B said:

I thought a fame connection pushed prices up ?

Wouldn't make any difference to me, I'd buy the car on merit, for what it's worth... not because of who owned it.

Unless it was something uber cool of course...

I wouldn't pay more because it had a famous owner. I guess there's a big difference between someone like Steve McQueen, super cool, known the world over and an overrated breakfast show DJ.

The original comment from someone else was they were too high profile. For someone like Chris who is a Ferrari collector, that doesn't seem to me like it would have any negative impact, but only a positive if any. It's not like he's Jimmy Savile.

[a8hex]

Mr_B said:

MarshPhantom said:

Dr Interceptor said:

Mr_B said:

I thought a fame connection pushed prices up ?

Wouldn't make any difference to me, I'd buy the car on merit, for what it's worth... not because of who owned it.

Unless it was something uber cool of course...

I wouldn't pay more because it had a famous owner. I guess there's a big difference between someone like Steve McQueen, super cool, known the world over and an overrated breakfast show DJ.

The original comment from someone else was they were too high profile. For someone like Chris who is a Ferrari collector, that doesn't seem to me like it would have any negative impact, but only a positive if any. It's not like he's Jimmy Savile.

But it could imply that the reserve price had built in a "famous owner" factor hoping for Steve McQueen connection type prices only to find that the buyers didn't see it in quite the way.

[ewenm]

gck303 said:

I see that he had a number of cars in the Goodwood Revival sale. About half of the cars sold, but mainly the less expensive ones.

Why did the dearer ones not sell?

Cheaper lots are afforable for and bought by dreamers and enthusiasts, people who've always wanted one, etc...
Expensive lots are only going to be sold to investors who may be nervous about the economic situation at the moment (China et al).

[daemon]

a8hex said:

But it could imply that the reserve price had built in a "famous owner" factor hoping for Steve McQueen connection type prices only to find that the buyers didn't see it in quite the way.

Any evidence of that?

I dont think in classic car circuits hes seen as a "famous owner", more as a car collector who collects the best of the best.

I really dont think its because he was once a Radio 1 DJ no more so than if you stuck "previously owned by Chris Moyles" in the brochure.

[Mr_B]

a8hex said:

Mr_B said:

MarshPhantom said:

Dr Interceptor said:

Mr_B said:

I thought a fame connection pushed prices up ?

Wouldn't make any difference to me, I'd buy the car on merit, for what it's worth... not because of who owned it.

Unless it was something uber cool of course...

I wouldn't pay more because it had a famous owner. I guess there's a big difference between someone like Steve McQueen, super cool, known the world over and an overrated breakfast show DJ.

The original comment from someone else was they were too high profile. For someone like Chris who is a Ferrari collector, that doesn't seem to me like it would have any negative impact, but only a positive if any. It's not like he's Jimmy Savile.

But it could imply that the reserve price had built in a "famous owner" factor hoping for Steve McQueen connection type prices only to find that the buyers didn't see it in quite the way.

Sure , could be. But that's a slightly different thing to suggesting his fame or they being ex Evans cars meant they didn't sell, unless you suggest his asking price was optimistic and suggesting he factored that in.
You need someone with a better knowledge than I to say if the high bids were reflective of their true value or it was a bit slow for other reasons.

[Dr Interceptor]

Mr_B said:

Sure , could be. But that's a slightly different thing to suggesting his fame or they being ex Evans cars meant they didn't sell, unless you suggest his asking price was optimistic and suggesting he factored that in.
You need someone with a better knowledge than I to say if the high bids were reflective of their true value or it was a bit slow for other reasons.

Taking the Daytona Spider as an example - Hagerty offer a concours valuation of £1.95m on their website. The one for sale at Goodwood had a guide of £2.3-2.6m, which given it has less than 4000 miles from new, and is a concours vehicle, with perfect history file, I don't think is far off the mark.

[Soov535]

I reckon the auction was about a month too late.

Correction coming.

[ToneyCaroney]

the Daytona was sold last year (presumably to Evans) for £2.8M so presumably the reserve wouldn't have been much less than that regardless of the guide price. He seems to have a pretty cavalier attitude to spending 'record' sums on cars he likes (and good for him) so maybe it was just too much to expect to recoup in such a short space of time.

[birdcage]

I hope there is a correction coming. I have 200k ready to go for an F40!

[thegreenhell]

daemon said:

I dont think in classic car circuits hes seen as a "famous owner", more as a car collector who collects the best of the best.

I really dont think its because he was once a Radio 1 DJ no more so than if you stuck "previously owned by Chris Moyles" in the brochure.

Indeed, given the global nature of the classic car world, particularly at this high-end level of collectible Ferraris, I doubt that most of the rest of the world outside the UK currently knows or cares who Chris Evans is, at least until new new Top Gear appears on the screens.

[Philip0]

Hooli said:

Not wanting to give money to a tt?

+1 (and I know him)

[Andy Allenton]

Obviously because the reserve prices were too high. The question for me is: why were the reserve prices too high? Over the last 12 months, Classic prices have risen so fast that there had to be a time when buyers said NO. I bet Mr Evans' cars aren't the only ones making unrealistic reserves. As a previous post mentions - did he really want to sell?

[MarshPhantom]

Andy Allenton said:

The question for me is: why were the reserve prices too high?

As a previous post mentions - did he really want to sell?

Because he has his head so far up his arse he thought simply being "ex Chris Evans" would command a hefty premium?

If as mentioned above he's had a change of plans, why not withdraw the cars from the auction?

[Mr_B]

MarshPhantom said:

Because he has his head so far up his arse he thought simply being "ex Chris Evans" would command a hefty premium?

If as mentioned above he's had a change of plans, why not withdraw the cars from the auction?

Which would you say are being sold at a hefty premium over recent similar sales or current asking prices ?

[MarshPhantom]

Mr_B said:

MarshPhantom said:

Because he has his head so far up his arse he thought simply being "ex Chris Evans" would command a hefty premium?

If as mentioned above he's had a change of plans, why not withdraw the cars from the auction?

Which would you say are being sold at a hefty premium over recent similar sales or current asking prices ?

No idea. My post was simply replying to another that asked why the reserves were set so high.

[Elderly]

larrylamb11 said:

gck303 said:

I don't know. The reserve cannot be any higher than the lower end of the guide price.

Were the guides excessively high?

Incorrect - the reserve can be anywhere the seller likes, the guide price is irrelevant.

Even before it became law no auctioneer liked to have a high 'bought in' figure after a sale by (immorally) allowing a vendor to tempt bidders in with a very low pre-sale estimate whilst having a reserve set at a level above those bidders' expectations and their ability to purchase.

I don't know whether or not the guide prices were excessively high in Evan's case, but in my experience, nothing puts off a bidder more than what he/she perceives as an item with an unrealistically high estimate and implied high reserve.

Edited by Elderly on Thursday 17th September 09:08

[daemon]

MarshPhantom said:

Andy Allenton said:

The question for me is: why were the reserve prices too high?

As a previous post mentions - did he really want to sell?

Because he has his head so far up his arse he thought simply being "ex Chris Evans" would command a hefty premium?

And you know that or just surmising?

Did he not lose £4 million on a car recently which would supposed to have had an original engine and turned out didnt?

I dont get the impression hes in it for the money.

[aeropilot]

Mr_B said:

alolympic said:

Too high profile, they will always be an ex Chris Evans car.

I thought a fame connection pushed prices up ?

I would have thought the opposite would be true in his case - who in their right mind would buy a car owned by him

[Mr_B]

aeropilot said:

Mr_B said:

alolympic said:

Too high profile, they will always be an ex Chris Evans car.

I thought a fame connection pushed prices up ?

I would have thought the opposite would be true in his case - who in their right mind would buy a car owned by him

I'm still not seeing why it would make a negative impact.

[daemon]

aeropilot said:

Mr_B said:

alolympic said:

Too high profile, they will always be an ex Chris Evans car.

I thought a fame connection pushed prices up ?

I would have thought the opposite would be true in his case - who in their right mind would buy a car owned by him

You might consider him a quite annoying ex Radio 1 DJ, however the classic car world know him as a collector of the best of the best.