The Daily Vroom

Good Morning Vroomers,

If you didn't know by now, Cars & Bids held its Velocity Invitational sale at Sonoma over the weekend. They've been marketing this heavily for months and I imagine spent a small fortune putting it all together. So how did they do?

Overall, I'd say pretty well. If there was a report card, it would probably read something like "Good work, now do it again."

First, the positives. Cars & Bids will no doubt be delighted with some of the headline results. The beautiful 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec sold for a record $375,000, while the 2008 Ferrari F430 Scuderia brought an incredible $653,000, making it the fourth-highest sale in platform history. Not far behind was the 2019 Porsche 911 Speedster at $525,000, good enough for the eighth-highest sale ever on Cars & Bids.

Buyers were extremely happy.

It's also worth remembering how much work goes into a sale like this. Finding the cars is one thing. Convincing owners to consign them is another. Then you have transportation, event logistics, photography, marketing, staffing, and everything else that comes with putting cars in front of thousands of enthusiasts at a major event. None of that happens by accident.

What I found most interesting wasn't necessarily the headline prices, but what happened beyond the online bidding. Several cars were purchased by bidders attending the event in person, while additional deals were completed the following day with attendees who had seen the cars at Sonoma. That's exactly the type of activity Cars & Bids was hoping to create by bringing the platform into the real world.

When you add it all up, the event generated nearly $4 million in sales and ultimately achieved a 71% sell-through rate including post-auction transactions. For a first attempt, that's a very strong result.

The record R34 sale certainly grabbed the headlines, but I actually think the bigger takeaway is that Cars & Bids proved it can successfully bring special cars, buyers, and sellers together in a live event environment.

That said, this is probably where the hard work begins.

One successful event doesn't suddenly make Cars & Bids the destination for every six and seven-figure collector car overnight. Building that reputation takes time. Owners of high-value cars want to see a track record, and the best way to create that track record is to keep delivering results like the ones we saw this weekend.

Because ultimately, that's where the real opportunity lies. Every additional six-figure sale that comes onto the platform drives revenue, attracts more consignors, and makes the next high-value owner more comfortable listing their car there.

This was an excellent start. The challenge now is turning a successful weekend into long-term momentum. If they can do that, this weekend may end up being remembered as more than just a successful event. It may be the weekend Cars & Bids took another meaningful step upmarket.

Speaking of events, DuPont Registry Live quietly pulled off one of the more interesting experiments of the weekend.

They ran what they called a "DuPont Drop," a three-hour flash sale for a 2024 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 3LZ.

Yes, three hours. The email went out during the morning of May 30th and a few hours later the car was sold for $104,000, which is actually a pretty solid result. I have to admit, I'm still trying to wrap my head around exactly how the mechanics of the sale worked, but selling a six-figure car in a three-hour window is impressive regardless.

We've seen limited-time drops work in other industries for years. Whether it can consistently work for collector and enthusiast cars is another question entirely, but DuPont deserves credit for trying something different.

I'll be watching closely to see if they do more of these.

Two Free Tools Every Reader Should Know About

Since it's Monday morning and we have loads of new readers joining every day, I wanted to give a quick reminder about two free tools we've built at TDV that have already been used thousands of times by enthusiasts.

The first is our Import Calculator.

One of the questions I get asked all the time is, "What will this car actually cost me once it lands?" The purchase price is only part of the equation. There are duties, freight, insurance, port fees, compliance costs, taxes, exchange rates, and plenty of other expenses that can catch buyers by surprise.

Our Import Calculator was built to solve exactly that problem. Enter the car, the country it's coming from, and where it's going, and you'll get a detailed estimate of the total landed cost before you buy. Best of all, it doesn't ask for your email address, phone number, or any personal information whatsoever.

The second is our Domestic Shipping Calculator.

This one was built for a much simpler reason. I hate having to hand over my email address, phone number, and life story just to get a shipping quote.

With our calculator, you simply enter the route and get a live shipping quote instantly. No forms. No sales calls. No waiting around for someone to contact you later.

If you like the quote, you can go ahead and book directly through our integration with RunBuggy. If you don't, that's fine too.

Both tools are completely free, and you can run as many quotes as you want.

If you haven't tried them yet, they're linked above and might save you a lot of time, money, and frustration on your next purchase.

And as Steve Jobs famously said, "one more thing…" We've got a few more tools in the pipeline that I think you're going to like.

More Than Just a Cadillac

At first glance, this 1968 Cadillac Coupe DeVille looks like exactly the kind of car you'd expect to see cruising through Southern California. Black paint, red interior, air ride suspension, a big-block 472 V8 under the hood, and enough presence to make modern cars disappear in the background.

Then you discover it's the same Cadillac that appeared in Justin Bieber's Peaches music video.

I'll be honest, I'd never seen the video ( not exactly my type of music) until this auction landed in my inbox. Apparently I'm in the minority because the video has been viewed more than 865 million times, which means this Cadillac has probably been seen by more people than just about any collector car currently listed online.

I guess that gives it some sort of provenance, although I'm not entirely sure what the correct collector car term is when your claim to fame comes from a music video rather than Le Mans, Hollywood, or a famous owner.

But that's not really what caught my attention here. What did was the reason the car is being sold.

The seller created the No Name Necessary Foundation following the loss of his wife Deborah Waknin and her friend the actress Shannen Doherty to cancer, and the proceeds from the sale are intended to help launch the foundation.

Regular readers know I'm usually writing about values, market trends, bidding strategies, and whether a car sold for more or less than I expected. That's the business we're all in.

But every now and then a listing comes along where the final number almost feels secondary.

Whether you're a Justin Bieber fan or not, whether you care about celebrity provenance or not, and whether this Cadillac ultimately sells for a huge number or not, it's hard not to appreciate someone trying to turn something deeply personal into something positive.

I have no problem supporting a cause like that. In fact, I'd love to see more of it.