The Daily Vroom
Good morning Vroomers,
I wanted to give you a quick update on our Shipping Calculator, which a lot of you have already been using. It’s completely free to use, there’s no sign-up wall, and you don’t need to hand over your phone number or personal details just to get a shipping quote.
We’ve also just added a new feature that lets you generate a shareable link for any quote instantly.
It’s been really cool watching how many people are already using both tools, and shoutout to Feridanis, who we’ve been working with behind the scenes. They’ve put an absurd amount of time into helping us build and improve these platforms over the past few months.
SBX Cars: As Expected…
A few weeks ago we said SBX Cars had closed online auctions (still no official word on anything) and toward private brokerage, even if the website itself had not fully caught up yet.
Now it has.
The messaging is now fully centred around private sales and off-market access:
“The rarest cars in the world are rarely bought publicly.”
And honestly, my two cents is this: clearly Supercar Blondie and the wider SBX team have access to some genuinely interesting cars and a huge audience around them. That part was never really the question.
But once you move into the broker world, you also become another broker. Or someone on your team does.
And anyone who has spent enough time chasing “special” cars knows the funny reality of that world. You speak to five different brokers and somehow all five seem to have access to the exact same “exclusive” car!
That does not mean there is not a place for brokers because there absolutely is, especially at the very top end where discretion and relationships matter more than public listings. There are just a lot of them already operating in that space.
Regardless, I genuinely wish them the best.
Auctions To Keep An Eye On
One thing I spotted while scrolling BaT this morning genuinely made me smile for a second.
A seller out of Amsterdam linked directly to The Daily Vroom Import Calculator inside the auction comments for this 1956 Mercedes-Benz 190SL to help foreign bidders understand what the car could actually cost landed before they start bidding.
Honestly, that is the entire reason we built it.
Importing a car still feels weirdly opaque for most buyers. Everyone gets excited about the hammer price, then three days later reality kicks in with shipping, insurance, port fees, customs, unloading charges, duties, brokers and exchange rates. Half the time people do not actually know what they are getting themselves into until after they already emotionally committed to the car.
That hesitation stops a lot of buyers from even considering genuinely interesting overseas listings.
The calculator has now processed thousands of estimates already because people simply want clarity upfront. Not marketing fluff. Not “contact us for quote.” Just a realistic ballpark of what the car could actually cost sitting in your driveway.
And honestly, this 190SL is exactly the kind of car where understanding the all-in picture matters. Because once you get past the shipping conversation, the car itself is seriously attractive.
Factory black over cream leather with the brown soft top is an incredibly elegant combination, especially compared to the white respray the car reportedly wore before the refurbishment started. The seller says the car underwent a bare-metal repaint back to its original factory black along with an engine overhaul, interior retrim and rebuild of the Solex carburetors, with the carbs alone reportedly costing around €5,600 to sort properly in late 2023.
That matters on a 190SL because these cars live and die on presentation.
A mediocre 190SL can feel like an expensive styling exercise. A properly sorted one suddenly makes complete sense. And this one looks like the seller understood exactly where to spend the money.
I also really like how transparent ImageStreetClassics has been throughout the comments. They are not overselling the process, not pretending importing is frictionless, and not hiding behind vague answers. They openly explained the shipping side, the refurbishment details, the factory data card, even the chassis-year discussion around the car being one of the last 1956 production examples delivered in early 1957.
That kind of engagement goes a long way on international listings because confidence is half the battle.
Most buyers are not scared of the car itself. They are scared of making an expensive mistake after winning it.
And honestly, that is why I think we are going to keep seeing more global enthusiast buying over the next few years. Once people actually understand the real all-in costs upfront, the market suddenly becomes much bigger than whatever happens to be sitting locally on Facebook Marketplace that week.
A Porsche 959 Sport doing over $3 million still feels slightly surreal.
Not because the car isn’t worth it. If anything, the opposite. This is one of the most important performance cars Porsche ever built. The technological moonshot of the 1980s. The car that completely changed what a supercar could be.
But there’s still something wild about watching a car at this level trade publicly on an online auction platform.
And then I clicked into the bidder history. The current high bidder isn’t just chasing one of the rarest Porsches on the planet. He also previously bought a 1997 Tahoe Z71 and a 1995 Acura NSX-T.
Honestly, that might be my favorite part of the whole auction.
Because it perfectly sums up what these platforms have become. The same collector who can spend over $3 million on a 959 Sport can still get excited about a clean GMT400 Tahoe or an NSX they probably dreamed about 25 years ago.
A Dodge Magnum R/T with 114,000 miles, cracked trim, faded paint, and a dead head unit might end up being one of the best buys on Cars & Bids this week.
Because these things just refuse to die. Every Magnum auction turns into the same comment section. Somebody knows one with 300k miles. Somebody regrets selling theirs. Somebody else still daily drives one today.
And honestly, I get it. The Magnum always felt ahead of its time. A rear wheel drive Hemi V8 wagon with ridiculous road presence and enough space to haul basically anything. People didn’t fully appreciate them when they were new, but the market is finally starting to catch up.
This one has also had a ton of recent work done. Suspension, brakes, radiator, alternator, belts, spark plugs, valve cover gaskets. Somebody actually maintained this thing instead of just driving it into the ground.
Meanwhile the current bid is still under $4,000.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if this thing has another 200,000 miles left in it.
Love The Daily Vroom? Tell a friend.
We're growing fast – but your word of mouth is what fuels the engine.
Know someone who lives for cars, auctions, or just great stories? Send them to thedailyvroom.com to hop in.
It’s free. And it helps us keep doing what we do.