Smoke in the Wires April 2016

cars is global and each sale has a significant number of absentee bidders utilizing the telephone
and internet to participate. Each sale takes about four minutes to give absentee bidders the
opportunity for full participation.
Competition for auction consignments
at both ends of the spectrum is
intense. In addition to the televised
sales, there are literally dozens of
small auctions looking to sell volume
classics. Likewise there are only so
many million and multi-million dollar
cars out there. The auction house I
work with, Motostalgia, is also a
catalog auction but focuses on cars in
We had a nice Austin Healy 3000
the $100,000 to $300,000 range to
find a less crowded market sector.
The style reflects an amalgamation of both levels of auction houses. Motostalgia uses Brent
Earlywine as the auctioneer. His style is fast, but not as fast as the cattle sales. He frequently
breaks into conversational-paced talk with the audience. A car typically takes about three
minutes to cross the block.
In late
December,
Motostalgia
capitalized on
the
opportunity
to join the
top-tier
houses at the
third-largest
classic car
event in the
country,
Amelia Island. Only car guys would go to any length to keep the umbrellas from our 2008 Rolls Royce from getting wet.
With an
incredibly short turnaround time, the team sprang into motion to pull off the sale. For the
November sale, I was brought in for catalog work and services during the actual sale. For Amelia,
Smoke in the Wires April 2016 Page 9