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rgaus

Smart Cars At Barrett Jackson

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In case somebody notices that there are two smarts selling at this year's Barrett Jackson auction, here's the explanation of how that happened. During the importing process for the converted smart cars, we imported two cabrio's through G&K. Those cabrio's were ordered as 2006 cars, but when we received them at Customs, they were 2007's. Make that 2007's with Mercedes engines. The original Euro Design. The country that they were imported from officially lists them as 2007's. As a result, the Dept of Transportation refused to allow them into the country unless G&K obtained a 2007 permit to convert those cars. Thankfully for us, he did, and the cars came into the US as the only two 2007's with Mercedes engines and of the original European Design. Both cars will be sold at the Barrett Jackson auction this week (no reserve) and we are rolling the dice as to the interest. In any event, it just adds to the thrill we've had in being associated with these cars for the past two years. Thought it would be good to explain in the forums since a 2007 Mercedes Engine smart would have been thought as not available in the US. One is selling on Wednesday evening and one is on Sunday. Both have clear US titles. Ron Gaus, aSmartCar.com

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Ron: thanks for the heads up. I gotta see this.Can anyone come up with a TV time on this ???A2Jack.

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Yes, Very interesting.I usually watch to see what a 66 Dodge Coronet goes for, as I am restoring one.SOLD IT..........SOLD IT..........SOLD IT!

Edited by Coast Steve

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Ron: thanks for the heads up. I gotta see this.Can anyone come up with a TV time on this ???A2Jack.

It's on speed channel right now. I just turned it on. My wife just now spotted the smart in a group of cars. She thinks it's a bay grey cabrio with top down. Not sure if the smart has been through the auction yet.Wednesday 5:00-10:00pmSunday 12:00-4:00pm

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What are the serial numbers (last 6 digits) of the two cars? That will tell the tale right there.

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Checking the Barrett Jackson website, it appears that tonights car, (lot 419) has been sold for $31,000 but did not get on TV. The Sunday car will be (lot #1578). I wonder what a scratch black diesel would sell for :rolleyes:

Edited by Diesel Dave

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I think that these will turn into a great deal for the buyers. With only two 2007 models in the US and the limited number of these imported 450's they will be a neat piece of history to own. Congratulations on both of them and I hope you get some high bidding on them (especially with Barrett-Jackson's fee to the seller!)

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Okay, first auction is over. I guess I need to explain this a bit more. These are 450's, not 451's. The country they came from apparently has Mercedes permission to advance the model year after a certain calendar date. So... it is a 450, but an official 2007 model as dictated by the Department of Transportation. If I indicated that the Mercedes was a better engine than the Mitsubishi, I did not mean to do that. In other threads I've said that I cannot imagine Mercedes betting the farm on a poor engine. Rest assured that the Mitsubishi was well tested by the German engineers before that decision was made. I mentioned the Mercedes engine only to clarify that the car was a 450 with a Mercedes and not a 450 with a Mitsubishi. The car sold for $31,000. Since our cars have sold for around that number in the past two years, the buyer got a potentially great deal on a car that only has two members in its 2007 smart club. We were very happy since the price could have been $10k or $15k on the no reserve auction. This was release number 2 of the two cars. Release number 1 will be auctioned on Sunday night (1578). The actual auction of our car was not shown because of a cut to commercial. Possibly the one on Sunday will be shown. Before the auction today we talked to a ton of folks about our cars and about the cars coming this month from Penske. We explained that the new ones will be much more reasonable and would have the same delightful charm of the ones they were viewing. In all, it was a great day of telling folks about this neat little guy. Most of these guys at this show are the muscle car types. A lot of the misconceptions about the smart were erased in our conversations today. Neat experience. Ron Gaus, aSmartCar.com

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Still no serial numbers? Can you say if they're in the 300,000+ range?

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Since these will be somebody else's property by the end of the week, I cannot provide their serial numbers in a public forum. Hope you understand that. Sorry. I can say that the first part of the VIN# is different than the US converted standard numbers of WME4504321J_ _ _ _ _ _ for cabrios. These two cars have an E0 and an EX in the spots where the 32 is in the standard number. That makes the last 6 digits meaningless when comparing to the standard "WME4504321J" VIN# sequencing. Ron Gaus, aSmartCar.com

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So is the number over 300,000 or under it? The first part of the VIN doesn't interest me, as I know the FIN format already. Just trying to place production dates.

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Thanks. It seems some of the last CDN 450s are in effect 2007 model year.

Edited by Mike T

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Thanks for that verification, Mike. A lot of money would have been lost on that bet. :huh: Ron Gaus, aSmartCar.com

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Thanks. It seems some of thel last CDN 450s are in effect 2007 model year.

Really? Mine's pretty late to the party (Feb. '07 IIRC, 313xxx). Does that make it a de-facto 2007 (though not in the eyes of the government and insurance companies)?

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Yes, anything above something around 290,000 is probably really a 2007.

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So... can you help me convince my wife? ("Why are you buying a brand-new two year old car???")

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What is the assembly date in the driver's door jamb of your car?

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A $1 000, 000. Vette, a $550,000. Mustang, a $600,000 plus 69 Shelby 500 rag top...all at the BJ auction

this is some pretty serious money although it is a charitable write off for folks needing that kind of tax relief.

I can't help thinking of the old saying:

Everything valuable is rare, but not everything rare is valuable.

Think Gremlin...Corvair...Pinto cruising wagon...Caddy Cimarron...and so on.

Not to suggest our 42's are in the latter group, but value in used - collectable cars is a funny thing, usually something

you lusted over but couldn't afford as a youth, then becomes a classic collectable you need to buy when you are a little grayer.

Edited by B Tisshaw

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"All classic movies are old, but not all old movies are classics" is a saying I've used at various times when I've found the big TV being hogged to watch some dreck from the 50s.:)

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Looks like our Lot # 1578 will be on stage (unless pre-empted by another commercial) about 4pm Mountain, 6pm Central time on the Speed Channel. We were unfamiliar with Barrett-Jackson until we found ourselves with these two cars that might be worth a bit more money. When we researched options other than ebay, we found Barrett. The benefit of Barrett-Jackson is that you can do much better than other methods if you find the right buyers. The danger with OUR cars at Barrett-Jackson is that this is primarily a muscle car crowd. This was conceivably the worst possible audience for the smarts. The chances a $15,000 top bid from this group was in more than one of our nightmares. Big chance. Fortunately, at least a few in the audience realized the value and the first one went for $31,000. We'll see how the one does tonight. Interesting information about Barrett-Jackson. Bidders must pay $500 just to be a bidder. There are over 6000 bidders this year. Buyers pay a 10% Buyer's Premium, Sellers pay a 10% Commission. Sellers also pay a Consignment fee based upon the day of the week the cars are sold. We paid $700 for a Wednesday slot assigned and $900 for the Sunday assigned slot. Over 300,000 will attend during the 6 days of actual auctions and the "family" day of reviewing. About 1600 cars for sale this year. Last year's total sales were $112M. As with any event this size, everybody wants to sell things in booths at the site. There may be over a thousand vendors selling their wares by paying the Barrett-Jackson folks varying "rental" space rates for their spaces.For car enthusiasts, this really is the place to be. Visitors can get into the event for a relatively inexpensive $35/day or $150 for the whole week. One other thing. Bidders receive a card with the days of the week and 10 numbers on each day. Know what that is? Yep, a drink ticket. :P Good marketing, huh?Do the numbers. This is a very, very big money event. It is the Superbowl of Auto Shows in the US. Ron Gaus, aSmartCar.com

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Around 2pm or 3pm Pacific Time Zone3pm or 4pm Mountain Time4pm to 5pm Central5pm to 6pm Eastern. Sorry for confusing time listed above Ron Gaus

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Thanks for the info! I've been wondering about all those tidbits for a few years now!

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The smart just sold at the auction for a bit less than the other one. $25,000. This one was a silver/jackblack passion cabriolet with bungee gray interior, converted to American specs. I snagged the VIN too! It was 295767.

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