Our 1953 Commemorative Edition Corvette Story
.. that had sustained some body panel damage on the right side (front fender, door, rear quarter panel. It was owned by a chap in Wisconsin (not too far from Michigan) and, it looked to me like the repaired damage and a salvage title was limiting the number of bidders. I felt I could buy the car right if could get my "due diligence" on the seller and car done AND I could execute my bidding strategy.
The seller owns a body shop and had rebuilt the right side personally. The damage occured at 5,000 miles. He bought the salvaged car, repaired the damage, and his wife had driven the car another 17,100 miles. I got on the C5 Registry C5Net and asked if anyone in the area could check out the car for me quickly; the auction was set to end Sunday 8/18 at 9:06pm. A C5 Registry member, Bill Shelton, graciously offered to go look at the car for me on Saturday morning.
With the due diligence behind me I prepared my bidding strategy. I've bought and sold a ton of things on eBay (including several Corvettes) so I thought I had the right strategy figured out. I'll share it with you if you're interested. Click HERE.
Alas, I'm an idiot.
I was having such a good time at the party thay I failed to leave in time to get home by 9:05. In fact, I reached the keyboard 45 seconds after the auction ended. The car sold for $27,590 (significantly less than I would have paid) and I missed out. I felt incredibly stupid (because I was).
But I know that only about 25% of "big ticket" items actually get completed on eBay so I emailed the seller letting him know that I would buy the car at the high bid if his buyer fell through. I also emailed the buyer congratulating her on her win and saying that she may not have noticed the salvage title on the car. I figured if this broke down, I still had a chance at the car.