[FWDLK] 1956 Plymouth Savoy

[Louis Rugani <X779@xxxxxxxxx>]

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Going, going . . .
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Despite brisk business on eBay, auction produces no takers for '56
Plymouth Savoy

By Jim Mueller
Special to the Tribune

December 15, 2003

Name a car nut worth his salt who doesn't surf eBay Motors to dream and
scheme--one hand on the mouse, ready to fire in a bid, the other
reaching for a home-equity line.

The allure is maddening. Punch in 1957 Chevy--and find 34 auctions. The
1965 Mustang shows 26. There were six 1966 Corvettes listed one recent
day.

But only one listing popped up for a 1956 Plymouth Savoy with 14,000
original miles. Mike Berbari of Massillon, Ohio, was helping his uncle,
Gene Moore, list his snazzy little flat-head Mopar at the suggestion of
Gene's wife, Adele.

"I sure won't give the Savoy away!" confided Moore, an automobile
mechanic who usually doesn't fool around online, but who understood he
needed to broaden the pool of potential buyers for his beloved Plymouth
beyond Ohio.

"The Savoy belonged to an old lady in town. She bought it new in 1956.
Hardly drove anywhere," he explained. "She left the car to me in the
1970s, because I'd done all the work over the years. It's just a
beautiful automobile. Never seen any snow."

So Moore gave eBay a shot. He listed his Savoy for the standard nine-day
auction with a reserve, or minimum, price of $8,000. A reasonable
figure, he thought, for a nearly new 47-year-old Plymouth. (The same
year Chevy Bel Air 150 or 210, by comparison, runs from $3,000 for
rolling bones to $45,000 for a show quality restoration.)

Unfortunately for Moore, his bidders didn't agree on value.

"I look for originality," said Bob Holmes, a retired Ford dealer from
Blackstone, Mass., who owns 45 cars and had the high bid of $4,500 on
Moore's Savoy. "I like 'em unrestored, when they haven't been played
with. I told them, Berbari and Moore, I'd go up to $5,000, but that's
all I could spend on that car. Because I'd have to add another $1,000
for proper shipping from Ohio to Massachusetts."

Moore's Savoy saw a flurry of early bids--six or seven the first three
days, pumping the price to $3,501. Then nothing until the final day of
the auction.

Holmes, the high bidder, waited a while before entering his maximum bid.
"You watch these auctions and they go up $50 here and $100 there. I
understand the strategy. You don't want to pay more than you have to for
a car. But I just wait and put in my max-bid. If the car's meant to be
mine, I'll have the winning bid. If not, I won't."

eBay Motors began as an auction site for collector cars, according to
department chief Simon Rothman, who was there when eBay started selling
cars in August of 1999. Rothman said nobody expected the concept of
bidding on automobiles sight unseen to be embraced so fully, so quickly.

"We were not prepared for this at all," he admitted. "I call it `viral
marketing,' how we caught on by word-of-mouth. Car collectors are a
tight-knit group. They read the same magazines. They go to the same car
shows, and they all talk to each other. That's how eBay Motors took
hold. Word-of-mouth went wild. The car clubs started talking about
us--and now we're approaching our 1-millionth auction."

Regarding Gene Moore's '56 Savoy, Rothman reached for his N.A.D.A. Guide
to see the realistic range. "His reserve was $8,000?" Rothman asked.
"Maybe a little high. Maybe a little ambitious. I see that car at $4,500
in good condition and $6,000 in mint condition. But you never know. eBay
Motors has 10 million individual visitors each month. Somebody's out
there looking for a 1956 Plymouth Savoy."

True enough. But Greg Grams, owner of the Volo Auto Museum in the
northwest suburb, sounded a cautionary note . "Two customers have come
in with cars bought on eBay," he said. One thought he was getting a late
1960s GTO with matching numbers [original engine]. The car that showed
up was a Tempest--with GTO badges. The original engine block was in the
trunk. He'd paid $10,000 for a car that was worth $6,000. Another
customer brought in an Oldsmobile 442 that wasn't even salvageable. "You
must be careful buying on-line when there's no warranty involved," said
Grams, who also is in the business of selling collector cars.

eBay has a pretty effective self-policing system in place for tracking
and then barring swindlers from placing items for auction. Buyers can
post feedback for all to read. Every seller, except first-timers, has a
feedback rating on each auction listing. A lister who's sold 258 items
through eBay and has positive feedback rating of 97.1 percent has built
a solid reputation. But keep asking questions and, if possible, inspect
the car before bidding.

Gene Moore said he'd had several folks stop by to look at his Savoy. No
sale this time, but he's not concerned. "The economy's not so good yet,"
he said. "There's still a lot of people out there hurting--good people
who are out of work and not spending. I'll try again later. Like I said,
I'm not going to give my Savoy away."


Copyright (c) 2003, Chicago Tribune

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Regards....
Lou
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **-=\/=-** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity.
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