Numbers

Wrapping up another year of my selecting the perfect 3-car garage from Bring A Trailer each week. One is a dedicated sportscar, one off-road vehicle and a car that is suitable for road-tripping, but not too sporty or off-roady.

This year I picked only 153 cars instead of 156 which is fifty-two weeks multiplied by three. Just like last year and the year before I missed picking cars one week. And just like those 2 years it was because we were in the beginning week of a road trip vacation. The following data only includes the figures for 152 vehicles because in week 15 (11/20/2023) a 1964 Chevrolet K1405 Panel Truck 4×4 4-Speed was withdrawn from the auction because while the truck was being final detailed, the seller noticed that a big crack had appeared in the paint on the roof. They were going to have to strip the roof and have it re-painted before getting relisted. I don’t know what happened, but it was never relisted.

If I actually won all auctions of the cars I chose during the past year I would have spent a total of $11,166,283, making it an average of $73,462 per vehicle. This is up almost $3 million total and eighteen thousand dollars respectively from the last year. This year’s total is actually the highest I have “spent” on cars in all four years, beating out that first year by $38,962 or half of one of this year’s average car price.

The most expensive car I picked, as usual came from the Sport category, was a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT with a mere 601 miles on the clock for $1,781,420. The most expensive auto in the Off-Road category was a 2024 Porsche 911 Dakar for $350,000, but the reserve was not met. The highest priced auto in the Touring category was a 2001 Ferrari 550 Maranello at $260,550. There were 21 vehicles that went for over six figures. The above Carrera GT was the only one in seven figures this year or any other year for that matter.

The least expensive cars I picked were all from the same week last Augusta because that was kind of the theme I picked. The least expensive Sport vehicle was a 1997 Subaru Vivio Kei car that sold for $4,600. The Touring category’s cheapest was a 1994 Autozam Scrum, a Kei van, that went for a measly $4,200. The least expensive Off-Road vehicle was actually a motorcycle, a 1980 Suzuki TS250 ER that went for a class leading $2,500.

The oldest car I chose was a 1940 Ford Pickup that was from the Touring category and from a time before they even thought of adding an F with a number. There was one more from the 40’s a 1949 Willys-Overland Jeep from the Off-Road category. There were 10 vehicles from the 50’s and twenty-one from the 60’s. There were twenty-three vehicles selected from the 70’s, 10 came from the 80’s, 24 were from the 90’s and the 2000’s was once again the most popular decade with a total of 30. There were 25 picked from 2010-2019 and the 2020’s accounted for the last eight. Taking all the vehicles into account, the average model year car was 1990.

The cars came from 52 separate manufacturers, or 53 if you consider Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-AMG as separate. The most popular make was again Porsche with 18. The runner-up was once again BMW with thirteen, but they had company, as Toyota also tallied 13. Volkswagen was third with ten. There were 28 different manufacturers with only one car chosen.

The most chosen model name this year was Land Cruiser with just a half dozen. Beetle was the runner-up with 5 and 3rd place was the Miata with four picks. There were 86 models chosen only once.

To wrap this up, the most popular car of this year, if it existed, would be a 2005 Porsche Land Cruiser that cost $37,000.

If you enjoy this sort of recap and I can’t understand why you wouldn’t, here are the wrap ups from last year, 2 years ago and three years ago.

Wrapping up another year of my selecting the perfect 3-car garage from Bring A Trailer each week. One is a dedicated sportscar, one off-road vehicle and a car that is suitable for road-tripping, but not too sporty or off-roady. If you are interested, here is last year’s wrap up and the year previous that too.

This year I picked only 151 cars instead of 156 which is fifty-two weeks multiplied by three. Let’s break down the short fall. The first Monday in September of last year I went off-script and picked car dealership signs. Then just like last year I missed picking cars one week and just like last year it was because we were in the beginning week of a road trip vacation. But, Brian, 151 is not divisible by 3 evenly. How come? Glad you asked, there were an abundance of very nice Miatas in the first week of last November so I opted to pick just Miatas, one from each of the 4 generations.

If I actually won all auctions of the cars I chose during the past year I would have spent a total of $8,343,123, making it an average of $55,252 per vehicle. This is down a little over $1.3 million total and seven thousand dollars respectively from the previous year. My tastes have taken a turn for the cheaper this last two years as the total is down around $2.8 million and the average per vehicle is down around $16 thousand.

The most expensive car I picked, as usual came from the Sport category, was a 2022 Ferrari F8 for $430,000. The most expensive auto in the Off-Road category was a 1976 Mercedes-Benz Unimog 416 Doka for $220,000. The highest priced auto in the Touring category was a 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo S Coupe at $178,000. There were 20 vehicles that went for over six figures.

The least expensive car I picked was from Off-Road category, a 1972 Daihatsu Atrai Turbo-EX 4WD 5-Speed that went for a paltry $7,100. The least expensive Touring vehicle was a 1920s Bugatti-Style Modele Sport No. 1/27 Pedal Car that sold for $4,300. The least expensive Sports car was actually a 2002 Mazda Miata that went for just $8,000.

The oldest car I chose was a 1935 Plymouth Deluxe Woody Wagon LT1-Powered that was from the Touring category and the reserve was not met at $40,250. There were no more cars selected from the 30’s and none from the 40’s. There were only eight from the 50’s and twenty-two from the 60’s. There were nineteen vehicles selected from the 70’s, 15 came from the 80’s, 29 were from the 90’s and the 2000’s was the most popular decade again with a total of 30. There were 16 picked from 2010-2019 and the 2020’s accounted for the last seven. There were three dealership signs and 3 pedal cars that had no year of manufacture noted. Taking all the vehicles into account, the average model year car was 1989.

The cars came from 55 separate manufacturers, a full dozen more than last year. The most popular make was Porsche with 19. The runner-up was BMW with thirteen. Mazda was third with a dozen. There were 33 manufacturers with only one car chosen.

The most chosen model name this year was Miata with 10, Wrangler was the runners-up again with 7 and 3rd place was the 911 with six picks. There were 85 one and done model names.

To wrap this up, the most popular car of this year, if it existed, would be a 2008 Porsche Miata that cost $15,000.

Well, another year has come and gone of my selecting each week the perfect 3-car garage from Bring A Trailer. One is a dedicated sportscar, one off-road vehicle and a car that is suitable for road-tripping.

Last year I created a post that wrapped up the previous year’s cars and now I’m sort of obligated to do it again. Unlike last year when I had to look back at every week to collect data, this time I have kept the spreadsheet updated as I have gone along. This means it will get posted about a week sooner than the last one.

Like last year I once again picked 156 cars, which is three times fifty-two, but unlike last year I missed picking cars one week. We were on our second day of a two-week driving vacation and I forgot (I did remember for the second Monday though.) So how did I end up with the same number of cars? For something different on Christmas week, I decided to pick a dream garage of red & green. To get an even amount of each color I decided to go ahead and pick one of each color for each of the categories.

If I actually won all auctions of the cars I chose during the year I would have spent $9,695,567. Making it an average of $62,151 for each vehicle. This is down around $1.5 million and nine thousand respectively.

The most expensive car I picked was once again in the Sport category, a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina Coupe at $491,000. The most expensive auto in the Off-Road category was, like last year, another Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG at $205,000. The highest priced auto in the Touring category was a 2021 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 at $253,000. There were 18 vehicles that went for over six figures. Last year there were 23, with two of those over a half million and one went for $1.1 million.

The least expensive car I picked was yet again from Off-Road category, a VW Beetle based 1977 Fargo Dune Buggy at a measly $5,100. The least expensive Touring vehicle was a no reserve 1999 Chevrolet K1500 Suburban LT 4×4 that sold for $9,300. The least expensive Sports car was a 1973 Porsche 914 that sold for $12,000. There was a 1969 Datsun 2000 Roadster that I “bid” $8,000 on, but there was no sale as the reserve wasn’t met. These four cars were the only ones that went for under five figures.

The oldest car I chose was a 1931 Ford Model A Pickup Hot Rod that set me back $68,000. There were 2 more cars selected from the 30’s, four more from the 40’s, 20 from the 50’s and twenty more from the 60’s. There were two dozen vehicles selected from the 70’s, 17 came from the 80’s, sixteen were from the 90’s and the 2000’s was the most popular decade again with a total of 25. There were 18 picked from 2010-2019 and the 2020’s accounted for the last nine of the 156 total. The newest cars were from the year 2022, and 3 of the 4 were just because one Monday for kicks I picked brand new cars and priced them to MSRP. Taking all vehicles into account, the average model year car was 1985 compared to last year’s 1986.

The cars came from 43 separate manufacturers, two more than last year. The most popular make was a tie between Porsche & Chevy with 16. The runner-up was another tie, VW & Ford came in at fourteen. Jeep was third with 11. There were 20 manufacturers with one car chosen and 10 more with just 2 models. Last year I picked only one car from Mazda, a lonely Miata, but this year there were 8 from Mazda, including four Miatas.

The most chosen model name this year was Type 2, AKA VW Bus with 7, Land Cruiser & Wrangler were the runners-up with 6 and 3rd place were Bronco, Cayman & Corvette with five picks. A little less than half, 76, were one and done model names.

Now, using fuzzy logic, the most popular car of this year, if it existed, would have been a 1957 Porsche Type 2 that costs $22,500 and the most random car, if it existed, would be a 1978 Mercedes-Benz Patrol that costs $50,500.