Beginning of the End of the Everything Bubble (and 800K Hammers and EaaS and wild BaT car prices and and and....)

[duuder]

So it sounds like cheaper, luxury goods, like watches, handbags, and some $100,000 cars are no longer experiencing bubble inflating prices. Call this the bust of plebeian grade luxuries. At the same time, it sounds like the super esoteric luxury stuff, like art and 7 to 8 figure cars are still high in demand.

I wonder what the boat / yacht market is doing? @gerryvz ?

Dang, maybe I should've bought a Banksy instead

 

[alabbasi]

think when (maybe never?) we see the Porsche market softening that might be a big turning point.

Air cooled Porsche's will drop in price. they do every time and not because they're not great cars, there's just lots of them and many are owned by investors who will be quick to sell if they feel the need to.

 

[LWB250]

Air cooled Porsche's will drop in price. they do every time and not because they're not great cars, there's just lots of them and many are owned by investors who will be quick to sell if they feel the need to.

Hopefully 944s will drop, I've been sort of on the prowl for one (again.)

Dan

 

[alabbasi]

Hopefully 944s will drop, I've been sort of on the prowl for one (again.)

Dan

I sold my 944 Turbo for $6500 back in 2014. It was a daily driver and I thought that this was all the money i could get for it.

 

[duuder]

I sold my 944 Turbo for $6500 back in 2014. It was a daily driver and I thought that this was all the money i could get for it.

I got to drive a few years ago, it was old-school bliss

 

[maw1124]

I got to drive a few years ago, it was old-school bliss

Maybe that's what I need to do, with these and 928... I was just telling @Jlaa how I'm on the fence... maybe I should try to coopt @oaklandw124 into letting me drive one of his 928s.

maw

 

[Jlaa]

Maybe that's what I need to do, with these and 928... I was just telling @Jlaa how I'm on the fence... maybe I should try to coopt @oaklandw124 into letting me drive one of his 928s.

maw

 

[alabbasi]

Maybe that's what I need to do, with these and 928... I was just telling @Jlaa how I'm on the fence... maybe I should try to coopt @oaklandw124 into letting me drive one of his 928s.

maw

928 is a GT car, the 951 was a sports car. If you're going to drive a 928, drive a manual. I have an automatic and i think that an R129 checks most of its boxes

 

[gerryvz]

So it sounds like cheaper, luxury goods, like watches, handbags, and some $100,000 cars are no longer experiencing bubble inflating prices. Call this the bust of plebeian grade luxuries. At the same time, it sounds like the super esoteric luxury stuff, like art and 7 to 8 figure cars are still high in demand.

I wonder what the boat / yacht market is doing? @gerryvz ?

Sorry for the delay - just got out of the hospital yesterday. Boat prices are beginning to come down, as inventory builds up. High-end stuff is still very pricey.

Good video from my friend Captain Matt on the state of the boat industry, and pricing, right now.....

 

[gsxr]

Absolute proof the sky is falling!

This new E63 Final Edition Longroof ended RNM at $159k, which is ~$18k below the $178k sticker.

2023 Mercedes-AMG E63 S 4MATIC Wagon Final Edition

Bid for the chance to own a 2023 Mercedes-AMG E63 S 4MATIC Wagon Final Edition at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #118,700.

bringatrailer.com

What with AMG killing V8's dead, you'd think there would be a bidding war for the last ones off the production line, no? A peanut gallerist reported another dealer asking $75k over sticker. Looks like that comment was deleted though? Hmm.

 

[a777fan]

good.

 

[TimL]

So let me get this right, this final edition thing was a $55K line item??? For questionable matte paint and badging? Wow, you got to be a die hard fan to consider that a good deal.....

 

[maw1124]

So let me get this right, this final edition thing was a $55K line item??? For questionable matte paint and badging? Wow, you got to be a die hard fan to consider that a good deal.....

I've made the point somewhere here before that Mercedes absolutely do not know how to do "special edition" cars. History has shown this. The Black Series models are the lone exception. Or it could be that Mercedes people are just not rabid crazy BMW people. IDK.

Another example of this... 2008 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG 40th Anniversary Edition For Sale | The MB Market

I love them both, BTW, but they're not very much different to their "lesser" brethren, and if you don't love the color then why bother? Same with the Limited models here. Give me the Sapphire Black over Black (or Brazil) leather and call it a day.

maw

 

[gsxr]

So let me get this right, this final edition thing was a $55K line item??? For questionable matte paint and badging? Wow, you got to be a die hard fan to consider that a good deal.....

Tim, I was thinking the same thing. I kept looking in that $55k line item trying to find an extra 150hp, or carbon-ceramic brakes, limited-slip, ANYTHING to justify the silly sticker. It appears to be a bunch of features and bling. maw is right, other than the BlackSeries (and 036 Limiteds), MB doesn't do special editions very well.

 

[maw1124]

Tim, I was thinking the same thing. I kept looking in that $55k line item trying to find an extra 150hp, or carbon-ceramic brakes, limited-slip, ANYTHING to justify the silly sticker. It appears to be a bunch of features and bling. maw is right, other than the BlackSeries (and 036 Limiteds), MB doesn't do special editions very well.

Well, you did get the carbon ceramic brakes (that don't really work for street driving), limited slip, 20" forged wheels, and carbon bling all over the place (if you're into that kind of thing). For $55k, I'll take the regular one, buy the wheels, tune it, and down the road I go with another $45k in my pocket.

maw

EDIT... Ordering Guide attached... the aesthetic has been losing me for years.

 

[ace10]

IMO, the C63 507 Edition (W204) woulda been the last of the Mercedes "specials" (short of a Black Series) to put away for posterity.

For ten grand you got the uprated M156, a two tone interior, the BS vented hood and forged wheels. $80K was (and still is ) a shit-ton of money for a tiny car, but damn that engine was good.

It sucks that there wasn't a COMAND delete option, because that screen just looks tragic not even ten years later.

 

[maw1124]

IMO, the C63 507 Edition (W204) woulda been the last of the Mercedes "specials" (short of a Black Series) to put away for posterity.

For ten grand you got the uprated M156, a two tone interior, the BS vented hood and forged wheels. $80K was (and still is ) a shit-ton of money for a tiny car, but damn that engine was good.

It sucks that there wasn't a COMAND delete option, because that screen just looks tragic not even ten years later.

I'd stash away a 40th Anniversary CL65 given the opportunity. But I'd also be dreading how the COMAND will age. And I think they were like $225k when new, ... so like, ... yeah No.

maw

 

[gerryvz]

So you're saying that governmental leaders have no effect on the priorities of the organizations they head, given their "official" stated mandates? C'mon, that's laughable.

Study what's been happening at the ATF over the past two years with regard to bureaucrats inventing new "interpretations" of existing gun laws (for example, last year "ghost guns" and a few weeks ago, "pistol braces"). And they are in the process of getting slapped down for their bureaucratic over-reach.

Congress makes the rules on guns; the Supreme Court clarifies them; and the ATF / executive branch is supposed to enforce them -- not re-interpret laws that Congress has made to their own ends.

What about the recent push by the current administration to inject ESG into 401(k) investments? Is that stated in the current official laws?

Just about everything in government over the past two years has been viewed + skewed by the lenses of DEI, ESG, "equity" and other buzzwords.

The “Chevron Deference” concept is about to get its hearing in the Supreme Court, and is very likely to get struck down or limited severely, after it has allowed the bureaucratic state to run amuck over the past 40 years.

If it is struck down, the fangs of quaai-lawmaking government agencies like the EPA and ATF are going to be seriously curtailed.

 

[canyoncarco]

I'd stash away a 40th Anniversary CL65 given the opportunity. But I'd also be dreading how the COMAND will age. And I think they were like $225k when new, ... so like, ... yeah No.

maw

An 8k mile example just sold this past Saturday at Mecum Kissimmee for $70k. Reportedly 1 of 20 for US Market at $300k MSRP

 

[maw1124]

An 8k mile example just sold this past Saturday at Mecum Kissimmee for $70k. Reportedly 1 of 20 for US Market at $300k MSRP

That looks like a deal to me, actually. I didn't see it though. I'd expect The Bid Goes On at that price.

maw

 

[canyoncarco]

That looks like a deal to me, actually. I didn't see it though. I'd expect The Bid Goes On at that price.

maw

Agreed. Definitely a deal.

 

[oaklandw124]

Maybe that's what I need to do, with these and 928... I was just telling @Jlaa how I'm on the fence... maybe I should try to coopt @oaklandw124 into letting me drive one of his 928s.

maw

You are welcome to drive any of mine this Spring/Summer.

 

[maw1124]

You are welcome to drive any of mine this Spring/Summer.

Bet! We'll make that happen. Also please LMK if you have a space free up in the vault.

;-D

maw