Happened to do a recent drive by of Tobin Motor Works. The showroom looked dark & empty. Website now speaks in past tense.
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Tobin Motor Works
- Thread starter DerFuror
- Start date
I think Dave's comments about HaT and such, are accurate and pretty much mirror the overall sentiment and observations noted here.
As eBay Motors (and eBay itself for the most part) pretty much has, HaT has and will increasingly become the domain of corporate entities and flipper/dealers and auction companies, and the "enthusiast" component selling interesting cars on HaT will continue to become less and less. And this opens up opportunities for other sites perhaps like MBMarket, PCarMarket, etc. for "the rest of us."
HaT chose to follow the money, and strayed long long ago from its enthusiast roots. Nothing wrong with that....it's America !! No question that the car auction company scene and associated auction web sites will continue to consolidate in the future. Look at the recent news about Gooding & Company!
It's going to be interesting to see what entities continue to fill the gap - both established sites and I'm sure new ones that will crop up. Likely we will see business models and innovations in the coming years that we've never seen before.
As eBay Motors (and eBay itself for the most part) pretty much has, HaT has and will increasingly become the domain of corporate entities and flipper/dealers and auction companies, and the "enthusiast" component selling interesting cars on HaT will continue to become less and less. And this opens up opportunities for other sites perhaps like MBMarket, PCarMarket, etc. for "the rest of us."
HaT chose to follow the money, and strayed long long ago from its enthusiast roots. Nothing wrong with that....it's America !! No question that the car auction company scene and associated auction web sites will continue to consolidate in the future. Look at the recent news about Gooding & Company!
It's going to be interesting to see what entities continue to fill the gap - both established sites and I'm sure new ones that will crop up. Likely we will see business models and innovations in the coming years that we've never seen before.
Closing a Chapter
Today was a glorious day to be alive and driving a 500E. I was joy riding in the area, so I stopped by the former Tobin Motor Works to pay my respects.
As previously mentioned, all empty.
Ironically, the place was always closed for the day each time I previously visited and I never met Tobin, but I always enjoyed admiring the ever changing rotation of interesting vehicles and swag through the large front windows.
The M119 loved operating in the 47deg ambient temperature.
And at the end of the ride, I love the smell of engine compartment cooling down on a beautiful Autumn day.
I kept a relatively low profile because my State inspection is overdue once again. My long term, trusted inspector is no longer participating & I don’t know where/who I want as a successor.
Another example of everything changing eventually. I just have to roll along with the changes, although sometimes begrudgingly…
Today was a glorious day to be alive and driving a 500E. I was joy riding in the area, so I stopped by the former Tobin Motor Works to pay my respects.
As previously mentioned, all empty.
Ironically, the place was always closed for the day each time I previously visited and I never met Tobin, but I always enjoyed admiring the ever changing rotation of interesting vehicles and swag through the large front windows.
The M119 loved operating in the 47deg ambient temperature.
And at the end of the ride, I love the smell of engine compartment cooling down on a beautiful Autumn day.
I kept a relatively low profile because my State inspection is overdue once again. My long term, trusted inspector is no longer participating & I don’t know where/who I want as a successor.
Another example of everything changing eventually. I just have to roll along with the changes, although sometimes begrudgingly…
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