Block to Bidder HOT ROD Pod Presented by Mecum Auctions

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Hot Rod Pod, Where It All Began, presented by Mecham Auctions. Brian Loans joined here by not only the editor of Hot Rod magazine, John McGann, but also Matt Avery, executive producer for Mecham Auctions. We're here to talk about a bunch of different auction-related topics today, but first off, have you seen anything cool with PRI so far? So much cool stuff, Brian, and I think one of the coolest things I've seen is this race car that's hanging over the entrance, kind of letting people know this is another level show. This isn't your average trade show. John, how about you? You've been scoping everything out in there or what? Yeah, scoping everything out and lots of transitions in the industry right now, but we're still here. There's a lot of good hardcore race car parts still happening. Yes, exactly. You can almost cut the horsepower with a knife, Brian. I think that's how I would say walking around the halls here. It's tangible. It's leaking out of the walls. It's permeating the carpets. It's everywhere. It really is. So we're going to talk auctions, and we're going to talk Mecham. You have a huge Kissimmee auction that's coming up, but I think one of the things I'm really interested in, and I think maybe the audience is curious about, I want to dispel some rumors. I want to go a little bit down the rabbit hole of the auction rumors, the auction myths that we can kind of dispel, and you certainly have heard probably all of them so far. That's a great place to start because there really is a lot out there that people don't know about Mecham auctions. I think a great place to start, Brian, is the fact that you don't have to be a bidder to come to an auction, and certainly that's a lot of the people that are coming are people that are bidding or in selling cars, but we have Spectator Day Passes. It really makes a great, wonderful outing with friends or family to come. Again, you don't have to bid. You don't have to worry about raising your hand at the wrong time. You can come and take in, I think, one of the best car shows on the planet. My first Mecham experience was actually here in Indianapolis in 2020, so I'd never been to a Mecham auction before. When the NHRA season started back up, we raced almost exclusively at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Well, we had an off couple of days between events, and you guys were having your big auction here, and I went with Tony Pedregon, and as many of these as I've watched on television, it was freaking awesome. It was legitimately awesome. We were there early in the week, which I think is like myth number one. We were there on one of the days where these were exceptionally reasonable cars that were being sold. I mean, there was actually a Willy's Jeep that I threw another guy, that was his buddy with a bitter pass. I'm like, I want the Jeep. Now, I never bid at an auction. I'm like, this is awesome, and then I lost the Jeep because I was not fast enough on my feet, but let's talk about that. Let's talk about kind of the arc of a normal Mecham auction and the fact that there is tons of reasonable buys and deals available. Yeah, I think it's safe to say that that's probably myth number two, that everything that crosses the auction block is unattainable, where obviously those are the cars and vehicles that make headlines, seven-figure sales, et cetera. Of course, that gets people excited. It's the stuff John bids on. It's the stuff that John bids. Every day. Exactly right, but for those who are not John, but I will say that there's a lot of people that if you are looking for a collector car, an auction can be a great place to find, like you identified, a deal where not everything is a high seller. I know a lot of people might kind of question, well, then how does an auction work? I think it's one of those where it's like, there's room for everything. Everything will cross the block. Again, there's a lot of high sellers, but if you do come out on some of the early days or even on some of the other days, there's a little bit more attention, you can still find deals. You can still find affordable vehicles. That's a great place for those who want to get into the hobby and find their first collector car. I think the larger point on that, John, is you can actually look at these things, touch them and climb around them and climb under them and see what's going on. As many times as people buy cars on the internet, sight unseen, this is not that experience. Not that experience. I did some checking on your website too. You can fully inspect all the cars ahead of time. They're all there for prospective buyers to look at and look over. That's a huge plus because then you know what you're getting. Yeah. I think that's another great myth to dispel is the fact that you only see the car when it crosses the block. It doesn't happen. That's not the case. For a lot of the collector vehicles, a lot of the interested parties have been looking at these vehicles for, in some cases, weeks and even months as they're up on our website planning for the vehicle. They're finding out more about it. We try to present all the information that we have about the consignments. Then certainly when the vehicles are on site, we encourage people, come early, go out through the lots. I say bring a flashlight depending on how serious you are in the vehicle. As you pop the hood, again, we try to present the cars in the best possible way for people to get a full inspection of the cars. They're all usually unlocked or if they're not, you can work with one of our lot managers just because we do try to keep a hand on that. Sure. You don't want everybody. You don't want everyone. I will say if you are interested and you are serious, we will allow you to take a close look at what you want so that you know when the car crosses the block. I have heard that before. A lot of people are surprised. They're like, I'm really surprised that people that excited to bid on a car they've only seen as it crosses the block. No, no, no. They've been watching this for a while. Something else guys that is important to know is that when you do come out and if you don't register as a bidder, let's just say you want to bring the family, come out with some friends. When you're on site, we have an office on site to help people upgrade your ticket from a day pass to become a bidder. We can get those balls in motion. If you do come and you're saying, hey, I'm not going to buy anything, but you're there and you fall in love with something and right on site, we can help get you a bidder's pass. I was legitimately blown away by the number of driver quality cars that were going for $10,000 or less. It was like, damn. I figured it happened, but I never really witnessed it in person. It was fun because there was a lot of excitement around those cars too. There was clearly people that showed up to bid on whatever C10 that was rolling across or whatever. I guess we would consider it almost a mundane vehicle, but they were there to buy that thing and they were not going to leave without it. You get swept up in the whole thing. Even though we were early in the week, it still does have a great energy. It really does. A lot of the vehicles that we sell are collector grade. Obviously, that's what drives a lot of the hobby. That being said, we still see a lot of customers bringing vehicles to us that I think would fall into that entry-level category, that driver category. I think one of the other myths, guys, that people have is the definition of collector car. A lot of people think chrome, fins, white walls, all that is true. However, you got to realize that collector car is up to the individual and what they have an emotional connection with. What we're seeing from our space is that category is widening, particularly as younger collectors coming into the hobby are wanting to chase down the cars of their youth. We're starting to see that definition of what a collector car is continue to expand. It certainly is the 50s fins and chrome, the 60s muscle, but we're also seeing European exotics. We're seeing just all kinds of stuff. I think, John, we almost see a reflection of that. We see the reflection of that trend in shows like PRI and SEMA to a degree. When we were walking around doing our after-hours stuff at SEMA, Matt, you were there too, the explosion of Grand Nationals this year. Not that those cars haven't always been cool, but now, all of a sudden, those cars have become in the wheelhouse. If people are building them that way, then they're also looking to collect them. Absolutely. I was looking over the consignments. You mentioned that our largest auction is coming up, Mekim Kasemi, in January. We're approaching, guys, almost 5,000 vehicles crossing the block, but I will say we've got so many great collections coming. One in particular, I think, represents this trend where it's mostly Fox Body and SN95, and then also some of the SHO Tauruses from that era. That's cool. For us to see a collection like that put together means it's been years in the making. The reason I bring that up is, again, that's an indicator of the trends shifting where collectors have been amassing these for years, and now they're starting to bring them to market, just showing how we're seeing new entries into what people think is cool. We talked about that a little bit at the SEMA show, too, about the Grand Nationals and the G-Bodies. I remember hearing something recently about a Volkswagen Scirocco at an auction site that was sold for a lot of money. You wouldn't think I remember those things driving around, but in hindsight, they're cool cars. I got two sons in their late teens, and my oldest boy, his daily driver is a 98 Mercedes E320 that he and I fixed up. We lowered it. It's a Cruiser. Then my youngest son just bought an 03 Mercury Marauder. These are kind of hot-rodding cars. To my youngest son, that Marauder is like the last of the muscle cars. It's a full-frame, rear-wheel-drive V8 car. For him, that's going to stick with him. We talk about how the generations stick. He's going to be in love with those forever. 20 years from now, and he's long sold it and wants one back, he's the guy that'll be at the auction. Absolutely. I'm waiting for the day, guys. We're going to start seeing numbers matching Civic SIs at the auction. We really are. I'm not saying that in Jess. I'm just saying that that indicates how wide, again, this definition of collector car is expanding. It's just one of those where, again, muscle cars will always be a perennial favorite. I think what I refer to them as, they will always be considered blue-chip collectibles. Boss 428s, your Copo Camaros, all that stuff, I don't think it will ever fall out of fashion with collectors, even younger collectors that don't have that firsthand experience with that vehicle when it was new on the streets, which I'm convinced drives the majority of collecting. Just like your son, I'm guessing he wanted that Marauder probably because he remembers seeing the aggressive marketing that they had for it, just how it was presented as a bad-boy car, which was awesome, and it stuck with it. I think that that's what we're going to see. Even for people that, again, weren't there in the 1960s or 70s or 80s to see some of these legendary muscle cars prowling the streets, they're always going to be collectibles. They're also going to want other cars, and that's exciting for many. In those terms, how does MECA maintain a presence with everybody to a degree? Because you don't want to pigeonhole yourself as, we're just the guys that sell the muscle cars. We're just the guys that sell the restomods. You want to be a company that the younger collector, the younger buyer wants to find that matching number of Civic Si. I guess that's the job of MECA to maintain their wide net. That's a great point and great question, Brian. MECA auctions, we always try to stay ahead of the curve and to see where the space is going. You're going to see a lot more in 2025 as we're going to be out and about at even more events, reaching out and connecting with enthusiasts. I would even say non-traditional events, just to broadcast what MECA has to offer. I think something else that's important to note is that MECA auctions is in our title, of course, but when you come out to one of our events, there's a whole lot more than just the auction process to see and do. Likewise, from a presentation standpoint, we offer a lot more than just the buying and selling of the car. We have a full finance team, MECA Financial Services, so that we can provide, as we like to say, we can add some horsepower to the bidding of people when they come out on site. We also offer MECA Transport. Again, we try to offer a one-stop shop to help enthusiasts acquire that car of their dreams so that if they say, hey, I bought this car, but I don't know how to get it home, they can stop by, talk to some of our transport logistics experts, and get it on a truck and get it sent to them. All these services are great to help keep the hobby going. I saw on your website you offer financing up to $3 million, if I remember that correctly. I knew John was a seven-figure bidder. I told you, this is the guy. You got me in a lot of trouble. This is the guy. You could buy a lot of Marauders. You could buy the whole national supply of them for that much money. I wouldn't mind that, though. But then also, too, I think also even some of the way that, again, when a car gets consigned and when you start to work with a consignment agent as a customer, we also offer a whole suite of presentation services from photography to helping create the listings to make sure it's accurate, that it reflects the vehicle and any provenance to it. We really want to do our best to help connect buyers and sellers in all ways possible. Yeah, it's very interesting to me just because everybody looks at cars in a slightly different way. They're the people that look at them, and they want the most pristine example of the 57 Chevy that exists on the planet down to the correct hose clamps and everything else, and there are people that want the opposite end of that. They want a custom-built car that is affected with every modern stylistic and technological touch, and the fact that you've been able to appeal to all of those people goes back to what you just talked about, meaning that if the idea was just to make this presentation of a bone stock 57 Chevy the same as a fully customized 57 Chevy, that doesn't work. So you guys actually tailor it to the customer. Yeah, and I will say, I mean, that's not to be confused with overselling. I mean, I think it's just one of those of working with the owner to say, hey, what are the attributes of your vehicle that would matter to a prospective new owner? You know, again, it's not overhyped, but it's just saying, like, hey, has the car won any awards? Has it been featured in any publications? That type of stuff. Or, again, if it's pulled out of a barn or, you know, and just, you know, if it was saved, just saying, hey, you know, can we help you look to see if maybe it is a unique color combination, just things that matter to collectors. And again, just in the way of trying to provide all the information that we have about those vehicles so that buyers can make a smart, educated purchase. I think one of the things that comes through when you check out the listings, and I was looking through the Kissimmee stuff just the other day, is the way that the cars are described and the way they're written up is it speaks to an enthusiast. It has a genuine nature to it. It's not some like AI bot just spitting stuff out. And I think that's important because your business and reputation is based on being authentic and honest with the buyer, right? And so if I'm somebody who clearly has a taste for something I'm going to look for, and you describe it to me in a way that speaks to me, I'm way more likely to go there and invest my time and money potentially in the car. Absolutely. Yeah, that's a great point. I mean, we have a fantastic team, both in-house, and then we also work with some of the top riders around the country that have specialties with some of the, with certain niches within the automotive space that do help create those catalog stories or spotlights or even going through the bullets and making sure to get the bullets. When you look at the consignment page, those are the ones that obviously come up on top, kind of the main elements to make sure that they're accurate. I mean, we are constantly reviewing those. We're also making sure that consignors don't maybe over-exaggerate or help to just bring it down to what really reflects that vehicle and what would matter to a new owner. You've got your Kissimmee auctions starting in the second week of January. So I'd imagine there's a whole lot of work ahead of time. So from the process of starting, where did that process start? Do people approach you? How do you decide which cars go to which auctions? Do people specifically say, I would like mine to be sold at Kissimmee or Indianapolis? And then how far ahead? You're probably way into the process of planning this auction, right? No, we start next week, John. All great questions. I'll start from an internal team perspective. With Kissimmee being our flagship event, but with us also having a robust calendar of events around the country and around the year, I will say. So we're always working on those events, but particularly with Kissimmee because of the size, the scope and the scale. We never have a break. We're always thinking about either the one coming up or if we just come out of it, there's even still some dialogue and conversation, even in the weeks and months after January, when we hold it. Even as we're doing other top tier events, we're still in the back of the mind saying, hey, what can we do to make next year better, bigger, more attractive to prospective customers? So particularly, I would say we obviously hit high gear probably summer for the upcoming Kissimmee event, just to start getting things in motion. It does help that events like Kissimmee have been in play for so many years. I believe last year, I think was our 20th anniversary of Kissimmee or recently it was. So I would never use the word turnkey. That makes it sound a little too like, oh, it just happens. It's never turnkey, but it certainly helps that it's a ball that's already in motion. So that again, the bulk of what we do there, but I've been in talks even with some of our team in the last week or two about how we're doing some things different with the layout or how we're going to move some things over here. I mean, we're always constantly revaluing, but it does help that we're not trying to launch that type of event from scratch again, but never turnkey. Now, from a consignment standpoint, we certainly encourage prospective customers that if they are going to sell with us, the earlier that they alert us, the better it works for everyone. It's usually a couple months before the auction is when we will start putting the word out for consignments and actively starting to seek those out. But the reason I bring that up, John, is for a couple of reasons. We will accept cars consignments when the gates are open. We will accept cars. We still have a check-in process, but some people do that. There are different reasons, maybe last-minute decision. What I recommend to people is you can do that, no problem, but it also works better to give us more heads up so that you get maximum exposure and you take advantage of our fantastic website and the presentation, all that stuff, because we have customers and eager participants and the automotive, I think to a certain extent, the news community is looking at upcoming consignments to say, oh, hey, did you know Mecham had this crazy car consigned? So I will say the earlier that a customer can alert our consignment team, it works out better. Again, we will accept up until the day of or even weeks of. The exact date, I don't know offhand, but I would say a couple of months before each auction is when it's a good time to have a conversation. Following up on another question you asked about, how do consignments go or recommend it to different locations? A lot of that, of course, is driven by the location of the consigner. Certainly, again, looking at markets that they're in and do we have an auction for that? Beyond that, sometimes it comes down to suggesting other markets based on trends that we're seeing. I think one of the most obvious would be is if you're bringing a top tier truck, it's hard to beat the Texas market. Again, that's an obvious one, guys. Now, I'm not saying that trucks don't sell well at any of our other auctions. They certainly do, but it's looking at items like that. Some of it's where the vehicle is just because the consigners in one of our markets, a lot of times the vehicles are maybe at a shop or another facility, so looking at the transportation side of it. That's what our consignment team does is provide some of that insight saying, hey, even though you're in this market, we would suggest going over here. We think it'd do a little bit better. We will obviously always defer to what the customer wants, but again, we'll try to provide some insight and help just for them to get maximum exposure. What defines the difference in the buying habits between, let's say, a blip and a trend, meaning is it a year's worth of data that you look at and you go, okay, well, this is a trend, or is it two years worth, meaning if some car just jumps out and grabs a big chunk of money beyond what anybody expected, how many, I guess analytically, do you guys go, okay, is this something emerging as something we're going to see more of, or what's maybe the ability to define that if there is one? Man, that's a very insightful question. I think what I would say, Brian, is I would indicate, what I do is you can look over past results. Of course, obviously, that's the cold hard facts, right? And what I tell people is all of that data is available for viewers. If you go to Mecham.com, you create a free account and you can log in and you can see what cars have sold for at all of our offices. So I will say, for what I look at, Brian, is I do try to identify certainly several repeated instances of that, just because we will have high sellers of one category of car that we can't explain other than- It's the old adage, you get the two right guys in the room, right? Exactly. You get the two correct people are in the room for that one car. Yeah. And as with any good statistician or journalist, you would never want to point out one instance of that happening and saying, oh, hey, GoGoMobiles are going crazy next year. Buy everyone you got. Yeah. Yeah. GoGoMobiles. Yeah. Or Mercedes SLK 320s or through the roof because one sold for 35, whatever. But I would look at repeated instances to start to identify, to plot on a chart and say, hey, this type of vehicle or this category is trending upwards or is trending downwards. And that's really good data. Again, all of that is available on Mecham.com for people to check out and kind of do their own research to identify what's kind of hot and maybe what's cooling off. What is a, if not the most common, what is a common question for a first time consigner? What is the main, like, what is the main, I've never done this concern for first time consignors, if there is one? So someone who is new to the Mecham auction experience, bringing us a vehicle, I think there's probably several questions that come to mind. The first one would be is how does this work? Right. Sure. You know, depending, I mean, as a, you know, a lot of people are very familiar with our brand just because of our, the exposure that we've had with our TV program and just, just from, from Mecham auctions being around for as many years as we have. So I think that there is an intimidation factor because they've watched us on TV for years and they come out and it can be a little intimidating. So I think that's kind of the most basic question is how does this work? You know, I've got my, you know, I've got a car, I'm ready to get rid of it. I need some space in the garage. What are next steps? And I would just say that that's where reaching out, getting in touch with a consignment agent, they will help answer all the questions they can. There is no dumb question. That's what I tell people who ask me this question. They say, Hey, I want to bring a car. And I, I say, Hey, I'll put you in touch. It's low pressure. There's no dumb question. You know, but a lot of it, I think revolves around the, you know, getting the car there, what happens on site, just the logistics of logistics of it. Yeah. But I mean, a lot of it's very transparent. A lot of that information, if not all of it is already up online at Mecham.com. We have a FAQ kind of section for people to find out more about it. I was wondering too, dealing with expectations of customers, do we talk about this a little bit at the magazine business, how TV auctions seem to have maybe driven prices of certain cars up maybe more than it would have had they not been on TV. So all of a sudden everybody with like a 307 powered 71 Chevelle thinks they have a $90,000 car. Right. And that's not always the case, is it? Yeah. And I will say I, cause I, I see it too. Like when I'm on social media and I see people screenshot, you know you know I know what I got. I know what I got. Right. Exactly. It was funny. I saw some chatter recently just because we were, we were just in Kansas city and I was on some Thurgen Camaro pages and I saw we had a couple of high sellers and I don't remember the specifics of the vehicles, but, um, and, and I saw some chatter people kind of indicating that about like, Hey, our time has come, you know, for the third gen is exploding. So I had that. We were, I was sitting at work one day and the monitors at work were showing a Mecham auction because of the partnership and a C10 rolled across the auction block for a lot of money. And I'm like, Oh my God, my C10 is worth a fortune. My C10 paid with a pseudonym saying, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And of course that nothing like mine, but you know, but here's the thing that cracks me up though, guys, is that to me, why is that? Why is that an issue? Like, that's the thing that blows my mind is that when I see chatter within the community about people, uh, and I think it's one of those things too, guys, because of our exposure of, of how large and how successful Mecham auctions has been because of how large our, our television network or broadcast goes, we are going to be the ones that people look to for setting the tone within the industry. So that's to be expected, right? Guys. The thing that I don't understand though, is that when I see the, the, the, the sarcasm about certain, well, like, why are those going up to me? I'm like, if you own one of those, that's worth, why are you complaining? Well, yeah. And there's two sides of it. The two sides of it are whatever the numbskull with the three Oh seven Chevelle one 90 grand is asking for it is not what he's going to get for. And so you have two sides of that where it's like, yeah, this guy's a schmo and he's asking way too much money for a car. That's ultimately, he's going to get what it's worth anyway. Like, like the whole market kind of works on, but the, the mere idea that the auction world itself is driving all of these things to be more expensive. It isn't. I think the best, I think the best examples of these cars have gotten more expensive as everything in our lives have gotten more expensive. I think, I think 20 years ago, I don't think people looked at muscle cars in as much of as an investment property as they do now. And that's not a bad thing to me. I mean, if you're going to, you're going to invest in something that it's cool to invest in. And so I think it's, I think it's a more of the natural course of business, but yeah, you're always going to get, you're always going to get some, some bird brain guy out there that, that is sitting on something that is just not worth what he thinks it is. No. And I think, you know, I understand the sentiment because again, you know, like if there's someone who knows about some, you know, I don't know, you know, some car tucked away in the garage down the street and they're waiting to go in and blow ball that owner. I get it. You know, they're going to be like, well, Hey, Mecham is shining too bright a spotlight on how exciting the collector car market is to me. I'm just like, I don't know. You know, like you find another hobby, you know, where it's just like, to me, it's like, Hey, you know, we, we try to put on the best auctions and we also try to put on the best television coverage of that. And it's just one of those where it's like, you know, and, and I get it. We're, we're always going to get comments from folks. And I tell them, you know, I would say, come on out, see it in person. And other than that, I mean, just kind of enjoy the ride. And you know, John, maybe your C10 will go up in value and you can bring it to auction. It's three different colors, three different colors, still long beds, but they're all good colors. Yeah. Yeah. There are three, it's three different good colors. Yeah. I appreciate that. But I think it's just, I think it's just the extreme visibility just because of how large we are guys that obviously that's going to command the conversation. So sure. I mean, we're going to get a lot of, you know, people who are saying, Hey, you know, this is exciting. And then we're going to get other people who said, Oh man, I wish they wouldn't do that because I want, I want to buy this. I want to low ball the owner of this car that I know about, and I don't want them to know that they have a good deal. And it comes down to the auction process. Like you said, Brian, I mean, all we do is we just present the opportunity for sellers to connect with buyers. It's all we do. You know, we have cars roll across the block and we put those people together. We And to a degree it's, it's a bit of a almost reverse flattery because when somebody, when somebody makes these comments, they're effectively under their understanding, or at least giving you guys a lot of credit, right? It's, it's one thing if they, when they say, well, these auctions are driving the prices of cars up. Well, that means that these auctions are influential, good giant events, you know? So in a very, in a very kind of backward way, it's almost a, it's almost a compliment to what you guys are doing. Yeah, it, it is. And I think going off of your point there, John, I don't think I would say that the television aspect or the inflates, over inflates numbers. I don't, there's no, you know, you could never, I don't think anyone can make that claim. I think it's just one of those that we're an auction company where, you know, the largest auction company out there for cars that has a great television broadcast and what happens happens, you know, there's no over inflating or anything. What Brian said is right. It's the buyer that people are willing to pay what they're willing to pay. And, and the enthusiasm around that sentiment fills up auditoriums like this. I mean, ultimately it'd be like, if we were doing a, if we were doing a podcast on the, you know, early American art and we blamed Antiques Roadshow for driving up the prices of the paintings. I mean, it's not, you know? Yeah, exactly. So. All right. So we were, we got a few minutes left. Kissimmee's coming up. I know you got a few really unique cars here. So talk to us about some of the Highline Kissimmee offerings. The automotive world is obviously watching with eager expectation for one of the main attractions, which is the Porsche 917. So car, one of the most iconic race cars of all time. So purchased new by the legendary Steve McQueen used in the production of his 1971 film Lamar golf, blue and orange. I don't, I don't know if there's a better, no, one of the coolest cars, no matter who owned it. I mean, the 917 Porsche is one of the coolest cars ever made. Yeah. Yeah. We, we should walk around and do a survey here at a race convention and say, what's the best livery. And I think 9 out of 10 would say golf, blue and orange. Yeah. So obviously there's a lot of attention on that high profile ownership history. So a lot of excitement around that car kind of, but from there again, there's 4,999 or at least approaching that we should be near, certainly over 4,000, but there's a lot out there. Some of the other cars that I'm watching guys, we do have a lot of highly built muscle cars coming that trend. Speaking of trends or blips is not going away anytime soon. We're that, that custom or rest of mod phase is not, is not going away. Good. Good. It's good for everybody in the building. I don't know. We might have John's John's hoping for that 307 Chevelle trend to come back. He wants it bad. He wants it to barrel, but I will say, you know, and I like that guys, because just like you having come off a SEMA looking at what shops are doing and seeing it, I think it's exciting. We're we're nowhere. We haven't scratched the surface of what these builders can do with modern tech in classic looks. And to me, that's exciting. Um, you know, I, I think the Hellcat conversion trend is not a blip. We're going to see a lot more of that coming down the pipe. Um, but, uh, outside of that guys, what I look for at auction, uh, just fun fact, I like the cars that the owner has done their due diligence in providing the story that goes with their car. Just like you, especially John in your position as the editor. That's I think what a lot of what you're looking for is that the story behind the car. Yeah, that's, that's crucial. It's crucial. And I will say, even at auction, guys, we get that. And I would say that that's, that's kind of a, I don't know if I'd say a myth, but I would say a word to the wise is that if you are bringing a car, do your diligence, because that does matter to an owner. There's stuff that you can do on your own. The family photo showing that car in the driveway, any kind of paperwork. And again, a consignment agent would work with, with them on that. But I love walking up and down the aisles of cars and seeing all of the literature, the provenance, it doesn't matter the caliber of car, but when an owner does that, I think it does add some value. You can't necessarily directly draw that line, but I think it would because a lot of people wanting to own that car is buying the story. Just like the nine, seven, it's the same. I mean, it's exponentially larger, but it's the same thing where, you know, if you're, if I love old historical, I clicked on old racing stuff and it's like, if I'm buying some gem on eBay or something, and there's one photo of it, I move on because this person hasn't given, you know, it's the same thing. It's like, again, in a much larger scale, the more work that the seller puts into educating the potential buyer on what they're looking at. I mean, that's the type of thing that takes, that takes somebody that goes to maybe mildly interested in the car and puts it over the top. Or it takes a guy who knows he's interested in it. And he's going to bid an extra couple of ducats on the thing because now he really wants it because he understands the car just a little bit better. It puts, it puts everything over the top. It does. And I will say there's some very simple steps. I mean, I think what will help you stand out as a consignment or a seller is just go to office depot, go to any office store, buy, you know, just like your, your high school, you know, book report or whatever, but buy one of those binders, get some sheets to put in there and any paperwork related to the car. I know it sounds obvious guys, but I can tell you, I see it more often than not. And when I talk to the owners, a lot of times they're like, oh, I never thought of that. So I would just say that that's a great way for success at an auction. So is Kissimmee your favorite auction of the year? Ooh, man, that's a, it's, it's, it's one of my favorites. Okay. They're like children. We love them all. We love them all. I will say, I mean, Kissimmee is, is one of my favorites guys. John and I were talking off air about how starting off in January, it kind of kicks off the year with a bang and it's a great place to be, especially for a lot of our Midwest customers to get out of the, of the winter months, come down to Florida, take in some sun, some tropical vibes, and also the world's largest collector car auction. So that's all that's great. I will say one of my other favorites is Glendale. Oh yeah. We go out to the state farm stadium and I will say that's a neat experience to be there. But I would recommend for people to check out meeking.com. That might be another myth too, is, is understanding how far and wide our auctions are held around the country, because we almost have one about, I think one every month of the year. And then on top of that, we also do the world's largest, uh, one of the largest motorcycle auctions in January or January into February in Las Vegas. Um, and that's a hoot too, for people that are into two wheels, come out to that and you'll see thousands of motorcycles and, um, talking about trends and blips. The thing that I'm seeing is a little Honda monkeys. Oh, it's a little bit bikes, man. People are going crazy for those. So it's, it's exciting to say, man, always, always a ride. The history of your company with Dana Mecham and, and him, his passion is rooted. His passion was rooted in auctions, but it was rooted in cars. Like, I think that's one of the things that people need to understand is Mecham is a, a very car first, uh, kind of company. I think that that's one of the things I like about what you guys do is that, uh, so much of the passion is, is not simply in just the business side of moving these cars across an auction block, but it is that ability to showcase these, these things and put on a show for people and have them enjoy the cars in that environment. The Mecham family is still actively involved in the business. Uh, you will see them at most auction. You know what I'm saying? They are around, they're visible. They're still actively involved in what happens, which is exciting. Uh, but then also like you identified, uh, the, the Mecham staff, because of, uh, the enthusiasm that it takes to participate, we draw people that are excited to help that we love cars. We love the auction process. So I will say that's fun too. And I think a lot of our people who come out, whether it be long-time bidders or customers or just spectators are surprised to see how much passion is within the ranks of the team, the Mecham team that puts on these events. So that's exciting, man. It's, it's been a pleasure to have you. It's been a pleasure to kind of walk through what this world is that it's a world that a lot of us watch and are enthralled by, but don't necessarily understand. So I think you took us into a lot of different arenas and places that, uh, were definitely educational to be hopefully educational to the, to the folks watching at home. Well, thanks for having me guys. Uh, it's been fun and I can't wait to see you guys at the next Mecham auction. It is the hot rod pod where it all began presented by Mecham. These guys will be in Kissimmee, Florida very soon. If you're in that area, make sure you get down to the auction. Otherwise go to the website and check out what they have going on. From my own personal experience, having visited their Indianapolis auction a few years ago, it is a car show on steroids and you will be reaching for your wallet. I promise. We'll see you next time.