wdb

Wow, that's an interesting angle. I guess they have burner credit cards too? I feel as though BaT prices may be a bit high for such machinations to be all that profitable. Perhaps if the car is rare enough or one of the hot items that people are willing to pay $mucho$ $dinero$ over MSRP...

I should start by saying I'm guilty on all counts. I've put bids in on cars I will never win, many times. When I was a n00b on BaT I bid some amount on a GT40, because I've always wanted one and now I can say I once put a bid in on one. That was not the only time I've done it either. Just yesterday I bid $1281 on a BMW 128i. (I am genuinely interested in that car.) There used to be someone who would bid $911 on every Porsche 911 that came up for auction. Why not, I say. It's fun. I'll also put in a lowball-ish bid on "no reserve" cars, just in case. No hits on that so far. In my first few years of participation I made a lot of comments, mostly about the cars of which I had personal knowledge, but also some "wow that's a gorgeous thing" stuff too. Commentary is what makes BaT a unique forum. I've learned tons from the comments. I hope I have added a few educational bits of my own. I don't participate as much these days as I used to, but I still enjoy reading the comments section of cars that pique my interest. I've won three auctions on BaT. The most recent was my little yellow Caterham. Along the way I've had predominantly good experiences, met some great folks, and learned some lessons. Always always always use the "Contact Seller" button. BaT initiates the exchange and then steps completely out of it. You can freely share information back and forth with the other party. Set a maximum bid and stick to it. (Although I did bid with my heart a little bit on Z4MC; no regrets.) Don't be afraid to buy a car that's had major repairs, so long as you have ample evidence of them being done right. Buy the owner as much as the car. Sounds like a cliche but it's not. If something smells like fish, it's fish. I've sold one car on BaT. A 2015 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG Coupe. I chose to sell it there because it seemed like a good fit between venue and vehicle. (I don't think I'd try to sell anything on BaT that wasn't genuinely unusual.) The car sold for considerably more than I had been offered by dealers and others. The commenters were often harsh however, which was not entirely pleasant. If I find myself in a position to possibly put another car on BaT I will keep that in mind. Spiff the car up as much as you can! I'm retired so I had time to properly prep the car. Take lots and lots of pictures! A friend with camera skills helped with that important aspect of the process. Be attentive and responsive during the live auction! Answer as honestly and thoroughly as you can. (I truly believe that comes through even across digital media.) There is a time/effort commitment required -- see the above 3 bullet points. I did not use a broker. They all wanted far, far too much money/percentage IMESHO. One of them berated me at length, telling me how wrongheaded I was to think that I could get anywhere near the price he would be able to secure for me, considering all of his superior skills and experience. Yeah, just the kind of person with which I'd want to enter into a financial transaction -- not. I had one guy call me and tell me he would buy the car from me, hard cash, on the spot; it was the perfect car for his cancer-ridden wife, and seeing as how he was a major player in the Hawaii resort real estate market the price would be a small matter for him. Ooookay. I thanked him for his interest and told him I looked forward to his bid, and that if it didn't meet reserve we might talk more. I still can't quite figure out what scam he thought he was pulling. Maybe he never got to the 'hook' part? One of the cars I went to look at years ago really helped clue me in to the seamier side of BaT. It was an old aircooled 911, kind-of sort-of converted from street car to race car. It seemed like it might be fun and relatively inexpensive. And it was local. I looked it over and realized that it was actually a horror show, a mishmash of bits tacked onto a rusty hulk and splashed with bright paint. While I was there the seller offered to cancel the auction and let me have the car at his reserve price. During the course of the auction I watched with interest as two brand new bidders ran the price up to just below that reserve number. I let BaT know all of this. They shrugged. Moral: go into Bring a Trailer, or any other auction site, with eyes wide open. Caveat emptor!

I wear hearing aids so I just turn them off. Helps with the noise but does nothing for the buffeting. I have a brooklands screen I want to try; I'm looking at proper aviation-style goggles to go along with it, with impact resistant lenses.

If you're serious, I have a youtube channel that has a section dedicated to the car. (About that: I never would have done this but a friend of mine said "you should share the experience of these cars with other people!" and so I am. No advertising or any of that, you just have to be willing to listen to me blather.)

Look what I found! Woo-hoo! I can finally chop the shift lever.

The front crossover section of my twink engine valve cover is under the nosepiece. Before I redid the oil pan I had to remove the nose to check the oil.

Random thoughts: You obviously have far too much fuel going in. High idle could be due to air leaking into the intake somewhere besides the butterflies; the extra gas is already in there so the idle is up. The carb shafts wear and can cause air leaks, plus a bunch of other intake related stuff. You could have a stuck float valve on the front carb. All that gas is washing the cylinder walls, causing wear, and wrecking the oil.

Seems to be quite a stir being made about this one. Something about it being built by James Whiting (and proof that I still have much to learn about se7ens).

Wow, quite a trip! Thanks for sharing.

I get a crick in my neck just looking at those.

That looks like the lever in my 1995 Caterham. Can't tell from that picture if the lever arm is curved; mine is, and I would expect them all to be curved to provide more room for legs, knees, shins, etcetera.

A bit late posting up but here it is. I took the Se7en to a Cars&Coffee at a place called "Steel Stacks". It is the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant in downtown Bethlehem PA and it makes a pretty dramatic backdrop for some shiny (and some not-so shiny) hardware. Hundreds and hundreds of cars show up for this event. It's popular. When I pulled in the fellow said "we'll put you on the cobbles -- go that way" and sent me in a different direction, around a couple of police cars. I didn't know what he was talking about until I got a bit further and realized he had sent me to the area where all the really cool stuff was! That was unexpected and fun.

I finally had a chance to finish the two articles. Fabulous stuff, thank you! A Caterham at Spa sounds incongruous but that is plainly not the case. I'm not sure what to think about the P car carnage. I own a 996 911 and I know folks who track cars of that vintage, and they keep it between the lines. What jumps out at me is how those people were qualified to run cars that powerful, on an open track, shared with much slower cars. At some point just writing a check has to be insufficient to get cleared to drive.

5% buyers fee is not refunded.

The first “buyer” of the Se7en I currently shepherd also flaked. After the seller tried to satisfy him for almost a year! Sorry it happened. Could have been worse.

Quite a day's work! When they poured our garage floor (I was not involved other than acting as the official observer) there were two guys working the job; the younger one was doing barrow duty and the other guy was spreading. The truck was one of those where the driver sits out front and the load also comes off the front, and the driver can see everything. It went smoothly but then that is what those guys do for a living.

I'm actually researching seats *without* side bolsters, to gain an inch of width in my imperial S3. The side of the car and the center tunnel serve as side bolsters after all. I have bolstered seats now, and I fit, but a tad more room would be nice.

It's going to be a MUCH more immersive experience than your MGA! When you slide into a Se7en you enter a different realm.

I'm hoping to day trip over -- sans se7en unfortunately because I have no means of getting it there besides driving it, and the trip is not the kind I'd take in that car. But I'd really like to meet folks in person and maybe try some seats out, since I intend to change mine out "one of these days". Also the idea of seeing a track filled with se7ens is a strong attraction.

A sad tale for the car but it sounds like it has landed in a good home. Pics are needed! Ditto on starting a build thread.

Should be an interesting next few days in the House chambers.

That's my gearbox. Cortina MkI I think? "Ford 2000E" according to Burton Power. https://www.burtonpower.com/tuning-guides/tuning-guide-pages/ford-2000e-bullet-gearbox-guide.html As you can see the pivot is ball shaped; every lever I've found so far has not been. Burton Power does have a lever that *might* fit, but it's not specifically for that gearbox and it is part of a short shift kit: https://www.burtonpower.com/quickshift-gear-lever-kit-type-5-v6-ford-essex-cologne-qs12.html

If you ever find a lever source please let me know. I want to cut mine down but want to have a spare in hand, and finding the right one for my gearbox has been hard. The large pivot point at the bottom of the lever is ball shaped whereas everything I find is more like a ball with the sides cut off.

Wow, what a collection. There are at least a dozen drool-worthy cars in there.

From what I'm seeing I don't think these would fit my 1995 Caterham Sprint. I have live axle and don't have the wide track in front. That's too bad because I am in the market.