I went EgoSurfing yesterday.  (The practice of  typing ones own name into a search engine to see how many times it appears is also called Googling Yourself, but that just doesn’t sound right.)  I found the interview I did after Comic-Con last year.  I had asked for a copy of the article when it was published but I never saw it.

PreQuel is a bi-yearly publication and a blog that covers art, fashion, and style.  I’m pretty impressed with the layout and style of the magazine, and I’m sorry that I didn’t keep up with them so that I could have show off their work sooner.  I was interviewed by Carlye Rafanan who is the editor/creative director at PreQuel Magazine.  Here’s the images from the article, and the pdf can be downloaded here.

I wrote a bit last week about how great it was to make some friends at Jerry’s Audio-Video.  They had this huge 103″ Plasma screen that they showed my video on 2 or 3 times a day.  Thanks William and Michael and everybody else who helped me get the word out about the Bandit.

I gave them a DVD of the complete story of the Bandit.  I included a bit of footage from the TV show as well as some of the video that I saw that got me interested in entering the contest.  So here’s a quick shot of my video on their big tv and then the complete story of the Bandit video.

The auction was a great success.  I had a great time with the whole experience and ended up learning a thing or two.  At the last possible moment I decided to go over to the Russo and Steele auction.  I talked with plenty of people that know more about this stuff than I do and they kept recommending that I go to an auction house where I could put a reserve on the car to help control the final sale.

So I drove down to their offices to pay my consignment fees and sign over the power of attorney so that they could finalize the work on the title.  I paid $950.00 to have the car in the auction.  YearOne had valued the car at $80,000.00 when they gave it to me.  I had heard that with these types of restoration projects that the car is only getting .50 on the dollar back from what they put into it.  Now, this being said, I went in to the Russo and Steele offices thinking that I would put the reserve on the car at 40k.  If the car hits the reserve price or more, the consignment fee is refunded and then the auction house takes a commission of 10% of the closing bid.  They want to make sure that they get the cars sold, so I was advised to have my reserve price set at a more reasonable price of 30k.  I’ve never done this before, so I felt that it was fair to trust their judgement.

To promote the cars that are for sale at the auction they publish a catalog with a short description of the vehicles.  I had switched from the Barrett Jackson auction to Russo and Steele so late in the game that I didn’t get in the catalog.  I was nervous that I wouldn’t have enough coverage to show off the car and find a buyer.  So, I started promoting it myself.  I was out at the auction everyday for 6-8 hours a day.  I talked to the Hagerty insurance reps and asked to be on their website’s “Cars to watch” list.  I had magazines out about the Bandit and had printed information in the windows.  I set up my laptop in the engine to play an episode of the DIY Network show all about rebuilding the car.  I hung up a poster on the pole behind the Bandit and even strung up a clothesline where I pinned up my wardrobe from my winning video.  I brought a CD with the song from the Smokey and the Bandit movie, “Eastbound and Down” and blasted it over the speakers a few times.  Probably the best thing I did was that I made some friends with Jerry’s Audio-Video.  They had a booth set up and had a huge Plasma screen set up.  I gave them a DVD of my video and they would play it for me 2-3 times a day. 

So, I watched some of the other auctions to get a feel for how it worked.  The cars would drive in between these huge bleachers.  The auction caller was up on a tower overlooking the whole crowd and the bidder assistance were down working the crowd.  There were several bidders who would be down and circling around the cars to get a closer look at them.  I had one of the Russo and Steele employees drive the car in so that I could stand off to the side of the block and act cool.  I kept my arms folded across my chest and tried my best to shake my head “NO” when ever the bidder assistant would ask me questions.  The idea is that the crowd is watching the interchange between the seller and the bidder assistant.  The crowd is watching to see when the seller is going to fold on thier reserve and sell the car.

As soon as the car stopped on the block the bidder assistant came right over to me.  He said, “I see that your reserve is at 30, would you take 20?”  I held firm.  Arms folded across my chest, “no” I said while shaking my head for the crowd to see.  “How about 22?  25?” he asked.  “No”, then I said, “Lets just see where it goes.”

About 30-45 seconds later the bid had cranked up past 30k.  The bidder assistant came over and said, “Hey, you hit your reserve!”.  I told him not to say anything yet so that it could keep climbing.  The bidding seemed to even out at about 48k when the caller cried out, “ARE WE GOING TO SELL THIS CAR?”  The bid assistant pumped his fist in the air and said, “THE RESERVE IS OFF!!!!” 

The bidding climbed a bit more and I saw some people out in the crowd that I had talked to earlier that were now bidding on the car.  It seemed like there were at least 3 people or more bidding on the car.  They started to move the car off the block and the bidding ended and I was just standing there looking around.  I guessed that it had ended, but I didn’t even hear what it sold for.  One of the guys that I had spoken to earlier came across and said, “When things were slow around 48k we threw in a few bids to get things going again.”  I thanked him and wondered if he had thought that my reserve was at 50k.  I wouldn’t want to have accidentilly spent 48k at the auction. 

A couple and their son came down out of the crowd that I had spoken twice on the day of the auction.  They came down and said, “We just wanted you to know that it’s going to a good home.”  I smiled, and then congratulated them and said, “It all went so fast, I didn’t even see what the final bid was.”  Then they told me.

$52.500.00

goodbye Bandit.  thanks for all of the good times.

It’s been a long time coming but here’s the sequel to my Bandit winning video.  Special thanks go out to Burt Reynolds, the team and YearOne, the DIY Network, and Heavy.com.  I also want to thank the police officers who volunteered their time to chase me around.  I’m not sure if I can mention you all by name.  Let me know if I can.  ;]

A higher resolution video will be posted at a later date.

I came home to a sad little girl yesterday.  When I found out that she was crying because she sad that I was selling the Bandit, I decided to let her explain in her own words.

Before

After

It’s been a strange mix of emotions for me the past few weeks.  I’ve really enjoyed having the Bandit, and the new video is looking AWESOME, but in the end it’s just a car.  WHAT?!?!  JUST A CAR?!?!  It’s the BANDIT!  It’s a $100,000.00 prize that I WON by making a little video!  That’s HUGE!  but, it is just a car.  I’ve always been a fan of muscle cars, but I don’t know them forward a backward.  I’ve always wanted to work on my own restoration project, but with my limited knowlege I would be working for the better part of a Decade to get it done.  Every time I drive the car I worry that something will happen to it.  What it comes down to is that I can’t afford to enjoy the car as much as I want to.

I drove it up to Scottsdale and took it to the Auction.  I drove fast, but I wasn’t in a hurry.  I enjoyed going from 80 mph to 100 mph in seconds and passing people with ease, but I wasn’t aggressive.  It was a calm drive.  I look forward to spending the next few days talking with people about the car and then seeing how what it sells for.  If you have a moment pass on the information to help get the word out about the car.  thanks.

SUNDAY the 18th Lot #836 at Aproximately 2:48PM.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Smokey and the Bandit, YearOne has teamed the star and the car together again with a modern performance makeover. The Burt Reynolds Edition Trans Am by YearOne injects supercar levels of power and grip into legendary style. The DIY Network’s Automotive show Celebrity Rides: Burt Builds a Bandit chronicled award-winning actor Burt Reynolds and the design team at YearOne Auto Restoration Company as they begin the exciting process of restoring a select fleet of limited edition Trans-Ams. DIY also created a contest for one lucky fan to have a chance to win one. Viewers were able to upload a video to explain to Burt Reynolds why they deserve to win the car. Videos were enthusiastically uploaded and viewed, surpassing a total of 55,000 in about eight weeks. In 2007, Spencer Brinkerhoff created a video Thanksgiving weekend that impressed Reynolds and won this car on offer.

Well it’s been a good run.  I’ve really enjoyed having the car.  So here’s a re-cap of the events.  Back in October of 2007 I saw the video below promoting a contest to win a Trans Am rebuilt as a modern Hot Rod by YearOne Automotive with the help of Burt Reynolds.

 I think that I was more interested in entering the contest because it was a video contest, and not because I really wanted to own the Bandit.  All I had to do was to make a video and tell Burt why I deserve it.  I’d been shooting wedding videos for a few years and thought it sounded like fun.  So I got to thinking about what to do, I drew up some storyboards and then went out on the morning of Thanksgiving and the day after to shoot some video.  I edited it all together and posted the video the following Monday.  It felt AWESOME to have an idea and then to follow it through.  As of this morning the video has had 13,372 views on the Heavy.com’s website.  I’ve decided to upload it to YouTube and embed it below.

This car is one of only TWO prototype level cars and the only car that was given away in a contest.  The plan was to make 50-100 of these Burt Reynolds Edition Bandit cars.  You can select and customize your options for the Ban II and the Ban III level cars, but the prototype level car is not part of the production line.  These cars can be purchased through the YearOne website and they start at $129,900.00.

The contest was part of a TV show on the DIY Network that chronicled the rebuilding of the Bandit.  It was announced on the show in December of 2007 that I had won the car.  It was delivered in January of 2008 along with a check for $20,000.00 to HELP pay the taxes on the car.  The car that I won is valued at $80,000.00 so the taxes are going to be quite staggering.  I figured that I had until 2009 to pay the taxes so I would enjoy the car for a year and take it to shows and have some fun.

On January 11th, 2008, one week after the car was delivered I was laid off.  A month later I found a temp job that lasted for almost 3 months.  I’ve been picking up short contract jobs here and there and have been making ends meet, and have had some wonderful opportunities but I’ve had to dip into that tax money.  I really have LOVED having the car, but I realize that I’m not in a place in my life where I can afford to have that car.  It stresses me out to worry that something will happen to it.  The car has it’s own garage and it’s behind the RV gate, but what if the kids get in there and draw smiley faces on the door with nails?   ARRRGGGG!!!!!

I’ve decided to put the car up for auction.  My first thought was to go with the Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale because it’s such a big deal.  Then I realized why it’s a big deal, there’s no reserve price on the cars.  So if there was only one bidder on the car it could sell for $5,000.00 and that would be the end of it.  I don’t really feel like gambling the car away.  I have gone with Russo and Steele because I can put a reserve on the car.  I’m new to this whole car collecting industry and have heard good things about Russo and Steele.  I take the car into the show this Sunday January the 11th (strangely ironic that I would be taking the car into auction ONE YEAR to the DAY of when I was laid off).  I’ll know soon after what the program schedule will be and when the Bandit will go across the auction block.  The Auction is January 14th-18th 2009.  Please pass on the information to let everybody know.

heh heh hehehe, guess what I’ve been doing?  Why I’ve been making a sequel to the video that won me the Bandit!!!  COMING SOON!!!! (i hope)

We’re closing in on the 1 year anniversary of the video contest that I entered to win the Bandit.  I hope that I have time to put a few things together for the anniversary and show some of the behind the scenes footage.  In the mean time here are some videos about the show, and the car.  The second video talks about the High end model called the Ban III.  That is NOT the car that I have AND I don’t drive it like that!