Franklin Mint 1970 Datsun 240Z

SeanDezart

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
One of those I saw for sale about 10 yrs ago - I keep ALL the chassis numbers I can find - kinda like trainspotting.
 
Albrecht

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
A new angle on 'The Franklin Mint' car's Bring-A-Trailer auction result.

Quoted from classiczcars.com forum:

...the story I heard about the BAT auction of this car is that the high bidder Larry ('Lstepp4re') already owned the car when he “bought” it for his six figure high bid - being the highest price paid for a Z at the time.


Another collector was offered the car sometime before the BAT auction for $65K, but passed. He told me Larry then bought the car from that seller. Larry has some sort of collaboration with Robert ('The 240z Guild') and they have a number of his cars in their showroom in OK. It seems Larry had his buddy Robert ('The 240z Guild') put the car on BAT so he could bid it up to a six figure price. So Larry’s bid didn’t really didn’t matter as he already owned the car and didn’t have to pay Robert ('The 240z Guild') for it. Granted, he did have to pay the $5K buyers premium to BAT.


But, if he was able to sell it now for six figures, seems that his initial purchase around $65K and the $5K buyers premium for the “fake” auction to set a high price has paid off for him.
Click to expand...

So, the real owner of the car arranged with 'The 240Z Guild' to front the sale on the Bring A Trailer online auction, and essentially bought it back from himself. No money needed to change hands (apart from the Bring A Trailer fees...) and the perceived value of the car is hyped up with the 'World Record-Setting 240Z Price' of the time giving plenty of PR for 'The 240Z Guild'. Neat, huh?

The faint sound of bells ringing during and after this auction? Turns out they were alarm bells...
 
P

Pete

Well-Known Forum User
Albrecht said:
A little background 'colour' on Mr Robert Jackson of 'The 240Z Guild':

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=229228

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=301907
Click to expand...
Albrecht said:
A new angle on 'The Franklin Mint' car's Bring-A-Trailer auction result.

Quoted from classiczcars.com forum:



So, the real owner of the car arranged with 'The 240Z Guild' to front the sale on the Bring A Trailer online auction, and essentially bought it back from himself. No money needed to change hands (apart from the Bring A Trailer fees...) and the perceived value of the car is hyped up with the 'World Record-Setting 240Z Price' of the time giving plenty of PR for 'The 240Z Guild'. Neat, huh?

The faint sound of bells ringing during and after this auction? Turns out they were alarm bells...
Click to expand...
This is the sort of stuff we pay our suscription fees for.
 
uk66fastback

uk66fastback

Club Member
Is this all actually true (verified by anyone else) or is it just based on what one guy is saying on the classiczcars forum - (not the bit about how reputable the 240z Guild guy is - LStepp4re buying his own car to inflate prices).

The guy does bang on about how many decent, early Zs he owns seemingly relentlessly it must be said! So if he has an extensive collection of desirable cars it is in his interests to get the prices up. However, if the story is true it is enough to get him banished from BaT for sure.
 
SacCyclone

SacCyclone

Club Member
I don't think we can draw any definitive conclusions about the "Franklin Mint" " sale from a internet post that starts off with " THE STORY I HEARD" however it is good to have it up on the radar screen and that inflated auction result "could" be explained by the story outlined above.

Looking at all the posts about Robert Jackson, it would appear that he has for some time been conducting himself in a nefarious manner given the sheer number of people who have been talking against him in the forums. Where there's smoke there's fire as they say.

Mike
 
Albrecht

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
SacCyclone said:
I don't think we can draw any definitive conclusions about the "Franklin Mint" " sale from a internet post that starts off with " THE STORY I HEARD" however it is good to have it up on the radar screen and that inflated auction result "could" be explained by the story outlined above.

Looking at all the posts about Robert Jackson, it would appear that he has for some time been conducting himself in a nefarious manner given the sheer number of people who have been talking against him in the forums. Where there's smoke there's fire as they say.
Click to expand...

Watch This Space, as they say.

The ex-Bill Reagan 'Franklin Mint' 240Z has been sold on to a new owner, so it is now out of the hands of both Mr Larry Stepp and Mr Robert Jackson/'The 240Z Guild'. The claim - made by 'The 240Z Guild' that the car was sold on at a price over and above what it achieved on the Bring A Trailer auction seems to show that the artificial inflation of prices via hype and - allegedly - sharp practice... works. It has always worked in the art and antiques worlds too.
 
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