I have watched this off and on for years. Compared to much of the other appalling crap the Motor Trend channel currently shows, it is worth watching to see some truly interesting and often unusual cars. Carini's dealing with them is another matter. He does tend to be a flipper at times, but in fairness, he's in business to buy and sell cars. Others have questioned his ethics, so nothing more is required from me. However for a guy who has been doing this forever, there are times I question his auction acumen, at least when on the selling side. I have seen him fumble with reserves (having one or not having one) and then have a bad outcome. He generally explains it away with "that's the way auctions work."
In a 2020 episode, he covers a client who has an AC Ace-Bristol, and a Jaguar E-type, late Series 1. He opens with the assertion that he previously tried to buy them both, but the owner didn't accept his offer and wanted more. So in this episode, he has reached an agreement to act as the owner's agent to prepare them for auction, and then take them to the auction for sale. He selects a Mecum Auction in CA, and the show follows the unfortunate action and outcome there.
Mecum? You must be joking. Taking a super rare AC to Mecum (for which the owner was trying to get $400K), the home of the endless '60's American car sales with occasional imports dropped in, was doomed from the start. Who the hell among their normal bidders even knew what an AC Ace is? Even the much more common E-Type was "exotic" compared to the other lots being sold. Naturally, the bidding did not come close to the owner's reserve for either car, and neither sold. The upset written on the owner's face was palpable.
I left that episode thinking about the cost the owner paid to Wayne for the prep work, and the cost to ship the cars plus traveling expenses for everyone involved, only to have to ship the cars back. Was this incredible lapse on Carini's part deliberate? Surely Bonham's or Gooding would have been better auction options for those cars, and Carini has taken cars to these auctions before. I wondered if Carini deliberately sandbagged the guy so that he could follow up with his own offer again. Of course we don't know what the final outcome was with the guy's cars, so who knows? Either way, as one of the later episodes, it seemed a surprisingly knuckleheaded narrative.
In a 2020 episode, he covers a client who has an AC Ace-Bristol, and a Jaguar E-type, late Series 1. He opens with the assertion that he previously tried to buy them both, but the owner didn't accept his offer and wanted more. So in this episode, he has reached an agreement to act as the owner's agent to prepare them for auction, and then take them to the auction for sale. He selects a Mecum Auction in CA, and the show follows the unfortunate action and outcome there.
Mecum? You must be joking. Taking a super rare AC to Mecum (for which the owner was trying to get $400K), the home of the endless '60's American car sales with occasional imports dropped in, was doomed from the start. Who the hell among their normal bidders even knew what an AC Ace is? Even the much more common E-Type was "exotic" compared to the other lots being sold. Naturally, the bidding did not come close to the owner's reserve for either car, and neither sold. The upset written on the owner's face was palpable.
I left that episode thinking about the cost the owner paid to Wayne for the prep work, and the cost to ship the cars plus traveling expenses for everyone involved, only to have to ship the cars back. Was this incredible lapse on Carini's part deliberate? Surely Bonham's or Gooding would have been better auction options for those cars, and Carini has taken cars to these auctions before. I wondered if Carini deliberately sandbagged the guy so that he could follow up with his own offer again. Of course we don't know what the final outcome was with the guy's cars, so who knows? Either way, as one of the later episodes, it seemed a surprisingly knuckleheaded narrative.