By Paul Kramer, AutoKennel · October 27, 2025

There’s something equal parts thrilling and horrifying about watching a live car auction. It’s like a Vegas table with wheels — everyone pretending to know what they’re doing while secretly sweating bullets under their paddles.

You can feel it in the room (or on your laptop screen). The auctioneer’s voice starts bouncing off the walls, the camera pans to some guy in sunglasses nodding like he just made a confident decision about life, and boom — a $600,000 bid on a car that was $250,000 six months ago.

Cue the internet comments: “The market’s crazy!” Is it, though? Or are we just watching emotion in its purest, most caffeinated form?

Every few months, a car sells for an astronomical number and everyone starts rewriting their mental spreadsheets. For example, Jerry Seinfeld’s 1971 Porsche 911S Sunroof Coupe sold for a whopping $664,500 on a popular online auction platform. Ok, so it was modified by famous tuner/auto manufacturer Ruf Automobile GmbH.

As a result, it sold for the GDP of a small nation, but did it over-sell like many armchair automotive quarterbacks would suggest (aka peanut gallery)? Is every dusty project 911 with a Ruf badge or accessory going to come out of the woodwork and infest our email inboxes like termites on a Neutra house? My argument is if you break it down into components it might actually be a good deal:

As you can see, the restoration cost alone would nearly be the sale price. I’d say it was a very fair sale and in years to come, will look like a sage investment (ewww…hate using that word when it comes to vintage cars, but in this case it is apropos). Then, just as quickly, a low-mile air-cooled Porsche 911 with a couple Ruf modifications hammers for the price of a well-optioned Camry, and everyone runs to the forums yelling “the bubble popped!”

The truth is simpler and more human: auctions are theater. They’re storytelling with dollar signs. One guy remembers seeing the same model in a showroom when he was 12 and decides today’s the day he buys his childhood back. Another has a glass of Pinot too many and wants to show his golf buddies that his taste is better.

And that’s what makes it all so much fun to watch — and so dangerous to play in. Because at an auction, logic takes a coffee break while nostalgia takes the wheel.

So the next time you see a car cross the block for triple what it’s “worth,” don’t shake your head too hard. Just smile and remember: value is only real until someone with deeper pockets and worse impulse control shows up.

Paul’s Pontification: Just buy what you like and keep it for as long as possible and you will ultimately be happier. Vintage cars are not stocks to be day traded.

— Paul Kramer, AutoKennel

By Tim Harris · October 27, 2025

J. David Glenn’s lifelong love affair with Porsche began not with trophies or headlines, but with wrenches, late nights and a green 911 Targa he bought as a teenager. He built engines for RUF’s famed Yellowbirds and served as director of the motor department at RUF during the era when the 911 was being pushed beyond everything people thought possible. (Source: Classic Motorsports +1)

Glenn’s collection wasn’t born overnight. Decades of gathering, restoring and stocking Porsche 911s — and the parts that go with them — turned a modest workshop into a vault of mechanical history. He didn’t just collect cars; he catalogued engines, archived serials, preserved rare factory pieces, and understood every detent, nut and note.

In his shop north of Daytona Beach, manuals, parts bins, completed engines and 911s sat side-by-side. According to reports, you’d be quickly convinced that “any Porsche part, any exotic specialty tool … is here somewhere.” (Source: Classic Motorsports +1)

One particularly iconic car: a 1972 Porsche 911 S Targa dubbed “Bluebell,” which Glenn drove 651,000 miles before restoring it to better-than-showroom condition.

When Glenn passed away at age 72, the question shifted from “What he’ll do next?” to “What happens to everything he built?” With no formal succession plan in place, his family arranged to liquidate what had grown into a museum-scale collection. (Source: Classic Motorsports +1)

Beginning in November, the auction house Broad Arrow — part of the Hagerty ecosystem — will present dozens of 911s, rare parts, and related memorabilia from the Glenn estate via Hagerty’s Marketplace.

This isn’t just another car auction. This is the dispersal of decades of Porsche history, curated by one of the most respected engine builders and collectors in the Porsche community.

Heritage triggers value — Glenn’s name, his story, the provenance of every part and car adds depth far beyond sheet-metal and specs. The market recognises the narrative: cars that lived, breathed and were nurtured by a master.

Parts archives create opportunity — In the collector-911 world, original factory pieces and obscure engine variants drive premium demand. Glenn’s collection had both in spades. Buyers aren’t just purchasing a car; they’re acquiring a piece of Porsche timing-chain history.

Beyond engines and auctions, Glenn is remembered for his personal touch. His longtime friends remember a quiet mechanic who could fix anything; his colleagues, a supplier of trust and precision. Reflecting on his passing, Porsche-world icon Alwin Springer called it “a personal loss. I very much appreciated the depth of his knowledge and the way he dealt with people.” Hagerty

This isn’t just about the cars. It’s about the life behind the wrench, the decades of friendships, the quiet hours in the shop where something special was built.

The Glenn collection reminds us that collector cars aren’t just assets – they’re narratives. For real-estate professionals, coaches, agents and high-net-worth clients who appreciate “collection mentality”, there’s an overlap: environment, curation, legacy. Whether you’re building portfolios of homes or hoards of hidden gems, the principles are the same.

For your Beehiiv audience: share the story, highlight the human behind the parts-bins, and point out the market signals for anyone with an interest in high-end automobiles or alternative asset classes.

— Tim Harris

🏁 The Full Throttle Talk Team