Auction Hunters: Season 1, Episode 5: “The Real Thing.”
Allen and Ton drove to Oxnard, California, which is a beach side community that attracts wealthy families.
Duo sized their competition and felt good until Smiley appeared. Easy day at the beach was seriously disturbed.
Smiley is a rich whale with tons of money to drop on storage units. He can outbid everyone which made him a force to be reckoned with.
First unit Allen stuck to Smiley like glue. Used a little psych game. Haff mentioned how there was water damage to the merchandise inside. Didn’t work. Smiley and Ton go head-to-head. Raised the bid up to over $1K. That’s when Ton bowed out.
Second unit Allen spied a motorboat engine and some decent furniture. He conferred with ton and both agreed not to go over $600. Luckily, they won the locker at $400.
Final auction was for a 1971 GMC truck. Trucks and guns are Ton’s favorite things in life.
Not allowed to look inside the engine before auction was a risk. Once again Haff-Ton team head-to-head with Smiley. They bid $650, and a not-so-smiling Smiley walked away.
Duo checked the truck first. They see the an engine in the back, not a good sign. Time to pop the hood. Looky, looky, a tricked-out chrome engine. Exhale.
They called “Classic Car Tim” to come over and evaluate the truck. With no major repairs needed on the engine and a good interior, truck valued between $2,500-$3,500.
Tim to dig through motorboat engine unit. It’s a real cave man’s room. Full of toys and tools. Even found a chainsaw.
Ton found some classic coke bottles filled with coke. (Probably a good idea not to drink those.) Also discovered a classic coke vending machine. It’s been repainted and touched up, but it appeared to be the real deal.
They took the coke machine to an antique’s dealer named Dennis. He checked to make sure it had all original parts. It did and after haggling with the Haff-Ton team, Dennis bought it for $2,500.
Time to work on the truck. Instead of paying for a very expensive paint job, Allen decide to do it himself. Why does that not sound like a good idea?
Duo put up an ad and got prospective buyer named Chad. He liked the truck (even with the poor paint job) and offered $5K. No go.
Chad took a test drive and agreed to buy it for $6K.
Total profit: $6,950
Do you think they should have spent more to fix the truck?
Please post your insightful and thoughtful opinions in the comment box below.