BAT has been sold

[LiveFromNY]

John, that may not have been the best example to use. Scott's business depends on his "hands on " years of experience, when PCNA buys that business and expands it to more outlets and more people to do the greater amount of work what usually happens is that the 'new' supposed craftsmen can't suddenly have 30 years of experience, so the quality suffers. Much easier to pass on a business that isn't so dependent on 'hands on skills'

It was actually someone else's example, Ed. To be honest, I've no idea what Scott's business even does. Feel free to insert "Business X" in its place but my point stands as to who potentially benefits in situations like these. Hope you're well and staying safe!

[StephenAcworth]

+1 Ed... that's probably closer to the truth...

John, that may not have been the best example to use. Scott's business depends on his "hands on " years of experience, when PCNA buys that business and expands it to more outlets and more people to do the greater amount of work what usually happens is that the 'new' supposed craftsmen can't suddenly have 30 years of experience, so the quality suffers. Much easier to pass on a business that isn't so dependent on 'hands on skills'

[Mark020]

The obvious will happen. Management will be replaced by people only interested in more profit, standards will be lowered, prices will go up and in 2 years time all the fun cars will be sold somewhere else.

[NorthernThrux]

The obvious will happen. Management will be replaced by people only interested in more profit, standards will be lowered, prices will go up and in 2 years time all the fun cars will be sold somewhere else.

This too is capitalism. If that happens then as some point someone will come up with a cheaper, better alternative and so the world will turn. BAT isn't rocket science. It can be recreated and it's entire audience can move. Unlike other epic fails in American takeovers like the Agilent takeover of Varian Inc. Made the CEO and shareholders of Varian richer. But Agilent then shut down Varian Inc. because it didn't make as much money as they hoped (even though it was quite profitable). Only other competitor was German company Bruker, who promptly doubled their prices. Most buyers for Varian Inc's instrumentation are hospitals and universities, so it's the consumer and taxpayer that end up paying in the end. 9 out of 10 GE acquisitions go the same way. End up in higher prices to consumers because the acquisition raises prices or gets shuttered leaving less competition.

BAT's concept isn't like a lot of those high tech companies. It can be reproduced...maybe even better.

[Bullethead]

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...-0-csl-design/

As one of the earliest BAT contributors I'm genuinely happy for Randy, but some of what was expected of Hearst has happened: editorial meets promotional. I'm sure internally this is know as "Synergy".

The first paragraph would make William Randolph proud. What galls me as the owner of an early CSL is that the featured car/auction is far removed from what it should be, yet the breathless write-up would have you think this car is the one to have. Yeah, after taking the aero that doesn't belong off, installing the right engine and painting it the original color. BTW, this car has sold a couple of times in the past 3 or 4 years. Last sale was $130K IIRC, cross-over promo boosted it to $175,000 this time.

I haven't had an R&T subscription in ages, but expect readers will be seeing this sort of thing with regularity, and wonder how many BaT buyers are willing to bid higher because of R&T exposure?

[Unobtanium-inc]

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...-0-csl-design/

As one of the earliest BAT contributors I'm genuinely happy for Randy, but some of what was expected of Hearst has happened: editorial meets promotional. I'm sure internally this is know as "Synergy".

The first paragraph would make William Randolph proud. What galls me as the owner of an early CSL is that the featured car/auction is far removed from what it should be, yet the breathless write-up would have you think this car is the one to have. Yeah, after taking the aero that doesn't belong off, installing the right engine and painting it the original color. BTW, this car has sold a couple of times in the past 3 or 4 years. Last sale was $130K IIRC, cross-over promo boosted it to $175,000 this time.

I haven't had an R&T subscription in ages, but expect readers will be seeing this sort of thing with regularity, and wonder how many BaT buyers are willing to bid higher because of R&T exposure?

Back when Matt and I owned an international magazine this was called "advertorial" and was not allowed. It would of made my job selling ads a lot easier if I could work a cover into the deal, or a feature story, hell, even a review. But nope, the most I could do was suggest one of the editorial people should listen to some music. Synergy indeed!

---Adam

[Peanut]

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...-0-csl-design/

As one of the earliest BAT contributors I'm genuinely happy for Randy, but some of what was expected of Hearst has happened: editorial meets promotional. I'm sure internally this is know as "Synergy".

The first paragraph would make William Randolph proud. What galls me as the owner of an early CSL is that the featured car/auction is far removed from what it should be, yet the breathless write-up would have you think this car is the one to have. Yeah, after taking the aero that doesn't belong off, installing the right engine and painting it the original color. BTW, this car has sold a couple of times in the past 3 or 4 years. Last sale was $130K IIRC, cross-over promo boosted it to $175,000 this time.

I haven't had an R&T subscription in ages, but expect readers will be seeing this sort of thing with regularity, and wonder how many BaT buyers are willing to bid higher because of R&T exposure?

Russ,

I couldn't agree more re the CSL. Hell the Ceylon CSI was more to my liking, but it too got a lot of money.

Scott

[stout]

Auctions, and not just BaT, have really become an editorial focal point of late—which is not surprising with web media teams looking for free content, pretty pictures, and/or click bait while working with a minuscule budget.

While it's pretty rare for me to comment on other media, this story bothered me enough to write a column about the fact that my smartphone's news feed is increasingly deluged with these "stories" about auctions—to the point that I've considered unchecking the "Automotive" box entirely because there's too much prices and not enough about, you know, cars. Which seemed to me a real problem for the hobby. Russ' concerns* apply on top of that.

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/w...rsche-911-gt2/

*Will say I was blown away when I drove a friend's very nice and original CSL. Drove a stock 3.0 CS years ago and it wasn't for me; loved the looks, but it didn't drive like it looked. The CSL was a revelation.