Got this in today. For those that don't know Dave Tobin, he worked with John Olson at the now defunct SL Market Letter, and was poised to take it over when John wanted to retire maybe 10 years ago. They couldn't come to terms, the takeover never happened and Dave went out on his own...
Anyway here are Dave's words:
"It's just not as fun as it used to be." It was that thought that started creeping into my head as early as the late Summer of 2023. I officially closed Tobin Motor Works last week, October 30, 2024. I turned my passion and hobby into my livelihood, more than ten years ago, back when I lived in Minneapolis. I opened Tobin Motor Works after moving to New York in 2017.
It has been a great 7 years, full of great friends, events, customers and cars (a few of my favorite cars in the collage above), but it's time to make cars my hobby again. I feel fortunate to be in a position to make such a decision, very fortunate.
Lately, I find the retail collector car market a complete minefield. Bring a Trailer has evolved (or devolved?) into a massive marketplace with close to a thousand auctions going at any moment, lots of inexperienced buyers and sellers, listings with less and less detail and fewer photos than ever. Specialty car dealers are still trying to push, push, push the market ever higher. All the while everyone is preening and posturing on social media, trying to add value where there is none. These days, the only difference between a $100,000 280 SL and a $185,000 280 SL seems to be nothing more than the person selling the car. Now more than ever, Caveat Emptor.
(there's more but I cut it off at the 280SL part...)
